Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

HfP ‘Credit Cards’ page updated for October 2017 – what are the best deals this month?

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

UPDATE – APRIL 2024:  This article is now out of date, but don’t worry.  We produce a monthly directory of the top UK travel credit card offers – please click HERE or use the ‘Credit Cards’ menu above.  Thank you.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

Keep up to date with the latest UK credit card bonuses by signing up for our free daily or weekly newsletters.

It is time for our monthly round up of what is coming and what is going in the world of UK airline and hotel credit card sign-up deals.

Our updated directory of all 23 UK travel credit cards can be found by clicking the ‘Credit Cards’ tab at the top of the site or – for email, Flipboard, Apple News or mobile readers – by clicking here.  This article is a summary of the recent changes, and will hopefully be a useful starting point for new readers.

UK Rewards credit and charge cards

What’s changed this month?

The big story was the mainstream launch of the American Express Rewards Credit Card (ARCC).

ARCC

ARCC is a standard Amex-branded credit card.  It has no annual fee and no substantial benefits, except for the ability to collect Membership Rewards points at 1 point per £1 spent.

There are three versions of the card available:

LOW RATE – 5,000 Membership Rewards points bonus and a representative APR of 9.9% variable (click here)

or

BASIC – 10,000 Membership Rewards points bonus and a representative APR of 22.9% variable (click here)

or

PURCHASES – NO sign-up bonus but 0% APR on purchases for 18 months and a representative APR of 22.9% variable beyond that (click here)

The first two cards require a £500 (5,000 points version) or £1,000 (10,000 points version) spend within three months to trigger the bonus.  You won’t get a bonus if you’ve had a Gold, Green or Platinum Amex in the last six months.

There are two reasons why you should consider getting an ARCC card:

As I wrote in this article, it is your solution if you are planning on cancelling a Gold or Platinum Amex to avoid the annual fee, but do not want to cash in your Membership Rewards points just yet.  The free ARCC card keeps your Membership Rewards points alive.

As I wrote in this article, the ARCC card is BETTER than the free British Airways Amex card if you don’t plan on spending £20,000 to trigger the 2-4-1 voucher.

Other offers

The usual ‘back to school / work’ rush of new offers failed to appear this year.  It seems that MBNA is sitting on its hands – there are rumours that its Amex licence ends in February and of course it appears to be losing the Virgin cards to Virgin Money – and they are the main drivers of special offers.

British Airways is still running an improved sign-up bonus on its two British Airways American Express cards.  No closing date has been given for this deal.

There is a slight tweak this time.  The Premium Plus card is back to 25,000 Avios for signing up.  The free BA Amex, however, is only up to 5,000 Avios from the usual 3,000 Avios – this is usually increased to 9,000 Avios.

I would guess that Amex is trying to encourage more people to take the Premium Plus card by widening the gap in the sign-up bonus.  Frankly, you shouldn’t get the free BA Amex if you are planning to earn the 2-4-1 Avios flight voucher – this article explains why.

Want to earn more points from credit cards? – April 2024 update

If you are looking to apply for a new credit card, here are our top recommendations based on the current sign-up bonuses.

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the best of the other deals currently available.

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

15,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review

Earning miles and points from small business cards

If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers:

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points sign-up bonus and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

Huge 30,000 points bonus until 12th May 2024 Read our full review

For a non-American Express option, we also recommend the Barclaycard Select Cashback card for sole traders and small businesses. It is FREE and you receive 1% cashback on your spending.

Barclaycard Select Cashback Business Credit Card

1% cashback uncapped* on all your business spending (T&C apply) Read our full review

Category

American Express Gold card, American Express Platinum card, Amex Rewards Credit Card, British Airways American Express, IHG One Rewards, Tesco Clubcard

Comments (36)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Mr(s) Entitled says:
    9 Oct9 October 07:04

    Amex Nectar should be here.

    • Andrew M says:
      9 Oct9 October 07:18

      Its not an airline or travel card though.

      • nerock says:
        9 Oct9 October 07:26

        You can redeem for Easyjet also so technically it does include that option..

        • Mr(s) Entitled says:
          9 Oct9 October 09:18

          I’d argue the line should drawn to include items covered in the daily articles and exclude cards not covered at all. Even if it is just a throwaway link at the end,

          But it’s not my site and recent awards would indicate that HfP is doing just fine thank you very much. If anyone wants £150 for free (opportunity cost excluded etc etc) then they will at least go searching now.

        • johnny_c-l says:
          9 Oct9 October 09:44

          Easyjet redemptions via Nectar are ending this Friday unfortunately.

      • Genghis says:
        9 Oct9 October 09:03

        Hopefully VTEC will bring back the 1p/nectar deal shortly.

  • Trevor says:
    9 Oct9 October 08:32

    I see that “You won’t get a bonus if you’ve had a Gold, Green or Platinum Amex in the last six months.” I assume that being an additional cardholder on my wife’s Gold card doesn’t count and I can apply for my own Gold card or the new ARCC card with the bonus?

    • Genghis says:
      9 Oct9 October 08:38

      Yes. Being a supp affects nothing

      • Trevor says:
        9 Oct9 October 08:46

        Thank you. Somebody has just asked me to book and pay for some flights for them [not computer savvy] and that will trigger the 20,000 bonus. Excellent news.

    • John says:
      9 Oct9 October 09:14

      This question gets asked almost every day, maybe the wording in the articles should make this clearer

      • Carlos says:
        9 Oct9 October 10:22

        Hopefully this question doesn’t get asked every day! Others have mentioned that they’ve taken out supp cards during the application process of the Gold Amex but then noticed that Amex offers bonus avios for taking out a supp once the card has arrived. Does Amex offer a similar sweetener for BAPP cards? I’m due to refer my wife for a BAPP but wanted to know whether I should hold off on the supp card? Many thanks

        • Scott says:
          9 Oct9 October 11:06

          I can’t recall whether it was Gold or BAPP (suspect the latter), but I added my wife as a supp. cardholder at the application stage. A week or so later I got the bonus offer, for my FIRST supp. cardholder.
          I contacted Amex and asked, since I already had a supp, how was I supposed to qualify for this offer. They applied the bonus points there and then.

        • Rob says:
          9 Oct9 October 12:00

          I would hold off.

        • Tom says:
          9 Oct9 October 12:09

          Hopefully Rob’s “I would hold off” suggests that Amex might be doing a sup car bonus soon? I’d like to add my other half onto my Gold and BAPP for quick bonus before cancelling a card.

        • Roberto says:
          9 Oct9 October 15:26

          I recently held off getting a supp at the time of churning the Plat and waited six weeks before I got my 5000 MR email for adding a first supp.. Snapped it up.

          Oddly I applied for a supp on my BA Amex for my son a couple of days later and got 3000 BA miles for that too even though I have had another supp on my account since forever.

      • Rob says:
        9 Oct9 October 12:03

        Amex should make it clearer.

        I also get emailed at least once a week to ask whether the phrase “anyone with a Membership Rewards account cannot have a bonus” means BA Amex cards too.

  • RussellH says:
    9 Oct9 October 10:32

    Comparing the free BA Amex with the free American Express Rewards Credit Card, the BA sign-up is more useful, if you are already collecting Avios.

    It is also useful for keeping an overall Amex a/c live if you wanted to churn the American Express Rewards Credit Card (assuming that this will be possible).

    I accept that the PRG Amex is more lucrative to churn, but the targets on the American Express Rewards Credit Card are much more attainable.

  • Michael says:
    9 Oct9 October 10:34

    OT but re. Nectar points. Does anyone know if there is a limit to the number of Nectar points you can use when there is a promotion making them worth 1p on eBay?

    • Andrew M says:
      9 Oct9 October 10:42

      More often than not (these days). Normally only, say, 1500 or 3000 points. Pretty poor if sitting on a huge stash.

    • Rob says:
      9 Oct9 October 11:59

      Half your balance, because what they do is make you redeem them at 0.5p per point and then give you 50% of them back as a bonus 4 weeks later.

      So …. you redeem 40,000 points for £200 of ebay credit but, a month later, you get rebated 20,000 points back. You can’t empty out your account this way.

  • Nate1309 says:
    9 Oct9 October 11:38

    The ARCC gets a love of “ooooo’s” and “wows” being see through.

  • alex says:
    9 Oct9 October 21:08

    Hi,

    confused on the signup bonus if you already have a card…. I have just received the 30,000 nectar points bonus, could i cancel and still get he 20,000 preferred rewards gold bonus?

    • Rob says:
      9 Oct9 October 21:14

      Yes, you’re fine. You don’t even need to cancel Nectar.

      • alex says:
        9 Oct9 October 21:20

        Thanks, my wife has the BA premium card so once we have activated the 2-4-1 i will go for the premium gold

  • John Gallagher says:
    10 Oct10 October 08:07

    Couldn’t find a thread to post this so will post here:
    I get 3 x spend (instead of 2 everywhere else) at Hilton hotels with HH uk credit card.
    I have 14 nights of ancillariy spend coming up outside of the Uk that I would normally put through my Curve which is linked to my HH CC.
    I assume doing it this way would only generate 2 x spend?

  • Ray says:
    10 Oct10 October 21:13

    O/T – Just received my Amex Gold Charge Card and wondered if I should set up a new online account for it or see if I can link it to my BAPP online account. Can’t find anything to back up my next statement but I think I might see different offers if I have 2 online accounts or am I dreaming? Wouldn’t be the first time 🙂

    • Swad Wolf says:
      10 Oct10 October 21:27

      I have both of these cards on the same online account and I receive different offers on each card so you should be ok.

    • Johnny_c-l says:
      10 Oct10 October 21:31

      You can add it to your existing account via the ‘card management’ menu along the top. You’ll then have the option to view the offers for this card (in addition to your BA card).

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

New to Head for Points?

Welcome!  We’re the UK’s most-read source of business travel, Avios, frequent flyer and hotel loyalty news. Let us improve how you travel. Got any questions? Ask them in our forums.

Latest Forum Posts

Get 40,000 bonus points (worth 40,000 Avios) and £300 dining credit with The Platinum Card

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

See a whole year of reward seat availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

Get £10 when you spend £150 on your free Currensea card

Booking a luxury hotel?

Our luxury hotel booking service offers you GUARANTEED extra benefits over booking direct. Works with Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz Carlton, St Regis and more. We've booked £1.7 million of rooms to date. Click for details.

SME? SPECIAL OFFER TO 12TH MAY EARN POINTS WORTH 30,000 AVIOS WITH CAPITAL ON TAP

Get 20,000 bonus points, four airport lounge passes and your first year free with American Express Gold

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.

Got it!