Update on upgrading travel agent tickets with Avios

Here is a quick update on my post from two weeks ago explaining how BA will now allow you to upgrade travel agent fares using Avios.

An interesting tweak has emerged since the soft launch.  This is the relevant rule:

Upgrading using Avios Points for Upgrade can only be applied to bookings which are made in the member’s Executive Club membership country.

What this means, for a lot of corporate travellers, is a problem.  It is very possible that your company travel agent is not based in the UK, or that you may be working abroad for a company which does ticket its travel here. 

In either case, you will not be able to upgrade your tickets even if you meet all of the other qualifying criteria.

Some people will find this easier to get around than others.  If you are working abroad for a UK company on assignment, simply change your British Airways Executive Club account back to a UK address and all will be well. 

What happens, though, when your employer has outsourced your travel booking to a group which uses a booking centre based in India?  You could change your BAEC account to a made-up address in India, but that is hardly practical!

There will be more to come on this, I’m sure.  In general, though, the new system seems to work OK.  My wife has a trip next week and instead of getting the message ‘You cannot upgrade this ticket’, she now sees ‘You cannot upgrade this ticket because it is in the wrong ticket category’ (which it is). 

I suppose that is progress of sorts.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (December 2023)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous 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:

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 9th January 2024, you will receive 30,000 Membership Rewards points (convertible to 30,000 Avios) with American Express Preferred Rewards Gold. You receive 25,000 points if you spend £3,000 in three months and a further 5,000 points if you hold the card for 15 months. You can apply here.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 9th January 2024, you will receive a huge 100,000 Membership Rewards points (convertible to 100,000 Avios) with The Platinum Card. You receive 75,000 points if you spend £10,000 in six months and a further 25,000 points if you hold the card for 15 months. You can apply here.

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital On Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.