New Avios spending opportunities – Malaysia Airlines joins oneworld on 1 February

Malaysia Airlines has confirmed this week that it will be joining BA in the oneworld alliance on 1st February next year.

From this date, you will be able to earn and spend Avios on Malaysia Airlines flights. This opens up some interesting opportunities to think about.

Kuala Lumpur is, oddly, a city not currently served by British Airways despite its strong presence elsewhere in Asia. It has been rumoured to be coming in recent years, although BA may now settle for a codeshare deal on Malaysia’s flights from London instead.

The first thing to look forward to is the A380. Malaysia Airlines began to receive its A380’s this year, and launched them on the Heathrow to Kuala Lumpur route in August. From November 24th, both of its Heathrow flights each day will be on A380’s. 

If you are the sort of person who hates paying tax on their Avios redemptions, you will be pleased to hear that Malaysia will also be running A380’s on the Paris to Kuala Lumpur route from 1st March 2013. This would allow you to book a cheap single ticket to Paris and avoid the UK Air Passenger Duty of £188 (new rate from 1st April 2013) for a business class ticket.

Malaysia’s entry to oneworld opens up other options as well. Malaysia has a decent service to Australasia, serving Sydney, Perth, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane and Auckland looking at the route map.

You can’t, of course, use a BA Amex 2-4-1 voucher on Malaysia Airlines. Apart from that, though, it looks like it will be a valuable addition to Avios redemption options.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2024)

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.

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.

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.

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.