Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Up to 30% bonus when you buy Avios in August – but cheaper via Iberia

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British Airways has launched another ‘buy Avios’ promotion, offering a bonus of up to 30% for purchases before 31st August. The link to buy is here.

Frankly, this is not an impressive deal. The bonus on 1,000 Avios is nothing – despite costing a rip-off £31. The bonus on 2,000 to 6,000 is just 5%. You need to spend £447 on 27,000 Avios to benefit from the full 8,100 Avios bonus.  Even at this level, you are paying 1.27p per point which I consider high.

Avios wing 6

Of course, if you just need a few Avios to top off your account to reach a specific redemption target then it is a different matter.

Iberia Plus has also launched its own ‘buy Avios’ promotion, see here for further details.  (If a Spanish page comes up, change the language in the top left corner and then, if necessary, click through again.)

Note that you need to log-in to see details of the bonus offer. Without logging in, the page just shows the standard pricing.

At the top end, you will be paying Euro 665 for 45,500 Avios (35,000 + 30%). That works out slightly cheaper than the ba.com deal at 1.16p per Avios, based on £529. You would need to add a 3% foreign exchange fee to this price if your credit card has one.

This is clearly a slightly better price even with the FX credit card fee.  However, you must have been an Iberia Plus member for 90 days before you can transfer Avios across to a BA account.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (March 2025)

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:

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

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

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

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review

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 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

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, and the standard card is FREE. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review

There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business

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

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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 8th April 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Business Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to 120,000 points. You receive 80,000 points when you spend £12,000 within three months and a further 40,000 points if you spend on the card between Month 14 and Month 17. Points convert 1:1 into Avios and many other programmes. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 8th April 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Business Gold is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 60,000 points. You receive 40,000 points when you spend £6,000 within three months and a further 20,000 points if you spend on the card between Month 14 and Month 17. Points convert 1:1 into Avios and many other programmes. Click here to apply.

American Express Business Platinum

Up to 120,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

Up to 60,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

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

Category

British Airways and Avios, Iberia and Iberia Plus

Comments (16)

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

  • JK says:
    12 Aug12 August 07:16

    @Raffles, do you think it’s worth it to spend a few bob on some avios in order to hit a spending target on one of my cards?

    • JQ says:
      12 Aug12 August 07:58

      Only if you have no other way of getting the avios, and you need them very soon, and there are no gift cards / vouchers you could buy, whether they are 3v, amazon, high street or supermarket ones…

    • Percy Pig says:
      12 Aug12 August 08:03

      JK, I don’t think so. I think it’s better to by sterling travellers cheques to be honest. Raffles details it in one of his posts, but in brief:

      1) You can buy sterling travellers cheques through Amex currency exchange and if you buy them on an Amex issued (BA gold plat spg etc) card it is treated as a purchase not and advance
      2) if you spend over £500 (that’s over, not £500 or more) delivery is free. There is a 1.5% charge.
      3) therefore if you order £550 it will cost you £8.25 in fees. With the BA PP card you will get 837 avios offsetting this at 1p/avios. With a card that gives you 1 point per £ you’ll get 558 points
      4) you pay the £550 in travellers cheques directly into your own bank when they arrive. The whole deal has cost you £8.25.

      • Erico1875 says:
        12 Aug12 August 08:11

        Genius, Percy Pig. Could you do this for the whole spend target, ie if you needed to spend 3 k in 2 months?

        • Polly says:
          12 Aug12 August 08:38

          Please don’t push this option, it should be a very last resort. A lot of banks are now NOT accepting TC s into accounts. Be careful. Best to do it on an odd occasion if you need to hit a genuine target. Do try to use your card for other things like pre payment of bills, all food and petrol the usual. You could buy a mix of currency, eg if you need euros and TC s then put them into one order.

      • JK says:
        12 Aug12 August 08:14

        Cheers for the tip PP, I already did this on both my amex plat and BA Amex. But I have an account with HSBC who have now stopped accepting TC’s.

        Does anyone reading this know of a UK bank account or other service where a fellow points hound could get face value for sterling TCs?

        Thanks

        JK

      • squills says:
        12 Aug12 August 09:05

        Purchases of Sterling Travellers Cheques online are not eligible to collect Avios – see my other reference below. Happy to be proven wrong.

      • Rob says:
        12 Aug12 August 09:30

        Cashing them in has got a lot harder recently. HSBC, as I posted in June, no longer accepts them. Not sure which banks do.

        • Percy Pig says:
          12 Aug12 August 18:38

          Squills, I’m not talking about the avios collected via travelmoneynow (which as you say does not apply to sterling TCs), I’m talking about the avios/MRs for the actual spend through your card.

          Nationwide still happily accept them.

    • Tim says:
      12 Aug12 August 10:13

      For hitting spending targets – Amazon vouchers and Waitrose and Sainbury vouchers have been what I have done.

    • Andrew S says:
      12 Aug12 August 10:46

      JK – I and a lot of others have been unable to buy any currency/TC`s on cards within the bonus window. AMEX insist the card must be active for 6 months before any like-cash purchases (TC`s) can be made. Each card is treated as an individual, so the fact you have held other cards for several years has no bearing.

      Note Tesco gift cards can be used for Petrol.

  • squills says:
    12 Aug12 August 09:03

    The following is in the terms and conditions that suggests only Sterling Travellers Cheques are excluded:

    Collect 1 Avios per £1 spent* on foreign currency when you present your Executive Club Membership number when ordering online. Your Avios will be added to your account within 40 calendar days.Note you will not collect Avios on the purchase or sale of Sterling Travellers Cheques unless purchased using foreign currency in person at one of our bureau locations.* This promotion is valid on foreign exchange transactions only and is subject to minimum and maximum order amounts. Purchases of Sterling Travellers Cheques online are not eligible to collect Avios. Avios are awarded by British Airways.

    • Polly says:
      12 Aug12 August 11:15

      I agree with tim and all, just stick to buying gift cards for the stores you use ie tesco Sainsburys everyone really, as they cover both food and petrol. And of course call up to per pay your utilities, many of them accept amex. TC s are a more difficult route now.

      • Dave says:
        12 Aug12 August 18:44

        Which utilities accept Amex?

        • Polly says:
          13 Aug13 August 00:01

          You have to try paying in your on line account, or call them up and see if they accept an advance payment with amex..orange, b gas,,t mobile, try your own and see….

  • Alastair says:
    12 Aug12 August 22:24

    Does anyone know when the Iberia buy Avios promotion ends?

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