British Airways scraps shareholder discount – but other companies have not

If you held 200 shares in British Airways before it merged with Iberia to form IAG, you will have received a letter or email from BA advising you that the 10% shareholder discount is being stopped from January 31st.

This is not altogether surprising.  The benefit was never rolled over to IAG shareholders so the beneficiaries were an increasingly small number of people who were on the old British Airways share register in January 2011.

It was a particularly lucrative scheme whilst it lasted.  BA shares traded around £1.40 for much of time before the merger with Iberia which meant that you could buy into the shareholder discount for around £280.  

Ignoring the share price performance – which has been excellent – it was very easy for anyone buying premium tickets from their own pocket to get back the £280 very quickly.

It was never a great perk for economy ticket holders because the discount was based on the pre-taxes and charges price.

British Airways was not the only company to offer a decent shareholder discount.  This page on the Hargreaves Lansdown website gives a summary of companies who offered discounts as at September 2013.  The list includes Carnival, pub groups Fullers, Marstons and Greene King, Marks & Spencer, Irish Continental ferries, Mulberry, Next, Whitbread (Premier Inn) and Safestore.

There is one other group of people who receive a 10% discount on British Airways tickets – holders of the old bmi credit cards.  If you log on to the Diamond Club website you will see a special link which allows you to book flights whilst triggering the discount.  Luckily, for those of us who still have these cards, there is no sign of this deal going away.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (June 2022)

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.

Until 18th July 2022 there is an astonishing special offer on these cards. You get 50,000 Avios on the Avios Plus Mastercard and 10,000 Avios on the free Avios Mastercard. You can apply here. We strongly recommend getting the Avios Plus card whilst this offer is running.

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.

SPECIAL OFFER: The sign-up bonus on Amex Gold is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 Membership Rewards points until 19th July 2022. This card is free for the first year.

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 10,000 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.

(Want to earn more Avios?  Click here to visit our home page for our latest articles on earning and spending your Avios points and click here to see how to earn more Avios this month from offers and promotions.)