Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Forget the Avios changes for now – just get booking!

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In what is clearly a co-ordinated plan by British Airways, they announced massive changes to British Airways Executive Club just minutes after I boarded an eight hour flight.

They forgot, though, that just because BA does not have wi-fi it does not mean that no airlines have wi-fi.  One up to Etihad.

Avios wing 8

I will do a full analysis of the changes for tomorrow.  My wife is away on business so a very late night will not lead to any marital disharmony.

In the short term, ie today, FORGET ABOUT THEM.

Because BA has released tens of thousands of Club World and World Traveller seats overnight, you have NEVER had a better chance of getting the redemption you want.

Fuss about the BAEC changes tomorrow.  Today, dust off that Amex 2-4-1 voucher and get something booked.


How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (December 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:

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.

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

Huge 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, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) and NO FX fees 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.

American Express Business Platinum

50,000 points when you sign-up 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

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

Comments (178)

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

  • Tim says:

    I await the analysis but it cetainly appears that RFS has been effectively closed down for the vast majority of Britain. An overnight doubling in the RFS fee, after a very major hike recently already, and that from the previous zero fee under Airmiles, plus a hefty penalty in Avios for a ‘regional’ (sic) departure is two fingers up to most of Britaiin. BA should be stripped of their name. They should not be allowed the effective ‘British’ franchise without serving Britain. Better to give it to easyJet who do far more effectively with frequent, direct flights, lower fares than the new RFS regime and a more generous hand kuggage allowance.

    The only remaining value of Avios is with the lower tax One World partners on long haul in upper cabins. It is time to clear out the balance and move on.

    Thanks for the ride Raffles. It was fun while it lasted.

    Tim.

    • BallSack says:


      The only remaining value of Avios is with the lower tax One World partners on long haul in upper cabins. It is time to clear out the balance and move on.

      My conclusion too. I wonder if the BA-stards are expecting to be hit with having to dramatically reduce their outrageous fuel surcharges soon and as such are trying to compensate in advance.

      I doubt it though, if they reduce those surcharges by a large amount I wouldn’t be surprised if we see another hike in Avios redemption costs.

      • nick says:

        Those redemptions will, of course, all be based on the peak-time rate card.

        I really feel for people in the regions. Some of you will have spent a lot more money with BA than me here in London (lowly blue), but I actually benefit from these changes whereas you are effectively frozen out of the scheme. A bizarre way to run a “loyalty” programme, but that’s BA for you.

  • BallSack says:

    I doubt this very, very much but perhaps its a pre-cursor to having to reduce the fuel surcharges by 50% soon ?

    Just a thought, but I think that’s giving the greedy BA-stards a bit too much credit.

    This is definitely a huge devaluation of benefits prior to a new owner taking over the Avios scheme.

  • cpdc1030 says:

    Just seen the email – totally gutted. I have been very loyal to BA and have given them almost 100% of my business over the past few years.

    The reality is that most businesses now book travelers on discounted economy tickets, it’s not just leisure travelers.

    I will now be moving my business elsewhere. Flew AC 787 LHR-YYZ in J (not intentionally – BA rebooked me due to a delay). Completely blows Club World out of the water. 1-2-1 seating instead of 2-3-2 and the soft product is on par.

    Have one more Amex 2-4-1 to burn and then I need to consider how to best earning rewards – Amex cards will be cancelled shortly (except for the free MBNA Diamond Club card which is free).

  • Chris says:

    I have no doubt Virgin won’t be following suit pretty soon.

    • James67 says:

      They will have to do something in response to BA economy off peak. Frankly, I expect they will devale UC, but somewhat less than BA.

    • Chris says:

      will be following I meant

  • BallSack says:

    If I could use Avios for taxi fares I’d start burning them up travelling to & from the likes of Stanstead & Luton now for the lower cost airlines, which in the economy cabin short haul are pretty much the same as BA.
    Just take some nice noise cancelling headphones, some snack of your choice and a cushion for your back and its practically BA – except for when you get twenty drunken, screeching women off on a hed-do. Christ.

  • Cheshire Pete says:

    Well obviously as a Manchester flyer it’s the final boot from BA. People forget the domestic was never ‘free’, it simply used up one if your Legs. That used to be 3 per sector then 2 when Avios came along and now obviously just 1.

    As others have said just going to burn my last 2 for 1 then it’s back to regional flights for me.

    Bye bye “London Airways”

    • BallSack says:

      Yep, anyone north of Watford would be best placed to find a new airline & loyalty scheme.

  • Sebastian says:

    I’ve just got one word to say – Goodnight

    • BallSack says:

      Its only a good night if you’re in a first class flat bed and that just got much harder to do with Avios

      🙂

  • Volker says:

    Some of the comments here are really doom and gloom – this is not the end of reasonably-priced premium travel. I feel a bit sorry for Raffles who will probably have a busy time ahead on his mission to make our hobby more accessible to others.

    Living in the regions, the biggest disadvantage to me is probably the changes to domestic feeders, but there are still some pretty cheap ways of getting to London. I’ve been burning hundreds of thousands of Avios on Club Europe flights (which I do enjoy) rather than premium long-haul, and as I usually travel on Tuesdays and Wednesdays (which are “off peak” all year) my hobby seems to have become even cheaper as those flights will require less Avios than today.

    • James67 says:

      The problem is we tend to factor in only the price of the redemption when the true cost is the price of collection plus the price of redemptions. For many here collection has not been cost-free, for example, games preorders. I have serious doubt as to whether there will be any remaining good value longhaul premium redemptions after the changes for most of us given reduced earning potential from flying (and what if tesco goes?) and the typical 50% and 25% increase in avios required for CW and F respectively. Whether you consider it reasonable ultimately depends what you compare it against and whether the avios you collected were really free (such as from work travel). For example, is £600-700 plus 180000 avios return J to say HKG or BKK reasonable when compared to a £1500 return J sale fare with AY that also earns you avios and TP, or a typical £1300 with China Airlines?89 Similar examples abound including the recent sub €1000 KLM offers. As I commented in the other post today care is needed to ensure we are not conned by BAEC and other such schemes. All that said, even after the changes, avios still looks good in comparison to some others but we should be wary of just accepting such a kick in the teeth and continuing to follow the program like sheep. There are also many unknowns if avios is sold off as seems very likely. May be a pesimist but I don’t foresee much in the way of positive changes then.

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