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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 14th January 2025, the sign-up bonus on ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is increased to 30,000 Membership Rewards points. This converts into 30,000 Avios. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 14th January 2025, the sign-up bonus on The Platinum Card from American Express is increased to 80,000 Membership Rewards points. This converts into 80,000 Avios! The spend requirement is changed to £10,000 in six months for this offer. 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

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.

Category

British Airways and Avios

Comments (178)

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

  • cpdc1030 says:
    28 Jan28 January 17:05

    Do you think AA would offer a status match for Exec Club members? I’m not very hopeful but going to give it a try.

    Seems like AA is now the best option for earning/burning miles in the UK – especially with the Etihad redemption option and the free MBNA AAdvantage card. Any thoughts?

    • Rob says:
      28 Jan28 January 18:10

      Matches within alliances are frowned upon in general.

    • Polly says:
      29 Jan29 January 03:07

      It’s a complete no no, even when asking for a match from outside OW, they will only offer you a challenge, which really means book all your flights with them!

  • BallSack says:
    28 Jan28 January 17:07

    Hey Raffles, which partner redemptions with Avios will be the best to book up now before the changes to charging us the higher peak amounts in business & first kick in on April 28th ?

    Some unusual exotic destinations perhaps ?

  • Steve says:
    28 Jan28 January 17:08

    Agree 100%– Christmas was LHR»BOS and YYZ»LHR in slightly suboptimal flights, now nailed down exactly as I would have wished… paid £70 to change but will get £20 of tax back and 20k avios back. Just done. Very pleased with that. Will worry about the other changes later… every change throws up a new arbitrage of some sort.

    Now if we could just get some availability into Cape Town…

  • Brendan says:
    28 Jan28 January 17:09

    The ironic thing is that the people who get the massive credit card bonuses in the US, massively inflating the pool of Avios in circulation, are the ones who are least affected by the changes. They still get to use the sweet spot low tax redemptions on AA. BA sort of sticking the fingers up to people who actually fly on their planes.

    • BallSack says:
      28 Jan28 January 17:33

      That’s really true. The domestic U.S. redemptions are incredible value and pennies in charges.

  • BallSack says:
    28 Jan28 January 17:13

    I feel the need to do a few Amex currency purchases on my BAPP to speed this along nicely;

    ”
    To earn your Companion Voucher, spend £664 or more on purchases using your Card by 23 Apr 2015
    “

    • cpdc1030 says:
      28 Jan28 January 17:17

      Just burned my voucher – LHR-SYD had good availability in Club World but my partner didn’t have enough holiday to make it worthwhile. So we’ve “wasted” it on LHR-YYZ.

      Oh well, on to the next challenge. I do feel like a bit of a muppet for being so loyal to BA but to be fair we have got a lot out of them over the years.

    • Danny says:
      28 Jan28 January 20:46

      Or just being 4ward some tesco spend by buying their own giftcards in store…

  • Michael Scorer says:
    28 Jan28 January 17:16

    My son picked up on this earlier today so have managed to get two Club World seats to and from Sydney – using the 2-4-1 voucher as well !!! So I’ll not complain about these changes for now.

  • AmandaB says:
    28 Jan28 January 17:32

    I think this is a bit like the punch line to that old joke:-

    Well our (reward seats) are only 100,000 when we don’t have any……

    The point is, it doesn’t matter how much they ‘cost’ if there are none available. I have looked today and wish I had my next 2-4-1 in the bank. Lots of availability to lots of places…. and loads of points in the account to spend ‘cos up to now the availability was almost non-existent.

    • RIccati says:
      28 Jan28 January 23:31

      Yes, but it is a con. They were going to release those reward seats throughout the year. Now they just released them in bulk to sweeten the blow. When these seats are taken, what they change 2 CW per flight rule and give more reward seats later in the year?

      Next year, all bets are off the table re: availability.

  • matt says:
    28 Jan28 January 17:42

    I’d given up on redemption flights to Florida in late December, but thanks to Raffles’s suggestion, I’ve made good use of my 241 voucher to and from Orlando. So although there’s some coal here, Christmas has come very early for me. Cheers!

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

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