Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

The Avios changes are live – post your ba.com comments and observations here

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The major changes to the Avios scheme went live at midnight last night.

I didn’t do an article today because I want to see how the actual changes compare to what we believed British Airways was planning, given that some of what they announced was vague or open to interpretation.

Avios wing 8

Please post any comments or observations below. I will put together an article tomorrow.

Here are a couple of quick ones that I saw on a brief trot through the site:

Peak and off-peak dates for BA redemptions are now available up to April 2016Go here and click ‘Working Out The Cost’

This comment which appears all over the site makes no sense: “You will not be able to benefit from off-peak prices if you fly with two or more oneworld partners, or British Airways plus two or more oneworld partners”.  The plan – which, looking at the pricing, has been carried through – is that peak pricing applies if you fly with ONE oneworld partner, as long as it isn’t BA.

More feedback welcome.


How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

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:

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

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

25,000 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 – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a 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

Huge 30,000 points bonus until 12th May 2024 Read our full review

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.

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

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

40,000 points sign-up bonus 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 (112)

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

  • Jac says:

    Does anybody know what is the availability on BA and Iberia when booking with one world partners?
    Are seats only released / made available on non peak dates or can you book with other FF programs peak and non peak dates at the same cost with same availability ?

  • Modern Day Sinbad says:

    It would be interesting to know how many Avios were burnt in the run up to 28 April. I redeemed 240k in the two hours before the deadline, booking C tickets on AY, CX, and MH flights.

  • fiona says:

    I booked CW to Buenos Aires on the 27th. (Actually it was CW/WT but phoned on the 28th to change return date to 16th and get CW).I did have an issue where I was told( on the 28th) that they had undercharged the amount of miles for the booking. Even when she asked her supervisor, the reply was the same. I had to repeat that they were wrong and had to explain that the redemption rates were less the day before. Eventually they admitted that I was right. Pretty bad that even the supervisor was aware of the change.
    I want to thank Rob as OH now has the bonus 22k miles and he has just referred me( well I actually I referred myself!) and his 9k hit his account on the day I got my card. Now we just have to work out when he gets rid of his. Any chance of the new lounge opening up in T5 by beginning of July?

  • fiona says:

    Should have said my booking was with a 241

    • fiona says:

      and for next April!! Trust me to rush out a post and not check it through!

  • mundanespecies925.yolasite.com says:

    mundanespecies925.yolasite.com

    The Avios changes are live – post your ba.com comments and observations here

  • OttoMH says:

    Hi Raffles,

    One observation from this evening… I am based in the regions (MAN) and was looking for a TXL positioning flight, unfortunately only managed to book it after April foolish day. Toying with a drive to LHR or a very expensive MAN redemption (18k ow 2 pax) or a very expensive paid ticket (£155pp) I discovered Flybe from BHX to TXL for 9k Avios and £65, ow 2 persons. It looks like Flybe could be better value for regional travellers going to European destinations.

    OttoMH

    • Rob says:

      That is a decent result. The problem with Flybe is that the route network is very varied and not all flights are available for redemption so it is difficult to write about it easily.

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

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