Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Get 500 – 1,000 bonus Avios with all short-haul British Airways flights this Autumn

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I get the feeling that British Airways is worried about the impact of the Avios devaluation on its leisure business.  When you are earning just 125 Avios points each way for a European flight in economy, it is hardly an incentive to turn to British Airways if another carrier is cheaper or more convenient.

BA has launched a new promotion, aimed at the leisure market, which will give you bonus Avios points for every flight you take this Autumn.

The net result is that you will almost – but not quite – be in the same earning position as you would have been before the devaluation.

You will earn 500 bonus Avios points for every return short-haul flight you take from September 1st to December 13th.

If you are flying to Spain, the Balearic Islands or the Canary Islands, you will receive 1,000 bonus Avios.

British Airways, Iberia and Iberia Express flights count as long as your journey starts in the UK.  Domestic flights are included.

The snag is that you must book your flight by July 31st.  This means that the offer will have limited value to the business market.

You must also pre-register or you will not receive the bonus.  You can register via this link.

This isn’t the greatest offer I’ve ever seen, but it does mean that you will earn at least 750 Avios points for every return flight you take during the period.

Don’t forget to register by clicking here – it is best to do it now before you forget.


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 (43)

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

  • JQ says:

    I’ve decided to only fly BA to Europe if I can redeem, or if part of an ex-Europe trip.

  • GUWonder says:

    When nearly four-fifths (80%) of short-haul, intra-Europe flight traffic and nearly two-thirds of intercontinental European flight traffic is leisure-related, losing out on the loyalty of short-haul leisure travelers may be risky business strategy for European carriers, and yet the EU legacy majors all seem to have jumped on board the bandwagon of a reduced mileage scheme for most customers.

  • Scott says:

    I’ve already got the flights I require booked during that period so won’t get any bonus Avios as you can claim retrospectively.

  • rossmacd says:

    Only UK based BAEC accounts are eligible for this offer

  • James67 says:

    Frankly BA screwed up big time with their RFS changes from the regions and they will get what they deserve. Combined with reduced earning rates, they have risked loss of a lot of goodwill, loyalty and a route to reducing avios liability; easyjet and ryanair must be laughing all the way to the bank. From EDI I no longer see any point changing at any LON airport for flights to Europe that are unavailable direct. SAS offers a much better option with inexpensive ow and rtn fares, baggage included and transit airports that rarely suffer the drama that is LHR. Then there is LH, AF, KL and many others to choose from. And the biggest eye opener of all was getting off an EY Y flight in BKK recently feeling in better shape than I usually do after 12 hours in BA CW so BA longhaul is almost a lost cause too. By next spring I imagine my BA travels will be over execepting a few bits and pieces that may still come their wat courtesy of tesco and cc churning, however, even those miles will more likely benefit their partners on intraAsia flights.

  • Phillip says:

    I’m not so sure that BA is worried about the Avios devaluations. Plus, what proportion of leisure travellers is in tune with what the changes really mean, even if they did realise that changes have taken place? I’d say not many. Just looking at the proportion of leisure travellers that are not even members of the BAEC makes me think BA is not particularly worried.

    • Rob says:

      They want the money from Tesco and Amex. That will dry up if leisure passengers don’t collect. It is essential for the profitability of Avios that people want to collect who don’t fly much.

      • Polly says:

        So many people I speak to about avios, are totally not interested. Just can’t be bothered to study it nor collect. They tune out, even though they are impressed we fly F now and again. However, my thoughts are, BA are just not interested in the leisure traveller in Y. It’s a huge amount of admin, and I think the BIZ community are fed up not being able to get avios availability. So BA are basically giving the biz pax what they want. Back to the original program that avios started out as, reward loyalty. End of!
        We are doing this QR J now in oct to try it one last time. If this works ex EU, from CPH, we will aim for one F a year on 241, plus an ex EU OW J every 2nd year to keep our BAEC silver going. With a couple of city breaks, which we love, to get us to silver of course.

      • lucas says:

        Raffles, could you explain that point? I was not aware of the dynamic there and am not sure I understand it… Thanks

        • Raffles says:

          Avios collected from BA flights bring in no money for BA and cost it money when redeemed.

          Avios from Tesco, Amex etc are bought for cash and make BA a profit on redemption. All partners pay more than, say, the 0.58p you get for a hotel redemption.

          • Phillip says:

            With that I agree, and that is exactly my point. They’re trying to entice people to book flights by giving away bonus Avios which makes them no money, yet we’ve seen no conversion bonuses in the UK for a while, other than for purchasing Avios. I can’t help but feel that Avios is currently so ubiquitous in ways of earning, that they make enough money anyway, so they’re not worried. There isn’t really any other airline currency that is “cheaper” for redemptions on European flights from the UK. Plus, I’ve always seen the RFS more about gaining momentum in the domestic US market which they don’t serve, than being nice to their European base which they serve extensively.

  • Phillip says:

    I do, however, find the emphasis on Spain quite interesting! Why the push?

  • Andy says:

    Will be interesting if easyjet ever start flying from LHR.

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