No BA On Business points if you don’t have a VAT number – the change they never told you about
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On Business, the British Airways loyalty scheme for small companies, was ‘restructured’ on May 27th.
The net result was to make the scheme more lucrative for purchasers of premium tickets and less lucrative for buyers of cheaper tickets, as well as making it harder for every member to earn enough points for premium class tickets. I wrote more about the changes here.
When you first logged in to the new On Business website, you would have been faced with a page which asked for your VAT number, if it was not already in your profile. You could skip past this if you didn’t have a VAT number to hand.
Over the last few days, the reason for this has become apparent.
British Airways is no longer awarding On Business points to entities which do not have a VAT number.
Flight bookings made before May 27th are still OK but new bookings will not receive any points.
It is important to note that this requirement does not appear anywhere in the On Business terms and conditions or on its website.
It was brought to my attention by a priest and HfP reader who runs a religious charity. His role involves extensive travel and the charity earns and redeems On Business points to keep down its flight costs.
Charities do not register for VAT unless they have retail operations, in which case the retail arm is ring-fenced and has a separate VAT registration. This charity is now de-facto barred from On Business.
Many small businesses may not have a VAT number if they do not have the circa £80,000 turnover required to make it a legal requirement. You might argue that, under the new On Business earning structure, such companies are wasting their time with the programme anyway as they will never earn enough for a reward – but that should be up to the company.
There is a published register of VAT numbers, so making one up in order to get On Business off your back is unfortunately not an option.
British Airways is, of course, entitled to set whatever rules it likes for On Business membership. Changing the rules in secret, however, is just stupid. At the very least, this change should have been prominently announced as part of the upgrade and non-VAT entities given a grace period in which to obtain registration or spend their points before their account was closed.

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (May 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. You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard
25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher for spending £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard
5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher for spending £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 UK’s most valuable card perk – the 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 £12,000 Read our full review
You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points.
The Platinum Card has doubled its sign-up bonus to 60,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert to 60,000 Avios, if you apply by 1st June 2022.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold
Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & two airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express
60,000 points (SPECIAL OFFER) and an unbeatable set of travel 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 10,000 Avios.

Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa
10,500 points bonus – the most generous Avios Visa for a limited company 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 a long list of travel benefits 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.
(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.)
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