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Get 1,000 bonus Avios with Amex Currency Exchange this Christmas

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UPDATE – JUNE 2025:  This is an old article, and the credit card information given is likely to be out of date.

To learn about current credit card bonuses, benefits, terms and interest rate information, take a look at our directory of the top UK travel credit card offers – please click HERE or use the ‘Credit Cards’ menu above.  Thank you.

Keep up to date with new UK credit card bonuses by signing up for our free daily or weekly newsletters.

With the Christmas travel period approaching, American Express Foreign Exchange Services is running a special bonus.

When you order foreign currency via the Amex Currency Exchange website you will receive 1,000 bonus Avios when you exchange over £600.  This is in addition to the standard 1 Avios per £1.

Remember that Amex no longer has any foreign exchange booths at Heathrow so this will only work for home delivery.  The only airport offering collection is Birmingham International.

There is an extra perk with using Amex for your foreign currency.

If you charge your purchase to an Amex-issued American Express card (BA, SPG, Nectar, Gold, Green, Platinum etc) it will be treated as a purchase.  This means that you will receive points for the credit card spend and it will count towards any Amex sign-up bonus.

Every time I write about this, someone rings Amex because this is the opposite of what Amex states in their rules and they do not believe me.  Amex tells the caller that I am wrong.  I am not.

You can only pay with your Amex card if it is set up to undertake cash transactions, eg cash withdrawals.  If your card is new then, for security reasons, American Express may not yet have activated this function on your card.  You are also limited to the amount shown on your statement as “Available cash limit” which is usually 20% of your credit limit.

Remember that Amex offers a poorer exchange rate via the Avios website above than it does at its main website so make sure that the Avios are worth the extra cost.  These are NOT free Avios.

The ‘1000 bonus Avios’ promotion runs until 18th December.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (June 2025)

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 Card

30,000 Avios and the famous annual Companion Voucher voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express Credit Card

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 Credit Card

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

50,000 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 points worth 0.8 Avios per £1 on the FREE standard card and 1 Avios per £1 on the Pro card. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 0.8 Avios per £1 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 Card

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.

The American Express Business Platinum Card

50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

The American Express Business Gold Card

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 (52)

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

  • James67 says:
    8 Dec8 December 05:19

    So this is a minimum 2200 avios (1000 bonus + 600 for currency + 600 for credit card) for a £600 exchange? Just curious as I do not recall getting avios for my first exchange, i probably used their regular site which is probably different from their ba site.

    • Phillip says:
      8 Dec8 December 07:55

      No, you only get 600 for the credit card. You don’t get points for the exchange itself. So in this case, you get 1600 for £600 of currency.

      • Owain says:
        8 Dec8 December 09:48

        What makes you think one wouldn’t get points for the exchange? The website states ‘Collect 1 Avios for every £1 you exchange’.

        • harry says:
          8 Dec8 December 19:40

          As you could pay with a Visa/MC and still get bonus 1000 Avios + 1 Avios per £, it stands to reason the Amex card MR points on the spend will be on top

    • Rob says:
      8 Dec8 December 09:26

      ‘Different’ = cheaper, of course!

  • harry says:
    8 Dec8 December 06:46

    Compare what you get vs other providers

  • tony says:
    8 Dec8 December 07:16

    EUR rate still pretty good. You’ll maybe pay 50p per £100 extra, so on a £600 txn that’s £3 for 2200 Avios. Suspect most people would be buyers there…

    • tony says:
      8 Dec8 December 07:17

      And remember that as a purchase, you’re going to get an interest free loan on the money for 4-7 weeks, as well.

      • tony says:
        8 Dec8 December 07:19

        Sorry – make that £1.50 per £100, so £9 for 2200 Avios, but you still have that free loan to benefit from as well.

  • Phillip says:
    8 Dec8 December 07:56

    I have used this a number of times and I can vouch for what Rob is saying – it is treated as a purchase!

  • Aliks says:
    8 Dec8 December 08:24

    Amex: £750 buys $1103.30
    ICE Waterloo £750 buys $1125.00

    So using Amex is costing me $22 or approx £14.67
    My Avios earnings would be 1000 + 750 +750 = 2500

    So I am buying Avios at .58p each. Not stunning but worthwhile.
    However, we ought to allow a slice of the welcome bonus to be counted.
    The Amex Plat bonus is 44,000 for a spend of £2,000 so that means 16500 Avios earned.
    £14.67 to buy 19000 Avios means 0.08p each – a bargain

    • harry says:
      8 Dec8 December 13:58

      I like it but unfortunately reject your argument about the plat 🙂

      MS is not difficult to achieve.

  • Gavin says:
    8 Dec8 December 09:25

    Is this just for orders completed and collected / delivered by 18th dec or can the order be placed and a rate locked in?

    I don’t fly from BHX until 29th dec, so not sure if I can take advantage. 1000 bonus avios would sure soften the blow of making my Ryanair debut to start my ex-EU

    Delivery option doesn’t work for me as work does not allow ANY personal deliveries

    • bill says:
      8 Dec8 December 10:51

      at present the ordering process allows you to select as far ahead as the 22 dec.

      • Gavin says:
        8 Dec8 December 12:31

        Thanks could be an option, need to suss out properly as on phone on flaky GWR wifi

    • Rob says:
      8 Dec8 December 11:25

      Surprised more firms don’t do this. At my wifes place they have had to set aside a specific room just to store deliveries for staff!

      • Alan says:
        8 Dec8 December 13:50

        Wow that’s pretty good of them! All Amazon deliveries were banned where I worked before (they’d refuse to accept them), along with anything that was clearly personal. As a result I became a big fan of the parcel locker and delivery to local shops options!

        • The_Real_A says:
          8 Dec8 December 21:00

          Amazon are now offering free delivery to corner shops/petrol stations which i used for the first time last week. Very convenient and it will our warehouse mans wroth.

          • Alan says:
            8 Dec8 December 21:46

            Yep, they also use that same network for returns – fantastic setup!

          • Lady London says:
            9 Dec9 December 23:46

            I tested it with a nearby sub-post office. It’s open daily till midnight which is useful.

            Sadly the promised Amazon bonus for testing this new service out, did not materialise.

          • harry says:
            10 Dec10 December 06:40

            Amazon customer service is pretty good. I have gone on Chat for a few problems and they credit you £10 a/c balance at the drop of a hat (if you deserve recompense or something went wrong).

  • Sussex Bantam says:
    8 Dec8 December 10:11

    My maths was easy – Amex rate for £600 = 808 Euro. Best rate offered on MSE comparison site 812 Euro. Extra cost 4 Euro for 2200 Avios…

    (I could have got a better rate by using one of the small firms and paying by bank transfer but that seems fraught with risk to me…)

    • Aliks says:
      8 Dec8 December 12:43

      ICE Waterloo is offering 825 Euro for £600 – no bank transfers involved.

      • David says:
        8 Dec8 December 13:41

        So, 17 EUR (12.53 GBP) for 2200 Avios. Not bad. Obviously every £1 above £600 spend makes it worse

      • Sussex Bantam says:
        8 Dec8 December 16:36

        Only for collection though as far as I can see – for delivery its about the same rate as Amex.

  • Steve says:
    8 Dec8 December 13:49

    Can you order £600 to collect the 1600 Avios then do it again to collect another 1600 Avios or is it a one time offer does anybody know? Basically looking to spend £1200 on euros ( away in March) to complete my signup bonus 🙂 any ideas welcome

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