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British Airways American Express sign-up bonuses increased to 9,000 & 25,000 Avios

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American Express has – yet again – increased the sign-up bonuses on the two British Airways American Express cards.

The Premium Plus version, with the £195 annual fee, now offers 25,000 Avios instead of 18,000 Avios. You must spend £3,000 within three months to receive the bonus.

The basic, free, card now offers 9,000 Avios instead of 3,000 Avios. You must spend £1,000 within three months to receive the bonus.

British Airways Premium Plus American Express

The representative APR on the Premium Plus card is 76.0% variable including the fee based on a £1200 credit limit. The representative APR on the free card is 22.9% variable.

My full review of the benefits of the Premium Plus card is here. Amex’s own home page is here.

My full review of the free card is here. This is actually the most improved deal jumping from 3,000 to 9,000 Avios. Amex’s own home page is here. Both reviews reflect these new bonuses and also include details of the higher ‘refer a friend’ bonus which is also available.

This increased bonus runs until 7th February 2017.  We are potentially heading into DFS sale territory here!  I am a little surprised that this deal was slipped out in the middle of August with little warning – it is possible that application volumes have fallen since the £195 fee was introduced.

Based on previous BA Amex promotions, there is a good chance that Virgin Atlantic will match this on its two credit cards in the next few days.


Want to earn more points from credit cards? – April 2024 update

If you are looking to apply for a new credit card, here are our top recommendations based on the current 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

You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the best of the other deals currently available.

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

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

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

18,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review

Earning miles and points from small business cards

If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers:

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

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

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

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

For a non-American Express option, we also recommend the Barclaycard Select Cashback card for sole traders and small businesses. It is FREE and you receive 1% cashback on your spending.

Barclaycard Select Cashback Business Credit Card

1% cashback uncapped* on all your business spending (T&C apply) Read our full review

Comments (87)

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

  • Chelseafi says:

    am I right thinking BA credit card holders can only refer for one of the 2 BA credit cards & the gold or plat card holder can only refer gold or plat cards thanks

  • harry says:

    I guess you know McCombe – Raffles. I roomed with him. Actually Mark is an extremely nice bloke, despite me being more devastatingly handsome.

  • Keri says:

    I referred my husband on Friday for the basic American Express card, and I received a 4,000 bonus today ….. FAST !!! thank you Rob for informing us 🙂

  • John says:

    Hi, two questions:
    1) If my other half is a supplementary card holder to my Gold card, can I still refer her for a Gold card and get the two bonuses (9k for me and 22k for her)?
    2) How long does it take to credit 9k to my account?

    Thanks

  • Keri says:

    John – I have a basic blue card to which my husband holds a supplementary card. I referred him as a friend last Friday and he was accepted straight away. I received my bonus for referring him, on Monday and he received his own basic credit card on Tuesday. What a speedy turn around ..

  • Macca says:

    Rob – any sniff of a Virgin deal yet? Need a CC for a big purchase in the next few weeks but have had Amex Gold and Amex BA sign up bonuses recently!

  • Jack says:

    Hi Rob, I know it’ has been asked many times but wondering if anything changed. I already have 2 companion vouchers sitting on my BA account (earned one last year and one this year, both valid for 2 years). This week i downgraded to the free card. If I go ahead and cancel the card (just to reapply in 6 months), the vouchers would not be affected as long as I have any other Amex card to pay for the taxes right? Is this still the case? Thanks very much.

    • Rob says:

      Yes. Only risk is over what happens if you make a redemption and then cancel it – the vouchers may not be returned.

    • Alan says:

      Nothing had changed. Still an infinitesimal risk but no-one has ever run into problems.

  • Lisa says:

    How often do these come around? I have the free card but at some point want to upgrade so I need cancel it for six months and would like to time it so that I can get a bonus when I sign up for the paid for card.

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

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