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Bits: BA Holidays New York deal launched, get 25% off Iberia flights from Cardiff

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News in brief:

British Airways New York Christmas deal launched

BA Holidays has launched two excellent deals if you want to get away for Christmas or New Year:

Club World flights + 3 nights in a hotel from £1,199 per person

First Class flights + 3 nights in a hotel from £1,949 per person

Departure dates run from 20th December to 1st January.

Full details can be found here on the BA Holidays premium deals page.  Book by midnight on Monday.

Get 25% off Iberia redemptions from Cardiff

Iberia Express flies from Cardiff to Madrid and this route is bookable with Avios, albeit via Iberia Plus.

In order to move Avios to Iberia Plus via Combine My Avios, your Iberia account must be 90 days old and have earned 1 Avios point.

Until 31st December, redemptions on the Cardiff to Madrid route are discounted by 25%.  As this is Iberia Express, not Vueling, business class is also available.

Before booking, check out cash prices on the Iberia Express site as these are not generally expensive flights anyway.  Note the flights only operate on Thursdays and Sundays.  You must fly from 6th to 17th April or 8th to 28th June.


How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 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

30,000 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 – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 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 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, and the standard card is FREE. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 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

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

50,000 points when you sign-up 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 (51)

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

  • Emily says:

    Hi – is it possible to convert IHG points to Marriott points, directly or via an intermediate conversion? Thanks!

  • the real harry says:

    any decent Shop Small ideas?

    going to look up a pub or 2 for tomorrow, going for a bit of a hike starting from Padstow so might as well tank up the engine 🙂

    • mark2 says:

      Do any of your local shops sell gift cards? I have arranged for the lingerie emporium and artisan jeweller to take £10 off each card and issue a gift card for the total (We currently have 16 cards between us). I shall be helping my wife look after an art exhibition in another town so have a map with all the ShopSmall merchants marked and shall be visiting the wine merchant, deli etc. and having dinner in the Italian restaurant.

  • Anon says:

    Thanks for these, I’m GMT-5 at the moment, hence why I’m not posting any myself, promise to do so earlier in the am later on this month.

  • Barry cutters says:

    Sorry o/t. I’m thinking wether it’s a good idea to have so many bookings going forward on my ihg account . I would expect another accelerate offer to come out soon. I have 8 or 9 2/3 night stayes already booked in my account for January fen March. Previously I have always had really easy targets and have hit the last three accelerate bonuses 100% however it never had this amount of bookings. Do you think I will suffer in my target due to a higher number of pre bookings. Work pay for all my hotels so have no reason why I can’t cancel them all now . I am spire ambassador
    Thansk

    • Johnnycl says:

      Can’t say for sure, but IME it takes a while for the accelerate targets to reflect changes in your booking patterns.

      For crack the case and the subsequent promo I had stretching but achievable targets that I hit but the next one was crazy and I switched 100% to Hilton. It’s just been on this last accelerate that the no. nights has been lower and I’ve partially achieved the tasks.

      So, I wouldn’t worry about your bookings having any impact as it seems to take a year or two to reflect in what they offer. I reckon they would only look historically too, but that’s just my theory!

      • Barry cutters says:

        Yea I’m just worried that they are going to see what I have booked and think I’m going to do that many nights anyway so let’s offer him a stupid target , or a low reward. Accelerate is such a good promo

        • Peter K says:

          What you also need to think is that the more stays you book the more “value” you get from being Spire. It’s not just points gained but also gaining enjoyment from the stays that lead to them!

  • Nick says:

    Which post office amex promo? I don’t see anything?

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