Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Will there be an Avios platform announcement this week?

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We may get an announcement this week about the long-delayed restructuring of the avios.com platform.

There are a lot of moving parts, but what is rumoured is that avios.com will close as a standalone platform.  You will no longer have an avios.com account – you will only be able to have accounts with one of the airline partners.

You may have noticed that the avios.com website has been looking a little abandoned recently:

Avios wing 12

  • the Laithwaite’s wine deal closed 10 days ago but is still being promoted even though the landing page is dead
  • the opposite has happened with the new Economist offer of 13,200 Avios – the Avios landing page only shows 4,400 until you click through.
  • the Lloyds Avios credit cards are still being promoted although they are no longer available online

avios.com will not be going away, however.  Instead, the website may (or may not) become – like milesandmore.com – the place where you go to check your balance and redeem your points, with redemption stripped from the airline sites.  Aer Lingus and Vueling already operate like this, so it is ‘only’ a question of changing British Airways, Iberia, Meridiana, kulula.com and LEVEL.  I’m not sure how Flybe would be treated.

This is still very much speculation, however.  For clarity, this is not a devaluation and no-one will lose out, although there may be an impact on avios.com partners who are exclusive to that platform.

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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

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.

Category

British Airways and Avios

Comments (141)

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

  • Lloyd says:
    9 Apr9 April 07:49

    Looks like you will be able to move from BAEC directly into Flybe.

    If I’m a British Airways Executive Club member can I use my Avios to save money on a flight with Aer Lingus, Vueling or Flybe?
    Once your British Airways Executive Club account is set up, you can move your Avios across to AerClub, Vueling Club, or Flybe programme to spend your Avios as you wish.

  • Alan says:
    9 Apr9 April 08:04

    Damn not good news at all on the Avios.com front – can foresee lots of mess going forwards and always liked the HHA options there plus backup for transferring Avios when direct to BA wouldn’t work.

  • Jday says:
    9 Apr9 April 08:07

    “Can I still collect Avios with my Lloyds Avios credit card or TSB Avios credit card?

    Yes you can. We will set up a British Airways Executive Club account for you and your Avios will be awarded into this account.“

    That’s good as I signed up for the cards on Saturday.

  • Anna says:
    9 Apr9 April 08:12

    I’ve just spoken to avios.com and been told that if you have a BAEC account, your avios will automatically move across to this. The CSR assured me that they already have access to the BAEC information as they are effectively one company. I’m still dubious as how they match up the accounts as details on the two accounts such as email addresses aren’t necessarily going to be the same. He didn’t know how the Lloyds voucher would work going forward but said emails are going to be sent out from today.

  • Nick_c says:
    9 Apr9 April 08:20

    Pity, because the Avios website seems to be more robust than BA. I found it impossible to book a BA redemption a few weeks ago, so I transferred some miles over to the Avios site and did it from there.

    Extra traffic on the BA site isn’t going to help their buggy glitchy unreliable system.

  • Lisa says:
    9 Apr9 April 08:39

    Are BA Avios redemption s more costly that Avios flight redemption s?
    I used to do surveys on Avios for extra points do BA do that?

    • Nick_c says:
      9 Apr9 April 08:54

      Rewards for Thoughts and e-Rewards interface with both Avios and BAEC.

      Some e-Rewards accounts allow you to transfer to a range of partners, including Virgin, AA, Iberia and many others. Depends how and when you signed up.

  • Ed Greenson says:
    9 Apr9 April 08:49

    OT: Amex Platinum:

    Just did the upgrade link for 20,000 bonus points and not showing as a progress bar on my login page like the 20,000 sign up bonus did when I was with Gold anyone else experienced whether this should be showing?

    Also is there a Bonus for supplementary cards issued?

    Finally with referrals can one refer oneself to another card and if so can I do a self referral to the Green American Express Charge Card just to bag 18,000 points (obviously not eligible for the 2,000 points that card comes with)

    Sorry for all the questions really appreciate the help!

    • Nick_c says:
      9 Apr9 April 08:51

      Rob regards it as an abuse so doesn’t promote it, but you can self refer.

    • Harkirat says:
      9 Apr9 April 09:35

      It didn’t show fo me either but as soon as I hit the target spend 20000 MR posted. I also got 5000 MR points for adding an additional card holder.

  • Clive says:
    9 Apr9 April 08:57

    OT – Am i correct in my understanding that with the launch of the new Flying Blue the expiry validity of miles has been extended?

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

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