Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Why you shouldn’t appeal your British Airways compensation

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A friend of mine recently flew British Airways First Class.  After a litany of issues, including BA only loading one fish plate for a cabin of nine people and only loading one bottle of a particular wine, he wrote to complain.

10,000 Avios was offered.  He felt that was not suitable and wrote back to say so.  This is what happened (note that the person is BA Gold):

Apparently he can have the 10,000 Avios back if, at any point in the next 12 months, he changes his mind and decides that it is suitable compensation.

PS.  I have, in the past, received a written complaint from BA for referring to Avios as ‘Avios points’, which apparently they are not.  It seems no-one told the app development team.


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.

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.

Comments (158)

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

  • Phil says:

    Here’s the real mind boggler… Is ‘Avios’ plural or singular… or both?

  • FP says:

    OT: Just in from Bloomberg:
    BRITISH AIRWAYS OWNER IAG SAID TO WEIGH BID FOR NORWEGIAN AIR

    Damn, that’s Norwegian downgrading from a low-cost carrier to BA standards 😉

    In all seriousness, big news

  • Cate ⛱️ says:

    Damn, that’s Norwegian downgrading from a low-cost carrier to BA standards ????

    Lol!!

  • Faithy says:

    OT
    Plat referral. Do you get 18000mr for refering any card?

  • Jason K says:

    OT
    Does anyone know how long the MBNA Virgin upgrade and companion vouchers are valid for?

    Ive hit 10k spend, just waiting for my anniversary in June to get the 2x upgrade vouchers. Im assuming MBNA are still obligated to issue these vouchers even if they remove the product?

  • Hugh says:

    OT: Re the closure of the Avios Programme.

    I got a letter in the post from avios today telling me about the closure and reminding me how many points I had. Interestingly my points balance on the letter is totally wrong but on closer examination the account number quoted is not my normal account number. It looks like I might have a 2nd Avios Account that I had forgotten about if so it must be very old, and is maybe a hangover from when I converted my paper Air Miles vouchers many many years ago! Either that or its an Avios IT error! Sadly the balance on this 2nd account is only 2,110

    Has anything similar happened to anyone else?

    I wonder if they will merge it with my correct BAEC Account if I do nothing about it!

  • Optimus Prime says:

    OT – those with an AwardWallet account, have you received the email about FoundersCard? I know it’s US only but wouldn’t it be great to have something like this in UK?

    Membership includes:
    Elite status and/or preferred rates with top travel partners:
    PREMIUM AIR: American Airlines, Cathay Pacific Airways, British Airways, JetBlue Airways, Alaska Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Emirates, Qantas
    LIMO & CAR: Hertz, Avis, Sixt, Silvercar, GroundLink, Carey, EmpireCLS
    HOTEL PROGRAM: Hilton Honors, Marriott Rewards, Caesars Total Rewards, Mandarin Oriental, Park Hyatt, W, Kempinski, Omni
    Over $10,000 of account credits and complimentary subscriptions including MR PORTER, Trunk Club, BMW, CLEAR, TripIt Pro, ShopRunner, and JetSmarter.
    Savings on business services and supplies from UPS, AT&T, Dell, Lenovo, Shopify, TriNet, LegalZoom.

    • Optimus Prime says:

      Doesn’t mention the actual elite level. I guess it’ll be the lowest one – i.e. BA Bronze and equivalent.

      • Rob says:

        The ONLY airline status is Cathay Silver (ie BA Bronze). The other airlines listed just give fare discounts, often restricted to ex US flights.

  • Paul says:

    OT. I booked a flight 2 weeks ago on the phone with BA using companion voucher. BA haven’t taken the voucher or the avios for the flight but the flights are showing on my BAEC account. Do you think BA will take the avios and the voucher in the future or maybe just a glitch?

    • mark2 says:

      they do often take some time

    • Genghis says:

      Has it ticketed? Though even if ticketed, I’ve seen it where they haven’t taken avios or cash payment until later.

      • Darren says:

        +1 ring them and confirm, better than not getting the flights.

      • Paul says:

        Yes the flight is ticketed got the confirmation straight away, plus took the taxes aswell. Just thought it’s strange they haven’t took the Avios or the voucher.

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