Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Are the Lloyds Avios Rewards credit cards now fully closed to new applicants?

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The Lloyds Avios Rewards credit cards were closed to new online applications on 1st March as we wrote here.

At the time, Lloyds told us that you could continue to apply via telephone or in a branch for a limited period.

That period appears to be over.  A reader tried to apply this week by telephone and in a branch and was rebuffed on both occasions.  Apparently it no longer even appears as an option on the branch IT system.

On the upside, as Lloyds made some in-branch applicants watch two videos on ‘how to use a credit card sensibly’ before they would process the application, this may be for the best ……

I am told, however, that we may not have seen the back of these cards for good.

How Lloyds expects to compete with a £24 Mastercard earning 0.25 Avios per £1 when Virgin Atlantic now offers a free Mastercard earning 0.75 Flying Club miles per £1 is a different question.


How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (October 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

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 – 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 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

10,000 points bonus – plus an extra 500 points for our readers 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

Up to 80,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

Get up to 40,000 points as a sign-up offer 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 (140)

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

  • Mark LLL says:

    Congrats to Lee. His prize flight sounds as good as my whole holidays LOL.
    Such a great raffle prize, well done HfP and Qatar airways.
    Rob, more comps please 🙂

  • KP says:

    OT- new buy on board menu at BA for May-Aug. It’s all the same stuff with slightly different choices. Same prices and avios as far as I can tell

    • Roberto says:

      The new IPA replacing Tribute will get my attention today. Just for research purposes I might add.

  • Richard says:

    90 people on an A380… ouch.

    • Yuff says:

      More Qatar sales 😉
      Like the one last week 241 🙂 first decent sale for a while

    • Lee says:

      Quite the opposite on the other 3 flights though, they were very full! The crew on the A380 were also surprised to see it as quiet as that, it was unusual.

    • JamesB says:

      My partner was on an SQ a380 flight to LHR on Boxing Day dome years aho that only had 4 or 5 people in business.

    • Czechoslovakia says:

      Best service I ever had was on a CSA A320 to Manchester. 4 crew, 4 relief crew, extra pilot and copilot, and, erm, 7 paying pax, including myself. Was December 24th, mind.

  • callum says:

    The reason they make you watch that video is because of all the scam-artists claiming they were “missold” PPI etc. (some very clearly were, I have my doubts about many of them!)

    TSB made me do a long interview just to open a second current account ages ago – I already had one, they should have been pretty aware I knew how to use it…

  • Anna says:

    OT – is there a page on the BAEC website which shows “pending” avios similar to the one on the avios.com site? I’ve started shopping via the BA portal but can’t find anywhere which shows the avios I’ll earn.

    • Lyn says:

      Anna, I don’t know if this is consistent with other people’s experience, but sometimes BAEC send me an email soon afterwards with the number of pending avios, which then always post eventually, Sometimes there is no email but the avios still post.

      • meta says:

        I always get an email from avios.com. Actually two, when pending and when they arrive. I also now get from BAEC too.

      • Anna says:

        Thanks Tom, found it now!

  • Mike says:

    Lee – great report, glad you enjoyed your prize

    • Lee says:

      Thank you, Mike! A fantastic prize.

      • John says:

        Lucky Lee! How did you get on in Japan? Did you stay long, travel around?

        • Lee says:

          Very lucky, John! Japan was amazing, just a quick 5 day trip to Tokyo but had a day in Osaka too. Fantastic place, so glad I got the flights there as it made the whole trip excellent.

  • Simon says:

    Thanks Lee
    I’m going a bit pedantic nerdy here but was it the new 350-1000 on the way back, or a new -900. Not that there is any difference at the front.

    • Lee says:

      It was the A350-900 (A7-ALZ), and I was surprised to see a brand new one as I thought the 1000’s would be coming in about now. It was very nice to fly on!

      • JamesB says:

        Glad to hear you enjoyed your prize Lee. Was this for one person or two? How were tge noise levels on the a350?

        • Rob says:

          It was one ticket.

        • xcalx says:

          Agreed, It’s good to here from a prize winner. I may have missed the recent winners comments although I do read the comments a few times a day.

        • xcalx says:

          Hear.

        • Lee says:

          Thanks, it was definitely a prize to be enjoyed! The noise on the A350 was really low, I expect an overnight flight where you’re sleeping on it would be pretty good. I’m sure it helped being brand new too.

  • Ahop says:

    OT: How far in advance can Virgin Atlantic redemptions be made? I’ve looked on their site and it appears not as early as BA, but I can’t quite pinpoint exactly when.

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

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