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British Airways has signed up to TSA pre-check

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British Airways has announced that the airline has signed up to TSA pre-check to speed up your experience when travelling from the US.

Passengers travelling on British Airways flights and codeshare partners who are Global Entry members will be able to:

  • use fast track security lines at 200 US airports
  • won’t need to remove anything from their hand luggage including liquids and
  • can keep belts and shoes on

British Airways joins TSA precheck

This can cut down the security check time to an alleged 5 minutes.

Initially TSA pre-check status will only be available if you select a printed boarding pass.  Mobile boarding passes will follow in the Summer.

The TSA pre-check lane at BA’s JFK Terminal 7 will launch in the Summer once construction in the security area has been completed.

UK citizen can apply for Global entry on the TSA website and need to attend an interview at an one of the 380+ enrollment centres in the US or at the US Embassy in London during their interview periods.  The last enrollment event in London ended early May but we will keep you posted on new appointment dates.

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

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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.

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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

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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 (52)

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

  • Wally1976 says:
    3 Jun3 June 08:46

    OT – just confirming that when transferring Amex MR to Radisson Rewards, you only need to enter the last 10 digits of your RR number. The transfer I made (of 3 points) arrived in my RR account yesterday.

    • TripRep says:
      3 Jun3 June 09:13

      Good tip Wally, I had to phone AMEX to process mine and they told me the same.

  • Sam G says:
    3 Jun3 June 09:34

    O/T – heads up as a few of us may have booked the Bangkok offer on Garuda – they’ve zero’d out the London flight on the GDS for winter.

    May be a false alarm, can’t find much online – but it is referenced in this local news article from a few months ago as under review due to the airline’s losses (will need to translate) – https://news.detik.com/jawatengah/4006590/respons-menteri-rini-soal-ancaman-demo-karyawan-garuda-indonesia

    I suspect any reroute would be via KLM and Amsterdam although they do also codeshare on Ethiad. Upside would be the timing of the flights from Amsterdam offer much better connections

    Will update if I hear anything, I’ll try swing by their office in Singapore this week to ask!

    • Axel says:
      3 Jun3 June 19:11

      The air stewards did mention this cancelatation was imminent on my last trip LHR-CGK leg ( I skipped the onwards leg to BKK).

      Best Lontong Sayur Ive ever had was on Garuda J.

  • Craig says:
    3 Jun3 June 10:03

    OT: How long do SPG point transfers take between household members?

    • Andrew McLoughlin says:
      3 Jun3 June 11:14

      Ithink Rob mentioned a in comment recently that it was around five days. I’m still waiting for mine which were sent on 31/05.

  • Paul says:
    3 Jun3 June 11:34

    Should be careful not to confuse Global Entry with TSA Pre…

    Global Entry does give you TSA Pre access, but TSA Pre can be purchased separately and is available through other schemes too.

    Security times through TSA Pre can be far less than 5 minutes!

    • TGLoyalty says:
      3 Jun3 June 15:36

      Thought that UK citizens could on get via Global Entry. US citizens can buy it separately?

      • Mycity says:
        3 Jun3 June 16:30

        Agreed, my understanding is you can’t buy TSA pre unless your a US citizen.

  • rams1981 says:
    3 Jun3 June 12:12

    OT anyone else having issues getting to combine my Avios page?

    • the real harry1 says:
      3 Jun3 June 12:34

      loads

      phone

      • Stu N says:
        3 Jun3 June 16:35

        It’s been really flaky but got it to work to move IB-Avios-BA last week after quite a few tries. Using private browsing seemed to help.

  • Down the Back says:
    3 Jun3 June 12:32

    OT: Wife was going to cancel her BA Amex today as her supp on mine has arrived. She has 9k points in it, what is the best thing to do not to lose the points, do we wait until they transfer then cancel or can we call and have them moved now to BA or would Amex even move them to her Amex MR account if we called ?

    Thanks
    DtB

    • Jon says:
      3 Jun3 June 13:19

      I cancelled mine a while back, before the remaining points had cleared, and sure enough, come the final statement, the points didn’t go across. I called Amex and customer services were very helpful, explaining that they do try to send them but sometimes if the card has been cancelled it fails, apparently. They suggested the easiest option was to credit my Membership Rewards account – fine by me! 🙂 They even rounded them up “for the inconvenience of having to call” – only a few hundred points, but it was a nice (and unexpected) gesture, I thought.

    • TGLoyalty says:
      3 Jun3 June 15:37

      Must wait for them to transfer across before cancelling or you’re highly likely to lose them

  • Mark2 says:
    3 Jun3 June 12:37

    personally I would wait until they have transferred.

  • Chris Jackson says:
    3 Jun3 June 15:10

    We were directed through the TSA pre line at JFK last October and tutted at when we tried to open our hand luggage for liquids! We are flying back from Seattle tonight and our boarding passes say TSA pre. We’ve never asked for this or had any interview , it just happened automatically!

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

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