Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

REGISTER NOW: British Airways launches a new ‘double Avios’ points promotion for the Autumn

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

British Airways has launched a new ‘double Avios’ offer for the Autumn.

This could prove lucrative but, as often with these offers, has the potential to backfire due to intriguing small print.

The sign up page for the offer is here.   If you had trouble earlier, it is now working.

British Airways BA 777X 777 9X

The offer is simple on the face of it:

You earn double base Avios (excluding cabin and status bonuses) on your next 10 BA flights

The offer runs until the end of 2018

It only applies to new bookings made after you register

Looking at the small print, the offer is also valid on American Airlines, Iberia and Finnair flights when travelling between Europe and North America on a BA flight number.  Don’t be fooled by the comment at the top of the landing page that AA, Iberia and Finnair flights to North Ameria count – the terms and conditions say they do not, unless there is a BA flight number on your boarding pass.

The offer is also valid on Comair-operated BA services in Southern Africa.

However, apart from the exceptions above, no other BA codeshare or franchise flight will count.  You won’t get double Avios on, for example, a Bangkok Airways, Qatar Airways, Vueling or Flybe flight with a BA flight number.

Here’s the snag though ….

You only get double Avios on your first 10 segments. 

If you have a number of long-haul flights coming up before the end of the year, you don’t want to use up your 10 flight allowance too quickly.  This means, bizarrely, you may want to consider moving some short-haul flights away from British Airways.  This will preserve your 10 flight ‘double Avios’ allowance for long-haul flights which will be far more lucrative.

You can register for double Avios here.


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 (83)

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

  • Ian Gleave says:

    I got an e-mail inviting me to register but when I followed the link got an error message saying I wasn’t eligible for the offer!

  • Drew says:

    Hate that it’s for new bookings. I plan ahead and have 6 flights already booked in till the end of the year. Forward planning with BA seems a bad thing!

    • GavT says:

      Same here

    • Kim says:

      To be fair – and I’m no lover of BA – you’ve already given them your business [presumably on non-refundable fares] so why would should they give you bonus points on existing bookings? The point of the promotion is to get you to book more flights!! That’s just the way the cookie crumbles.

      • John says:

        Hilton does, so I continue booking with Hilton even when I don’t know what the promo will be, as I do know my bookings will count.

        The price of the flights I’ve already booked with BA were cheaper at the time I booked compared to now by far more than the value of the doubled avios, so whatever.

      • r* says:

        Because its a bit of a poor way to treat customers and by not giving points to existing bookings it reduces the chance of me booking a BA flight in future if there is a comparable alternative?

    • Alastair says:

      Me too – I’ve actually got more booked now until the end of the year than I have had in a while. Oh well, nothing to add other than a mini-rant here…

  • Nicky says:

    Why do they always bring these offers out after I have booked flights – is it a conspiracy?

    • Ted says:

      I also booked yesterday, through my corporate account so I can’t cancel within the 24 hour window. A couple of colleagues would have chosen BA over Virgin had this been out.

    • Lady London says:

      It’s personal 🙂 They are targeting you. Somebody in BA watches every day for bookings made by you, then when they’re sure you have done them they launch the promotion 🙂

    • JayG says:

      Just because you’re paranoid, doesn’t mean they’re not watching you 🙂

  • Charlie says:

    Seems very few people are eligible I get “Your registration has been unsuccessful, unfortunately you are not eligible for this offer. ” I have tried calling them to ask why but the recorded message says they cannot take my call and hangs up.

  • Caleb says:

    Same here, still getting an error message.

  • John Hudson says:

    I tried clicking on the ‘Register’ link and get the message that I’m not eligible.
    But then I go back and click instead in ‘Already registered? Book now’ and it says I am already registered.

    Are others seeing the same?

    • Jamie Gorman says:

      I did the same..must have an issue with the links and the buttons…like you I seem to be registered…or perhaps not!

  • Roger says:

    Your registration has been unsuccessful, unfortunately you are not eligible for this offer.

  • G Flyer says:

    I’m also getting same error message. I seem to remember this happening before with previous BA offers, and that it takes 24 hours before the link will work.

    But seriously who thinks it’s a good idea to send out millions of emails BEFORE activating the registration links? Anyone would think BA couldn’t be trusted with data…

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

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.