British Airways discloses massive new credit card data breach covering Avios redemption flights

The British Airways data breach saga, which first emerged in early September, has taken another painful turn for the airline.

British Airways disclosed on Thursday afternoon that a further 185,000 payment cards had potentially been compromised.

These cards had all been used to pay for Avios redemptions between 21st April and 28th July.

Only online bookings at ba.com were impacted.  Redemptions made via the British Airways app or call centre are safe.

Note that ALL forms of Avios redemption appear to be impacted.  You are included if you used Avios to part-pay for a car rental or hotel booking, according to BA.

It is important to note that this is 185,000 ADDITIONAL payment cards which are affected.  British Airways seems to have massaged the headline figure by stripping out cards which were also caught up in the first data breach.

The full statement is here.

The latest disclosure is broken down as follows:

77,000 payment cards have had their name, billing address, email address, payment number, expiry and CVV potentially compromised

108,000 payment cards have been similarly compromised but without the CVV number

You will receive an email during Friday if you are impacted.  According to BA:

“While we do not have conclusive evidence that the data was removed from British Airways’ systems, we are taking a prudent approach in notifying potentially affected customers, advising them to contact their bank or card provider as a precaution.”

On the upside, further investigation by British Airways into the original data breach last month has found that ‘only’ 244,000 payment cards have been compromised compared with the 380,000 figure originally claimed.

And, of course, Cathay Pacific revealed on Thursday that a whopping 9.4m sets of personal records had been unlawfully accessed.  This includes credit card data.

In some ways, this breach could be worse for BA than the original.  185,000 people represents a high percentage of the active British Airways Executive Club base.  The original breach will have caught up a lot of ‘once a year’ flyers whilst this one will be impacting people like us who make up a disproportionate part of BA revenue.  Anyone who has already sat through the 2017 weekend IT failure and the recent failures of the new FLY check-in system will probably have had enough by now.

You can find the latest BA statement on this latest breach here.

PS.  Having now seen the British Airways email, the heading “Update on Theft of Customer Data” is hugely misleading in my opinion and may lead to the email being deleted unread.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (March 2025)

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 Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 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, and the standard card is FREE. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits 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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 8th April 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Business Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to 120,000 points. You receive 80,000 points when you spend £12,000 within three months and a further 40,000 points if you spend on the card between Month 14 and Month 17. Points convert 1:1 into Avios and many other programmes. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 8th April 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Business Gold is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 60,000 points. You receive 40,000 points when you spend £6,000 within three months and a further 20,000 points if you spend on the card between Month 14 and Month 17. Points convert 1:1 into Avios and many other programmes. Click here to apply.

American Express Business Platinum

Up to 120,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

Up to 60,000 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.