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Have you been given 2019 free Avios from British Airways?

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It looks like British Airways has kicked off its 100th birthday celebrations, although it has been kept very much wraps.

At noon yesterday BA launched its special ‘£200 return’ flights to selected destinations in Economy / World Traveller.  This deal will run until Thursday, with two new destinations launched each day at noon.

More interesting, however, is the 2019 Avios which are mysteriously appearing in British Airways Executive Club accounts.

Some people – and my wife and I are NOT among them – received 2,018 Avios from British Airways on their birthday last year.  It isn’t clear what you had to do to receive these (my wife and I are both BA Gold) but we clearly didn’t do it!

If you received 2,018 birthday Avios from BA last year on your birthday, it seems that you should have received 2,019 Avios from British Airways yesterday to celebrate BA’s 100th birthday.

Why? Who knows?  It is a generous gesture, although now you’ve read about this – and realised that you haven’t got them – the net balance of ‘people who now feel happier towards BA’ versus ‘people who now feel grumpier towards BA’ may not be positive ….

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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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.

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

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.

Category

British Airways and Avios

Comments (118)

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

  • Carl says:
    22 Jan22 January 11:00

    It is a generous gesture, although now you’ve read about this – and realised that you haven’t got them – the net balance of ‘people who now feel happier towards BA’ versus ‘people who now feel grumpier towards BA’ may not be positive ….!

    Yeah, I’m in the grumpier category today.

  • MD says:
    22 Jan22 January 11:02

    Received both the personal birthday ones and the BA ones as well. 4037 free Avios in a few months!

  • Pierre says:
    22 Jan22 January 11:09

    Haven’t received anything…

  • Leanne says:
    22 Jan22 January 11:22

    I received 2019 points today as a Happy Birthday from BA… but not any for their birthday. Still a great bonus!

  • flyforfun says:
    22 Jan22 January 11:24

    Got excited as I scrolled through my transactions and saw 2109 for a sec until I realised it wasn’t 2019 and just my Amex spend for the month. 🙁

  • Catalan says:
    22 Jan22 January 11:37

    I can’t understand those who are ‘grumpy’ for not receiving the free 2019 Avios gesture. A sense of entitlement springs to mind.

    • Russ says:
      22 Jan22 January 12:49

      Is that a bad thing in these circumstances?

    • Alan says:
      22 Jan22 January 14:10

      Not really, more just a case of confusion as to why some are getting 2018+2019 and some zero with little by way of comms. As others have said it didn’t exactly engender goodwill in customers that received nothing

      • Callum says:
        22 Jan22 January 20:47

        I’m struggling to see how that isn’t a sense of entitlement? Who they decide to give the Avios to are none of your business if they don’t want to tell you.

        I’d imagine they’re researching how people react to getting them – e.g. do they then spend more with BA.

        • damian says:
          22 Jan22 January 21:48

          very good point, Callum.

        • Alan says:
          22 Jan22 January 22:12

          Thanks for such a cheery reply 😀

          Of course they don’t need to tell me but then there’s also a counterproductive effect it has in them doing this sort of thing.

  • Allycat says:
    22 Jan22 January 14:10

    O/T Does anyone know how to, or how easy it is to convert a BA Family & Friends member to a BA Household Account member ? My son now has an Amex Gold Card and is currently in my friends & family members and has his own BA exec club account. Now that he will get 22k + hopefully another 3k supplementary card MR points, we will want to transfer them into Avios in my household account at some point. He plus other son + a girlfriend were added to the Friends & Family list in August 2018 and another fried added in December 2018, but none have been removed in last six months. Can it be done ? thanks

    • ChrisC says:
      23 Jan23 January 01:33

      do they live in the same house as you? that is one of the rules of them being in your HHA rather than F&F list

      Also IIRC you can only have 6 members (including yourself) in a HHA (or is it 6 + you?)

      • Allycat says:
        23 Jan23 January 09:29

        Yes, he lives in the same house when not at Uni. His BA account is registered at home. We currently only have 2 people in the HHA – my wife and myself.

        thanks

  • Michael says:
    22 Jan22 January 14:38

    A lack of comms to understand why some have received and others have not, coupled with not an insignificant number of Avios (2018+2019=4037) which would take a fair credit card spend to accumulate is good reason (in my opinion) why some customers are right to feel aggrieved, especially if you’re a loyal customer (whether that’s Silver/Gold status or are a frequency flyer regardless).

    • Mikeact says:
      22 Jan22 January 19:32

      4037 Avios only to date ? I think you will need considerably more than that, either a high five figure number maybe more.

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

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