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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

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 (118)

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

  • Nick says:

    Never had birthday Avios 😐 none of my household accounts got any either.

    O/T – just got IHG premium card and just wondering what I’m missing here because account on my creation shows I have 22k points but my IHG account shows zero ? Do I have to transfer them over or something ?

    (Sorry if this is a stupid question 😂)

  • Katie B says:

    Out of our HA only 1 person got the 2019 bonus – and it wasn’t me 🙁

  • JohnT says:

    Not us. However I am browsing in the Virgin LHR Upper lounge so perhaps their wifi blocked it 🙂 They even have a points person asking everyone if they collect points.

  • Nicki Bland says:

    I did – a lovely surprise.
    OT – I am waiting to book CWL to DOH tickets for February – price hasn’t changed – any feelings that something might be imminent?

  • New Card says:

    OT – I see that it is possible to use the Lloyds upgrade voucher on an existing avios booking. If I do this (I assume I need to call BA now instead of Avios?), does this involve my original tickets being cancelled and then hoping they come back into reward inventory to be re-booked? Or will they simply refund me the points difference between CW and WTP and leave my tickets as-is?

    • Matt says:

      You need to see CW reward ticket availability on your flight. The voucher isn’t really an upgrade as such… it lets you book a CW reward ticket for the WTP avios cost. If you cancel your WTP reward flights they may well go back into reward inventory but that isn’t relevant for using the voucher to get CW seats.

    • Anna says:

      You call avios.com to use the voucher.

    • New Card says:

      Sorry I could have been clearer – I am already booked in CW on an avios booking. I am looking to apply my Lloyds voucher to that existing booking, so that I get back the difference in avios between CW and WTP.

      The voucher is on an avios.com account which has closed down so I understand I need to call BA to use it now?

  • New in the game says:

    I received both the birthday one and this one. Feels great

  • Tiger says:

    OT- Air Tickets

    UK passenger service charge – UB
    Why does this vary from airline to airline.

    For my destination, EY about £40, EK, QR about £13/£15

    Any ideas?

  • Graham Walsh says:

    I got the 2019 points today, don’t remember getting points last year on my birthday.

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

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