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REGISTER NOW: British Airways launches new ‘double Avios’ points promotion

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British Airways has launched a new ‘double Avios’ offer for the rest of 2019.

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.  You must register to take part.

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 six one-way British Airways flights

After completing your 6th sector, you get an additional bonus of 2019 Avios

The offer runs until the end of 2019 but flights must be booked by 19th April

All routes and all cabins are included

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 with ‘double Avios’ though ….

You only get double Avios on your first six segments (ie six one-way flights) after registration. 

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 six flight allowance too quickly.  This means, bizarrely, you may want to consider moving some short-haul flights away from British Airways or delay registration.  This will preserve your six flight ‘double Avios’ allowance for long-haul flights which will be far more lucrative.

You can register for double Avios here.  You MUST register to receive your bonus.

How to earn Avios points from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (October 2022)

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

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

Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher for spending £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 UK’s most valuable card perk – the 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 £12,000 Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points.

EDIT: Until 25th October 2022, there is an exceptionally generous sign-up bonus on The Platinum Card. You will receive 60,000 Membership Rewards points – double the usual amount – and £200 to spend at Amex Travel. You need to spend £6,000 within six months to earn the bonus.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & two airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

60,000 points (SPECIAL OFFER), £200 travel credit and unbeatable 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 10,000 Avios.

Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa

10,500 points bonus – the most generous Avios Visa for a limited company 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 a long list of travel benefits 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 (81)

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

  • John says:
    22 Mar22 March 10:48

    Hi Rob – does this offer apply to the first six flights flown that are booked after registering, or the first six flight bookings after registering (regardless of which order those bookings are flown)?

    Cheers

  • illuminatus says:
    22 Mar22 March 11:42

    T&Cs say that ‘the number of Avios awarded will be calculated before any cabin and Tier bonuses are applied’. Does it mean that if I book a CW seat, the bonus Avios will be awarded for the WT Avios only? Or how does it work?

    • illuminatus says:
      22 Mar22 March 11:44

      Or can I rely on the Avios flight calculator to understand how many bonus Avios I get by looking at the ‘Business lowest’ level on ‘Blue’ tier?

    • John says:
      22 Mar22 March 12:45

      Basically the bonus is the number of miles you fly (subject to the minimum amounts).

      Say your CW flight is 2500 miles, then you would get 2500 base avios and 2500 bonus avios from this promotion. CW booking classes I and R give you a cabin bonus of 50% (1250 avios) and booking classes J, C and D give you a cabin bonus of 150% (3750 avios).

      If you are gold you get a tier bonus of 100% (2500 avios) and if you are silver you get a tier bonus of 50% (1250 avios).

      So the calculator would say that the CW flight in booking class C as a Blue gives you 6250 avios. But it is not the case that you get 12500 avios from this promo, you’ll only get 8750.

      Also it’s a bit different for economy

  • Alex D says:
    22 Mar22 March 11:48

    If you book flight&hotel or flight&car hire booking will the bonus be on the total Avios you’d earn which is higher for holiday bookings or just the Avios for the flight itself?

  • Paul says:
    22 Mar22 March 12:22

    The T&C’s say that a return flight (two sectors) counts as one ‘Qualifying flight’ so could do 6 return trips and get double avios on all 12 sectors.

  • Bee says:
    22 Mar22 March 16:39

    OT: Is there any card i can use to pay on the tax free childcare site; so I can earn points. Curve does not work.

  • Nordic Moose says:
    22 Mar22 March 17:01

    Anyone know what the secret bonus is for flying six sectors?

    • Nick_C says:
      22 Mar22 March 17:49

      What secret bonus? As per Rob’s article “After completing your 6th sector, you get an additional bonus of 2019 Avios”

    • illuminatus says:
      22 Mar22 March 17:50

      2019 avios

  • DM80 says:
    23 Mar23 March 02:19

    Looking at the definition of Qualifying Flight in the T&Cs and was intrigued by point (ii)

    Could this open up getting points on a CX or MH flight to Asia if booked as a flight + hotel package (and in the current luxury holiday sale), or would point (iii) effectively wipe this out? What’s the point of saying ANY flight booked as a package if it’s then going to be restricted.

    A Qualifying Flight is
    (i) a BA prefix on any selling class (excluding Reward flights or upgrades using Avios) or cabin on any BA operated service, or
    (ii) any flight included as part of a British Airways Holiday package, and
    (iii) a BA prefix on a transatlantic flight operated by British Airways (BA), American Airlines (AA), Iberia (IB) or Finnair (AY) between Europe and North America.

  • Warrior says:
    10 Apr10 April 09:34

    Sorry, might be a dump question but if I book the ticket via another website (travel agent(, after registering for this offer on BA.

    Would the tickets still get me double avios?

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

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