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British Airways Centenary documentary starts on Channel 5 tonight

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British Airways has given Title Role, the producers of last year’s ‘100 Years in the Sky’ documentary, exclusive access to the business as part of the #BA100 celebrations.

The four part series is called ‘British Airways 24/7: Access All Areas‘ and airs on Channel 5 tonight at 9pm.

It is narrated by James Nesbitt from Cold Feet.

British Airways Channel 5 documentary

The first episode focuses on the delivery of BA’s 30th Boeing 787 as well as meetings with DO&CO to produce new menus and the Queen’s visit to the British Airways offices at Waterside.

Filming has been taking place all year. I met the camera crew at the A350 arrival event so you may spot me in a later episode.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 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 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

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.

American Express Business Platinum

50,000 points when you sign-up 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 (81)

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

  • Lee says:
    5 Sep5 September 09:49

    Not sure I would agree about the Virgin app.

    It is outdated and you can only have one card in it.

    Not helpful if you have both Virgin cards (virgin money and Virgin Atlantic)

    • Liam J says:
      5 Sep5 September 11:14

      Agreed. It also requires you to input debit card details every time for payment, including name and address.

      • Spaghetti Town says:
        5 Sep5 September 12:11

        The app is an absolute nightmare, keep having to go on to desktop to pay my bill

  • Jonathan says:
    5 Sep5 September 12:08

    Has anyone managed to link their CoT card to Revolut?

  • Spaghetti Town says:
    5 Sep5 September 12:46

    What are Virgin like giving credit limit increases?

  • Tom Cook says:
    5 Sep5 September 12:55

    OT

    We’re flying CW from Gatwick to Vegas at the start of October. Having not flown from Gatwick since I was a child what lounge would people recommend? We have a Plat so can get into the lounges covered by PP also.

    • Genghis says:
      5 Sep5 September 12:58

      Go to the Grain store for some proper grub / stock up with PP (if supp = £15 x 2 x 2 = £60) then BA galleries is pleasant.

    • Rob says:
      5 Sep5 September 17:26

      BA lounges are the best by far (very rare you can say that!)

  • Spaghetti Town says:
    5 Sep5 September 13:34

    SS – Can you give us a low level breakdown of what this is?

    • Rui N. says:
      5 Sep5 September 13:40

      Hear hear. Just posting the same thing all over again without any explanation just looks like a get rich scam – I’m sure that it’s not the case, but more background is needed.

      • Genghis says:
        5 Sep5 September 13:45

        Not exactly rocket science. It’s a Daily Mail competition. And the penny stock strategy is pretty obvious to anyone with half a brain. I.e. National Grid isn’t exactly going to grow hundreds of percent in a week…

  • Matthew says:
    5 Sep5 September 16:19

    OT. Got a Lloyds upgrade voucher to use on one-way SYD-LON route. Now the process has changed and can’t be booked online, I’m concerned the seats will have gone by the time Avios.com ‘opens’ in the morning, having called BA initially. Any ideas how to get round this? I know with BA you can snag them at 1am the call to link to companion voucher and get the refund of Avios. But with a lloyds voucher I believe this idea isn’t possible. Think I’ll just have to hope they don’t get snapped up. I’m hoping the Lloyds voucher expiry date is book by rather than use by too! Thanks 👍

    • Anna says:
      5 Sep5 September 18:12

      Yes book by. But I used my last Lloyd’s voucher by calling BAEC, so I don’t see why in theory you couldn’t go via one of the overseas call centres in the early hours as presumably they have the same access to your account. My concern would just be that it would be very difficult to get them to understand what the voucher actually is!

      • Matthew says:
        5 Sep5 September 18:55

        Good point, thanks Anna. Worth a try for sure!

      • BJ says:
        5 Sep5 September 20:11

        I don’t believe it works this way. When you call BA and mention the Lloyd’s voucher they put you through to another team (probably just the avios team), and unless I am mistaken they are probably only open their usual times. If so, calling the Japan number or wherever isn’t going to help. Still, no harm in trying in event I’m wrong but J’ve called about Lloyd’s voucher to BA a few times and call was always transferred.

        • Matthew says:
          5 Sep5 September 22:16

          Ok thanks for the info. Prob makes it impossible to snag the seats I’d like!

  • fivebobbill says:
    5 Sep5 September 16:26

    Sorry, misread, it’s DOUBLE “Nights & Stays Awards”, not points.

  • Rob says:
    5 Sep5 September 17:24

    Believe it is targeted, yes.

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

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