Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Avios and Barclays Premier agree a long-term points-earning partnership

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Last Autumn, Barclays Premier tried to do an ‘under the radar’ trial with Avios, offering 25,000 Avios to a small group of people if they opened a bank account.

The secret trial got ruined when we decided to tell everyone about it.  The good news is that Barclays got to understand how popular this incentive could be!

You can learn more about the 2019 Avios / Barclays Premier offer here.

Unsuprisingly, following the strong response last year, Avios and Barclays have signed a long-term agreement to promote Barclays Premier.

You should note the deal is NOT yet live again and won’t be for a while.  However, when it returns, there will be a generous Avios sign-up bonus for opening a Barclays Premier current account.

You will also be able to earn Avios on “other banking products as well as receive additional loyalty benefits and experience”.

There is nothing to do at the moment, although if you were thinking of moving your banking to HSBC Premier or another premium provider then you may want to hold off for a few months.  An Avios incentive from Barclays Premier will be along soon.

PS.  If you missed it, take a look at our recent article on the benefits of the British Airways Premium Plus American Express credit card.


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.

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.

Comments (170)

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

  • Chris says:

    Flew from CDG to LHR on Sunday, on one of the aircraft trialling the digital in-flight mags (G-EUXG). Didn’t bother trying to look at them during the very brief time when the in-flight wifi would have been on during a 45 minute flight.

    We were then held on the tarmac at LHR for 1 hr 45 minutes during the chaotic meltdown caused by the airport’s IT systems going down and the fact that we, along with many other delayed flights, had finally managed to land after Storm Dennis while there was a huge backlog waiting to take off, meaning that there were no arrival gates for the dozens of queued-up arriving flights. So while waiting for almost 2 hours to deplane, we might have wanted to peruse the magazines to ease the boredom. But with the digital trial, that wasn’t an option. (It wasn’t until I read this article that I realised crew still had a stash of magazines!)

  • Grant says:

    @ EwanG – success with Accor. Thanks for your help!

    • EwanG says:

      Excellent, seems it was a bit slower for you @Grant but glad it’s all worked out. Thanks also to @Sina who brought it to my attention.

  • Simon says:

    O/T • Revolut top-up via Hilton Barclaycard Card and redress over cash advance fee (£43.26).

    I thought that I’d share that, following Grant’s excellent tidbit a few weeks ago about how his formal complaint to Revolut elicited a top-up fee being returned to him, then I followed suit myself with Revolut over a cash advance fee I’d incurred for topping-up my Revolut account via my supp Hilton Card. I received an email today from Revolut — circa nine days post-complaint — saying they’ve agreed to refund me the fee. (I had called Hilton directly initially, but, as a supp card holder, they were unprepared to speak to me without the main card holder also phoning in… which was not going to happen as my wife has moved to the USA for 11 months and hasn’t the time to do that.) Anyway, long story short — the cash advance fee amount will be paid into my account by Revolut in spite of it being a Hilton charge. (Of course, I do appreciate it was Revolut who recoded the MCC, but still.)

    Thanks for the information originally, Grant!

    I hope this augurs well for other HFPers perhaps in the same boat. 🙂

    • Grant says:

      Glad to see they are being consistent, Simon. For 5 minutes work filling out the survey monkey form, it really is worth doing if you have been stung with cash advance fees.

      • Scott says:

        HI Grant – do you happen to remember when you shared your formal complaint a few weeks ago? Can’t find it using the search function 🙁

        • Grant says:

          I can’t, sorry. The short version is go on to live chat with an agent and ask them to provide the link for the complaint form. Make sure you have screenshots from your CC statement showing the charges as you can upload these with your complaint and it makes finding the transactions on the Revolut side easier.

      • Simon says:

        Fortunately, there were, Grant. Thanks so much again! 🙂

  • TripRep says:

    Revolut – with Hilton BC visa & Virgin MC now charging are there any fee free credit card tops available anymore?

    I also have a Curve if anyone has any tips. TIA. 🙂

  • EwanG says:

    Thanks @Dave @Andy for confirmation of M plastic GCs, in particular what buttons staff need to press. Success on Sunday (@BJ I saw your comment the other day that particular store is still offering paper vouchers).
    Also @BJ not tried the Drum Brae branches, but my success was at the stores 880m and 1200m NNE and NE of the M we are talking about above.

    • BJ says:

      Ok thanks Ewan, I think I already know one of those stores so I’ll figure the other. All we need now is a new amex offer to relieve M of the last of their funny money.

  • collector says:

    OT: has anyone topped out Monese with Curve linked to Virgin Atlantic? Will this incur a cash advance fee or other charges?

  • Lady London says:

    Very well done. Is there no limitation of 3 years to claim in Switzerland as there is in the UK?

    Or as 2014 is 5-6 years ago were they just being nice?

    • Charlieface says:

      Claims in the UK are up to 6 years.
      Sounds like an advert, how much do they charge, dare I ask?

      • krys_k says:

        SÖP is an arbitration service. No cost.
        And if I’m advertising anything – it’s the fact that if you aren’t getting anywhere with Swiss there is an option that works.

        • New Card says:

          I had a very similar experience. Swiss resisted everything, stopped responding to messages, and I couldn’t find a UK address to MCOL them at. I went through the SOP instead (years after the flight) and got ~80% of what I was asking for, which I was content with.

  • Harry T says:

    OT:
    Flying from T3 Heathrow at 20.00ish on 3rd March on my Qantas golden tickets. What’s the best priority pass lounge in the evening? We don’t have status but do have Amex Platinum.

    We’ve also decided to stay at the Langley the night before for the first time on Bonvoy points, in the hopes that the spa will help us cope with the economy night flight!

    • Shoestring says:

      it would be quite a disappointment to get turned away before a big trip, so your only option is No1 & paying £5/6 to reserve a place

      good lounge as well, plenty of drinks to sample & get you in the mood for sleeping

      • Harry T says:

        Thanks, appreciate the advice. I’ll need a couple of drinks before Qantas economy to Sydney!

        The link Rob posted still let me book it for £5 each. Thanks @Rob!

        • Lady London says:

          If you get a big enough gap in SIN Plaza Premium has showers moderate cost. If you get stuck there due to any delay (unlikely) see if they’ve got a massage slot. One time the timings worked for me the massage made all the difference.

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