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Qatar Airways increases its shareholding in IAG, parent of British Airways

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Qatar Airways has announced that it has increased its shareholding in IAG (International Consolidated Airlines Group), the parent company of British Airways, from 21.4% to 25.1%.

This is more significant than it sounds, because it gives Qatar Airways a veto over any major decisions (‘special resolutions’ in City parlance) which would require 75% of the shares to vote in favour.

Non-EU investors are limited to a 49% shareholding in total under EU aviation rules, and IAG does at times restrict purchases of shares by non-EU groups in order to remain under this limit.

As IAG is legally a Spanish company this position will not change under any UK / EU  trade deal.

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.

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.

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.

Category

British Airways and Avios, Qatar Airways and Privilege Club

Comments (160)

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

  • C77 says:
    20 Feb20 February 05:04

    I really wish QR wouldn’t bother with these so called sales as it’s anything but. I’ve been checking fares over the last few days and guess what… The fares I was looking at previously have all gone up today by approximately the discount amount. Same booking class, same fare rules. It was exactly the same on the 02FEB sale. When the fares resumed normal pricing the following day. It’s a complete swizz.

    • Vit says:
      20 Feb20 February 08:34

      Totally agreed. Woke up to this and thought the price would be cheaper than booking via lastminute last night using the 10% off gift card value. Not a bad value for Easter weekend.

  • Berneslai says:
    20 Feb20 February 05:34

    OT: Any way increasing my “flights flown” counter with BAEC without actually flying? I don’t care about the TP or Avios. What are the chances of purchasing and checking-in but not flying being recognised as a completed flight?

    • TP says:
      20 Feb20 February 05:54

      Not that I’m aware of – Out of interest, why would you want to do this?

      • Berneslai says:
        20 Feb20 February 06:35

        Already have enough TP for Gold status but not enough BA flights to qualify for even Bronze. I’m struggling finding time to take short haul flights.

        • The Original David says:
          20 Feb20 February 06:46

          I don’t think there is any photo ID verification on domestic flights. So book a couple of domestic returns in your name and send someone else to the airport, probably taking your passport just in case…

          • Roberto says:
            20 Feb20 February 06:49

            Not the best idea ever Dave…. 🙂

          • The Original David says:
            20 Feb20 February 06:54

            I mean I’m sure it breaches the BAEC T&Cs and might well be illegal, but have you got a better answer to the OP’s question? Other than just stop being a princess and book some of their regular travel onto BA.

          • Andrew says:
            20 Feb20 February 09:08

            Have done that many times for colleagues who are in a panic about status and points. You pay my airfare, I get Sunday lunch with my parents, you get 80 Tier points.

          • Nick says:
            20 Feb20 February 11:04

            Yep, no ID required on BA domestics unless checking in a bag. This is even allowed in the rules (most Scottish MPs have a pseudonym for flights to remain anonymous). I’d be happy to do a trip to Scotland/Belfast at your expense, especially if lounge access is included. I doubt you’ll have far to search even if you wanted to keep it among your own friends.

            To answer your original question though, the flight has to be ‘boarded’ for it to trigger on that counter. You know the beep and green light at the boarding gate when your BP is scanned? That’s what does it.

          • Andrew says:
            20 Feb20 February 13:27

            What ever you do, don’t use the pseudonym “Captain James T Kirk”.

            That one comes with a bit of a reputation.

    • TGLoyalty says:
      20 Feb20 February 06:54

      You must actually fly on a BA flight number (operates and/or marketed) or an Iberia marketer/operated flight

      No getting around that

    • Andrew says:
      20 Feb20 February 07:02

      Just spend a Sunday doing domestics. You only need to do two round trips.

    • Anna says:
      20 Feb20 February 07:35

      Where are you based? LHR-MAN is 40 minutes flying time and departs several times per day. If I was desperate for 4 sectors I would book something like MAN-LHR-CDG returning the same day.

      • memesweeper says:
        20 Feb20 February 09:01

        LGW-JER
        JER-LGW-AMS
        AMS-LGW
        is a similar option for a London based traveller

  • Iain Findlay says:
    20 Feb20 February 06:47

    OT, I was looking to book a flight to Brisbane and went to BA to see if going from Amsterdam to London and then on was cheaper. I was surprised that I was able to book with AVIOS going Amsterdam, Hong Kong , Brisbane one way with Cathy Pacific

    • Andrew says:
      20 Feb20 February 07:04

      Why is this surprising?

    • RWJ says:
      20 Feb20 February 08:54

      This is as expected – Cathay Pacific is a oneworld airline, so you can book using Avios. Check that you’re not using more Avios than you need though – different partners have different redemption charts.

  • Chris says:
    20 Feb20 February 07:18

    I received my Clubcard points today from the pet insurance offer

    • Graeme says:
      20 Feb20 February 07:24

      Me too. Cancelled on Monday after the cat left.

      • Secret Squirrel says:
        20 Feb20 February 07:39

        Did you take out the policy on the 1st day you saw it on here?

        • Graeme says:
          20 Feb20 February 07:48

          Either the first or second, I can’t remember – I did it on the 10th.

        • xcalx says:
          20 Feb20 February 08:11

          +1 11th Jan

          • Shoestring says:
            20 Feb20 February 09:09

            so cancelling means you didn’t try the double dip? that entails staying in for 90 days

            double dip worked fine 4 times out of 5 on car insurance so hoping for the same

            both cats doing fine just now, Reese could be slightly peaky come end March and I’m slightly worried about Ruffles

          • xcalx says:
            20 Feb20 February 09:21

            @shoestring.

            No I forgot, could kick myself.

          • Shoestring says:
            20 Feb20 February 09:24

            might amount to nothing apart from the extra months’ fees as the rules exclude it – but they excluded it in the past as well

          • xcalx says:
            20 Feb20 February 12:12

            I turned on auto convert to Virgin for the first time earlier this month for the 1k virgin miles. If I cancel it now will the CC points go to vouchers would rather use them for 3-1 on a cruise. Thanks.

          • Graeme says:
            20 Feb20 February 13:00

            I attempted the double-dip but didn’t realise it was a 90 day minimum, so my little cat (now in Tuscany) definitely won’t get it, but I could leave the missus’ one running.

            Does anyone know if they refund pro-rata?

          • Shoestring says:
            20 Feb20 February 13:29

            @xcalx – you would need to cancel the auto convert instruction shortly before the Tesco quarter end, which is normally still OK to get the Virgin 1000 miles

          • xcalx says:
            20 Feb20 February 13:47

            @SS Thanks will set reminder for before I go away on the 16th April.

          • Lady London says:
            20 Feb20 February 16:06

            Which one is the stripey one Shoestring?

      • LewisB says:
        20 Feb20 February 08:32

        Where did the cat go?

    • Craig says:
      20 Feb20 February 09:36

      Did you enter your club card number anywhere or did they pick it up from email/address combo?

      • Shoestring says:
        20 Feb20 February 10:40

        picked up my wife’s automatically & she got the points fine

        • Craig says:
          20 Feb20 February 10:54

          Ta, Trevor is a lovely new addition to the house but he is prone to running away!

      • Allycat says:
        20 Feb20 February 12:58

        My four policies all credited today to the same CC number on my wife’s account. Interestingly it was an old CC number associated with a cancelled tesco bank credit card. All four policies were taken out in different names and emails (me, wife, son 1, son 2) but all at the same postal address so their matching must have just been done on address alone and credited to the first CC number they had attached to the address.

        As for cancelling I can foresee that my employer has arranged a special deal to cover all pets in the household for all employees as a staff benefit so I don’t need any standalone policies now …

    • CharlieCheap says:
      20 Feb20 February 09:43

      What is the best way to cancel?

      • Mart says:
        20 Feb20 February 09:48

        A year or two ago when I took this offer and phoned to cancel they were offering bereavement councilling 🙁

        • Andrew MS says:
          20 Feb20 February 09:58

          I am going to tell them i have developed a cat allergy and he has found a new home !

      • Secret Squirrel says:
        20 Feb20 February 17:23

        Definitely call up first, then cancel DD, in the past I just cans DD then received a letter advising of outstanding policy payments as not advised of canx policy.

  • Grant says:
    20 Feb20 February 07:42

    OT – Rob, you’ve probably already seen it, but Plaza Premium at T5 is proudly displaying its HfP award at the desk.

    • Rob says:
      20 Feb20 February 09:19

      Yes, seen a photo. Club Aspire Gatwick South and PremiAir are also displaying them!

  • tony says:
    20 Feb20 February 08:04

    Unless something has changed, I don’t think the bars at Twickenham accept AMEX, do they?

  • Jtz says:
    20 Feb20 February 08:09

    OT is it possible to use curve to pay Hilton with ihg?
    Thanks

    • Genghis says:
      20 Feb20 February 08:41

      Give it a go

      • Jtz says:
        20 Feb20 February 08:44

        Tried it it didnt work, said card number was invalid, tried a lower amount too just in case.

        • Anna says:
          20 Feb20 February 09:07

          No, it has been blocked for a while. However, you may have better luck going in the other direction, and you don’t even need to use up your Curve allowance…

    • memesweeper says:
      20 Feb20 February 09:03

      No. Barclays have blocked payments to any card using Curve as a debit card.

    • mark2 says:
      20 Feb20 February 09:14

      From my experience Barclaycard only accept mainstream bank debit cards.

      • mark2 says:
        20 Feb20 February 16:31

        Forgot to say that you can pay Barclaycard using FastPay from Monese, Revolut etc.

  • Mikeact says:
    20 Feb20 February 08:18

    Just to confirm for those not sure…I had an email last night from Amex re the 3000 Avios offer for a BA transaction. I did three seperate transactions that just put me over the £300 threshold, and Avios have been confirmed…..might help somebody.

    • Andrew says:
      20 Feb20 February 09:17

      My purchase with OptionTown also triggered 3000 Avios.

      Nine domestic returns for £1163.
      First 3 booked.
      Actual cost of the first 3 flights if booked as regular economy – £890
      Realistic cost if I’d taken adjacent flights to minimise travel expense – £750

      So as long as my return ticket would cost more than £69 for the next 6 domestic flights – I’ve broken even on the purchase.

    • Axel says:
      20 Feb20 February 10:14

      Think the offer has expired

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