BA shakes-up how you earn Avios from Avis – and launches a 50% bonus

British Airways and Avis, its dedicated car hire partner, have launched a shake-up of the way you earn Avios with your rentals.

If you want a one word answer to the question ‘Am I going to be better off?’, I’m afraid I can’t give you one.

This is what has changed:

The earning rate has risen from 3 Avios per £1 spent to 5 Avios per £1 spent

The bonus of 250 Avios for paying with a British Airways credit card appears to have gone

The bonus of 1,000 Avios for renting four times in a calendar year appears to have gone

The minimum earning rate of 500 Avios (700 Avios for a 3+ day rental) has gone

Are you a winner or a loser?

If you are doing very short, cheap rentals then you are clearly a loser.  This is because the minimum earning floor of 500 Avios for 1-2 day rental, or 700 Avios for a 3-day rental, has gone.

You are a winner if you are spending over £100 (£140 for a 3+ day rental) because the higher earning rate offsets the loss of the 500 / 700 Avios minimum earning.

If you would normally pay with a BA Amex (you have now lost the 250 Avios bonus for doing this) or rent enough to trigger the defunct 1,000 Avios for four rentals bonus, you need to factor that in too.

Is this better than the Virgin Atlantic / Hertz deal?

For most people, probably not.

You can earn 1,000 Virgin Points with a Hertz rental.  Details of the Virgin Atlantic / Hertz deal are on the Virgin website here.

You would need to spend £200 with Avis before you would earn 1,000 Avios.  Since you can almost always get a car rental down to £20 per day for a Compact with the use of the right codes and offers, this would imply that most people won’t be spending £200.

Are there any other Avios bonuses available from Avis?

Avis has retained one of the extra bonuses it used to offer.

If you join Avis Preferred for free you will collect an additional 1,000 bonus Avios on your first Preferred rental.

Is the ‘free additional driver’ offer still here?

Yes.

If you book via the British Airways discount codes below, you will also receive a free additional driver. This can represent a decent saving and is one of key perks of the Avis / BA partnership.

How does the 50% bonus Avios work?

To launch this new earning structure, Avis is offering a 50% bonus on rentals completed by 28th February 2021.

This means 7.5 Avios per £1 you spend.

Here’s the small print:

Must book by 3rd December

Must book a Group C car or higher

Must book for 2+ days

Must book via the BA website or the Avis BA microsite

Must pick up car by 28th February

Not valid for collections between 15th December and 1st January inclusive

Valid for rentals in mainland Spain, Balearics and Canaries, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, France, Italy, Portugal, the Netherlands and United Kingdom

You can check out the full details on the Avis / British Airways website here.

How do I book?

Avis and BA have a dedicated booking site which you can find here and which automatically adds the correct discount code.

If you use avis.co.uk, you will need to manually add the British Airways discount codes (AWD) which are, based on your British Airways Executive Club status:

Gold members – N744400

Silver members – N744300

Bronze members – N284300

Blue members – N744100

Full details of this offer and all of the partnership benefits are on the Avis / BA website here.

You can also book, and find out more, on the car hire pages of ba.com here.

Note that all of the above only applies to Avis rentals.  The British Airways partnership with Budget, sister company to Avis, works differently.  You can learn about the Avios / Budget car rental partnership here.

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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 Mastercard

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

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.