Get 1,000 Avios or other miles with a Heathrow Rewards sign-up bonus

It is, not surprisingly, quite a while since we have seen a sign-up bonus for the Heathrow Rewards loyalty scheme.

British Airways is now offering a promo code for signing up. Whilst it is an BA code, the bonus points can be transferred to Virgin Points, Emirates Skywards or any other partner if you wish.

Heathrow Rewards gives you 1 point for every £1 spent in Heathrow (1 per £10 on foreign exchange) or on Heathrow Express tickets (online bookings only). Once you’ve earned 250 points you can exchange them for miles or shopping vouchers.

What is my bonus worth?

Under the BA promotion, you will receive 1,000 bonus Heathrow Rewards points when you join Heathrow Rewards and spend £80 in a single day before 31st December.

You can redeem your 1,000 Heathrow Rewards points for 1,000 Avios or miles in Virgin Flying Club, Aegean Miles+Bonus, Miles & More, Emirates Skywards, Royalskies (Royal Brunei) or Krisflyer (Singapore Airlines).

Alternatively, you could take £10 of Heathrow shopping vouchers or Heathrow Express vouchers, or £20 of vouchers towards the official Heathrow car parks.

Heathrow Rewards has, in the past, offered generous 50%-100% transfer bonuses to certain airline partners. This could make your sign-up bonus even more valuable if these returned.

How do I sign up?

Full details of the Heathrow Rewards scheme are here.

To get the bonus you need to make sure you add the promotion code BA2021. You are looking for the line ‘Seen a promo? Add the code to be rewarded.’

Whilst the code is from this page of the BA website, it doesn’t stop you moving the points to a different airline if you wish once you have triggered the bonus.

Check the small print before you make your purchases at Heathrow as some items such as tobacco or foreign currency transactions do not count.  Gift card purchases do not seem to count if they are for the store where you buy the card, although third party gift cards seem to be OK.

You may already have a Heathrow Rewards account.  If so, consider persuading someone who shares a British Airways household account with you to open one too.

If you are flying this weekend, don’t worry about not receiving your plastic card in time.   You can bring up your card via the Heathrow Airport app.

You can learn more about Heathrow Rewards on its website here.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (March 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:

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

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.

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.

There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 8th April 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Business Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to 120,000 points. You receive 80,000 points when you spend £12,000 within three months and a further 40,000 points if you spend on the card between Month 14 and Month 17. Points convert 1:1 into Avios and many other programmes. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 8th April 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Business Gold is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 60,000 points. You receive 40,000 points when you spend £6,000 within three months and a further 20,000 points if you spend on the card between Month 14 and Month 17. Points convert 1:1 into Avios and many other programmes. Click here to apply.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.