How to earn Avios points from Budget car rentals
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We have run various article on how to earn Avios from Avis car rentals. The Avis / BA partnership is fairly well publicised and has good benefits, in particular the free additional driver when booking using the British Airways Executive Club discount codes.
The Avis parent company is Avis Budget Group and, unsurprisingly, it is also possible to earn Avios with Budget. I thought it was worth looking at again today.
The main Budget website is here.
The relationship between Avios and Budget has historically been a bit odd, to say the least. It was presumably down to the wording of the contract between Avis and British Airways.
Prior to 2018, you could earn Avios points with car rentals from Budget but ONLY if you credited them to an avios.com or Iberia Plus account. You could not credit to British Airways Executive Club. If you looked at the Budget UK website there was no mention of Avios at all. It wasn’t even listed under their European partners.
This all changed in 2018.
You can now credit Budget rentals directly to British Airways Executive Club. You now have the combined Avis / Budget / Avios website – you can find it here.
How many Avios do I earn from Budget?
It’s very simple.
You earn 2 Avios per £1 spent. All Budget locations worldwide are included. You do not need to use any special British Airways booking codes.
There is minimal small print – you are capped at 10,000 Avios per rental (!), corporate rates do not qualify, chauffeur and van hires do not qualify, rates booked via third parties do not qualify. Apart from that, you’re good to go.
Note that you do NOT get a free additional driver when renting with Budget as a British Airways Executitve Club member. This benefit is only available with Avis rentals.
The earning rate with Budget is clearly poorer than the Avis earning rate (5 Avios per £1 with Avis vs 2 Avios per £1 with Budget) but if Budget is more convenient or a better deal then you can at least pick up some Avios.
You can find out more on the Avis Budget / BA site here. For more general information on Budget, visit their website here.

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (May 2023)
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:
SPECIAL OFFER: Until 30th May, the sign-up bonus on the Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard is doubled to a crazy 50,000 Avios! Apply here.
SPECIAL OFFER: Until 30th May, the sign-up bonus on the free Barclaycard Avios Mastercard is doubled to 10,000 Avios. Apply here.

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard
CRAZY 50,000 Avios for signing up (to 30th May) and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard
10,000 Avios for signing up (only to 30th May) 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 £12,000 Read our full review
You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points.
SPECIAL OFFER: Until 13th June, the sign-up bonus on The Platinum Card is doubled to 60,000 Membership Rewards points – and you get £200 to spend at Amex Travel too! Apply here.

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
60,000 points AND a £200 Amex Travel voucher until 13th June! 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.

Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa
Get a 10,000 points bonus plus an extra 500 points for our readers 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 bonus and a £200 Amex Travel credit every year 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.
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