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Got Barclaycard Avios Plus? Get 100,000 bonus Avios for joining Premier Banking with Barclays Avios Rewards

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Yes, you read that right.

Barclaycard and Barclays have just launched what are, easily, the richest Avios promotional deals we have ever seen. If you only respond to one Avios-collecting offer this year, make it this one.

Full details are on the Barclays website here. I strongly recommend reading the information there alongside our article below.

The offer ends on 30th November 2022.

Get 100,000 bonus Avios for joining Premier Banking with Barclays Avios Rewards

This is a complex offer so we’ve broken it up into four articles:

…. plus the one you’re currently reading:

  • Got the Barclaycard Avios Plus credit card? Get 100,000 bonus Avios for joining Premier Banking with Barclays Avios Rewards

One of these articles should be appropriate for your circumstances.

Only continue reading this article if you have a Barclaycard Avios Plus credit card (the £20 per month version) but have not yet applied for Premier Banking with Barclays Avios Rewards.

Get 100,000 Avios for joining Premier Banking with Barclays Avios Rewards

If you are a Barclaycard Avios Plus cardholder, this is a truly exceptional offer. You are being offered 100,000 Avios – which is worth, in the worst case scenario that you turn it into Nectar points, £800 – for joining Premier Banking with Barclays Avios Rewards (£12 monthly fee, please see terms and conditions below).

The 100,000 Avios bonus is on top of the standard bonus for joining Premier Banking with Barclays Avios Rewards. This will be either 2,500 or 25,000 Avios depending on whether you are an existing or new Barclays current account holder.

You need to keep both Premier Banking with Barclays Avios Rewards and your Barclaycard Avios Plus credit card for four months, starting from the date you open Barclays Avios Rewards. Eligibility and T&Cs apply.

Get 100,000 bonus Avios for joining Premier Banking with Barclays Avios Rewards

Barclays Avios Rewards terms and conditions

Here are some key things to note about Premier Banking and Barclays Avios Rewards:

  • You can opt in to Barclays Avios Rewards if you’re a Premier Banking or Wealth customer with a personal current account with Barclays – you’ll need to register for the Barclays app and have a British Airways Executive Club account too
  • There’s a £12 monthly fee and you have to opt out of Barclays Blue Rewards and go paperless for all your accounts and services.
  • To access Barclays Avios Rewards in the Barclays app, you need to be over 18.
  • To join and remain eligible for Premier Banking for free you need to have an income of £75,000 or more paid into a Barclays current account or at least £100,000 invested with Barclays. T&Cs apply.

Full details of the offer are here.

How does the 100,000 bonus Avios offer for joining Premier Banking with Barclays Avios Rewards work?

Here are the key details:

  • you need to be an existing Barclaycard Avios Plus cardholder
  • you need to activate Barclays Avios Rewards – it costs £12 per month but comes with 1,500 Avios per month and a British Airways upgrade voucher* every 12 months

In return, you will receive:

From Barclays Avios Rewards:

  • you’ll receive 25,000 Avios if Premier Banking with Barclays Avios Rewards is the first current account you are opening with Barclays and you complete a full switch using the Current Account Switch Service within three months.
  • if you have had an existing Barclays current account (not including Premier Banking with Barclays Avios Rewards) for four months or more already, you’ll receive 2,500 Avios as a joining bonus

On top of the bonus above:

  • you will receive an additional 100,000 Avios if you retain your Barclaycard Avios Plus credit card and your Premier Banking with Barclays Avios Rewards account for at least four months

Click here for the full terms and conditions.

What are the benefits of Premier Banking with Barclays Avios Rewards?

Even without the carrot of an additional 100,000 Avios bonus, Premier Banking – with the Barclays Avios Rewards add-on – is a good deal.

To join Barclays Premier Banking for free, you will need an income of £75,000+ OR at least £100,000 invested with Barclays.

Barclays Avios Rewards is the rewards scheme for Premier Banking and Wealth customers with a personal current account. It is the only way to collect Avios from a UK current account.

This is how it works:

  • There is a £12 monthly fee for Barclays Avios Rewards
  • You receive 1,500 Avios per month
  • You receive a ‘cabin upgrade voucher*’ after 12 months (more details below)

What is important to remember about Barclays Avios Rewards is that – unlike a credit card reward – there is no spend requirement. Once you opt in to Barclays Avios Rewards you will receive monthly Avios and an annual BA upgrade voucher*.

If you join Premier Banking with Barclays Avios Rewards and have a Barclaycard Avios Plus credit card, you could get two upgrade vouchers* each year – one from the credit card, if you meet the £10,000 annual spend target, and one from Barclays Avios Rewards. This would allow you to:

  • upgrade a return flight, in both directions, for two people travelling together, or
  • upgrade a flight in one direction for four people travelling together
Get 100,000 bonus Avios for joining Premier Banking with Barclays Avios Rewards

Conclusion

This article is aimed at people who have the Barclaycard Avios Plus credit card but have not yet joined Premier Banking with Barclays Avios Rewards.

As an existing Barclaycard Avios Plus credit cardholder, you should find this a very attractive offer:

  • You’ll receive 25,000 Avios if you’re opening your first current account with Barclays and complete a full switch using the Current Account Switcher Service within three months and switch on Barclays Avios Rewards
  • Until 30th November, you will receive 100,000 Avios as an additional bonus for taking out Premier Banking with Barclays Avios Rewards and retaining it alongside your Barclaycard Avios Plus credit card for four months

The bonus for Barclays Avios Rewards is reduced to 2,500 Avios if you have an existing Barclays current account and are upgrading. You will still receive the 100,000 Avios bonus if you meet all of the other criteria. T&C apply. The offer ends on 30th November.

You can find out more, and apply, on this special page of the Barclays website.

NOTE: Whilst the application site is aimed at people who are new to Barclays, you will see that – once you start to apply – you are sent down a different track as an existing Barclaycard Avios Plus cardholder.

*Cabin upgrade vouchers must be used on Avios reward flight bookings. Reward flights and cabin upgrades are subject to availability. Taxes, fees and carrier charges per person apply. Additional terms and conditions apply to the use of the cabin upgrade voucher, please go to here for more information.

Disclaimer: Head for Points is a journalistic website. Nothing here should be construed as financial advice, and it is your own responsibility to ensure that any product is right for your circumstances. Recommendations are based primarily on the ability to earn miles and points. The site discusses products offered by lenders but is not a lender itself. Robert Burgess, trading as Head for Points, is regulated and authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as an independent credit broker.

Comments (203)

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

  • dst87 says:

    Does the £75,000 have to be personal income? I do not quite hit that, but my husband does and we’d want a joint account anyway. The credit card is in my name (because he doesn’t care much about this whole business).

    • Rhys says:

      Yes, at least one person needs to earn above £75k, even for joint accounts

  • Greenpen says:

    My Barclaycard is a different shape, portrait not landscape.

    • Rob says:

      They all are, but for online use Barclaycard created these images because no financial website can handle the pics otherwise.

  • Alex says:

    The initial 25k is conditional on using the current account switch service. Is the subsequent 100k as well?

    • Rob says:

      Good question – this is not a scenario I have seen plans for. I would guess that you won’t be eligible.

  • Thegasman says:

    So I’ve got a Barclays Premier current account (but not activated Avios rewards yet) & I also have a Barclaycard Avios Plus card. I’m eligible for 100k Avios if I switch on Avios rewards & keep it (& Barclaycard) activated for 4 months?!

    • Rob says:

      I am leaning towards no but frankly this wasn’t a scenario that was sketched out in any discussions we had. The thing is this – as you wouldn’t be going via the application form to do this, it wouldn’t track.

      • E says:

        How about Barclays Premier current account (but not activated Avios rewards yet) & have a Barclaycard Avios card (free card)?

        • Rob says:

          If the Barclaycard app lets you upgrade to Plus then I reckon it may well work. This is the first stage – does the app give you the upgrade option? If not then you’re stuck and there is no point pursuing further.

      • Thegasman says:

        From T&C’s;
        When you’ll be eligible for the Avios Bonus

        You will be eligible for the Avios Bonus when you hold a Barclaycard Avios Plus card and Barclays Avios Rewards, provided that you open or join one or both of those products during the Qualifying Period. You’ll still be eligible if you open or join them by switching from another product during the Qualifying Period.
        You must also continue to hold both products for four months from the date of the product you’ve opened or joined most recently.
        It doesn’t matter which product you open or join first, or if you already hold one product prior to the Qualifying Period.
        You won’t be eligible for the Avios Bonus if you hold both products prior to the Qualifying Period.

        Guess the question is does switching on Avios rewards fulfil “provided that you open or join one or both of those” The counterpoint is “you won’t be eligible for the Avios Bonus if you hold both products”

        I’d say the fact they use join implies it’s the Avios Rewards rather than the current account that is the key product as you don’t join a credit card or current account. There’s also no mention of needing to use that specific web page to qualify so that shouldn’t be a bar, though I’d imagine I’d have to argue my case!

        • Flightsy says:

          I agree – I very much concluded the same from the “join” wording.

      • Flightsy says:

        I don’t think you do have to apply via an application form for it to track to pay the Avios. Given that the terms of the offer states the following (see quoted extracts below) it sounds like it’s both an acquisition and existing customer offer fulfilled by a monthly CRM data scrape with some data cleansing criteria applied – why would it take 2 months to post otherwise?

        “You must also continue to hold both products for four months from the date of the product you’ve opened or joined most recently.”

        and…

        “ You will receive the Avios Bonus within two months from the date you meet the eligibility criteria.”

    • Dudulle says:

      According to the eligibility checker, yes.

  • Rob says:

    Annoyingly signed up to Premier Banking and downgraded to the free card yesterday- the worst luck! 🙁

  • kynazanatoly says:

    I have an old HSBC Premier account that I don’t want to get rid of since it’s the main thing maintaining my credit score.

    How does the Current Account Switch work? Can I run it on any account, even if I don’t get my salary paid there?

    • Rob says:

      You can shift any account to Premier, yes, but Barclays will want to see a sum equivalent to your salary going in. No reason you can’t move this from your HSBC account though.

      • kynazanatoly says:

        I might open a free Revolut account then just to Current Account Switch it to Barclays and then transport my salary from my HSBC account to my Barclays account every month.

        Is this a genius and fool-proof plan, or am I missing some important detail?

        • BuildBackBetter says:

          Revolut is not a bank and doesnt participate in switching service. You can use one of the online banks like Monzo or Starling.

    • BuildBackBetter says:

      A current account doesnt impact your credit profile, unless if you have overdraft facility.

  • Tony says:

    I downgraded to the standard Barclaycard after triggering the £10k spend. Can I upgrade back to the Barclaycard plus and still be eligible for the 100k offer in this article?

  • Ryanfozzie says:

    Hi Rob,

    Concerned about how this tracks…

    Went through the steps (already have a Barclaycard Avios Plus) signed up to the Barclays Premier Account via the app (not turned on Avios Rewards).

    Is it a case of now scanning the QR code on this page?

    Cheers!

    • Tom W says:

      Same here. Currently have the card already but need to open a new current account through the app… Am struggling to figure out how it will track properly.

      • JDB says:

        Yes, I am confused too. Clicked on the link in the HfP article, fine through the eligibility etc. but then tells you to apply through the app which has zero indication that it might track – it looks a completely separate thing as it offers Premier/Basic/Student accounts, no mention of the 100k Avios. Want to make sure I do it right…

    • Luke says:

      Yes also concerned about how it will track. Followed the instructions and it just told me to apply in the app.

    • Rob says:

      Anyone get an answer or clarification on this? I am in the same boat and just waiting before I apply through the app as want to be sure that it will track okay! 🙂 Any help/advice/experiences welcomed!!

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

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