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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.

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

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.


earns points from credit cards

Want to earn more points from credit cards? – April 2025 update

If you are looking to apply for a new credit card, here are our top recommendations based on the current sign-up bonuses.

In 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

Get 5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the best of the other deals currently available.

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

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher 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

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

18,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review

Earning miles and points from small business cards

If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers:

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

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review

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

Comments (199)

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

  • Roberto says:

    Using their eligibility checker, do I understand correctly that I need to open first a Current Account, and then apply for the Premier Account? (I don’t have any account with Barclays)

    • Rob says:

      No, you open Premier directly as far as I know.

      • Roberto says:

        The elegibility checker, when I say I am not currently being paid into a Barclays account, it says I’m not elegible.

        To be clear, I do have a Barclaycard Avios Rewards card (black one), but I don’t have any account with Barclays.

        • Rob says:

          Weird. How can you not be eligible for Premier as long as you earn enough?

        • Michael C says:

          Same here.
          Do you have a current account with Barclays? No.
          Are you paying 75K in? No (because I don’t have an account).
          Not elegible! (without any questions about income, etc.)

          • Rob says:

            You are correct, just checked. I have emailed the Barclays team about this. It isn’t working as I would expect.

  • Chas says:

    This could be very lucrative for us (hopefully)… Two questions though:
    1) I think there used to be an additional 1,500 avios per month if you had a Barclays mortgage too (on top of the 1,500 for Premier banking). Is this still the case, and if so how would that work where there are 2 applicants who could potentially draw on it?

    2) If you don’t have an existing premier account, open one but don’t switch your existing account across, what bonus do you get? 2.5k?

    Scenario 1 (me): Barclaycard Avios Plus holder, plus existing (basically dormant) Barclays account, so I’ll get 100k + 2.5k as a one off, plus on an ongoing basis 1.5k per month although maybe 3k depending on the mortgage bonus

    Scenario 2 (wife): Barclaycard Avios Plus holder, no existing Barclays account, happy to open a Premier account but will not switch. So she’ll get 100k + 2.5k(?) as a one off, plus on an ongoing basis 1.5k per month although maybe 3k depending on the mortgage bonus.

    • Rhys says:

      1) Believe so, not sure how that works if it’s a joint mortgage
      2) Just create a dummy switching account?

  • JanM says:

    Hum. Anyone knows what they mean with “validating my income”? I have the credit card and have always wanted this account. I certainly get paid more than the 3,330 pounds a month they say you need to avoid the fee, but I’m a few thousand pounds short of 75k gross per annum…

    • Rob says:

      They can’t validate your income (unless they ask for a pay slip) but they expect the required net sum to appear in your account each month. It might not make it to the required 4 months if not.

      There is an option to pay £20 per month for Premier if your salary is under £75k but I don’t know if Avios Rewards is allowed with that option.

      • FatherOfFour says:

        Does the net income have to be from 1 source, or would salary + private rental income work?
        I think there have been a couple of questions about “joint accounts” too. Interested how this would/could work if anyone knows.

    • Flightsy says:

      Barclays “validate” it after you open the account by looking at how much is credited to your account monthly. If it’s below £3,330 pm they will write to you to advise that you you need to meet the qualifying criteria or they will apply a £20 fee for Premier Banking. When I opened my Barclays account they never asked for Payslips to prove my income.

      • ianM says:

        I get paid by cheques (yes still!) so the total cheque receipts need to be over £4330? I take it that is a £75k net of tax figure?
        They have of course already verified income to get the Avios Plus credit card

        • Flightsy says:

          @ianM – The exact wording on the email they sent me says “A gross annual income of £75,000 or more paid into your current account with us – equivalent to at least £4,330 paid into your account each month, or £40,000 in the previous 12 months”. I reckon their only check total credits to your account monthly so you could pay in £2k, transfer that out to a non Barclays account, then transfer the £2k back into your Barclays account and meet the criteria…

  • Flightsy says:

    So annoyed as I cancelled my Barclaycard Avios fee paying card last week. But here is a scenario I am now contemplating… can I apply for one again, then “join” Barclays Avios Rewards (I’m already a Barclays Premier customer) to qualify for this 100k Avios offer. This *should* mean I qualify as I would be opening the Barclaycard and “joining” Barclays Avios Rewards during the qualifying period. Views from the room?

  • Flightsy says:

    Curious about this wording though…

    “The Avios Bonus is 100,000 Avios for eligible customers and is in addition to any Avios Welcome Bonus for Barclaycard Avios Plus or Joining Bonus for Barclays Avios Rewards which you may qualify for.
    You will only receive one Avios Bonus where you meet the eligibility criteria.”

    Looks like the second sentence contradicts the first, right?

    • Rob says:

      Dunno what the last bit means. First bit is correct – you get 150k for doing both products in total.

  • Nugget says:

    Regarding the £75k income requirement for joining Premier Banking. Does anybody know if that includes their foreign currency accounts? I get some of my salary in GBP to my current account, but most I get to my Barclays Euro account. Naturally, once in a while I transfer most of that into my GBP account…

  • kynazanatoly says:

    Rob, I really wanted to thank you for your effort in talking to Barclays convincing them that there is enough demand to make offers like this one worth it.

    I know this is your job and all, but this site is helping me save a ton of money when visiting my family for the holidays, which requires travelling on an expensive route monopolised by British Airways.

  • Russ says:

    Hi! In terms of the £4300 monthly income check, can this come via a transfer from another bank or does it need to come direct from an employer or similar? i.e. can I keep my current account elsewhere and just transfer over my salary each month? Thanks!

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

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