Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

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

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UPDATE – DECEMBER 2024:  This article is now out of date, but don’t worry.  We produce a monthly directory of the top UK travel credit card offers – please click HERE or use the ‘Credit Cards’ menu above.  Thank you.

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Barclaycard and Barclays are currently running 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 the ‘apply by’ date – it doesn’t matter if Barclays takes a few weeks to open your account, as long as the initial application is in by the 30th.

This is a complex offer so we’ve broken it up into four articles which we are updating this week:

…. 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, £675 – 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.


How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (December 2024)

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 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

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.

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

Huge 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, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

20,000 points (ONLY TO 9TH DECEMBER) Read our full review

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

30,000 points (TO 9TH DECEMBER) 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.

Comments (73)

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

  • Toto says:

    Hi Rob, just want to double check something please?
    In this article you mentioned we need to open the Barclays Prem through your link – but after going through eligibility checks (no prior Barclays relationship) I got directed by the Barclays website to open the account through their app instead?
    Is there any HFP referral codes I need to enter in order to qualify for the 100k avios?
    Also I just got accepted for the Barclays Avios Plus CC 2 days ago (Had to wait 6mth after cancelling my Hilton) – do I need to wait for the card to arrive before I apply for the Premier?

    • Rob says:

      no, you don’t need to use our link. Barclays originally said people should go via the promo page but this appears to be incorrect.

  • Ted says:

    Applied for card, accepted. Applied for account, accepted.

    App was a pain, but eventually got all installed, with cards and codes added, avios add-ons, etc., after quite a bit of trying (and waiting for the various ‘bits’ to arrive).

    £3k spend on card, done. So I thought I’d message through the app to confirm everything I was required to do had been done and to ask when the 25k, 25k and the 100k would be credited to my account.

    I’ve been told that the accounts aren’t linked and that this will take five days to do. Then I get another message asking me to change my number, so that the cc and account match. I only have one mobile number, so I question this. The person typing to me messages my old number. This is the one I used for a Barclays cc I took out 6 years ago and closed 5 years ago.

    I explained that I didn’t think they should still have my information on file, given that I closed the account, less they should be associating my new card with old details.

    Apparently the cc 25k should credit on the fifth day of the following month, so 5/12, however should these accounts not be linked, then does that make me ineligible for the 100k, due to the closing date of the deal elapsing?

    The amount of time I’ve spent dealing with this hasn’t be worth it and that’s *if* I get all the joining and spend bonuses.

    Oh and to top it off, the mortgage company I use didn’t have the dd details for the new account when I called to check (they actually did, but the system wasn’t showing), so another layer of undue stress and an unnecessary debit card payment the next day, although the overpayments help, so never mind.

    So now I wait. I don’t really know what I’m waiting for anymore, but I’m waiting anyway. Hopefully the next return message on the app won’t be to ask me what I want, so that I have to start from scratch, again.

    Ted

  • WilliamD says:

    So as per previous comment I have BC Avios Plus but no Barclays Bank Account. Qualify through earnings. Click through HFP link to Barclays. Go through verification process. Tells me to download app to open premier account. Already have barclaycard app, no option in there to open an account as link takes me on a loop via website back to app. So download the barclays app, not barclaycard. Go through verification process. App setup, barclaycard appears in app. Still can’t see where I can open an account as again it just loops me back to website and back to download app. Chat help can’t help.

    Exasperating. Anyone got a clue?

    • WilliamD says:

      Scratch above, managed to work out how to do via website. Account opened. Next issue – account not on Barclays app, chat useless, can’t login to account. Palava.

      • WilliamD says:

        OK, appears I need my debit card first to be able to access online banking/app. So deleted the app which I had registered to my barclaycard and will re-setup when debit card appears.

  • Tensor says:

    My experience:
    I applied and was accepted for the Avios Plus card. So far, so good. Then I went throught the premier account opening process in the Barclays app, where it told me to go to a branch and preferably schedule an appointment.
    I thought this was because of an identity verification snag and visited a nearby branch in London, and after they couldn’t offer me an on the spot appointment, and even an appointment next week, visited 4 more (I was curious!)
    Turns out that visiting a branch without an appointment is bad advice in the app – there are no walk in appointments, and no next week appointments.
    I called the ordinary support line, the closest appointment they had in my area was in a month. A call to the premier support line yielded an appointment in a mere 3 weeks.
    Neither one was able to tell me the reason I need to visit the branch.
    Well, today I visited, and was told that Barclays will not offer me a bank account, as I had one with them and closed it via account switch less than a year away, which is fair enough – but why tell me to come in person to a branch only to tell me they can’t give me an account without any recourse?
    I spent an hour on the phone and an hour for the visit, and won’t get the points, so I’m in the red here on the money, and the level of support is certainly not something I would call Premier.

  • Jeronimo says:

    My situation doesn’t quite fit into any of the scenarios. Could anyone please advise if I’ll still be eligible for this 100k bonus.

    I’m already a Premier customer and have a standard (non-plus) Avios credit card. If I switch my Premier account to Avios rewards and upgrade my credit card to the Plus, will I still be eligible for any bonus?

    Having said that, I already switched the account and upgraded my credit card within the deadline, and both have been accepted. But I’m just trying to set my expectation as to what I will get.

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