Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Astonishing 70,000 Avios sign-up bonus for the British Airways Premium Plus American Express!

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UPDATE – APRIL 2024:  This article is now out of date, but don’t worry.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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

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I’ve never seen anything like it. British Airways has just launched an exclusive 70,000 Avios sign-up bonus for the British Airways Premium Plus American Express card.

This is, frankly, shocking. I’ve never seen anything like it in all these years.

Just as surprising is a sign-up bonus of 20,000 Avios on the free British Airways American Express card.

You can learn more about the cards in our British Airways Premium Plus American Express review here and our free British Airways American Express review here.

70,000 Avios British Airways Premium Plus American Express card

Here is the legally required interest rate information on the two cards:

British Airways American Express:

The representative APR is 31.0% variable.

British Airways Premium Plus American Express:

The representative APR is 139.9% variable, including the annual fee.  The representative APR on purchases is 31.0% variable.

Yesterday we wrote about a new ‘open to all’ bonus of 35,000 Avios for the British Airways Premium Plus card. There was no special bonus launched on the free card.

I need to stress that we were not told in advance about this (far) better ba.com exclusive deal. American Express had provided us with details of the 35,000 Avios offer but nothing else. There was even a formal press release circulated to the media on the 35,000 Avios deal on Tuesday evening. No-one bothered to mention that a much better offer was available.

Full details are on this page on the BA website. You must be logged in to see it.

This is what the BA website shows when logged in. You can see this under ‘Avios credit cards’ on the home page:

Get a limited time 70,000 Avios sign-up bonus!

For British Airways Premium Plus, if you sign up by 21st February, you can earn a sign-up bonus of 70,000 Avios when you spend £3,000 in the first three months.

I cannot stress how crazy this offer is. If ANY member of your family qualifies for this bonus, I would persuade them to jump in.

What is even more impressive is that the spending requirement is unchanged. You only need to spend the usual £3,000.

What are 70,000 Avios worth?

This is our main article on what Avios points are worth. We generally say that you should expect at least 1p when used for premium cabin flights.

However, even in the worst possible scenario – that you convert to Nectar points and spend them in Sainsburys, at Argos or at eBay.co.uk – your 70,000 Avios are worth £467 of Nectar credit. Not bad for a sign-up bonus …..

20,000 avios free british airways american express credit card

Do you qualify for the 70,000 Avios bonus?

Remember that you are only eligible for the sign-up bonus on the Premium Plus card if you have NOT held a British Airways American Express (free or Premium Plus) card in the past 24 months.

You ARE eligible if you currently or have held The Platinum Card, Preferred Rewards Gold card, Green card, Nectar card, Platinum Cashback cards, Marriott Bonvoy card, American Express Rewards Credit Card, Business Platinum or Business Gold cards.

You ARE eligible if you are currently a supplementary cardholder on a British Airways American Express card held by someone else, but have not held a card in your own name in the past 24 months.

The bottom line is that if you haven’t had either of the British Airways American Express cards in the past 24 months, you will qualify for the 70,000 Avios.

What about the free British Airways American Express card?

Clearly 20,000 Avios on the free card – requiring a spend of £1,000 in three months – is also exceptional.

However, with a 70,000 Avios bonus on the table with the Premium Plus card, I don’t see why you would want to bother with the free card unless the £3,000 spend target is a problem.

Note that the rules for getting the bonus on the free card are tougher than on the British Airways Premium Plus American Express. The rule is that you cannot have had ANY personal American Express cards in the past 24 months.

The Premium Plus card has far looser rules – you only need to have gone 24 months without any British Airways American Express card.

Conclusion

I have no idea why British Airways has decided to offer such a ludicrously generous offer but only tell people about it via its own website.

The offer runs to 21st February. I strongly recommend you jump in if you can.

The application page is on the BA website here.

If you want to know, we did an article on the core benefits of the British Airways Premium Plus American Express card here. If you don’t want to pay an annual fee, a similar article on the benefits of the free British Airways American Express card is here.

Want to earn more points from credit cards? – April 2024 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 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

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.

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

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

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

15,000 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:

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

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

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points sign-up bonus 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 Business Rewards Visa

Huge 30,000 points bonus until 12th May 2024 Read our full review

For a non-American Express option, we also recommend the Barclaycard Select Cashback card for sole traders and small businesses. It is FREE and you receive 1% cashback on your spending.

Barclaycard Select Cashback Business Credit Card

1% cashback uncapped* on all your business spending (T&C apply) Read our full review

Category

British Airways American Express, British Airways and Avios

Comments (567)

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

  • GeorgeB says:
    12 Jan12 January 07:45

    “… in the first 3 months of Cardmembership and join the Executive Club if you’re not already a member.”

    When I first saw this deal appearing online I assumed based on the wording that this deal was to target people who were neither card holders OR BAEC members?

  • AJA says:
    12 Jan12 January 07:49

    I think this shows desperation. After the increase in fee for the card and the recent Avios devaluation and the Avios to Nectar devaluation and the competition from Barclaycard plus the 24 month rule for former BAPP card holders I think the card is not nearly as popular as it once was.

    I think it’s also interesting that it wasn’t widely advertised. I wonder how many applications they will get.

  • Dave says:
    12 Jan12 January 08:04

    Anyone who applied yesterday at 35k had any luck ringing Amex to get the 70k offer?

    • sdahl38 says:
      13 Jan13 January 11:32

      I had applied yesterday and my application was pending review. I called and was able to cancel the application and was told I could reapply after about 1 hour.

  • ChasP says:
    12 Jan12 January 08:08

    I think most have missed the point
    This is only available if you AREN’T referred
    If I refer my OH then they get 35k and I get under the current offer on my plat bus card 35k
    So its not that crazy it just costs them the same and also fits in with the comments from the last few weeks about people not being able to refer
    Perhaps this is a real change in AMEX strategy

    • Kishmeintuches says:
      12 Jan12 January 08:57

      does one get 35k MRP for reffering through Plat Bus?

      • Rob says:
        12 Jan12 January 09:55

        My Plat Bus is offering 30k but, yes, you can refer to any card from that – but not the BA 70k obviously.

  • G bit says:
    12 Jan12 January 08:11

    I hold the BA Amex Accelerating Business Card (via limited company). Will this effect eligibility for this offer?

  • LewisB says:
    12 Jan12 January 08:16

    Well, I have just over 6k of BA spend that I need to do by September. I could very nicely ask both parents to take this out, dump my 6k spend and walk away with 158,000 avios since they are both in my household account. Potentially avios deal of the year!

  • MarkR says:
    12 Jan12 January 08:21

    Does anyone know if I can open an account in my sons name who is at Uni and therefore doesn’t yet have an income? Can I use my income?

    • allycat says:
      12 Jan12 January 09:31

      I have opened cards for both my kids while at Uni (after referring them of course ;-)) and stated their income as their tuition fee loan plus maintenace loan (which is sort of technically correct) and they were both accepted. Got their cards then applied for supps in my name (and they got supp bonuses) and spent the required amount myself to trigger the sign up bonuses. Kids are in the BA household account so Avios are pooled and the way to use “their” avios is to trasnfer out your own avios to an Aer Lingus avios account so that just enough avios are left in the HHA, then do a redemption to use up all the avios on your own flights. If on the gold card, then convert MR to BA avios before closing the gold account. I think I did it 2 x Gold and 1 x BAPP overall.

    • Andrew says:
      12 Jan12 January 09:48

      While you might not be found out I think you know you shouldn’t use your income. You wouldn’t lie about your income on an application of your own so don’t lie about it on an application for someone else. Also consider your son’s credit history. What if he applies for his own Amex upon leaving university and they ask him why his income has gone down so much in the last two years? Whilst very unlikely if Amex suspect shenanigans it’ll be your son getting blacklisted.

  • Dev says:
    12 Jan12 January 08:25

    My wife cancelled her BA card more than 2 years ago but there is a £27 pro rata refund stuck on it (Amex would send a cheque
    but we live overseas). I know it sounds silly but we were waiting till we spent a summer in the UK but Covid killed that for last few years. Sot he balance is still on her account.

    Will she qualify for the bonus?

    • alig4th says:
      12 Jan12 January 08:30

      Go on AMEX chat. Get them to put, in writing, the date they have on record as the card being closed. Ask them explicitly to confirm that, if you apply two years after that closing date on their record that you are eligible for the offer. Get them to give you a chat reference. If there’s any comeback, you’ve got written proof that AMEX acknowledges your eligibility

    • points_worrier says:
      12 Jan12 January 08:37

      it will be the date the account is shut.

    • James says:
      12 Jan12 January 08:53

      I have the same issue.
      It does use the words “held the card” and I haven’t held the card for 24+ months as it was cancelled and wouldn’t work. However there is a credit owed to me on the account of something like 79pence !

      • S says:
        12 Jan12 January 09:27

        Same here, but surely this won’t be an issue?

      • James says:
        12 Jan12 January 10:36

        I went on the chat and was told I would be eligible for a new sign-up bonus as cancelled the card more than 2 years ago AND that a credit (owed to me) left on a previous account does not disqualify me from the welcome bonus on a new card of the same type (or any other type !).

        But get it in writing yourself for your own circumstances.
        Happy days.
        Now, off to get my 70k Avios – which are worth less than they were of course 😢

    • QFFlyer says:
      12 Jan12 January 08:58

      Yes, also Amex will send the cheque overseas if you ask them to (deposit it via mobile deposit).

    • Andrew says:
      12 Jan12 January 09:54

      More fundamentally if you live overseas you’re not eligible for the card full stop. You must have a permanent UK home address.

      • QFFlyer says:
        12 Jan12 January 11:58

        Some people have permanent addresses in more than one country 🤷‍♂️

        • Andrew says:
          12 Jan12 January 13:41

          True but I’d argue you can only have one “home” address and if you describe yourselves as “living overseas” then it’s not the UK property you may have sitting empty which you haven’t visited for the “last few years”

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