Get 15,000 cheap Avios with The Economist – as low as 0.86p with £60 Amex cashback

British Airways and The Economist have brought back their special offer for taking out a subscription. This is the first offer we’ve seen since October.

As you can see at this link, you can earn 15,000 or 18,000 Avios with a new one-year subscription.

What is special this time is that you can tie it in with a new £60 American Express cashback deal for an Economist subscription.

Ignoring the Amex cashback for a moment, here are the two subscription options on offer if you are a UK resident:

• Digital only:  £189 with 15,000 Avios (1.26p per Avios)

• Print and digital:  £239 with 18,000 Avios (1.32p per Avios)

‘Print only’ subscriptions are no longer available.

Subscribing to The Economist could make sense just for the Avios bonus even if you have little intention of reading it in detail, although there are occasional opportunities to buy Avios points for nearer 1p each.

Don’t forget your £60 cashback with American Express

You should also check your American Express cards for an Economist offer:

You’ll get £60 cashback when you spend £189 or more, which is conveniently the same price as a digital subscription. When factoring in the cashback, the value increases further:

• Digital only:  £129 with 15,000 Avios (0.86p per Avios)

• Print and digital:  £179 with 18,000 Avios (0.99p per Avios)

There is no problem combining both deals – I did this when the offer ran in October and the Avios and cashback both arrived punctually.

0.86p per Avios is very attractive in its own right. Getting a full year of The Economist on top is an added bonus.

As always, if you are self-employed you may be happy writing off the subscription cost as a business expense.  This would sharply reduce your price per Avios even further.

Both the American Express cashback deal and the 18,000 Avios offer end on 31st March. You can subscribe here.

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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.

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

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.

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.

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.

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.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.