Huge 60,000 Avios sign-up bonus for the British Airways Premium Plus American Express card
Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission. See here for all partner links.
UPDATE – NOVEMBER 2024: This article is now out of date, but don’t worry.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 18th November 2024, the bonus on the Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard is increased from 18,000 to 30,000 Virgin Points. You need to spend £3,000 within 90 days of opening your account. You can apply even if you already have the free Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard! Click here to read our full card review. Click here to apply.
SPECIAL OFFER: Until 14th January 2025, the sign-up bonus on ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is increased to 30,000 Membership Rewards points. This converts into 30,000 Avios. Click here to apply.
SPECIAL OFFER: Until 14th January 2025, the sign-up bonus on The Platinum Card from American Express is increased to 80,000 Membership Rewards points. This converts into 80,000 Avios! The spend requirement is changed to £10,000 in six months for this offer. Click here to apply.
Keep up to date with the latest UK credit card bonuses by signing up for our free daily or weekly newsletters.
British Airways has just launched an exclusive 60,000 Avios sign-up bonus for the British Airways Premium Plus American Express credit card.
This is ludicrously generous, by any standards.
There is also a sign-up bonus of 12,000 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. These reviews do not reflect this new bonus as it is not available publicly.
Here is the legally required interest rate information on the two cards:
British Airways American Express:
The representative APR is 30.7% variable.
British Airways Premium Plus American Express:
The representative APR is 139.2% variable, including the annual fee. The representative APR on purchases is 30.7% variable.
This is what the application website shows:
Get a limited time 60,000 Avios sign-up bonus
For the British Airways Premium Plus card, if you sign up by 10th October, you will earn a sign-up bonus of 60,000 Avios when you spend £5,000 (note £5,000 and not the usual £3,000) in the first three months.
What are 60,000 Avios worth?
This is our main article on what Avios points are worth although it is due an update. We generally say that you should expect at least 1p when using them for premium cabin flights, making your bonus worth £600.
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 60,000 Avios are worth £400 of Nectar credit. Not bad for a sign-up bonus …..
Do you qualify for the 60,000 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, Amex 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 60,000 Avios.
What about the free British Airways American Express card?
12,000 Avios on the free card – requiring a spend of £1,000 in three months (this sum is unchanged from the usual target) – is also very impressive.
However, with a 60,000 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 £5,000 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.
Don’t forget the new rules on minimum income
You now need a PERSONAL income of £35,000 to be accepted for the British Airways Premium Plus card.
The free card requires a PERSONAL income of £20,000.
The old rules, which looked at household income vs household expenditure and had no published thresholds, no longer apply.
Don’t forget the new rules on card fee refunds
From 2nd October 2023, you cannot get a pro-rata refund on your annual fee if you cancel a personal American Express credit card.
If you apply for the Premium Plus card via this offer, you need to treat the £250 as a sunk cost. It is unlikely that you could apply, get the card, spend £5,000 and have the Avios transfer to British Airways Executive Club by 1st October. This is the last day to cancel for a partial fee refund.
How to apply
Whilst you apply on the American Express website, you need to click out from ba.com first or it will not track for the higher bonus. We found this out the hard way last time a similar offer ran.
Ignore the home page of ba.com which shows the old lower offer.
Log in to ba.com, go to your account home page (‘Manage’ – ‘My Executive Club’) and scroll down. The offer should appear at the bottom of the page on the left. There is no targetting involved – even people who already have the card see the deal.
How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (November 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 Mastercard
Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review
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.
SPECIAL OFFER: Until 14th January 2025, the sign-up bonus on ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is increased to 30,000 Membership Rewards points. This converts into 30,000 Avios. Click here to apply.
SPECIAL OFFER: Until 14th January 2025, the sign-up bonus on The Platinum Card from American Express is increased to 80,000 Membership Rewards points. This converts into 80,000 Avios! The spend requirement is changed to £10,000 in six months for this offer. Click here to apply.
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.
SPECIAL OFFER: Until 9th December 2024, there are EXCLUSIVE sign-up offers for our readers on the two Capital on Tap small business Visa cards. You can earn 20,000 points on the Business Rewards card and 30,000 points on the new Pro card. Click here to apply.
Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa
20,000 points (ONLY TO 9TH DECEMBER) 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 (178)