Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

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UPDATE – NOVEMBER 2024:  This article is now out of date, but don’t worry.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

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.

60,000 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 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:

60000 Avios bonus British Airways American Express Premium Plus

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.

12,000 avios free british airways american express credit card

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

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 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

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)

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

  • QFFlyer says:

    What’s the likelihood of this being extended? My 2 year waiting period ends just after this offer expires 😭

    • Reney says:

      very rarely seen extension but it will come back again at some point. I missed the last plat offer by 1 day and I’m waiting ….

    • ken says:

      Once you can’t get a pro rate refund of the fee, then I think a similar offer is almost certain to pop up again.

      • QFFlyer says:

        That’s a good point. The partial refund was always a nicety, but I’m more than willing to pay the full AF (I generally always did with the Platinum anyway, as I’d keep it for the full term for the insurance).

  • Frankie says:

    Is there a chance that Virgin will do a double points offer soon? Do they all come at once like buses?

  • David says:

    How could one get the points if I sign up a family member? Pooling or transferring somehow?

  • simonbarker says:

    Currently have a Nectar Amex, plan was to get The Platinum Card, hit the bonus on that and then get the BA Premium.

    It looks like it doesn’t matter which order I get the Platinum or BA Premium card, I would still get the sign up bonus for both so I am thinking of swapping the order and getting BAP and then Platinum.

    Can someone confirm if I’m right please? Or if there is something I have missed?

  • Dom says:

    Frustrating. I want to subscribe to this card to start earning another 241.
    I’m not eligible as I have had a BA card in last two years, but my wife is, so was going to sign up in her name. However, as a part time Mum atm she doesn’t meet the individual minimum income requirement of £35k. She has never had a problem signing up before, as I am sure it was always household income & was covered by mine, but I guess this has changed for this card.

    • JDB says:

      People fought hard for the independent taxation of women introduced in the UK 30 odd years ago!

      Credit decisions should also properly be assessed on the individual rather than the rather nebulous concept of ‘household income’ Amex used (= more card sales) when it creates double counting and there is no recourse against any other household member . Many get round this by paying a regular income to their wives.

  • Katy says:

    Hi, this is great! However, what about an On Business Accelerating (or whatever the proper name is, sorry!) card? Would I still be eligible?

  • Ash says:

    A relative would like to apply, she has the rewards card and PRG….can she request pre application , that her credit limit from existing cards be reduced or migrated across to the new BA card?….she doesn’t want to risk being rejected because Amex have already given her sizeable (for her income) credit limit on her existing cards.

  • Joe says:

    Whilst I’m not expecting the bonus, l’ve currently got a Blue card on which l’ve spent about £5k towards the 2 for 1 voucher and am looking to upgrade to Black. Would this £5k be credited toward the spending requirement for Black or would it be lost and l’d be starting again?

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

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.