Huge 60,000 Avios sign-up bonus for the British Airways Premium Plus American Express card

UPDATE – OCTOBER 2024:  This article is now out of date, but don’t worry.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 22nd October 2024, the bonus on American Express Business Platinum is increased to up to 80,000 Membership Rewards points, worth 80,000 Avios. You will receive 8 points per £1 spent for the first three months, on up to £10,000 of spending. Click here to read our full card review. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 22nd October 2024, the bonus on American Express Business Gold is increased to up to 40,000 Membership Rewards points, worth 40,000 Avios. You will receive 4 points per £1 spent for the first three months, on up to £10,000 of spending. The card is FREE for your first year. Click here to read our full card review. Click here to apply.

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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 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.

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.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (October 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:

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. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

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.

There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 22nd October 2024, the bonus on American Express Business Platinum is increased to up to 80,000 Membership Rewards points, worth 80,000 Avios. You will receive 8 points per £1 spent for the first three months, on up to £10,000 of spending. Click here to read our full card review. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 22nd October 2024, the bonus on American Express Business Gold is increased to up to 40,000 Membership Rewards points, worth 40,000 Avios. You will receive 4 points per £1 spent for the first three months, on up to £10,000 of spending. The card is FREE for your first year. Click here to read our full card review. Click here to apply.

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