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BAPP Amex sign-up bonus is PERMANENTLY increased to 30,000 Avios

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American Express has made two announcements today. The first, covered in a separate article, is the temporary offer of a £400 Amex Travel credit when you apply for The Platinum Card and spent £6,000 within three months.

The second change is on the British Airways American Express Premium Plus credit card.

The sign-up bonus is PERMANENTLY increased to 30,000 Avios.

Alongside this, the spend target for the sign-up offer has been doubled. You must now spend £6,000 within three months to receive the bonus.

BA Amex fee AND voucher qualifying spend to rise sharply

Of course, American Express giveth and American Express taketh away ….

In April, two negative card changes were unveiled:

  • The fee for the Premium Plus card increased from £250 to £300. This was effective immediately for new applications and will apply to existing cardholders on their next renewal date after 1st August 2024.
  • The annual spend required to receive a 2-4-1 companion voucher will increase to £15,000 in November. This applies to all cardholders on that date – if you haven’t triggered your current voucher by 31st October, the target jumps to £15,000 on 1st November even if you were just £1 short.

In light of the fee increase, the increase in the sign-up bonus is proportionate and not unexpected.

Instead of charging a £250 annual fee and giving 25,000 Avios as a sign-up bonus, the Premium Plus Amex now charges a £300 annual fee and gives 30,000 Avios as a bonus.

To be honest, the rationale for increasing the spend required to receive the bonus – from £3,000 in three months to £6,000 in three months – is less clear. Why is the minimum income requirement set at £35,000 per year when you need to spend a chunky £6,000 in three months to earn the bonus?

There is no change to the 5,000 Avios bonus on the free British Airways American Express card. However, the spend target is doubled from £1,000 in three months to £2,000 in three months.

Who qualifies for the bonus on the British Airways American Express Premium Plus card?

The standard American Express bonus rules for personal cards are:

  • you must earn £20,000 to be accepted
  • you won’t get a bonus if you’ve had any personal American Express card in the past 24 months

The Premium Plus card has a different rule

However, the rules are different for the British Airways Premium Plus card (but NOT the free BA card):

  • you must earn £35,000 to be accepted
  • you won’t get a bonus if you’ve had either of the British Airways American Express cards in the past 24 months
  • you WILL get a bonus if you’ve had (or currently have) Gold, Platinum, Amex Rewards, Harrods, Nectar, Marriott or any other non-BA personal American Express card

…. as does The Platinum Card

For completeness, I should mention that there is a similar exemption for The Platinum Card, if you want to pick up the £400 Amex Travel credit which is on offer from today:

  • you must earn £35,000 to be accepted
  • you won’t get a bonus if you’ve had a card which earns Membership Rewards points (ie Gold, Platinum, Centurion, Amex Rewards) in the past 24 months
  • you WILL get a bonus if you’ve had (or currently have) British Airways, British Airways Premium Plus, Harrods, Nectar, Marriott or any other personal American Express card

You can find out more, and apply for, the British Airways Premium Plus card here.

The representative APR is 137.8% variable, including the annual fee.  The representative APR on purchases is 30.0% variable.

You can find out more, and apply for, The Platinum Card here.

The representative APR is 694.9% variable, including the annual fee.  The representative APR on purchases is 30.0% variable.

Disclaimer: Head for Points is a journalistic website. Nothing here should be construed as financial advice, and it is your own responsibility to ensure that any product is right for your circumstances. Recommendations are based primarily on the ability to earn miles and points. The site discusses products offered by lenders but is not a lender itself. Robert Burgess, trading as Head for Points, is regulated and authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as an independent credit broker.

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earns points from credit cards

Want to earn more points from credit cards? – April 2025 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 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

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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. 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

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

18,000 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:

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

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review

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

Category

British Airways American Express, British Airways and Avios

Comments (103)

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

  • CJD says:
    3 Jul3 July 09:12

    Ooft.

    I thought the £5k in 3 months for the 60,000 bonus last year was tight; it helped that I took the card out in the run up to Christmas. £6k for those of us at the bottom end of the income scale for this card is a tough ask.

    It’s a shame the Barclaycard voucher is so crap – fixing that and allowing full Google Pay integration would make that card a winner Vs the BAPP.

    • Alan says:
      3 Jul3 July 09:29

      Biggest problem with Barclays is they don’t approve people with a good credit history. They are very choosy about who they do business with, which is their choice.

      • BJ says:
        3 Jul3 July 09:43

        That’s simply not true. They do approve People with hood credit history and they offer some high five digit credit limits too.

        • Alan says:
          3 Jul3 July 10:17

          Sure for some. I’m not going to tell you my personal numbers but I work in finance and understand risk and my position they declined is certainly not a risk. They have not even bothered to reply to my appeal, which should have given them any possible answers to questions they may have had.

          I know of other cases too.

          • BJ says:
            3 Jul3 July 10:30

            All sorts have been reported and I have experience of such within my wider family. I had to close my Hilton card to get mine, and by the time I could apply Rob was reporting the megabonuses were gone for good so I missed out.

          • JDB says:
            3 Jul3 July 10:37

            @Alan – it’s not surprising Barclays doesn’t answer your questions as that would not only lead to trouble but destroy the whole purpose of the system.

            Barclays has the by far biggest credit knowledge of any card provider and while you say you know about you, what you don’t know is about others that look like you in terms of credit profile, unsecured credit lines, employment/profession, status/stability, postcode and a multiplicity of other factors. Barclays has all this info to make decisions and on top of that it excludes types of borrowers it doesn’t think are attractive; your profile might actually be too good. Their credit card charge-offs are lower than Amex’s in the UK so there is some method in the madness.

      • Maples says:
        3 Jul3 July 10:40

        They gave me a credit limit of £250 to start with and then didn’t even budge when my salary became £50K. Will see if a new application helps.

    • Sam says:
      3 Jul3 July 19:49

      Agree on the Barclaycard voucher. I have had one sat in my account and can’t see us using it.
      Always travel as family of four and they’re completely useless for that unless you have the patience to faff around with separate bookings.

  • Jake says:
    3 Jul3 July 09:15

    I signed up a week ago but yet to receive my card would I be under the old T&C’s so needing to spend 3k not 6k?

  • JPE says:
    3 Jul3 July 09:24

    Is the £6k spend for the bonus for new applicants only from this point or are current holders now subject to that increase? Our new BAPP cards arrived Saturday after being approved 2 weeks ago.

  • Rui N. says:
    3 Jul3 July 09:24

    LMAO

  • Paul says:
    3 Jul3 July 09:29

    This really isn’t a particularly appealing card. Silly fees for the card and crazy spend targets. Then when you do earn a voucher you still have to shell out ridiculous ‘taxes & fees’. Why bother?

    • TGLoyalty says:
      3 Jul3 July 09:37

      Actual the Taxes and fees are pretty reasonable with the voucher as it uses RFS pricing which makes the voucher even more valuable (unless you only fly first)

      • Jonathan says:
        3 Jul3 July 19:11

        It’s only the Barclaycard that forces you to use RFS pricing system, and you can’t use that to fly in F

        • TGLoyalty says:
          3 Jul3 July 19:19

          That wasn’t the point. The fees and taxes flying first are a piss take so couldn’t argue with OP there.

  • Alan says:
    3 Jul3 July 09:38

    I think the £6k spend will scare off many from trying to achieve the bonus.

    However the truth is if you earn just the minimum £35k salary from average spending would be very hard.

    If however you are a couple and you have joint finances and say you both earn £35k then this really shouldn’t be a problem if you use a secondary card.

    I think their income policy is slightly flawed, it would make more sense if it were higher and would allow joint income to be used for application purposes.

    • BJ says:
      3 Jul3 July 09:56

      I consider myself quite frugal but easily spend £2000/month, it’s quickly eat up by regular bills like Council Tax, factor, energy, food and fuel.

      • Rob says:
        3 Jul3 July 09:58

        Good luck paying that lot with Amex.

        • BJ says:
          3 Jul3 July 10:25

          No luck needed for me, just more trips to co-op than I would like.

          • ramsey says:
            3 Jul3 July 23:31

            Yes I did the same recently, paying my full council tax for the year at the Coop.

            Octopus energy also easily allow Amex payments on their app.

            Easy way to put 4k on your card by prepaying two hefty bills like Council Tax and energy.

    • JDB says:
      3 Jul3 July 10:06

      @Alan – reliance on joint incomes/household income is of no use to Amex if you default, which many do.

      • Alan says:
        3 Jul3 July 10:19

        Sure but defaults happen on sole incomes as it is.

        • JDB says:
          3 Jul3 July 10:40

          @ Alan – you said above that you work in finance so I am sure that in reality you understand why extending credit to one person wholly or partially based upon someone else’s income offers little comfort to a creditor on default.

  • Bernard says:
    3 Jul3 July 09:58

    Still no dining alternatives given PP lounges are full/not very good nowadays.
    Why can’t Amex do that?
    Usual papering over the cracks with avios. Which just hastens the next devaluation.

    • TGLoyalty says:
      3 Jul3 July 13:06

      Why would the BAPP card have any relevance to lounge access and PP?

  • Paul says:
    3 Jul3 July 10:06

    Well my wife had just referred me but £6k is a nonsense. I am out

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