Get 43,000 Avios and an upgrade voucher with Barclays Premier and Barclays Avios Rewards

It has been a while since we looked at Barclays Premier current accounts and the Barclays Avios Rewards add-on package.

We have held off in case of any one-off increase in the sign-up offer, but Barclays appears to have pulled back from offering crazy deals. The standard offer isn’t exactly poor though!

Barclays lets you open a Barclays Premier account online – click here – and there is a 25,000 Avios bonus for signing up. You will earn 43,000 Avios in total during your first year once you activate the Barclays Avios Rewards add-on.

Barclays Premier is the only way to earn Avios from a UK current account.

What is important to remember about Barclays Avios Rewards is that – unlike a credit card reward – there is no spend requirement. As long as you move your current account to Barclays Premier, pay in your salary and opt in to Barclays Avios Rewards you will receive a monthly bonus and an annual BA upgrade voucher.

We will run a few articles this week looking at different aspects of the Barclays Avios Rewards offering.

Barclays Premier is a great partner to your Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

Barclaycard offers two Barclaycard Avios Mastercard credit cards. You can find full details here.

Like Barclays Premier, these credit cards also offer an annual British Airways upgrade voucher. It is triggered by spending £10,000 per year on the Plus credit card or £20,000 per year on the free credit card.

Having both Barclays Premier and a Barclaycard Avios credit card would let you earn two upgrade vouchers each year. This would allow you to:

• upgrade a return flight, in both directions, for two people travelling together, or

• upgrade a flight in one direction for four people travelling together

What is Barclays Avios Rewards?

Barclays Avios Rewards is a reward scheme for Barclays Premier and Barclays Wealth current account holders.

Here are the headline details:

• There is a £12 monthly fee for Barclays Avios Rewards

• You receive 1,500 Avios per month

• You receive a £5 per month discount on the £20/month Barclaycard Avios Plus credit card, if you choose to take it out

• You receive a ‘cabin upgrade voucher’ after 12 months (more details below)

Let’s me clarity this – you will receive a British Airways upgrade voucher simply for keeping your free Barclays Premier current account open and paying for 12 months of Barclays Avios Rewards. There is no spend target to meet as long as you remain eligible for Barclays Premier.

The £12 fee for Barclays Avios Rewards isn’t really a fee at all, since you receive 1,500 Avios per month in return. You are basically buying 1,500 Avios per month for 0.8p which is a good deal.

There are bonus points if you have other products, including:

• Mortgage – 700 Avios per month, with a one-off bonus of 2,000 Avios when taking out a mortgage

• Life cover – 150 Avios per month for the first 12 months (500 Avios if critical illness cover is included)

• Home cover – 75 Avios per month for contents insurance, 75 Avios per month for buildings insurance, 150 per month for combined cover, all payable for the first year of cover only

How does the upgrade voucher work?

The voucher is identical to the one that you receive from the Barclaycard Avios or Avios Plus Mastercard, so if you have one of those you will know what to expect.

The upgrade voucher will be triggered after you have been a Barclays Avios Rewards member for 12 months, and every 12 months thereafter.

It will appear in your Executive Club account within five days of your 12th monthly membership fee being paid.

The voucher will be valid for travel taken within two years of the date of issue.

You can use the voucher to upgrade, by one cabin class, a return Avios reward flight for one person, or a one-way Avios reward flight for two people.

Upgrades can only be processed if there is Avios reward availability in the higher cabin. Additional taxes and charges may be due. Bookings cannot be upgraded to First class.

The voucher benefits are transferrable to another person but the flight must be booked from the ba.com account of the Barclays Premier member, who is responsible for paying the necessary taxes, charges and Avios.

The vouchers are not hugely useful for short haul travel because, by accident or design, they price off the ‘£1 taxes and charges’ option which is not the best value choice. This IS the best value option for long haul flights, but not short haul.

And if you don’t think you can use the voucher ….

Barclays will give you 7,000 Avios instead of the upgrade voucher if you prefer. You need to make your choice in the Barclays app before your voucher is triggered.

You should get far more than 7,000 Avios of value from your voucher so this is not necessarily a good trade. It is useful for people who don’t earn enough Avios in a year to maximise all of the Barclaycard and American Express vouchers they earn.

Are you eligible for Barclays Avios Rewards?

Barclays Avios Rewards is only open to Barclays Premier and Barclays Wealth customers.

To open a Barclays Premier account, you will need an income of £75,000+ OR at least £100,000 saved or invested with Barclays.

You can also apply by opening a current account with Barclays Wealth, which is open to people with over £500,000 of investable assets.

Get 25,000 Avios as a sign-up bonus

New Barclays Premier or Barclays Wealth customers will receive a 25,000 Avios joining bonus. To receive this, you’ll need to move your existing current account to Barclays via the Current Account Switching Service, within three months of joining Barclays Avios Rewards.

The sign-up page is here.

Existing Barclays customers will receive a one-off bonus of 2,500 Avios when they join Barclays Avios Rewards.

Conclusion

Barclays Premier with Barclays Avios Rewards is worth a serious look if you meet the £75,000 income criteria or are willing to move £100,000 of savings to Barclays.

You will receive, in your first 12 months:

• 25,000 Avios as a sign-up bonus

• 18,000 Avios via your 12 x 1,500 Avios monthly bonuses

• A potentially very valuable upgrade voucher or 7,000 Avios at every anniversary

….. for a total cost of just 12 x £12 monthly fees. After the first year, it remains a good deal in my view – you will be paying £144 in fees for 18,000 Avios (1,500 per month) and either an annual upgrade voucher or an annual bonus of 7,000 Avios.

The ability to add a second annual upgrade voucher via the Barclaycard Avios Mastercard makes the deal even more interesting – especially as the Plus card comes with its own bonus of 25,000 Avios.

You can find out more, and apply, on the Barclays Premier website here.

PS. Barclays Premier also comes with a free Apple TV+ subscription, so if you are currently paying for this it is worth £108 per year to you to switch

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (December 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.

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.

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.

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.

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