LAST CHANCE: Get 10,000 Avios with the FREE Barclaycard Avios Mastercard!

UPDATE – APRIL 2025:  This article is now out of date, but don’t worry.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 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.

Keep up to date with the latest UK credit card bonuses by signing up for our free daily or weekly newsletters.

Barclaycard is currently running a special sign-up bonus for its free Barclaycard Avios Mastercard but you only have three days left to apply.

This is the first time that we have ever seen a special deal which only applies to the free card. The paid card, Avios Plus, is unchanged with a 25,000 Avios bonus.

Apply for the free Barclaycard Avios Mastercard by Thursday 26th September and you will receive a bonus of 10,000 Avios.

This is double the usual bonus of 5,000 Avios. You must spend £1,000 within your first three months.

You can apply on the Barclaycard website here.

This offer doesn’t necessary mean the free card is best ….

In this article we will run through the two Barclaycard Avios credit cards to help you decide which is best for you.

You may decide that you are better off paying for the Avios Plus card because of the ‘easier to earn’ upgrade voucher and the higher bonus – or you may decide that you’re happy pocketing 10,000 Avios with the free card.

Introducing the two Barclaycard Avios credit cards

If you don’t already have one, these cards should fundamentally change your Avios collecting strategy.

The benefits are very impressive. The Barclaycard Avios Mastercards are, easily, the most rewarding non-Amex travel credit cards on the market. They are arguably the most valuable Visa or Mastercard credit cards in the UK of any sort.

Irrespective of what Visa or Mastercard you are currently using alongside your British Airways American Express card, you should find that these two new cards are better.

I think the cards offer you more than the Virgin Atlantic Reward credit cards, and those were already head and shoulders (in my view) above all other UK Visa and Mastercard products.

What are the rules for receiving the sign-up bonus?

If you previously held either of the Barclaycard Avios Mastercards:

You will not receive a fresh sign-up bonus on either card unless it is more than 24 months since you cancelled your previous card.

If you previously had any other Barclays-issued credit card:

You WILL receive the sign-up bonus on a Barclaycard Avios Mastercard as long as you cancelled your previous card at least six months ago.

If you currently hold any other Barclays-issued credit card, including the old Hilton Honors card:

You will not qualify for a sign-up bonus on the Avios cards. You need to cancel your existing card and wait for six months. The only exception is if you are offered a targeted switching bonus in the Barclaycard app. Hilton cardholders will never be offered a switching bonus due to the terms of the contract between Hilton and Barclays.

There are TWO Barclaycard Avios credit cards

I have summarised the two cards below and there are links at the bottom of this page to three more in-depth articles. We will update these over the course of the bonus promotion.

Let’s summarise the two Barclaycard Avios credit cards:

The free card: Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

The representative APR is 29.9% variable.

The benefits are:

• No annual fee

• A sign-up bonus for new Barclaycard customers of 10,000 Avios if you spend £1,000 in three months – this is a special offer until 26th September and is double the usual bonus of 5,000 Avios

• You earn 1 Avios per £1 spent

• You earn a British Airways cabin upgrade voucher if you spend £20,000 in a card year

You can apply here.

To find out more about the benefits you’ll get with the Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard credit card, read this article.

The paid card: Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

The representative APR is 80.1% APR variable, including the annual fee.  The representative APR on purchases is 29.9% variable.

The benefits are:

• A £20 per month fee (reduced to £15 for customers who hold Barclays Avios Rewards via a Barclays Premier current account)

• A sign-up bonus for new Barclaycard customers of 25,000 Avios if you spend £3,000 in three months

• You earn 1.5 Avios per £1 spent

• You earn a British Airways cabin upgrade voucher if you spend £10,000 in a card year

• You can buy airport lounge passes for lounges in the DragonPass network for the discounted price of £20.50 per person per visit

You can apply here.

Note that the fee is paid monthly and you can downgrade to the free card via the Barclaycard app as long as the option is showing.

Summary

The launch of the Barclaycard Avios credit cards in 2022 was a game changer, and this improved sign-up bonus on the free card is a good excuse to jump in.

You’re looking at:

An earnings rate which blows all other Visa or Mastercard products out of the water:

You honestly couldn’t ask for more from a non-Amex credit card. The earning rate of 1 Avios per £1 (free card) or 1.5 Avios per £1 (fee card) blows all of the competition out of the water. If you value an Avios at 1p, which we do in our articles, then you’d be getting an effective 1% to 1.5% return on your spending. This is 400%-500% more than your typical cashback Visa or Mastercard.

An annual British Airways upgrade voucher if you hit your spending target:

On top of an outstanding earn rate, you can earn a valuable annual cabin upgrade voucher for an Avios reward flight booking on British Airways. You can learn more about the Barclaycard Avios upgrade voucher in this article but it can easily save you 50,000+ Avios on a typical redemption.

A big sign-up bonus which most HfP readers will qualify for:

You also pick up a substantial sign-up bonus. Subject to the small print, you can get 10,000 Avios on the free card (spend £1,000 in three months) and 25,000 Avios on the paid card (spend £3,000 in three months).

Remember that the 10,000 Avios bonus on the free card is only available until 26th September 2024.

What you need to decide is whether you should apply for the £20 per month Barclaycard Avios Plus credit card instead, even though the bonus is unchanged? This would get you:

• the higher 25,000 Avios bonus for spending £3,000 in three months
• the higher 1.5 Avios per £1 earning rate and
• the reduced £10,000 target for earning a cabin upgrade voucher

Want to know more about the cards?

We have three additional articles on the Barclaycard Avios credit cards which can help you decide which one to get.

These are not freshly updated but the information is still accurate:

• ‘20 questions on the Barclaycard Avios credit cards, answered‘

• ‘Which Barclaycard Avios credit card is best for you?‘

• ‘How does the Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cabin upgrade voucher work?‘

The official Barclaycard website comparing both cards is here.

How to apply

You can apply for the free Barclaycard Avios credit card (10,000 Avios bonus) here.

You can apply for the Barclaycard Avios Plus credit card (25,000 Avios bonus) here.

Remember that the higher bonus of 10,000 Avios on the free card is only available until this Thursday, 26th September.

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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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:

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.

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: