NEW: Transfer unlimited Avios to another person for a flat €10 fee
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Over the last year or so, British Airways has made significant improvements to how you can transfer Avios from one person to another.
After a couple of trials, it has now settled on a flat fee of £50 per transfer. You can transfer up to 60,000 Avios per transaction via this page, with a 60,000 Avios annual cap on transfers to the same person.
There is now a way to get this fee down to €10 and remove the annual cap altogether – via Finnair.
I should mention, before I go on, that British Airways allows Gold members of the Executive Club to transfer Avios to other people for free.
If you have a Gold card you don’t need to continue reading, unless you want to move a large quantity of Avios.
Don’t pay £50 to BA …. pay €10 to Finnair instead!
In March 2024, Finnair adopted Avios as its loyalty currency. Since May you have been able to move Avios back and forth between your British Airways and Finnair accounts as you wish, instantly and for free.
The key benefit of Finnair joining Avios is the ability to get exceptionally good deals at Scandic and Sokos hotels in Scandinavia, as I covered here. I got a £230 room in Copenhagen for £57 + 2,000 Avios, for example.
One other perk, which we haven’t discussed before, is the ability to transfer Avios between Finnair Plus accounts for a fixed €10 fee.
Details are on this page of the Finnair website.
New to Finnair Plus?
Both you and the person you are transferring Avios to/from will need to open a Finnair Plus account, which you can do here (link in top right on desktop).
IMPORTANT: Finnair is obsessed with ‘two factor authentication’ and you can’t do much on their website without hitting it. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work properly when done via SMS text message. Your chance of an SMS actually arriving is about 10% in my experience. Instead, go into your Finnair account and select ‘Authenticator app’ as your 2FA method, assuming you are already using one. This actually works. It’s not clear if you can still fully disable 2FA.
Once your Finnair Plus account is open, you can link it to your British Airways account via the ‘Balance and Transactions’ page of your account profile.
Now wait 90 days ….
You cannot transfer Avios FROM a Finnair Plus account until your Finnair Plus account is 90 days old.
This is a pain but the rules are the rules. If you can’t wait 90 days you will need to pay £50 and transfer via the ba.com route discussed above.
You can RECEIVE Avios from another Finnair Plus account at any time.
(Even if you’re not planning an Avios transfer now, you may want to open a Finnair Plus account today in case you need to do one in the future.)
How to transfer Avios for €10
This is how the process works. The person who is making the transfer needs to move Avios from their British Airways Executive Club account to their Finnair Plus account.
You do this via ba.com here (note the 2FA warning):
You then go to the Finnair website and click the ‘Transfer Avios to Other People’ link on this page.
The transaction is done via the Finnair Shop so it is a bit fiddly – you need to add a ‘transaction’ to your ‘basket’ and then check-out as if you are buying something:
The transfer is instant.
The recipient can then go back to ba.com and move their new Avios balance from their Finnair Plus account into their British Airways Executive Club account.
Conclusion
This is now the cheapest route for transferring Avios between two British Airways Executive Club accounts unless you are a BA Gold member.
As well as being cheaper via Finnair Plus (€10 vs £50) there is also no 60,000 Avios annual cap in place with this route.
The only snag is that the sender needs to have a Finnair Plus account which is over 90 days old, although the account of the recipient can be brand new.
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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2025)
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 Mastercard
Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review
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.
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
The Platinum Card from American Express
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, and the standard card is FREE. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.
Capital on Tap Visa
NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review
Capital on Tap Pro Visa
10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits 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.
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