How does Avios Subscription work, letting you buy Avios from 0.99p?

British Airways launched ‘Avios Subscription’ in October 2022. It is an intriguing way of buying Avios, albeit less attractive since a 2023 price hike. As we haven’t mentioned it all year I thought it was worth running over again today.

It is one of two new ways of buying Avios introduced in the last couple of years. The other was Avios Balance Boost, which we reviewed here, which allows you to do a one-off Avios purchase based on your earning from the last 30 days.

Oddly, at the same as launching Avios Subscription and Avios Balance Boost, British Airways jacked up the price of one-off ‘buy Avios’ purchases. The cheapest price is now 1.76p outside of promotional periods. It’s not quite clear what is going on ….

How does Avios Subscription work?

By signing up to Avios Subscription, you can receive regular increments of Avios into your Executive Club account on a monthly basis. Rolling monthly packages are available, as are (cheaper) annual pre-paid plans.

It started off as a very good value proposition, letting you pay as little as 0.89p per Avios. Following a price rise in May 2023, the minimum price rose to 0.99p.

There are four plans to choose from

There are four different plans to pick from, giving you a range of Avios earning opportunities.

You can select from a monthly payment or an annual payment. However, even if you select the annual up-front payment option, your Avios will still be posted to your account monthly.

You have a choice of four annual plans:

• Voyager: 20,000 Avios (1,667 Avios per month)
• Traveller: 50,000 Avios (4,167 Avios per month)
• Explorer: 100,000 Avios (8,334 Avios per month)
• Adventurer: 200,000 Avios (16,667 Avios per month)

The rolling monthly subscriptions are available in the same increments, but you are charged a higher monthly fee. The annual plans are discounted to the extent that you effectively get two months free.

You can buy a maximum of 200,000 Avios per year with Avios Subscription.

What do you pay per point with Avios Subscription?

Here is the current Avios Subscription pricing:

	Avios per month	Price per month	Price per Avios
Voyager Monthly	1,667	£26	1.56p
Traveller Monthly	4,167	£55	1.32p
Explorer Monthly	8,334	£105	1.25p
Adventurer Monthly	16,667	£199	1.19p
Voyager Yearly	1,667	£21.58	1.29p
Traveller Yearly	4,167	£45.75	1.10p
Explorer Yearly	8,334	£87.42	1.05p
Adventurer Yearly	16,667	£165.75	0.99p

Remember that a ‘Yearly’ plan locks you in for 12 months, whilst a ‘Monthly’ plan can be cancelled at any time after the first three months.

How does this compare with standard ‘buy Avios’ prices?

This is what you currently pay to buy Avios – in the absence of any promotional offers – from British Airways. Remember that cheaper deals can often be found via Qatar Airways Privilege Club or Finnair Plus – we always highlight these on Head for Points when available.

	Price	Price per Avios
2,000 Avios	£49	2.45p
10,000 Avios	£195	1.95p
50,000 Avios	£899	1.80p
100,000 Avios	£1,779	1.78p
200,000 Avios	£3,539	1.76p

Buying Avios outside of bonus promotions has rarely (if ever) offered good value, so you need to take the above values with a pinch of salt.

Subscriptions are clearly better value than a one-off purchase, albeit with the snag that you only get your Avios in monthly chunks. At the top end, you are paying £1,989 for 200,000 Avios under an annual Adventurer subscription vs £3,539 for a one-off purchase. You are looking at 0.99p versus 1.76p.

What is an Avios worth?

Ah, the eternal Head for Points question. For a detailed description of what an Avios is worth, you can read Rob’s breakdown here.

As a quick summary, Rob keeps a spreadsheet of all the Avios he has redeemed for the last nine years, and he has got 1.2p of value per Avios based on his valuation of the flights he took. Rob’s valuation is arguably low as he bases it on how cheaply he thinks he could have got the same trip if he’d booked in a sale or taken an indirect flight on a different airline, and adds in no value for the flexibility offered by Avios tickets.

If you can buy Avios at a rate of 0.99p, you should still be getting value overall, and Rob’s valuations are always on the conservative side. If you are strategic in your redemptions you should come out on top if you buy Avios at 0.99p.

Those pesky terms and conditions ….

If you commit to an annual payment plan, you commit to the whole year – you cannot cancel your subscription during the year and get a pro-rated refund

If you sign up to the monthly payment plan, you are committed to at least three months.

After a year, the subscription will auto-renew so you will need to proactively cancel the subscription if you don’t want to continue. If the cost of a subscription goes up, you will NOT pay more when you renew, based on what has happened so far.

You can buy a maximum of 200,000 Avios in any one calendar year via Avios Subscription. This is in addition to the 200,000 Avios allowance through ‘Buy Avios’.

Full terms and conditions can be found here.

In conclusion ….

Avios Subscription plans are no longer the slam dunk they were before the 2023 price increase but you may still find some value in them as a regular way of topping up your balance.

You should also check out Avios Balance Boost (see our article here) before making any decision.

You can sign up to Avios Subscription or find out more here.

PS. Of couse, an even cheaper option is to get The Platinum Card from American Express before 14th January, spend £10,000 within six months to pick up a bonus of 80,000 Membership Rewards points and transfer it to 80,000 Avios. Full details are in this article. Having a British Airways American Express card does not disqualify you from this deal.

PS. If you are not a regular Head for Points visitor, why not sign up for our FREE weekly or daily newsletters? They are full of the latest Avios, airline, hotel and credit card points news and will help you travel better. To join our 65,000 free subscribers, click the button below or visit this page of the site to find out more. Thank you.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (March 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:

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 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.

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.

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 8th April 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Business Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to 120,000 points. You receive 80,000 points when you spend £12,000 within three months and a further 40,000 points if you spend on the card between Month 14 and Month 17. Points convert 1:1 into Avios and many other programmes. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 8th April 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Business Gold is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 60,000 points. You receive 40,000 points when you spend £6,000 within three months and a further 20,000 points if you spend on the card between Month 14 and Month 17. Points convert 1:1 into Avios and many other programmes. 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.