Get both Barclays Premier and the Avios Plus card for £60 back and four airport lounge passes
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Barclays offers two different ways to earn Avios:
- via Barclays Avios Rewards, available to Barclays Premier current account holders, and
What you may not know, if you have one of these two products already, is that there are two extra rewards available if you have BOTH the Plus credit card and a Barclays Premier current account with Barclays Avios Rewards.
I’m not going to go into the two products again in detail but:
- Barclays Premier has a sign-up bonus of 25,000 Avios and, when you opt in to Barclays Avios Rewards, you receive 1,500 Avios per month AND a Barclays Upgrade Voucher every 12 months – read this HfP article for full details
- the free Barclaycard Avios Mastercard credit card has a sign-up bonus of 5,000 Avios and earns 1 Avios per £1 spent with an annual upgrade voucher for spending £20,000 – click here for our review and click here to apply
- the paid-for Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard credit card has a sign-up bonus of 25,000 Avios and earns 1.5 Avios per £1 spent with an annual upgrade voucher for spending £10,000 – click here for our review and click here to apply
Terms and conditions apply, as you’d expect.
DragonPass partners with the Avios Plus Mastercard
As well as the lucrative welcome bonus, the Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard credit card comes with airport lounge benefits.
Barclaycard Avios Plus cardholders can get discounts for themselves and their travel companions at airport lounges worldwide via DragonPass, the lounge aggregator.
All Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard holders receive a complimentary DragonPass Premier+ membership.
This entitles you to book unlimited discounted lounge passes for £20.50 per person to access selected airport lounges worldwide.
(The Barclays website still says £18.50 but this was increased some months ago.)
Some busy lounges allow you to pay an extra £5 to pre-book a slot, since your pass does not give you guaranteed access if a particular lounge is full.
If you have the free Barclaycard Avios credit card you do not get discounted lounge access.
Get four free lounge passes if you add Barclays Premier
There is an additional lounge pass benefit for anyone who holds both a Premier Banking current account with Barclays, opted in to Barclays Avios Rewards, and the Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard.
You will receive four free lounge passes per year to use anywhere in the DragonPass network. This is worth (£20.50 per guest x 4) £82.
Your ‘year’ is counted from the date you open the second qualifying Barclays product – either Premier Banking with Barclays Avios Rewards or the Barclaycard Avios Plus card. This becomes your membership anniversary date.
Each pass gives one person access to a participating lounge. You can use your passes as you wish as long as you are travelling – either for yourself on four separate trips, or for yourself and to guest anyone you are travelling with.
You can also use these passes for additional benefits such as a meal voucher or spa treatment in some locations.
This is on top of the fee rebate for having both products
It’s worth noting that Barclays will give you £5 back into your current account every month if you have the Barclaycard Avios Plus credit card AND Barclays Premier with Barclays Avios Rewards.
Whilst Barclays Avios Rewards is usually £12 per month (which gets you 1,500 Avios and an annual upgrade voucher) and the Plus credit card is usually £20 per month, you only pay £27 per month for the pair.
You can find out more about the two credit cards here and Barclays Premier here.
Interest rate information
Sign-up bonus and earn rate:
- Get 25,000 Avios when you spend £3,000 within 90 days
- Earn 1.5 Avios per £1 spent
Other information:
- Receive an Avios upgrade voucher when you spend £10,000 in a card year
- Upgrade a return BA flight for one person or two one-way flights for a couple
- Annual fee: £240, charged at £20 per month
Representative 80.1% APR variable based on an assumed £1,200 credit limit and £20 monthly fee. Interest rate on purchases 29.9% APR variable.
You will receive 25,000 Avios as a sign-up bonus on the Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard credit card if you spend £3,000 within 90 days of signing up.
To qualify for the bonus, you must NOT, currently or in the previous six months, have held any other Barclaycard credit card. You must also have not held either of the Barclaycard Avios credit cards in the previous 24 months.
You are OK if you had a supplementary card on someone else’s Barclaycard account.
You are OK if, currently or in the previous six months, you have had a British Airways American Express credit card.
For clarity, you can still apply for the Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard even if you do not qualify for the bonus. You would still benefit from the upgrade voucher and the other card benefits.
When you spend £10,000 on the Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard, you receive a voucher entitling you to:
- book a return Avios flight for one person, paying the Avios of the next lowest cabin (ie book Club World but only pay the World Traveller Plus Avios requirement)
- book a one-way Avios flight, or one leg of a return flight, for two people, paying the Avios of the next lowest cabin
The voucher is valid for two years. Full taxes and charges need to be paid on both tickets, based on the cabin you fly.
The voucher cannot be used to fly in First Class.
The voucher can be used for anyone, as long as the booking is made from the Avios account of the cardholder.
You receive your voucher within five days of reaching the spending target.
Sign-up bonus and earn rate:
- Get 5,000 Avios when you spend £1,000 within 90 days
- Earn 1 Avios per £1 spent
Other information:
- Receive an Avios upgrade voucher when you spend £20,000 in a card year
- Upgrade a return BA flight for one person or two one-way flights for a couple
- Annual fee: Free
Representative 29.9% APR variable
You will receive 5,000 Avios as a sign-up bonus on the free Barclaycard Avios Mastercard credit card if you spend £1,000 within 90 days of signing up.
To qualify for the bonus, you must NOT, currently or in the previous six months, have held any other Barclaycard credit card. You must also have not held either of the Barclaycard Avios credit cards in the previous 24 months.
You are OK if you had a supplementary card on someone else’s Barclaycard account.
You are OK if, currently or in the previous six months, you have had a British Airways American Express credit card.
For clarity, you can still apply for the Barclaycard Avios Mastercard even if you do not qualify for the bonus. You would still benefit from the upgrade voucher and the other card benefits.
When you spend £20,000 on the Barclaycard Avios Mastercard, you receive a voucher entitling you to:
- book a return Avios flight for one person, paying the Avios of the next lowest cabin (ie book Club World but only pay the World Traveller Plus Avios requirement)
- book a one-way Avios flight, or one leg of a return flight, for two people, paying the Avios of the next lowest cabin
The voucher is valid for two years. Full taxes and charges need to be paid on both tickets, based on the cabin you fly.
The voucher can be used for anyone, as long as the booking is made from the Avios account of the cardholder.
The voucher cannot be used to fly in First Class.
You receive your voucher within five days of reaching the spending target.
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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (January 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.
American Express Preferred Rewards Gold
Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review
The Platinum Card from American Express
50,000 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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