Which airline credit card is best for long term spending?

Many of the credit card articles on Head for Points are focused on sign-up bonuses.  Get a card, spend the minimum required to trigger the bonus and potentially move on.

However, if you are a medium to high spender, the few thousand pounds of card spend required each year to hit your sign-up bonus targets is not a stretch.

You need to consider where to put the rest of your annual spend. This article can help you.

It’s a long one, but the overall summary is:

• the Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercards are probably better than you think, especially if you have Virgin Flying Club status
• the Barclaycard Avios Mastercards are probably worse than you think but are mainly used as a back-up card anyway
• the British Airways American Express Premium Plus card remains the best option overall

To keep it simple, this article ONLY looks at the value you get when redeeming credit card vouchers in Business Class.

This allows us to cut all of the discussion about the free British Airways American Express card, because the Companion Voucher on that card is only valid for Economy flights.

If you are not interested in redeeming your Avios or Virgin Points for Business Class, this article won’t help you – although you can use our methodology to run similar calculations for Premium Economy or Economy.

All of the calculations are based on flying Business Class / Upper Class to San Francisco. The conclusions may vary on other routes.

A caveat about Virgin Atlantic

Our Virgin Atlantic analysis is based on ‘Saver’ seat availability in Upper Class.

Under the new dynamic pricing system for reward flights, these seats are few and far between on most routes except for the US East Coast and India. On some routes there are effectively zero ‘Saver’ seats released for the entire year. Without a ‘Saver’ seat you can expect to pay up to 700,000 Virgin Points for your second seat, and you’re not that stupid.

Part 1 – Travelling as a couple

We do not consider the Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards in this section. The annual voucher can upgrade one return ticket or two one-way tickets, which means that you should use the numbers in the ‘Travelling solo’ section in Part 2 even if two are travelling.

Our ‘Excellent’ choices for long-term spending:

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard – if you have elite status

Spend £10,000 on the Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard card and you receive a voucher, valid for two years, worth 150,000 Virgin Points.

You must have Silver or Gold status in Virgin Flying Club for your voucher to be worth 150,000 points. Red members (status is based on the day you book) only get a voucher worth 75,000 points.

For a couple, it can be used to book a ticket for your companion when you book a cash or reward ticket for yourself.

You can top up the voucher if the companion ticket costs more than 150,000 Virgin Points.

For San Francisco in Upper Class (which is the example used throughout this article) the companion ‘Saver’ ticket would cost no more than 155,000 points return. Remember our caveats above about the difficulty of finding such seats, however ….

Based on a valuation of 1p per Virgin Point and finding a ‘Saver’ seat worth 155,000 Virgin Points:

• the companion voucher is ‘worth’ £1,500 (150,000 Virgin Points saving x 1p) and
• you also earn 15,000 base Virgin Points for spending £10,000 on your Reward+ Mastercard to trigger the voucher (worth £150 @ 1p) but
• the card fee is £160

The net benefit for a Silver or Gold member spending £10,000 on the Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard = £1,490 (£1,500 + £150 – £160) or 14.9% of spend.

Our full review of the card is here. You can apply here.

British Airways American Express Premium Plus card

Spend £15,000 on this card in a membership year and you get a voucher which gives you two Avios redemption tickets on BA, Iberia or Aer Lingus for the points of one.

The voucher also allows a solo traveller to book a return ticket for a 50% Avios discount – we look at this option later.

On a typical redemption (two Club World tickets to San Francisco on a peak day), this saves you 200,000 Avios points when you use the ‘most Avios, least cash’ booking option.

If you value an Avios at 1p:

• the 2-4-1 voucher is ‘worth’ £2,000 (200,000 Avios saving x 1p) and
• you also earn 22,500 base Avios for spending £15,000 to trigger the voucher (worth £225 @ 1p) but
• you pay an annual fee of £300

The net benefit for spending £15,000 on the British Airways American Express Premium Plus card = £1,925 (£2,000 + £225 – £300) or 12.8% of your card spend.

Our full review of the card is here. You can apply here.

Our ‘Very Good’ choices for long-term spending:

Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard (free) – if you have elite status

The vouchers on both Virgin Atlantic credit cards are identical – both are valid for two years and both are valid in all travel classes. The only difference is that the free card requires £20,000 of spending to trigger it.

This is how the maths goes, based on two people flying to San Francisco in Upper Class (booking the second person in a 155,000 points ‘Saver’ seat) and holding Silver or Gold status in Virgin Flying Club.

Based on valuation of 1p per Virgin Point, to match our Avios valuation:

• the 2-4-1 voucher is ‘worth’ £1,500 (150,000 Virgin Points saving x 1p) and
• you also earn 15,000 base Virgin Points for spending £20,000 to trigger the voucher (worth £150 @ 1p) and
• the card fee is £0

The net benefit for a Silver or Gold member spending £20,000 on the Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard = £1,650 (£1,500 + £150) or 8.25% of spend.

Our full review of the card is here. You can apply here.

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard – if you do NOT have elite status

A ‘no status’ Red member of Virgin Flying Club will only receive an annual voucher worth 75,000 Virgin Points.

Using our San Francisco Upper Class example, the 2nd ticket will require to pay 80,000 Virgin Points. This is based the ticket costing 155,000 Virgin Points and the voucher saving you 75,000.

This means:

• the 2-4-1 voucher is ‘worth’ £750 (75,000 Virgin Points saving x 1p) and
• you also earn 15,000 base Virgin Points for spending £10,000 to trigger the voucher (worth £150 @ 1p) but
• the card fee is £160

The net benefit for spending £10,000 on the Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard = £740 (£750 + £150 – £160) or 7.4% of spend.

Our full review of the card is here. You can apply here.

Our ‘Good’ choices for long-term spending:

Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard (free) – if you do NOT have elite status

A ‘no status’ Red member of Virgin Flying Club will only receive an annual voucher worth 75,000 Virgin Points.

Using our San Francisco Upper Class example, the 2nd ticket will require to pay 80,000 Virgin Points. This is based the ticket costing 155,000 Virgin Points and the voucher saving you 75,000.

This means:

• the 2-4-1 voucher is ‘worth’ £750 (75,000 Virgin Points saving x 1p) and
• you also earn 15,000 base Virgin Points for spending £20,000 to trigger the voucher (worth £150 @ 1p)
• the card fee is £0

The net benefit for spending £20,000 on the free Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard = £900 (£750 + £150) or 4.5% of spend.

Our full review of the card is here. You can apply here.

Part 2 – Travelling solo

Because the solo traveller deals are worse than those offered to a couple, none of the options below are rated as ‘Excellent’, which we define as offering a 10%+ return on your card spend.

Our ‘Very Good’ choices for long-term spending:

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

Spend £10,000 on the Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard card and you receive a voucher, valid for two years, worth 150,000 Virgin Points.

You must have Silver or Gold status in Virgin Flying Club for your voucher to be worth 150,000 points. Red members (status is based on the day you book) only get a voucher worth 75,000 points.

If you are travelling solo, there is an important point to note: you cannot use your voucher for a discount of 75,000 or 150,000 Virgin Points on a ticket for yourself.

That would be too simple ….

Instead, to fly in Upper Class, you need to:

• book a cash ticket in Premium and use points (offset by the voucher) to upgrade it

• book a reward ticket in Premium and use points (offset by the voucher) to upgrade it – your voucher only discounts the upgrade element

If you book a ticket for cash, the base points cost is assumed to be the ‘Saver’ price of a ticket on that route. For example, a Premium ‘Saver’ ticket to San Francisco, peak date, is 75,000 Virgin Points return. If an Upper Class tickets costs 155,000 points, the upgrade will cost 80,000 points.

If you book a ticket for points, the base cost is what you actually paid. If you pay 100,000 Virgin Points to book a Premium seat and an Upper Class seat costs 155,000 points, the upgrade is 55,000 points.

Using ‘Saver’ prices as an example, you’d be looking at 75,000 points for Premium and 155,000 points for Upper Class.

I should stress, however, that finding a date to San Francisco with both Premium and Upper Class ‘Saver’ seats will be, erm, challenging.

Based on a valuation of 1p per Virgin Point:

• your voucher is ‘worth’ £750 to £800 (the cap of 75,000 Virgin Points if you have no status, 80,000 Virgin Points if you do, saving x 1p) and
• you also earn 15,000 base Virgin Points for spending £10,000 to trigger the voucher (worth £150 @ 1p) but
• the card fee is £160

The net benefit for spending £10,000 on the Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard = £740 or £790 (£750 or £800 + £150 – £160) or 7.4% (if you don’t have status) or 7.9% of spend (if you do have status).

Our full review of the card is here. You can apply here.

Our ‘Good’ choices for long-term spending:

British Airways American Express Premium Plus card

Spend £15,000 on this card in a membership year and you can book an Avios redemption for one person at a 50% discount. You can fly on British Airways, Aer Lingus or Iberia.

On a typical redemption (a Club World ticket to San Francisco on a peak day), this saves you 100,000 Avios points when you use the ‘most Avios, least cash’ booking option.

If you value an Avios at 1p:

• the 2-4-1 voucher is ‘worth’ £1,000 (100,000 Avios saving x 1p) and
• you also earn 22,500 base Avios for spending £15,000 to trigger the voucher (worth £225 @ 1p) but
• you pay an annual fee of £300

The net benefit for spending £15,000 on the British Airways American Express Premium Plus card = £925 (£1,000 + £225 – £300) or 6.2% of your card spend.

Our full review of the card is here. You can apply here.

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Spend £10,000 on the Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard in a membership year and you receive an Avios upgrade voucher.

This allows you to either:

• book a return Avios flight for one person, paying the Avios required for the next cheapest cabin (so World Traveller Plus if booking Club World, or World Traveller if booking World Traveller Plus)

• book two x one-way flights for two people, on the same terms as above

A return Club World business class flight to San Francisco on a peak day requires 200,000 Avios. A return World Traveller Plus ticket is 135,000 Avios. The upgrade voucher saves you 65,000 Avios when you book into Club World.

Based on a valuation of 1p per Avios:

• the upgrade voucher is ‘worth’ £650 (65,000 Avios saving x 1p) and
• you also earn 15,000 base Avios for spending £10,000 to trigger the voucher (worth £150 @ 1p) but
• the card fee is £20 per month, so £240 for a year

The net benefit for spending £10,000 on the Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard = £560 (£650 + £150 – £240) or 5.6% of spend.

Our full review of the card is here. You can apply here.

Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard (free)

A ‘Saver’ return Upper Class flight to San Francisco is no more than 155,000 Virgin Points on a peak date. A return Premium ‘Saver’ ticket is 75,000 Virgin Points – this is also the assume base cost if you choose to upgrade a cash Premium ticket.

The section above on the Reward+ card explains the methodology in more detail.

Based on a valuation of 1p per Virgin Point:

• your voucher is ‘worth’ £750 to £800 (the cap of 75,000 Virgin Points if you have no status, 80,000 Virgin Points if you do, saving x 1p) and
• you also earn 15,000 base Virgin Points for spending £20,000 to trigger the voucher (worth £150 @ 1p) and
• the card fee is £0

The net benefit for spending £20,000 on the free Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard = £900 or £950 depending on whether you have status or not (£750 or £800 + £150) or 4.5% or 4.75% of spend.

Our full review of the card is here. You can apply here.

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard (free)

Spend £20,000 on this card in a membership year and you receive an Avios upgrade voucher.

Note that the vouchers on both Barclaycard Avios credit cards are identical – both are valid for two years and both are valid in the same travel classes, with First Class excluded.

Using the same example as above, a return Club World business class flight to San Francisco on a peak day requires 200,000 Avios. A return World Traveller Plus ticket is 135,000 Avios. The upgrade voucher saves you 65,000 Avios when upgrading to Club World.

Based on a valuation of 1p per Avios:

• the upgrade voucher is ‘worth’ £650 (65,000 Avios saving x 1p) and
• you also earn 20,000 base Avios for spending £20,000 to trigger the voucher (worth £200 @ 1p) and
• the card is free

The net benefit for spending £20,000 on the free Barclaycard Avios Mastercard = £850 (£650 + £200) or 4.25% of spend.

Our full review of the card is here. You can apply here.

Conclusion

You might be slightly surprised by the numbers above.

The most rewarding credit card on the market is NOT the British Airways Premium Plus American Express card. It is the Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard.

There are two reasons why the Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard scores better than the British Airways American Express Premium Plus card in some cases:

• the British Airways Premium Plus card is £140 per year more expensive than the Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard, which impacts your return

• you now need to spend £15,000 to trigger the voucher on British Airways Premium Plus, compared to just £10,000 on Virgin Atlantic Reward+, which reduces your overall ‘return per £1 spent on your card’

This claim comes with big caveats

BUT …. and it is a big ‘but’ …. you need to have Silver or Gold status in Virgin Flying Club to get a voucher worth 150,000 Virgin Points.

Everyone else will only get a voucher worth 75,000 Virgin Points – although, in some cases, this is enough to fund a full 2-4-1 redemption or upgrade. After all, Upper Class seats to New York can now be as low as 69,000 Virgin Points return on off-peak dates.

A bigger issue is that you also need to be travelling on a route where ‘Saver’ seats are widely available – and there aren’t many of those, unless the US East Coast or India are your targets.

What about Barclaycard?

What is possibly surprising is how badly the two Barclaycard Avios Mastercard products perform.

However, for most people, these cards are a fall-back for earning Avios where American Express is not accepted – and if you can manage to trigger the annual voucher as well, it’s just an added bonus.

In summary ….

As it stands:

• if you don’t have Virgin Flying Club elite status, or

• you aren’t interested in the handful of Virgin Atlantic routes with lots of ‘Saver’ seats, then

…. the British Airways American Express Premium Plus credit card remains – by far – the most valuable credit card for long term spending. Once you’ve spent £15,000 and triggered your voucher, use the information above to decide where the rest of your spend should go.

Further information and APR details

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Want to earn more points from credit cards? – March 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 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:

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:

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.