Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Generous Avios Balance Boost promo running to Monday – buy at 0.92p

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British Airways launched ‘Avios Balance Boost’ in June 2023.

It is a surprisingly good value way of buying Avios.

Put simply, you can buy a lump sum of Avios equivalent to 100%, 200% or 300% of the Avios you have earned in the last 30 days. The cost can be as low as 0.92p per Avios.

Until Monday, a flash offer makes it substantially easier to qualify to buy up to the annual 300,000 Avios cap.

Buy cheap Avios with the new Avios Balance Boost - is it worth it?

What does it cost to use Avios Balance Boost?

You can find Avios Balance Boost on the usual ‘buy Avios’ page here.

Here is the standard price list:

How does Avios Balance Boost work?

Unless you are trying to buy over 300,000 Avios via Balance Boost, which is unlikely unless you are trying to boost a chunky credit card sign-up bonus or made a large transfer from American Express Membership Rewards, you will pay between 0.92p and 0.96p per Avios.

The 300,000 Avios cap is based on your Boost purchases over a calendar year and not per transaction.

How does Avios Balance Boost work?

Before we go into this new flash offer, let’s summarise how Avios Balance Boost works.

When you go into Avios Balance Boost you will see a list of all of your eligible transactions from the last 30 days.

You can either select individual transactions, select entire categories (eg ‘Credit Cards’) or select everything.

You will then be shown your pricing options for doing a x1, x2 or x3 boost based on the price list above.

Buy cheap Avios with the new Avios Balance Boost - is it worth it?

What sort of transactions qualify for Avios Balance Boost?

You can boost:

  • Avios earned from the BA shopping portal
  • Avios earned from credit card spending
  • Avios earned from flights
  • Avios earned from ‘hotels and travel’ eg Uber

According to the terms and conditions, you CANNOT boost Avios obtained via:

“balance transfers from other airlines [presumably Qatar Airways or Finnair Avios transfers], Nectar exchanges, Avios shared or gifted by other members and previously bought Avios.”

Other inbound transfers, from American Express Membership Rewards, HSBC Premier, Heathrow Rewards etc will count for boosting.

You can only boost a transaction once.

What is the special offer?

Until Monday night (3rd February), British Airways is running a special offer.

There are two big changes:

  • you can boost ALL of the Avios you earned in 2024, instead of just the last 30 days
  • you can boost up to 4x the Avios you earned, instead of the usual 3x

…. with two restrictions:

  • the annual cap of 300,000 Avios via Avios Balance Boost remains in place
  • you can’t reboost a transaction which was previously boosted

Here’s the bottom line: for anyone who earned 75,000 Avios from qualifying transactions in 2024, you can (until Monday night) buy up to 300,000 Avios for 0.92p each.

Don’t forget that there is a 300,000 Avios cap on what can be boosted at the special rate. If you are shown a price that is higher than 0.92p per Avios then it’s because you will be over the 300,000 Avios cap.

If you earned more than 75,000 Avios last year, you need to unselect transactions until you have reduced the total to be boosted to 75,000 Avios or fewer. If you don’t, you will be paying too much.

Conclusion

If you are in the market for Avios, this is an excellent deal at 0.92p each.

Of course, however low the price, we don’t recommend buying Avios when you don’t have a specific plan to use them. The risk of devaluation is always there.

You can access Avios Balance Boost here.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

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 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 card

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.

Category

British Airways and Avios

Comments (112)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • MKB says:
    31 Jan31 January 11:20

    I would previously have jumped at this, but no more. BA’s desire to move to dynamic redemptions is clear, so this is too risky. I’m burning my balance currently and looking forward to the freedom of flying with other airlines once my status is gone.

    • will says:
      31 Jan31 January 13:33

      Totally agree, I’m very much cold to Avios as a scheme in the longer term now because of this and all of these attempts to sell off avois worry me that they know they are about to devalue them.
      Just signalling that 12 months notice will be given if a dynamic pricing model is to be implemented or putting annual inflation caps on fees / avios requirements would I think be in the schemes long term interest.

    • BJ says:
      31 Jan31 January 19:57

      Can you not get value out of AY, EI, IB or QR? IMO, there’s loads of value to be found there.

      • Lee says:
        1 Feb1 February 07:28

        Agreed. I collect Avios on BA here and there but I’ve never spent Avios on BA; ever. Mainly spend on QR

  • William D says:
    31 Jan31 January 11:53

    I mainly use Avios for short haul (weekends in London) or for the Amex 2 for 1 or Barclays upgrade voucher. A boost to get 180,000 avios (enough points for long haul to US CW) would cost me £1,656. Add tax on fare £450. So CW to US would be £2,106. Not worth it when you can get sale fares for less (not necessarily BA). I can generate around 200K avios per annum through normal spending, which is sufficient for my needs.

    Or am I missing something?

    • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:
      31 Jan31 January 12:43

      Don’t think you’re missing anything.

      You are doing what people should be doing (but don’t) and considering the options and made a decision based on actual costs and what works for you.

      • WilliamD says:
        31 Jan31 January 13:13

        I can see the advantage of having many avios to play with, but not when cash is cheaper. Though I do get the advantage avios bookings can bring in flexibility. Suppose it comes down to how much free cash you want to chuck at it.

        • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:
          31 Jan31 January 15:26

          Precisely.

          I’m having that conundrum now with the IHG points offer. Do I tie up a wad of cash now or do I just leave the bookings as cash and pay at the point I stay.

          • BJ says:
            31 Jan31 January 20:27

            IHG is an even trickier one than avios these days, particularly if mainly used in key cities. Both revenue rates and reward rates are varying too much for my liking. The one good thing is that the points sales come along so often we can check rates for existing flexible stays and imminent new ones to determine if buying makes sense so it smooths out the ups and downs.

    • Ben says:
      31 Jan31 January 15:40

      If you’re using the 241 then the per person cost is lower than that. It works out at £1275 per person (assuming 1p per Avios) using the 241 which is pretty decent. Absent the 241 I agree it tends to not be worth it.

      • WilliamD says:
        2 Feb2 February 14:59

        fair point, but I only get one 2for1 per year, and generate enough avios to cover this and use of barclays voucher.

    • BJ says:
      31 Jan31 January 20:14

      No reason to buy if you’re meeting your needs but you might want to look at bigger avios picture not just BA. For longhaul you shoukd certainly consider the other airlines rather than BA as I mentioned in my previous comment, especially if you are outside London and reliant on connections anyway. However, given your comment about using mainly dhorthaul I guess you are London based. Other than peak date and school holidays avios used to be poor value shorthaul but this has changed with rising fares and extra for bags, seats etc. LCC are iften no longer LC anymore so BAEC remaibs the best around for shorthaul rewards, particularly given tbey are effectively fully flexible fares for a small fee.

    • Paul says:
      31 Jan31 January 20:41

      From my perspective you’re missing the fact that non-BA non-US destinations exist which can be great value. I say that overlooking Sydney Harbour having flown here for 90k Avios (o/w) on QR, enjoying top notch business class en route for a fraction of what a cash fare would have set me back…! But yeah, if you’re generating enough Avios annually then no point stockpiling.

      • BJ says:
        31 Jan31 January 21:29

        Only great value if he wants to go there.
        One thing that has surprised me here over the years is that quite a few want to redeem greatest value rather than fly some place they want to go. OP is obviously not one of them.

        • WilliamD says:
          2 Feb2 February 14:58

          Yeah don’t see point of going somewhere I don’t want to go. Re your other post, I am in Scotland. Main use of Avios is to go to US via Barlcays or Amex, or for flights to London. Cash fares to London can be poor value, and offer no flexibility, opposite of Avios.

          Everyone’s definition of “value” is different of course. I’m sure there are better ways to use the points, but this works for me. Of course, once BA inevitably move the goalposts then this will change.

  • William D says:
    31 Jan31 January 11:53

    I mainly use Avios for short haul (weekends in London) or for the Amex 2 for 1 or Barclays upgrade voucher. A boost to get 180,000 avios (enough points for long haul to US CW) would cost me £1,656. Add tax on fare £450. So CW to US would be £2,106. Not worth it when you can get sale fares for less (not necessarily BA). I can generate around 200K avios per annum through normal spending, which is sufficient for my needs.

    Or am I missing something?

  • Catherine Marks says:
    31 Jan31 January 12:08

    I did as the article said and reduced the number of Avios to be boosted to 75k as I earned more in 2024. I’ve never “boosted” before , but when I did the maths (299,420 Avios for £2754.66) it came to £1.08 per Avios. Am I doing something wrong?

    • Rob says:
      31 Jan31 January 12:14

      Your calculator is doing something wrong – that’s 0.92p.

    • YFP says:
      31 Jan31 January 12:36

      you have your fraction order wrong, it’s p/avios, so the amount you paid goes up top.

    • Henny bowen says:
      31 Jan31 January 14:04

      I thought that as well! Now I understand

    • Steve L says:
      31 Jan31 January 15:53

      It is a little confusing. At the 400% bonus, I’m seeing 300,000 Avios for USD 3,600. That, along with my 100,000, would hit the 180,000×2 people=360,000 Avios need for a long haul. Would seem correct? Then book right away.

  • James says:
    31 Jan31 January 14:35

    Anyone still buying Avios from BA without an immediate use for them should seek medical attention. It is very clear that some form of devaluation/dynamic pricing is imminent.

    • Paul says:
      31 Jan31 January 15:28

      Would that include all partners or just BA?

    • LittleNick says:
      31 Jan31 January 15:51

      How long is imminent? Seems too soon?

      • Rob says:
        31 Jan31 January 16:00

        A reader who is working on the ba.com rebuild said that it is unlikely that the redemption site would be rebuilt until 2026.

        • LittleNick says:
          31 Jan31 January 16:07

          Thanks, that essentially explains why there are essentially two interfaces atm

    • Erico1875 says:
      31 Jan31 January 15:56

      Dynamic pricing can go up or down so there may be value in that too.
      Obviously not OZ the week B4 Xmas.
      I’ve been doing this for over 20 years and every other year the sky was apparently going to fall in but it so far never has

    • BJ says:
      31 Jan31 January 20:39

      People need to stop thinking only/mainly BA, BAEC allows you to move those avios around with the potential for some very rewarding results!

  • Phil says:
    31 Jan31 January 15:33

    Tangential but I’m not a frequent flyer. When I do it’s EDI-LCY. So no hope of status. But last year, through credit cards/eshopping I was able to amass 124,000. Barely any of that was from flying. It’s crazy how you really can make this work. Taking a fam of 5 to California this summer for £600 return for all of us (inc miles and 2-4-1). Probably not good value for the real buffs here but tbh I was delighted!

    • Phil says:
      31 Jan31 January 15:33

      (124,000 avios). According to the boost portal.

    • Erico1875 says:
      31 Jan31 January 16:36

      Minimum around £600 pp Edi to LA.
      So 3K – 600 = £2400 so you got almost 2p per Avios value.
      I would fill my boots at 0.92 for next year

  • Aston100 says:
    31 Jan31 January 17:12

    I’ve got a Finnair return in mind for April 2026 – seats should be available in 10 weeks or so.
    Need to buy some Avios first.
    Unsure if an Avios devaluation would affect Finnair before April this year.
    No companion vouchers involved obv.
    Any thoughts?

    • Rob says:
      31 Jan31 January 17:24

      Finnair’s not changing their reward pricing less than a year since adopting Avios, I suspect.

      • Aston100 says:
        31 Jan31 January 17:57

        Good to know thanks.

        • BJ says:
          31 Jan31 January 20:51

          And even if they did it would take a substantial devaluation just to bring them in line with BA is at now.

          Hope you settled your Surabaya worries.

  • Jeff says:
    31 Jan31 January 22:41

    Jesus fin Christ, people! BA just overhauled its Club and are now asking you to give them money… So Avios can be devalued by a tenth, a hundredth? F-em. Don’t take it, unless you’re going to spend *tomorrow*!

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