Your guide to the BA ‘On Business’ small business loyalty programme (Part 2)

This is our review of the British Airways On Business loyalty scheme for small businesses.

It’s three years since was last took a look at this, because the scheme was offline for a year after an IT hack and it has taken a while to build it back.

Part 1 of our British Airways On Business review is here. Part 2 is below.

Additional articles next week will look at the full redemption pricing chart, which isn’t available online.

How to join On Business

The On Business sign-up page is here.  If you are signing up, you will qualify for a special sign-up bonus of triple points for your first six one-way flights within 12 months of joining.

If you say on your application form that you were referred by member OB10171896 then you receive 1,500 bonus On Business points after crediting your first flight.  (And so do I, so thank you.)

Redeeming On Business points for upgrades

Today I want to look at whether it is worth redeeming On Business points for flight upgrades, and how to earn more points with credit and charge cards.

The reward chart for upgrading flights using On Business points is not published, but there are some examples below.  

British Airways tickets issued by travel agents CAN be upgraded with On Business Points, as can American Airlines and Iberia flights in certain scenarios.

Upgrades are potentially more attractive than outright redemptions which I discussed in Part 1 of our On Business review.   Subject to a reward seat in the higher class, almost all economy tickets can now be upgraded with On Business points.  ALL Club World seats are upgradeable.

Upgrades start at 5,000 On Business points long-haul for World Traveller to World Traveller Plus, from 10,500 for World Traveller Plus to Club World and from 7,000 On Business points for Club World to First.   These are one-way prices.

Remember that On Business availability is better than Avios availability so you have a decent chance of being able to upgrade if you wish.

As an example:

• Hamburg – Euro Traveller to Club Europe – 4,100 On Business points each way

• Dubai – World Traveller to World Traveller Plus – 6,000 On Business points each way

• New York – World Traveller Plus to Club World – 13,000 On Business points each way

• Tokyo – Club World to First Class – 10,000 On Business points each way

These prices are generous for First Class upgrades and this may be the sweet spot of the entire programme.

The online calculator allows you to price multi-cabin upgrades but the number that comes out will either be wrong or create an error message in my experience.

Boosting your Avios and On Business points with a credit card

There are two ways of earning On Business Points via credit card spend.  Following the launch of the British Airways American Express Accelerating Business Card, there is now an option for smaller businesses.

Earning points with the Accelerating Business Card:

American Express launched the British Airways American Express Accelerating Business Credit Card in 2019. In September 2021 it received an impressive overhaul and now comes with a sign up bonus of 30,000 Avios.

You can receive the 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus on this card even if you have a personal British Airways American Express Card. The only rule is that you have not had another American Express Business Card in the previous 12 months.

There is another benefit. You usually require a VAT number to open an On Business account. This is waived if you apply for the Accelerating Business card. American Express will open an account for you, irrespective of your VAT status.

In summary:

• You get 30,000 Avios as a sign-up bonus when you make £5,000 of qualifying spend within 90 days
• You earn 1.5 Avios per £1 spent
• You earn 10,000 bonus Avios when you spend £20,000, £40,000 and £60,000 in a calendar year, up to 30,000 Avios in total.
• You earn one bonus On Business point for every £1 spent on qualifying British Airways flight purchases when you pay for them using the card

We assume that 1 On Business point is worth 4 Avios (I discussed why in Part 1 of this BA On Business review) and 1 Avios is worth 1p which is our HfP valuation.

This means you are getting back an extra 4% of your British Airways expenditure from the additional 1 On Business point per £1 spent.

You can apply here.

The representative APR is 106.1% variable, including the annual fee.  The representative APR on purchases is 27.2% variable.

Earning points with a Corporate Charge Card:

If you have a large (ie multi-million £ turnover) company, American Express used to offer two British Airways Corporate Charge Cards.

These cards seem to have been removed from the market during 2023. I’m not sure if this was a temporary move linked to the issues with the On Business programme website but as far as I know they have not re-opened to new applicants.

The earn rate on the Corporate Cards was identical to the personal British Airways Amex Cards: 1 Avios per £1 spent on the Classic Card and 1.5 Avios per £1 spent or 3 Avios per £1 with British Airways on the Corporate Plus Card.

The Corporate Plus Card also had an annual bonus of 2,500 On Business points when you spend £25,000 or more a year.

Conclusion

If you run your own business, you should have a British Airways On Business account and be earning On Business points alongside Avios.

You may never earn enough points for a long haul business class flight due to the expiration policy, but a couple of free (taxes and charges apply) short haul flights are always worth having.

If you are a member of On Business, you should take a serious look at the British Airways American Express Accelerating Business Credit Card given the generous sign-up bonus of 30,000 Avios.

Remember that if your business is too small for compulsory VAT registration, and you voluntarily chose not to apply, you can get around the ‘must be VAT registered’ restriction for On Business by applying for the credit card first.

You can apply here.