Bits: interesting Barclays business card, earn Avios on ferry tickets

News in brief:

Interesting Barclays corporate credit card 

A reader sent me a link to the Barclays Premium Plus business credit card, which I hadn’t seen before.

(Has American Express not trademarked the use of the phrase ‘Premium Plus’ for credit cards? Seems not.)

In general, I don’t believe that many one or two person businesses need a dedicated business credit card.  I don’t have one for HfP.  There is no accounting or tax reason why you cannot use a personal card if it is your own company.  I use my American Express Platinum charge card exclusively for HfP expenses, which allows me to write off the £450 annual fee against tax.

However, if you do feel that your circumstances require a dedicated business credit card, this one has a number of interesting travel features:

Card is a Mastercard

Annual fee of £100 with additional cards at £75

0.5% cashback on purchases, capped at £400

FX fee of 0.99% compared to the usual 2.99%

Priority Pass airport lounge membership with two free visits per year, extra visits charged at £15

5 days free access per year to Barclays collaborative hot desking work spaces across the UK

‘Enhanced’ travel insurance

Representative APR 36.2% variable including the annual fee based on a notional £1200 credit limit

This is not a bad package.  Whether it is worth £100 will depend entirely on how much use you will get of the benefits above, but it looks promising.  You can find out more here.

Remember that American Express also has two small business charge cards.  You may want to check out the American Express Platinum Business Card and the American Express Gold Business Card. There is currently a 20,000 points (= 20,000 Avios) bonus on the Gold Business card and a 40,000 points (40,000 Avios) bonus on the Platinum Business card.

The Platinum Business card offers different benefits to the standard Platinum card.  The travel insurance is better, as the age limit is increased to 80 and there is no requirement to pay for your flight or hotel with an Amex card.  The hotel status and Priority Pass benefits are also slightly different.

There is also the little-known British Airways Corporate American Express which I discussed here.

Earning Avios from ferry tickets

A need to book some ferry tickets from Venice to Croatia this week reminded me that Avios has a decent deal with Direct Ferries, the leading global ferry ticketing website.

Direct Ferries is a central booking site for 199 ferry companies around the world.  From the UK, they work with companies such as Brittany Ferries, P&O Ferries and Stena Line, as well as Eurotunnel.

The scale of the site is impressive.  You can book 2,577 ferry routes covering 713 ferry ports, connecting you to over 243 countries and islands.

The Avios earning rate seems decent – you will earn 4 Avios points for every £1 spent.

There is no special booking link.  Book as usual on the main Direct Ferries site.  When you create an account with Direct Ferries you will find a box to enter your Avios number.  Once done, you will automatically be credited with points from all of your bookings.

Remember that this is an avios.com partnership and not a British Airways Executive Club one.  You will need an avios.com account.  The points you earn can easily be moved across to BA afterwards using the ‘Combine My Avios’ function on ba.com.

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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 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.

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.