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The British Airways Special Services team is now the Concorde Team

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The British Airways Special Services team, which will look after ‘every detail of the airport experience for [their] most premium customers’, has been renamed the ‘Concorde Team’.

Concorde Team members will apparently undergo special training designed by The Dorchester and wear uniforms by luxury tailor M&S.

Heathrow will be the first airport to offer the revised service with JFK to follow in the coming months.

Here are the new Concorde Team M&S uniforms if you need to spot them (I quite like the white shirt) although in theory they are meant to find you if you are deemed important enough:

new concorde outfit by M&S


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.

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.

Comments (112)

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

  • IanMacK says:

    I guess “most premier customers” will apply only to BAEC Premier members ?
    (Yes, the ex-politicians, bank executives and big corp employees lucky enough to get that level)
    Just casting back to Rob’s comments of yesterday regarding OnBusiness !!

    • Stu N says:

      Sneaked a peak at the briefing list at F check in last Monday – 29 premiers and approx 3,000 Golds passing through, and I think about 3,500 silvers. Thus it is slightly unrealistic to expect the special treatment for every Gold. Maybe a Gold flying F on a short connection may qualify for the Concorde treatment? Then again – probably not…

      • IanMacK says:

        Yes, I’ve seen similar numbers on the desk sheets myself – so probably won’t even matter if GGL with Concorde card ??
        I met the Premier manager in the LHR T5B lounge before a flight last summer, I told him about a problem I was having with my GGL account and allocation of G & S cards – he instantly agreed with my side of the story and the problem was fixed by the time we got off the plane at the other end !!

      • Nick says:

        SS treatment is automatic for Premier (well, those who haven’t declined it of course – some want to remain anonymous in the airport) and ‘best endeavours/when required’ for GGL. No one has ever pretended it has anything to do with Gold, although (very) occasionally they have been known to help out with very short connections.

  • Gill says:

    OT Popping down to London for a show at the Albert Hall. Any recommends for hotels with exec lounge via amex platinum status? On my own £ so trying to keep costs down. Marriott Kensington @£150 a decent shout? Thanks

    • Rob says:

      Marriott is your only option for guaranteed lounge access. No idea what Kensington is like but it is walkable to the hall in 20 minutes so a decent choice.

  • Jack says:

    OT- if I have just received the 3000 pts for adding a supp AmEx gold and am considering upgrade to Plat, should I cancel the supp first as I understand there is a points bonus for adding your first supp Plat? Thanks

    • Tilly says:

      Yes, I cancelled my husband’s supp on my PRG account before I upgraded to plat. Then after upgrade added him as a supp card holder for the 5k MR bonus.

      • Andrew says:

        I tried to upgrade my Amex Gold Reward to Platinum last night but the link has disappeared from the website (when I am logged in ) . I tried an external link from a google search and a page opened up asking for my existing card details , address, etc but after I clicked submit , I received a bad URL message. Have Amex withdrawn the 20k upgrade offer ?

  • IanT says:

    Completely OT but I’ve just booked me and Mrs IanT Inverness-Chicago return in BA First for £1620 each. Maybe I’m wrong but I can’t ever remember seeing a price that low before. 🙂

    • Rob says:

      Yes, there are some good INV deals at present. I will get round to them. 10am from INV is not convenient though.

      • IanT says:

        The INV-LHR leg departs at 1245 Rob. We’ll stay the night before, but there’s a Easyjet from LTN that gets into INV at 1110.

      • David says:

        Only inconvenient for some of your readers though Rob – some of us live in the Highlands.

        Looking forward to an article on INV – any way I can fond these deals myself though (other than just searching through loads of destinations and dates)? In the mood for booking something for around November.

        • IanT says:

          I had trouble finding other destinations other than Chicago and the North West gateways for my dates. I was trying to find something for Seattle for a forthcoming cruise we’ve got booked, but I’ve had to settle for Chicago and a paid connection. My return date is March ’19 though, so there must be a lot of available dates.

        • Grimz says:

          +1 Northern Scotland ( :

      • Susan says:

        We’re not all london based!

  • Greg Caplan says:

    Avios for Insurance. Not worth the effort. I tried repeatedly to put some business Alan Boswell’s way, both personally and for my business’s PI etc needed to chase for quotes repeatedly and in the end they weren’t competitive.

  • Jamesay says:

    Those BA “outfits” I’d avoid term uniform are meh… undistinguished and they all look like secretarial staff, hotel check in staff etc I’d walk past any of them thinking they were passengers or staff as I’ve outlined above.
    Poor show, BA staff deserve better. Wonder how many people and how long it took to come up with that crap? Designed by committee. Camel.
    Looks like someone did a smash n grab in M&S on their lunch break!

    • David says:

      To be fair, they shouldn’t look like BA staff, or all the riff-raff will stop and ask them questions about which check-in desk they can use etc. Presumably they will know who they’re looking for, and introduce themselves when they find their targets…

      • ankomonkey says:

        Sounds like a fun job. Today’s first target is about 50, has a badly colour coordinated wardrobe and can often be found adding bacon from a second bacon roll into his first roll, then leaving the empty roll in the tray with the untouched ones. Today’s second target is mid-30s and always overdoes it on the Bucks Fizz and usually nods off on one of the sofas within 10 minutes of lounge arrival. Wake with caution!

        It’s like being Magnum PI.

        • Save East Coast Rewards says:

          I don’t think anyone these people deal with would be in a lounge with premade bacon rolls in a buffet 🙂 But I’d be interested to know how they identify those they’re meant to help? Are they introduced at the check-in/lounge desk or do they get a description?

  • Rob MC says:

    OT,

    If i buy a BA ticket LON – YYZ WT+ out and WT return , can i still upgrade the WT+ to club (there is availability) Also, is it possible to use my avios to upgrade another persons booking?

    Thanks

    • Ade says:

      Last week, I booked London to Tokyo, WT+ out and economy back, and successfully upgraded the outbound to club with avios

  • AdamB says:

    And the chap in the middle’s suit fits awfully – tight in the chest, sleeves too long (or shirt-sleeves too short), and trousers with a good inch or two extra at the bottom. The latter really does spoil the flattering full-length silhouettes which suits should offer.

    • Save East Coast Rewards says:

      A bit like me dressed for a job interview in my younger years 🙂 These days people in my industry tend not to wear suits for interviews.

    • Susan says:

      +1

      Also it’s 2018, why are the women still expected to wear heels when their jobs will require lots of walking, steps etc. Give the girls some smart flats!

      • Nick says:

        Do you know for a fact that’ll they are? Or did you just see the promo photo, make an assumption and use it as the basis for a rant?

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