Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Does the ‘buy Avios’ promo for British Airways American Express cardholders make sense?

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A new sort of ‘buy Avios’ bonus is being trialled by British Airways.  This is only available to British Airways American Express cardholders and requires registration.

It is unnecessarily complex, in my view, but may make sense for some readers.

The net result, at the most efficient price point, is that you are buying 37,500 Avios for £415, which is 1.1p per Avios.

This is what you do:

Step 1:  Log in to your online American Express account, go to your British Airways American Express statement page and – under ‘Offers’ at the bottom – register for the ‘buy Avios’ offer which should be showing

Step 2:  Go to the ‘buy Avios’ page of ba.com which is here 

Step 3:  Buy at least 25,000 Avios, which will cost you at least £415.  You MUST pay with your BA Amex.

Step 4:  The 25,000+ Avios will appear in your British Airways Executive Club account very quickly

Step 5:  12,500 bonus Avios will be added to your American Express account within five days of the original transaction showing up, and will be sent over at the end of your next statement period with your usual Avios for the month

There are a few things which could go wrong if you’re not careful:

You forget to register for the offer

You forget to pay with the same British Airways American Express which was registered

The delay in getting the 12,500 bonus Avios – which could take over a month depending on where you are in your statement period at the moment – may be an issue if you need to book a redemption now

There is one other thing to note.  Whilst you are making a transaction via ba.com, buying Avios does NOT count for double credit card spend points (3 per £1) if using the Premium Plus card.

Is 1.1p per Avios good value?

Not really.  This is my main article which looks at the value you get per Avios point under different scenarios.

You WILL get more than 1.1p most of the time, but rarely so much more that you should stockpile them without a firm plan.

I am not a buyer at this price, but you might be if you have a definite redemption in mind where you are certain you can get more than 1.1p.

You should also remember that, because the bonus is fixed at 12,500 Avios, this deal gets more expensive per point if you buy more than the minimum 25,000 Avios.

What others options do I have?

The Groupon Spain offer with Iberia Plus is still running.  This is a better offer if you need fewer than 37,500 Avios.

Click here for details.

Here are the prices:

  • 4,000 Iberia Plus Avios for €54 (1.2p)
  • 8,000 Iberia Plus Avios for €99 (1.1p)
  • 15,000 Iberia Plus Avios for €189 (1.1p)
  • 20,000 Iberia Plus Avios for €249 (1.1p)
  • 35,000 Iberia Plus Avios for €439 (1.1p)

Note that all of the information is in Spanish (Chrome can translate) and if you have problems you are dealing with the Iberia and Spanish Groupon contact centres.

The limit is 5 coupons per Iberia account for the 4,000, 20,000 and 35,000 Avios packages and 10 per account for the 8,000 and 15,000 Avios packages.  These Avios can be transferred across to British Airways from Iberia Plus via ‘Combine My Avios’ without any problems.

The Groupon Spain page you need is here.

Conclusion

This is not a terrible offer (neither is it a great offer) and I wouldn’t take part unless you have a firm idea of how to use the Avios for more than you are paying for them.

Don’t forget to register on the American Express website first.  Go to the BA site here to buy your Avios and make sure to pay with your BA Amex.

Want to earn more points from credit cards? – April 2024 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:

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

5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

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.

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

15,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review

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 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points sign-up bonus 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

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

Huge 30,000 points bonus until 12th May 2024 Read our full review

For a non-American Express option, we also recommend the Barclaycard Select Cashback card for sole traders and small businesses. It is FREE and you receive 1% cashback on your spending.

Barclaycard Select Cashback Business Credit Card

1% cashback uncapped* on all your business spending (T&C apply) Read our full review

Category

British Airways American Express, British Airways and Avios

Comments (25)

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

  • PGW says:
    29 Aug29 August 04:37

    I agree that this isn’t a compelling offer but I’ve seen worse and it is a handy option for those who perhaps need to find a route for spending to get to the Companion Voucher threshold.

    • BJ says:
      29 Aug29 August 06:51

      A referred BA blue card could net one up to 18k MR points at best. If the new blue card holder was fortunate to have the offer loaded then they would be 41.5% of the way towards over 40k avios at just under 1p each between this offer and the referred sign up bonus whatever it is a the moment. Not great but not so bad for somebody new to avios and credit card as it helps build a useful amount of avios quickly. Alternatively, one could take control of this 40k+ avios if the new cardholder was to join their HHA. Price still way to high though IMO.

      • David says:
        29 Aug29 August 07:18

        Don’t see how the referral bonus is relevant. If you have someone to refer available, then you can get your (up to) 18k MR for free. That doesn’t make it a better idea to go and buy more for 1.1p each afterwards.

        • BJ says:
          29 Aug29 August 11:00

          Relevant insofar as you get the opportunity for a referral you might not have got unless somebody was tempted to generate 40k+ avios at under 1p each by applying fof the blue card,

    • Polly says:
      29 Aug29 August 08:42

      Unless you really can do with the avios, but pricey…or Platinum referrals great atm…

      There are better ways to reach a bonus spend target..ie Gift cards in advance for stores where you buy food and petrol, Tesco etc. Then spend at leisure.
      Prepay mobile phone bills and other utilities who take amex, before direct debits go out
      For those not accepting Amex…Get payment cards for bt, other utilities, tv, water etc to pay at co ops with amex, monthly, useful. Some councils for their tax.
      Use Billhop for a one off bill, at a push but at 2.9%
      PayPal as an option offered more now…
      We are always spending towards a target this way. Really helps.

      • Optimus Prime says:
        29 Aug29 August 08:52

        My council is useless. Call them every month and ask for a Paypoint card. They say ‘done, you’ll get it in a week’. Nothing arrives. Rinse and repeat.

      • JayG says:
        29 Aug29 August 10:31

        Hi Polly,

        How do you get payment cards for utilities. Am i asking the obvious and it’s simply a case of ringing their customer service? Every time I switch providers they seem to only accept DD payments.

  • Chopin says:
    29 Aug29 August 07:14

    I actually decided to accept this offer last night although I didnt have a firm redemption plan.
    Note that I count the MR earned(equivalent to avios) from purchasing avios at BA, which makes the cost a bit lower than 1.1p.
    I also think since this is a not bad deal(acceptable but no great), it offer a good chance to close the gap for £3k sign bouns target and £10k voucher expenditure target, and top up some avios if your inventory level is really low(I personally having less than 10k avios on my account right now).

    • Alex W says:
      29 Aug29 August 07:43

      Presumably you’ll be earning 1.5 Avios per £1 on the BAPP and no Amex MRs.

      • Chopin says:
        29 Aug29 August 08:04

        ah yes, it’s avios not MR, my typing error. Also a side question, I thought it’s 3 avios on BA.com? so I should also receive another 415*3=1245 avios?

      • Chopin says:
        29 Aug29 August 08:11

        ah I saw the comments below, seems I am not the only one who dont know it lol, I recommend ROB point this out in the article. So you should receive another 415*1.5=622 instead of 1245 I suppose?

        • guesswho2000 says:
          29 Aug29 August 11:23

          Indeed, 1.09p/Avios.

          I’m seriously considering this actually, purely as Avios are so difficult to earn in Australia, and have such great value on Qantas flights. But we’ll see.

  • Spurs Debs says:
    29 Aug29 August 07:51

    I’ve saved this offer to card, I need a spend of £300 to trigger the extra bonus for using card on BA products, plus you would get 3 points per £1 spend on BA. I have a big spend of points coming up soon, so seriously considering this.

    • Genghis says:
      29 Aug29 August 07:55

      No 3 avios/£ as actually goes through points.com. I’d suggest you run some numbers before buying

  • David says:
    29 Aug29 August 08:27

    I accepted the offer as BA may have a bonus Avios rate before the Amex offer expires, you never know!

  • Louise Allen says:
    30 Aug30 August 18:02

    What was confusing about the offer? Seemed quite straightforward to me.

    • Rob says:
      30 Aug30 August 18:13

      Far more confusing than the usual ‘50% bonus when you buy Avios’ deals run by BA, which do not require registration, do not require you to use a certain credit, do not make you wait for your bonus and which pro-rata your bonus however big your purchase!

  • Andrew says:
    2 Sep2 September 20:07

    What would happen to the bonus points if I purchase 25000 Avios for a Household member? There doesn’t seem to be anything in the T&Cs stating the recipient has to be the cardholder. Or have I missed it?

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