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Apologies for application issues with Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

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Yesterday we ran three articles on the brand new, and very exciting, Barclaycard Avios Mastercard credit cards.

As soon as we’d published them, the Barclaycard application website collapsed. At the time of writing (10pm) it is still not fully functioning. It may or may not be working when you read this.

I’m sorry for the inconvenience. We are in close contact with Barclaycard and as soon as everything is good to go we will let you know.

HFP-Barclaycard-Avios-Plus-Card

Are you an existing Barclaycard holder?

In our article yesterday we said that existing Barclaycard holders would need to cancel their card and wait six months if they wanted the sign-up bonus on the new card.

It turns out that Barclaycard has a Plan B for existing cardholders which will go live in a few days. We should be able to share full details soon, but basically there will be a route which will allow you to get the Avios cards and receive a bonus. It will be a smaller bonus than the one given to new customers, but it will be better than nothing. We will run an article on this as soon as the process is live.

For everyone else …. we’ll let you know as soon as applications are open.

If you want to try again now, in case it got fixed overnight, you can apply for the free Barclaycard Avios credit card (5,000 Avios bonus) here. You can apply for the Barclaycard Avios Plus credit card (25,000 Avios bonus) here.

If you missed our content yesterday, the first of our three articles on the Barclaycard Avios Mastercards is here.

PS. If you are not a regular Head for Points visitor, why not sign up for our FREE weekly or daily newsletters? They are full of the latest Avios, airline, hotel and credit card points news and will help you travel better. To join our 65,000 free subscribers, click the button below or visit this page of the site to find out more. Thank you.

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

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

Comments (291)

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

  • Alex says:
    2 Mar2 March 16:50

    The app wont offer me a change, however my wife’s just done it ok, could I get a supplementary card on her account added for me, and get the avois this way ??

    • James says:
      2 Mar2 March 17:31

      I would try raising a complaint. Within 24 hours, I now have the avios card through raising a complaint about it not showing on my app.

  • andreww says:
    2 Mar2 March 18:04

    Anyone get referred with notification within 5 days? Did you receive an email for approval or are you awaiting information in the post?

    • Tom says:
      2 Mar2 March 20:29

      I got referred for 5 day wait.
      I get the same with Amex, with them the card just turns up with no warning so I’ll give Barclaycard 10 days or so before calling.

    • Matt says:
      3 Mar3 March 00:11

      Applied on 28 Feb, site crashed a step before submission, was asked to wait 3-5 days in the error page. Received a post today to sign the agreement for processing the application. No additional documents required, just a signature.

  • A says:
    3 Mar3 March 07:54

    Being the first MasterCard Barclaycards, do they support Apple Pay?

  • namster says:
    3 Mar3 March 10:15

    any update on how existing barclaycard owners will be able to join the barclaycard plus ?

  • hugo r says:
    3 Mar3 March 12:50

    With regards to the paid avios barclaycard , if you hit a 10k spend say in 3 months do you have to wait a further 9 months for the upgrade voucher or do you get it straight away

  • nt says:
    3 Mar3 March 14:27

    Hiya – quick question if that’s ok just to clarify voucher usage.

    If I open a Mastercard for my wife and get a voucher to her avios account which is part of our household, can I use her voucher with the household points to upgrade a return flight for me?

    Thanks!

    • Rob says:
      3 Mar3 March 15:39

      Yes, as long as you log in as her to make the booking for yourself.

  • Stephen says:
    3 Mar3 March 15:00

    @Rob are you allowed to say anything on latest expectations from Barclays on the existing cardholder offer being fully deployed? Are they still working through the application deluge from earlier in week?

  • nwmgc says:
    3 Mar3 March 16:36

    They really are in aright old pickle. I’ve just been told that, for existing customers, only those who have received an offer can swap. I’m not eligible as a result, apparently.

    • Neil says:
      3 Mar3 March 16:50

      I’m in that unusual 2016 year where they allowed two cards – so I have the HH plus some other card that I should have binned ages ago but didn’t. The upshot is that they just aren’t going to allow me to swap to the Avios card – which is a real shame as I do rather like it.

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

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