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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.

  • Stu says:
    1 Mar1 March 08:52

    Applied before it was even announced here yesterday – got approved but still no email or anything to show I was approved. Rang them yesterday afternoon and after a protracted wait, the lady said she couldn’t find anything and to give it 48 hours and see if anything turns up. Great …

    • Chas says:
      1 Mar1 March 10:56

      If it doesn’t and you need to apply again, you could use Rob’s link – his referral income will have been decimated by these IT issues. It should have been a bumper few days for him…

  • BJ says:
    1 Mar1 March 08:55

    Would the £20,000 income requurement definitely be a deal-breaker? My parents would like to apply. No problem for dad but my mum is only on a small pension as she has been a housewife most of her life.

    • Richard says:
      1 Mar1 March 10:14

      Isn’t income for a married couple deemed joint shared income. So she can declare income based on at least half of the joint income??

  • Tom says:
    1 Mar1 March 09:01

    Applied this morning, instant acceptance, no issues. Have just hit my 241 on BA PP so going to cancel it when the voucher comes through. AMEX are going to have to up their game big time, for a solo traveler the BA PP makes literally no sense now.

    • Rich says:
      1 Mar1 March 11:20

      Was having the reverse conversation with my partner out on a walk just now – Amex PP still makes sense for us given the 241, double points for BA spend and wider J availability with the new vouchers but have just applied for the BC Av Plus to get the 25k bonus and will downgrade to the free card once target hit.

      Got accepted for the card no worries, all very slick. Happy days and au revoir Creation IHG.

  • Christopher in Scotland says:
    1 Mar1 March 09:25

    I cancelled my barclaycard yesterday and planning to get the sign up bonus in 6 months time, damn….

    • Rob says:
      1 Mar1 March 09:47

      You’re still hugely better off. The bonus for existing cardholders, when available, will only be 1k / 5k.

  • Philip says:
    1 Mar1 March 09:29

    Just applied successfully on my desktop computer. Not got the email confirmation yet. Card will arrive within 3-5 working days.

  • Grimz says:
    1 Mar1 March 09:37

    If I applied for my Mum and was approved can the Avios go into our household account? The voucher has to be used for the account holder?

    • Rob says:
      1 Mar1 March 09:46

      Yes.

      The voucher can be used for anyone BUT the flight must be booked from the Avios account of the cardholder.

      • Mr(s) Entitled says:
        1 Mar1 March 10:48

        Presumably this means logging into the Avios account of the cardholder, but if a household account, the Avios can still be prorated across all members of said household account?

        • Rob says:
          1 Mar1 March 11:00

          The Avios go into the account of the cardholder but anyone can spend them (they are taken pro-rata from all accounts in the HHA).

          For the voucher booking, yes, you need to be logged in as the cardholder.

      • Grimz says:
        1 Mar1 March 11:54

        Wow that is great news!!

  • Mostafa Khan says:
    1 Mar1 March 09:46

    Thank You

  • bhanorthy says:
    1 Mar1 March 10:02

    Applied. Typical wait 5 days for someone to check your application. I have the same with Amex everytime. Maybe I’m viewed as a dodgy customer 🙂

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

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