ENDS SOON: Got the free Barclaycard Avios card? Get 100,000 Avios for upgrading and joining Premier Banking with Barclays Avios Rewards

UPDATE – APRIL 2025:  This article is now out of date, but don’t worry.  We produce a monthly directory of the top UK travel credit card offers – please click HERE or use the ‘Credit Cards’ menu above.  Thank you.

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.

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Barclaycard and Barclays are currently running what are, easily, the richest Avios promotional deals we have ever seen. If you only respond to one Avios-collecting offer this year, make it this one.

Full details are on the Barclays website here. I strongly recommend reading the information there alongside our article below.

The offer ends on 30th November 2022, so you need to move soon.

This is a complex offer so we’ve broken it up into four articles:

• Get 100,000 bonus Avios for getting the Barclaycard Avios Plus credit card and joining Premier Banking with Barclays Avios Rewards (updated last week)

• Got Premier Banking with Barclays Avios Rewards? Get 100,000 bonus Avios for adding the Barclaycard Avios Plus credit card (to be updated tomorrow)

• Got the Barclaycard Avios Plus credit card? Get 100,000 bonus Avios for joining Premier Banking with Barclays Avios Rewards (updated last week)

…. plus the one you’re currently reading:

• Got the free Barclaycard Avios card? Get 100,000 bonus Avios for upgrading and joining Premier Banking with Barclays Avios Rewards

One of these articles should be appropriate for your circumstances.

Only continue reading this article if you have the free Barclaycard Avios credit card (not the £20 per month version) and have not yet applied for Premier Banking with Barclays Avios Rewards.

Get 100,000 Avios for upgrading to the Avios Plus credit card and adding Premier Banking with Barclays Avios Rewards

If you hold the free Barclaycard Avios credit card, this is a truly exceptional offer.

You are being offered 100,000 bonus Avios – which is worth, in the worst case scenario that you turn it into Nectar points, £667 – for:

• upgrading your free Barclaycard Avios credit card to the £20 per month Barclaycard Avios Plus credit card (£20 monthly fee) and

• joining Premier Banking with Barclays Avios Rewards (£12 monthly fee, which reduces to a £7 monthly fee** when you have the Barclaycard Avios Plus credit card, please see terms and conditions below)

The 100,000 bonus Avios is on top of the standard bonus of 25,000 Avios for joining Premier Banking with Barclays Avios Rewards through the Current Account Switch Service.

You’ll need to keep both products for four months or more, starting from the date you open the last product. Eligibility and T&Cs apply.

Full details of the offer are here.

Barclays Avios Rewards terms and conditions

Here are some key things to note about Premier Banking and Barclays Avios Rewards:

• You can opt in to Barclays Avios Rewards if you’re a Premier Banking customer or have a personal Wealth current account with Barclays – you’ll need to register for the Barclays app and have a British Airways Executive Club account too.

• There’s a £12 monthly fee and you have to opt out of Barclays Blue Rewards and go paperless for all your accounts and services.

• To access Barclays Avios Rewards in the Barclays app, you need to be over 18.

• To join and remain eligible for Premier Banking for free you need to have an income of £75,000 paid into a Barclays current account or £100,000 held with Barclays. T&Cs apply.

How does the 100,000 bonus Avios offer work?

This is a little complicated because you need to apply for, and be accepted for, two different products to receive the 100,000 bonus Avios:

• you need to UPGRADE your existing Barclaycard Avios credit card (or any other Barclaycard credit card) to the Barclaycard Avios Plus credit card via this link – this should be your first step. You can check in the App to see if it is possible to upgrade your card, subject to status.

• once you’ve upgraded to the Avios Plus credit card, you need to apply for a Premier Banking with Barclays Avios Rewards current account via this link

• you need to activate Barclays Avios Rewards – it costs £12 per month but comes with 1,500 Avios per month and a British Airways upgrade voucher every 12 months

In return, you will receive:

From Premier Banking with Barclays Avios Rewards:

• you’ll receive 25,000 Avios if Premier Banking with Barclays Avios Rewards is the first current account you are opening with Barclays and you complete a full switch using the Current Account Switch Service within three months.

• if you have had an existing Barclays account (not including Premier Banking with Barclays Avios Rewards) for four months or more already, you’ll receive 2,500 Avios as a joining bonus

In addition to the above bonus:

• you will receive an additional 100,000 Avios if you retain your Barclaycard Avios Plus credit card and your Premier Banking with Barclays Avios Rewards account for at least four months

Who is excluded from this offer?

Unfortunately some people cannot take part in this promotion:

• You are unable to upgrade to Barclaycard Avios Plus if you have had a Barclaycard Avios Plus card in the last 12 months

• Not all existing Barclaycard holders can upgrade to Barclaycard Avios Plus as this is subject to status – it’s important to check in the Barclays mobile app

• Barclaycard customers with Hilton and Infinite cards cannot upgrade to the Barclaycard Avios Plus card

If you already have the Barclaycard Avios Plus credit card, there is a slightly different version of this offer for you which we have covered here.

Click here for the full terms and conditions.

How does the Barclaycard Avios Plus credit card differ from your existing free Barclaycard Avios credit card?

I don’t want to go into this in too much detail, because you are already familiar with the card. Full details are on the promotional website here.

The representative APR is 80.1% APR variable, including the annual fee.  The representative APR on purchases is 29.9% variable.

In summary:

• you will pay a monthly fee of £20 (currently £0 for your free card)

• you will get 1.5 Avios per £1 spent (currently 1 Avios per £1 spent on your free card)

• you will receive a Barclays Upgrade Voucher* for an Avios flight when you spend £10,000 in a card year (currently £20,000 on your free card)

What happens if I am rejected for the upgrade to the Avios Plus credit card?

If your application to upgrade is not successful, you will not receive the 100,000 Avios bonus for joining Premier Banking with Barclays Avios Rewards.

It is important that you submit your application to upgrade your Barclaycard Avios credit card to the Barclaycard Avios Plus credit card before joining Premier Banking with Barclays Avios Rewards to avoid any disappointment.

You can check your eligibility for the Barclaycard Avios Plus credit card in the App to find out if it’s possible to upgrade.

What are the benefits of Premier Banking with Barclays Avios Rewards?

Even without the carrot of an additional 100,000 Avios bonus, Premier Banking with Barclays Avios Rewards is a good deal.

To join Premier Banking for free, you will need an income of £75,000+ OR at least £100,000 saved or invested with Barclays.

Barclays Avios Rewards is the rewards scheme for Premier Banking and Wealth customers with a personal current account. It is the only way to get Avios from a UK current account.

Here are the headline details:

• There is a £12 monthly fee for Barclays Avios Rewards
• You receive 1,500 Avios per month
• You receive a ‘cabin upgrade voucher*’ after 12 months (more details below)

If you add Premier Banking with Barclays Avios Rewards to your upgraded Barclaycard Avios Plus credit card, you could get two upgrade vouchers* each year, linked to your spending. This would allow you to:

• upgrade a return flight, in both directions, for two people travelling together, or
• upgrade a flight in one direction for four people travelling together

What is important to remember about Barclays Avios Rewards is that – unlike a credit card reward – there is no spend requirement. As long as you move your current account to Barclays Premier, pay in your salary and opt in to Barclays Avios Rewards you will receive monthly Avios and an annual BA upgrade voucher*.

Conclusion

This article is aimed at people who already hold the free Barclaycard Avios credit card (or any other non-Avios Barclaycard) and have not already joined Premier Banking.

If you upgrade to the Barclaycard Avios Plus credit card and join Premier Banking with Barclays Avios Rewards, you could receive two Avios bonuses with this offer:

• You will receive 25,000 Avios from Premier Banking if you are opening your first account with Barclays and complete a full switch using the Current Account Switch Service within three months and switch on Barclays Avios Rewards

• You will receive 100,000 Avios as an additional bonus for applying for Premier Banking with Barclays Avios Rewards and upgrading your Barclaycard Avios credit card to Barclaycard Avios Plus (requires both products to remain open for four months). This offer ends on 30th November 2022.

You will not receive any bonus solely for upgrading to the Barclaycard Avios Plus credit card.

The bonus for Premier Banking with Barclays Avios Rewards is reduced to 2,500 Avios if you have an existing Barclays current account and are upgrading. You will still receive the 100,000 Avios bonus if you meet all of the other criteria. T&C apply.

You can find out more, and apply, on this special page of the Barclays website.

Remember to apply for the Barclaycard Avios Plus credit card before you join Premier Banking with Barclays Avios Rewards, just in case you are not accepted for the credit card.

*Cabin upgrade vouchers must be used on Avios reward flight bookings. Reward flights and cabin upgrades are subject to availability. Taxes, fees and carrier charges per person apply. Additional terms and conditions apply to the use of the cabin upgrade voucher, please go to here for more information. Spend £10,000 on the card within 12 months and you’ll receive a British Airways cabin upgrade voucher to use on an Avios Reward Flight booking.

** If you switch on Barclays Avios Rewards as a Premier customer for £12 a month and open a Barclaycard Avios Plus credit card for £20 a month, Barclays will give you £5 back into your current account every month. Terms and conditions apply.

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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:

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

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.

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.

There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

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.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.