British Airways extends On Business points again

To no-one’s surprise, British Airways has extended your On Business points again.

Your points are now safe from expiry until 31st December, rather than 30th June 2024.

If you are a member, you should have received an email with your current points balance yesterday, albeit you can’t verify it because there is no transaction breakdown. The expiry extension was tucked away in there.

It is now over a year since the On Business website went down. Even by the standards of British Airways IT, this is quite an achievement.

I have been told by two separate sources what has happened, although I can’t repeat it. That said, is anything really so bad that you can’t resuscitate a website after 14 months?

You can still earn and spend On Business points

You CAN still make redemptions by calling On Business. You can’t check availability online, but as On Business seats are driven by the availability of the cheapest cash fares you can get a decent steer by pricing up a cash seat on ba.com. I managed to book one myself so it is definitely possible.

According to Flyertalk, the fare buckets you need are:

• First Class – A
• Club World / Europe – R
• World Traveller Plus – T
• Euro / World Traveller – V

Go into ba.com, try to book a cash seat on the flight you want, look at the fare bucket shown (click on the flight number during the booking process) and if its A / R / T / V then the On Business call centre should be able to book it.

Whilst On Business points are – in theory – being added for cash flights you take, there is no easy way to check this. It is a revenue based scheme, with the points earned based on what you paid for your ticket less certain taxes and charges, so working out what you are due is very difficult.

How does On Business work?

If you’re not familiar with it, On Business is the other British Airways loyalty programme. Instead of rewarding flyers, it rewards your company when you travel.

It is fundamentally the same as Avios in structure. You earn On Business Points for every flight your company books. They can then be redeemed for flights or for upgrades.

You can collect both Avios and On Business Points on the same flight. You collect Avios as a flyer and On Business Points as a company.

We have a two-part overview of On Business here. You can’t join at present until the website comes back to life.

If you have a small business, you can earn Avios and bonus On Business points with the British Airways Accelerating Business American Express card, reviewed here.

At least, based on the email yesterday, the scheme is not dead and buried – although at this stage I think the majority of members would accept a ‘1:4’ or ‘1:5’ conversion rate into Avios and walk away.

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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.