Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Generous Avios Balance Boost promo running to Monday – buy at 0.92p

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British Airways launched ‘Avios Balance Boost’ in June 2023.

It is a surprisingly good value way of buying Avios.

Put simply, you can buy a lump sum of Avios equivalent to 100%, 200% or 300% of the Avios you have earned in the last 30 days. The cost can be as low as 0.92p per Avios.

Until Monday, a flash offer makes it substantially easier to qualify to buy up to the annual 300,000 Avios cap.

Buy cheap Avios with the new Avios Balance Boost - is it worth it?

What does it cost to use Avios Balance Boost?

You can find Avios Balance Boost on the usual ‘buy Avios’ page here.

Here is the standard price list:

How does Avios Balance Boost work?

Unless you are trying to buy over 300,000 Avios via Balance Boost, which is unlikely unless you are trying to boost a chunky credit card sign-up bonus or made a large transfer from American Express Membership Rewards, you will pay between 0.92p and 0.96p per Avios.

The 300,000 Avios cap is based on your Boost purchases over a calendar year and not per transaction.

How does Avios Balance Boost work?

Before we go into this new flash offer, let’s summarise how Avios Balance Boost works.

When you go into Avios Balance Boost you will see a list of all of your eligible transactions from the last 30 days.

You can either select individual transactions, select entire categories (eg ‘Credit Cards’) or select everything.

You will then be shown your pricing options for doing a x1, x2 or x3 boost based on the price list above.

Buy cheap Avios with the new Avios Balance Boost - is it worth it?

What sort of transactions qualify for Avios Balance Boost?

You can boost:

  • Avios earned from the BA shopping portal
  • Avios earned from credit card spending
  • Avios earned from flights
  • Avios earned from ‘hotels and travel’ eg Uber

According to the terms and conditions, you CANNOT boost Avios obtained via:

“balance transfers from other airlines [presumably Qatar Airways or Finnair Avios transfers], Nectar exchanges, Avios shared or gifted by other members and previously bought Avios.”

Other inbound transfers, from American Express Membership Rewards, HSBC Premier, Heathrow Rewards etc will count for boosting.

You can only boost a transaction once.

What is the special offer?

Until Monday night (3rd February), British Airways is running a special offer.

There are two big changes:

  • you can boost ALL of the Avios you earned in 2024, instead of just the last 30 days
  • you can boost up to 4x the Avios you earned, instead of the usual 3x

…. with two restrictions:

  • the annual cap of 300,000 Avios via Avios Balance Boost remains in place
  • you can’t reboost a transaction which was previously boosted

Here’s the bottom line: for anyone who earned 75,000 Avios from qualifying transactions in 2024, you can (until Monday night) buy up to 300,000 Avios for 0.92p each.

Don’t forget that there is a 300,000 Avios cap on what can be boosted at the special rate. If you are shown a price that is higher than 0.92p per Avios then it’s because you will be over the 300,000 Avios cap.

If you earned more than 75,000 Avios last year, you need to unselect transactions until you have reduced the total to be boosted to 75,000 Avios or fewer. If you don’t, you will be paying too much.

Conclusion

If you are in the market for Avios, this is an excellent deal at 0.92p each.

Of course, however low the price, we don’t recommend buying Avios when you don’t have a specific plan to use them. The risk of devaluation is always there.

You can access Avios Balance Boost here.

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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

British Airways and Avios

Comments (112)

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

  • Chris says:
    31 Jan31 January 05:55

    What’s the best action to take if I have a single transaction of 85,000 Avios?

    • John says:
      31 Jan31 January 07:27

      Well as stated in the later comments you should only buy if you have a plan to use them.

      For you the 3x boost price should be cheaper per avios than 4x, but the price for 4x may still be acceptable if you have a plan to use that many

      • BJ says:
        31 Jan31 January 08:48

        It’s simpler than that though, if there is a plan then one knows the avios required so they boost at whichever level gets one over the line (assuming there is no desire to maintain a certain account balance after redeeming or one isn’t seduced by the difference in price of the different boost levels,)

        • Rob says:
          31 Jan31 January 09:23

          It’s not that simple of course.

          I stocked up on Hyatt points over Christmas because they doubled the limit. The limit is so low usually that I couldn’t get enough for a family break. Now I do. With a fixed award chart and crazy value on peak summer dates (and with ‘if we have a cash room for sale, you can have it on points’ policy) it’s a low risk.

          I did a decent Bonvoy transfer when the Amex 30% bonus was on last year because, again, I was confident (with zero plan in place) that I could get another stonking family redemption like we got at Bodrum EDITION.

          I always keep 100k Hilton in the bank in case a great ‘buy it now’ experience pops up.

          I like to keep enough Avios in the bank in case BA launches a new route tomorrow and it is wide open for redemption. Over the years I’ve found this the best way to fly to peak locations on peak school holiday dates.

          • BJ says:
            31 Jan31 January 09:36

            Limits always a problem for families, it’s a pain but at least you can work with two adult accounts and not one. Hyatt buy points are always worthwhile, I halved my hotel bills in California last vist using them. 100k Hilton points is not going to get you far these days, especially given your preferred standard of hotels 🙂 I used to like to maintain enough avios to stay two years ahead of my plans but given the flux in the market and the ability to nook cheap I no longer feel the need but it’s a lot easier even for a couple than a family.

  • Lee says:
    31 Jan31 January 06:15

    Buy 300% instead of 400%

  • Zark says:
    31 Jan31 January 06:30

    This special offer also allows you to buy *4 of your Avios earned in 2024 (Compared to the normal maximum of *3 of your Avios earned in last 30 days).
    There is no cap on the number of Avios you can buy, but buying more than 75K Avios earnt *4=300K (or 100K*3=300K) costs more than the optimum 0.92p/Avios for *3 or *4 purchases.
    Hope this is clear.

  • Erico1875 says:
    31 Jan31 January 06:55

    I am comfortable with the devaluation risk so can max out and buy 188K using 4x at 0.92 each.
    Both easyJet and Jet2 want over £600 minimum RTN to fly from Scotland to Larnaca ,in July.
    Buying and using Avios reduces our cost for 3 adults and a child by £1300. We can even fly CE and still save £900 (allowing £120 Ew food and drinks saving)

    • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:
      31 Jan31 January 07:05

      This is exactly the sort of thing people should be doing BEFORE buying avios!

      You have a specific usage for them in mind and have done the calculations as to which option – buying avios or paying cash fares – works out best for you.

      This is one of my jobs for the weekend – calculate the costs of some cash flights v avios ones to see which works best for the trips I’ve yet to book.

      Given the TP earning changes I’m not going to be earning status in future so cash flights have less importance now.

    • BJ says:
      31 Jan31 January 08:59

      I agree the risk may be worth taking for for AY, IB and QR. BA is avfifferent story, the use of avios on BA even at current levels requires a lot of care to get real value. Most HfP readers know this and book accordingly but I dread to think of the number of less savvy BAEC members who are misusing avios to IAG advantage.

  • Ivy says:
    31 Jan31 January 06:56

    I think boost is always 0.92p if you use 3x?

    Last week I went to get flights to Berlin. EasyJet was £195 return inc single cabin bag. It was cheaper to buy Avios with boost and redeem them for flights on BA (CE out, ET return). Now I get lounge access at LHR, flexibility to cancel and all the bags for less than EasyJet!

    Wish I’d found this sooner!

  • Terry Butcher says:
    31 Jan31 January 06:57

    You know what they say when something seems too good to be true? The cynic in me really thinks that a devaluation might just be around the corner – so, as the article advises, only by if you intend to use fairly imminently.

    • Rui N. says:
      31 Jan31 January 06:59

      Last year this promo also happened

      • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:
        31 Jan31 January 07:07

        And IIRC people said the same thing about devaluation as well!

        But if you have specific plans and want / need to book soon it’s less of a risk.

        • Rui N. says:
          31 Jan31 January 07:22

          Yes, that was my point.
          Last sentence, indeed. Buying points without a specific need is a fool’s errand.

      • Steve says:
        31 Jan31 January 07:24

        Don’t think it was 4x though was it? In any event the OP and Robs final statement remain correct- particularly given the last few months.

    • BJ says:
      31 Jan31 January 09:05

      The avios sales and now this offer are regular so I wouldn’t read too much into them. A bigger question is should we really be paying 0.92ppa when there are means of getting them for less – as the article advises, not unless you have imminent use for them.

  • Ian says:
    31 Jan31 January 07:50

    Going to pass – hard to spend what I already have!

    • Erico1875 says:
      31 Jan31 January 07:58

      I find that incredible. Considering BA route network, how easy it is to get Avios. My only restriction is time.
      If you can’t spend Avios, then you are in the wrong FF scheme

  • Emma says:
    31 Jan31 January 07:54

    Have a specific use in mind for September this year but while I know there’s a risk of devaluation I’m not sure what period of time is likely to be safe.

    • Erico1875 says:
      31 Jan31 January 08:07

      Fortune favours the brave

    • BJ says:
      31 Jan31 January 09:14

      If you are planning for September you can book now. The risk to you is £35pp to cancel change provided you are happy with the longer term risk of devaluation if you then did cancel or change September booking. Therefore your decision to buy or not should be guided by whether reward seats are available now.

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

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