Earning Avios faster not only gets you those 150,000 round-trip Club World seats, it also stops your earned Avios balance from expiring. Did you know that the miles in a dormant Avios account expire after 36 months?! Well you do now. The good news is all you have to do is add 1 Avios to that that balance to keep it from expiring. But, better than that, we’re going to share a few ideas on how to add way more than a solitary Avios to your pot. Allow us to show you how to truly boost your Avios earning and maximise the Avios you glean from day-to-day expenditure.
Boost your Avios by flying
It seems obvious, but flying can get you a lot of Avios points, if done right. Additionally, flying earns you tier points, so if you’re looking to gain the benefits that come with Silver or Gold status, you’ll need to find a way of earning 7,500 or 20,000 tier points respectively, mostly by spending on BA flights and holidays*
You can earn Avios on any Oneworld partner airlines, opening-up Avios-earning routes with the likes of Qatar Airways, Qantas, Cathay Pacific, and Finnair.
Flying in premium economy, business, and first can bag you far higher mileage accruals. Look for seat sales where the ticketing class doesn’t discount the Avios award for the flight, only the price you pay.
Be vigilant of the earning rates on the ticket you’re booking, as some discounted partner fares can earn you Avios at a low rate and reduced tier points.
*You might get a rare status match from another frequent flyer programme, but you’ll still have been flying!
Credit Cards
Credit cards are the next best way to earn Avios faster, and you’re spoilt for choice. Two issuers compete for your wallet: American Express and Barclaycard, with four cards between them. The pattern is the same on both sides. Each has a free card with a smaller welcome bonus and lower earning rate. Each also has a paid card. That one charges an annual fee, but pays you back with a bigger bonus, higher earning, and a better voucher.
British Airways American Express® Credit Card
- Get a 5,000 Avios bonus if you spend £2,000 on the card in the first 3 months
- Earn 1 Avios for every £1 spent
- Spend £15,000 and receive one 2-4-1 companion voucher (economy only) per year
- No annual fee
British Airways American Express® Premium Plus Card
- Get a 30,000 Avios bonus if you spend £6,000 on the card in the first 3 months
- Earn 1.5 Avios for every £1 spent
- Earn 3 Avios for every £1 spent direct with BA or BA holidays
- Spend £15,000 and receive one 2-4-1 companion voucher per year that can be used for premium economy and business class redemptions
- £300 annual fee
The trick to success with these cards is to do all your normal spending on them – shopping, fuel, travel, entertainment etc… Because it’s money you’d be spending whether or not you had the card, there should be no guilt. The relatively high APR on both cards means they are not credit cards to borrow on; ensure you’re able to pay off the full amount each month.
As with all credit cards, consider your personal circumstances before applying.
Barclaycard Avios Mastercard
- Get a 5,000 Avios bonus if you spend £1,000 on the card in the first 3 months
- Earn 1 Avios for every £1 spent
- Spend £20,000 and receive a cabin upgrade voucher (or 7,000 Avios instead) per year
- No annual fee
Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard
- Get a 25,000 Avios bonus if you spend £3,000 on the card in the first 3 months
- Earn 1.5 Avios for every £1 spent
- Spend £10,000 and receive a cabin upgrade voucher (or 7,000 Avios instead) per year
- £20 monthly fee (£240 a year)
The key difference is the voucher. Where the Amex gives you a 2-4-1 Companion Voucher, the Barclaycard voucher upgrades a single Avios booking to the cabin above – so you book Club World business class but only pay the Avios for World Traveller Plus. On a long-haul redemption that can save you 50,000+ Avios, and it’s especially handy for solo travellers. Both Barclaycard vouchers are valid for two years.
So which voucher actually wins? We’ve put them head to head in our guide to which voucher is best. And if you like to churn cards for their bonuses, it’s worth knowing you can still use these vouchers after you cancel – we’ve covered exactly that for both the Amex Companion Voucher and the Barclaycard cabin upgrade voucher.
Once we have one of these card, we insist on using it everywhere we need to spend. If online retailers don’t appear to accept it, see if they will accept PayPal instead, registering it as the primary card. Remember all those subscriptions and recurring payments that usually come off a card – Netflix, Amazon Prime, Spotify, iTunes, mobile phone auto top-ups – it all adds up.
Always remember to settle the bill at the end of the month because credits cards come with punishing interest and charges if you don’t clear the full balance or forget to pay.
Turn your grocery shop into Avios with Nectar
Everyone has to eat, so why not turn that essential spend into luxury flights? Since Avios switched supermarket partners from Tesco to Sainsbury’s, the route now runs through Nectar. Link your Nectar and Avios accounts and you can convert Nectar points straight into Avios, and back again if you ever need to.
Collect Nectar points on your Sainsbury’s shop, at Argos, and at dozens of other Nectar partners, then move them over to Avios whenever your balance needs a top-up. Pay for that shopping on a BA Amex card and you’re stacking Avios on top of Avios. Every little really does help!
BA Shopping Site
Like TopCashback, BA gets paid by retailers they refer customers to. In return, BA passes on some of that reward to you. The British Airways Avios eStore is linked to your BA Club account and covers offers with many retailers and service providers. Compare the rewards with TopCashback to ensure you’re getting the best return on your spend. Brands include Apple (3 Avios/£1) Mulberry (6), Selfridges (6), John Lewis (2), Topshop (6), ASOS (3), TK Maxx (6) and Nike (9!!)
To put it in context, if you’re thinking of buying a new Mac or iPhone, you could get 3,000 Avios thrown into the deal just by using the right link to buy it online. Think how many times you’ve recently shopped with retailers who could’ve boosted your Avios earning for free.
Buying Clothes Online
Buying from Uniqlo via the BA Shopping site earns you a generous rate of 12 Avios per £1 when you spend over £150 in a transaction. This drops to a still generous 10 Avios per £1 when you spend £50 or more.
For sports gear, both Lululemon and Adidas earn 8 Avios per £1 spent.
Buying Gifts
Don’t know what to buy that distant relative you don’t see much of? Don’t just waste your money buying something you know they won’t like, buy them something they won’t like that earns you between 3 and 20 Avios per £1 you spend at Find Me A Gift using a BA referral link.
TopCashback
Topcashback.com pay you when you go through them to spend with retailers or service providers. You can find clothes retailers, insurance companies, and travel booking sites all willing to payback 10% of your spend if you come through TopCashback. You can easily earn £100+, which you can then choose a to be paid out in a variety of ways. Handily, they offer conversion to Avios (£1 = 105 Avios), and they routinely offer extra 25% bonuses to take your pay-out this way.
Avios for Thoughts
There’s a market research platform called Avios for Thoughts that will award you Avios for completing surveys. If you don’t have much free time, this isn’t for you. If you like the idea of earning 25 Avios for completing a 10-minute survey or 50 Avios for a 15-minute one, they also offer you a 600 Avios bonus simply for signing-up and completing one survey. Even if you’re short of time, 600 Avios for 10 minutes of your time might be tempting.
Hotel booking sites
Use the British Airways Booking.com referral link to browse and book a hotel to get a whopping 6 Avios per £1. Pay on a BA Amex card and you’re getting 7.5 Avios per £1!
There’s also a Hotels.com referral link that pays 4 Avios per £1.
Book a hire car with Avis or Budget
Avis and Budget are preferred BA car hire partners and offer Avios rewards against rental spend. You’ll earn 5 Avios per £1 with Avis and 3 per £1 with Budget.
Read more about it on BA’s official car rental partner page.
Heathrow Express
Earn 5 Avios per £1 spent on Heathrow Express travel between Terminal 5 and central London. Just book through the magic link.
Install the British Airways App
Keep informed about all the current Avios earning offers with the British Airways app for iOS and Android.
So there you have it: a non-exhaustive but useful list of ways to earn more Avios (the points currency British Airways and its partners use) while going about your usual spending habits. In researching this article, we’ve made changes to our own behaviour to ensure we’re not missing out on Avios we could be earning. We’ll add other worthwhile offers as they become available.
