Three tempting Avios deals
Air miles collectors should take advantage of these sign-up offers
Staff writer
Serious collectors of air miles know that unless you travel a lot, what you earn from flights will be outstripped by maximising signup bonuses from credit cards, subscriptions and other deals. At the moment, there are two unusually generous offers for British Airways’ Avios available, plus a third that’s worth a punt.
Two of these deals involve credit cards. To give the usual warning, rewards and cashback credit cards are only suitable for those who pay off their full bill every month. They have high interest rates and will cost you far more than you earn if you carry a balance.
The most generous of these deals is a signup bonus of 70,000 Avios when you take out a British Airways American Express Premium Plus credit card and spend £3,000 in the first three months. This is only available until 21 February and applications must start via the link on the British Airways website. If you apply through the Amex website, the bonus reduces to 35,000 Avios. You will only get the bonus if you have not held a British Airways American Express in the past 24 months (other Amex cards are okay).
In addition to the bonus, the card earns 1.5 Avios for every £1 spent. Users who spend more than £10,000 in a year get a voucher that lets them get either a free flight for a companion or a 50% discount on the Avios cost of a flight. The card has an annual fee of £250, refunded prorata if you cancel part-way through the year.
A solid bonus from The Economist
The other attractive offer is from The Economist magazine, which has brought back a promotion for 18,000 Avios when you take out an annual print and digital subscription (priced at £239) or 15,000 Avios with a digital subscription (£189). This could be an even better deal for current Amex cardholders, because Amex is also offering a £60 cashback when you spend £189 or more on an Economist subscription – both deals can be combined. You must first activate the cashback deal in “Amex offers” in your card account. The cashback ends on 31 March; there’s no published end date for the Avios deal.
Finally, the punt. If you apply for a Barclaycard Avios card through the Head for Points travel website (headforpoints.com) before 2 April, you’ll go into a fortnightly prize draw for one million Avios. Applications can be for the Barclaycard Avios card (no fee, 5,000 Avios if you spend £1,000 in three months, one Avios for every £1 spent), or the Barclaycard Avios Plus (£20 per month fee, 25,000 Avios if you spend £3,000 in three months, 1.5 Avios for every £1 spent). Both cards also provide a voucher to upgrade a return flight by one class if you spend £20,000 or £10,000 respectively in a year.
The odds of winning will be tiny, but if you were interested in taking out one of these cards anyway, cross your fingers and try. You cannot apply if you have held a Barclaycard within six months (and Barclays only allows one card at a time). You won’t get the bonus if you have held either Barclaycard Avios card within 24 months.