Time is running out to bag bonus Avios on British Airways American Express credit cards.
As it stands, you can get 9,000 bonus Avios when you spend £1,000 within the first three months of getting the the British Airways American Express Credit Card. On the Premium Plus Credit Card, you can collect 25,000 bonus Avios when you spend £3,000 within the first three months of card membership.
From February 12th, the number of Avios will be coming down, but so will the minimum reward spend.
On the BA Credit Card you’ll get 3,000 bonus Avios when you spend £500 in the first three months and 18,000 when you spend £3,000 within the first three months on the BA Premium Plus. So if you want the bigger bonus, you need to move quickly!
Earning Avios on your spending
Avios are what used to be known as Airmiles, and can be used to cover some of the cost of flights and hotels.
With the American Express Credit Card, you’ll collect one Avios for virtually every pound spent and a Companion Voucher for every £20,000 spent. The voucher entitles your companion to a seat on the same flight in the same cabin as you, without having to redeem extra miles. The card comes with an APR of 15.9% APR.
The Premium Plus Credit Card offers you 1.5 Avios for every pound spent. And if you rack up £10,000 or more within a year, you earn a free Companion Voucher, which is valid for 24 months.
But as with many premium cards, the extra charges are pretty substantial. There’s an annual fee of £150 and a whopping APR of 56.4%.
How it compares
There are a couple of other credit cards that allow you to earn Avios as you spent. All of these accounts have a separate American Express and MasterCard which give you different numbers of Avios depending on which card you use.
Lloyds Bank Avios Rewards Credit Card
[SPOTLIGHT]With the Lloyds Bank Rewards Credit Card you can earn 1.25 Avios for every £1 spent on the American Express card and 1.25 for every fiver spent on the MasterCard. You can also double your point for the first six months with your Amex card. It has an annual fee of £24 and an APR of 23.7%.
Lloyds Bank Premier Avios Rewards Credit Card
The Premier account will give you 1.5 points for every £1 spent on the Amex card and for every £5 on the MasterCard. Like its sister account, you can earn double Avios for the first six months on your American Express card. But with a Premier account comes premier rates. There's a £140 annual fee and an APR of 52.1%.
TSB Avios Credit Card Account
The TSB Avios Credit Card Account promises Avios on almost every purchase you make on its American Express credit card, plus double Avios on your eligible spend abroad. There's Avios up for grabs every time you spend £5 on your MasterCard too. If you want to do a balance transfer, you can collect 1,500 bonus Avios for every whole £1,000 balance you transfer from a single provider.
There's no annual fee and an APR of 17.9%.
TSB Premier Avios Credit Card Account
Collect 1.25 Avios for every £1 of eligible spend on the Premier Avios Amex card and for every £5 spent on the MasterCard. You can also double your Avios on all eligible spend abroad. The extra draw with the Premier account is that you can earn a Companion Ticket with £15,000 of eligible spend in one year. That’s a companion on the same flight and in the same cabin as you.
It has an annual fee of £50 and a 23.7% APR.
There are other cards affiliated with rival travel schemes. You can find out more in The best air mile credit cards.
Things to remember
As with all reward credit cards, it's essential that you pay your balance off in full every month. Otherwise the interest you'll be charged may wipe out the value of the rewards.
These cards tend to be reserved for borrowers with good credit ratings. To check how your credit score is looking, head over to our credit report centre.