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DEAL DEAD: An avios.com bug – buy 40,000 Avios for 1p each

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There is an interesting little bug on avios.com at the moment.  Frankly, it is unlikely to last for long after this post goes live, but you should have time to jump on it if you’re interested.

avios.com is currently running what is, on the face of it, a rather dull offer.  Instead of only being able to buy 24,000 overpriced Avios per year, you can (until 31st December) buy 35,000 overpriced Avios per year.  Yippee.

British Airways BA London City Airport

However, they have made a mistake with the website which sells the points ….

24,000 Avios usually cost you £399.  It looks like no-one bothered to give the web designer the price list for 25,000 to 35,000 Avios, so they just bunged in the price for 24,000!

So … the pricing currently goes …

  • 24,000 Avios – £399
  • 25,000 Avios – £399
  • 26,000 Avios – £399
  • through to …
  • 35,000 Avios + 5,000 bonus – £399!

This does actually work in practice.  I had an email from someone who bought 35,000 via the BA site over the weekend.  The full 35,000 was added to his BA account, and his credit card is showing a £399 ‘pending’ transaction. Note that the additional 5,000 will post in arrears, not with the original 35,000.

This is not, please be aware, the bargain of the century.  1p per Avios is still more than I value them at, although I am very conservative and have a lot of them already.  However, if you have a definite redemption in mind and can be sure of getting good value for them, then 1p is as good as you will ever get for purchasing them directly.

You need to go to to avios.com, log in, click ‘Collect’ and then select ‘Purchase Avios’. If the price for 35,000 plus the 5,000 bonus is higher than £399 then the deal is already dead!


How to earn Avios points from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (December 2021)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways BA Amex American Express card

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up, no annual fee and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending ….. Read our full review

British Airways BA Premium Plus American Express Amex credit card

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the UK’s most valuable credit card perk – the 2-4-1 companion voucher Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points, such as:

Nectar American Express

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & two airport lounge passes Read our full review

American Express Platinum card Amex

The Platinum Card from American Express

30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel benefits – for a 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, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios:

Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa

The most generous Avios Visa or Mastercard for a limited company Read our full review

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus:

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express card

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios 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.

(Want to earn more Avios?  Click here to visit our home page for our latest articles on earning and spending your Avios points and click here to see how to earn more Avios this month from offers and promotions.)

Comments (117)

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

  • Idrive says:

    i missed it too!

  • Idrive says:

    let us know how this ends up please for the unlucky of us who were slow!

  • Gabbai says:

    I just tried and it showed up at $998 [I am logging in in the USA] so it looks as though it is dead!

  • M.Lim says:

    Didn’t see the 5000 bonus offer on the BA site. Does the bonus only apply if the 35000 points were bought on the avios.com site (and not if bought on the ba.com site)?

  • Al says:

    Grr … just had my order cancelled by avios.com:
    “Sorry but we couldn’t complete your Avios order because we were not able to process your order
    We’ve cancelled your order and your credit card hasn’t been charged.”

    Oh well, worth a try I guess but pretty poor they wouldn’t say why.

    • Johnny5a says:

      yeap just received the email

      • Tim C says:

        I have also had mine cancelled but my partners hasn’t cancelled yet. I wonder if anyone actually managed to get 40k for £399.

        Looks as though the BA lot I also bought are OK although I guess they could still reverse them.

        I did wonder if Avios might cancel these orders when they realised their mistake, I guess it depends upon how they value points when they sell them and if they were prepared to take the hit balanced against annoying or delighting their customers.

  • adamjeh says:

    Same here. What a swizz!

    PLEASE DO NOT RESPOND TO THIS EMAIL
    Dear ,
    Sorry but we couldn’t complete your Avios order because we were not able to process your order
    We’ve cancelled your order and your credit card hasn’t been charged.

    Your cancellation summary
    Confirmation number:
    Order date: Dec 09, 2013
    Membership number:
    First name:
    Last name:
    Avios bought: 35,000 + 5,000 Bonus
    Please try ordering your Avios again. Any questions? FAQs.

  • Aceman says:

    Looks like they’re wriggling out of it…

    PLEASE DO NOT RESPOND TO THIS EMAIL
    Dear Aceman,
    Sorry but we couldn’t complete your Avios order because we were not able to process your order
    We’ve cancelled your order and your credit card hasn’t been charged.

    • Al says:

      Looks like we should have gone with BA instead as the miles apparently posted instantly. I shouldn’t have been greedy :).

  • Robert Waller says:

    I ordered mine this morning and just received the dreaded email as well, went back on the site and they are now £545 for the deal which works out as 1.3625p each

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.