New BA bonus: 4,000 Avios on ANY long-haul and 500 on ANY short-haul flight

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British Airways and Avios launched a number of promotions yesterday – not entirely unexpectedly, since I expected an uptick in offers immediately after the Avios devaluation.

This is the most interesting one, although I will obviously cover the others too.

Until 14th July, you will receive:

4,000 bonus Avios for each long-haul return flight you take, in any class, maximum 4 flights

500 bonus Avios on each short-haul return flight you take, in any class, maximum 4 flights

You MUST register at this web page to receive the bonus.

Iberia and Iberia Express services from the UK also count.

British Airways BA London City Airport

The rules are slightly more complex than is necessary:

Your BA account must be registered in the UK or Ireland

You must be over 18 (which means no bonus for children)

Strictly speaking, you must book your flights on or after May 26th. Generally this rule is not imposed by BA when they run promotions, but be warned – you might not get it on flights already booked.

The deadline for completing your return flight is July 14th.

Your flight must be ticketed in the UK. This will be a problem for some business travellers who use a ‘contracted out’ travel booking service which processes bookings in, say, India.

A domestic connection to a long-haul flight will NOT count as a separate trip – you will only receive the 4,000 Avios bonus for taking a long-haul flight.

The ‘maximum four bonuses’ rule is unclear. The text says: “Eligible Participants will qualify for Bonus Avios Points on a maximum of 4 separate Qualifying Flights booked for travel within, and completed during, the Promotional Period.”. Does this mean four x short-haul bonuses and four x long-haul bonuses, or simply four bonuses in total? If the latter, you may want to move your short-haul bookings away from British Airways to another airline in order to guarantee you receive the long-haul bonus, assuming you have long-haul flights planned.

Even if you have no British Airways flights currently planned, you should register for this offer in case something comes up later when you have forgotten all about it.

The registration link is here.

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:

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

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

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.)

Category

British Airways and Avios

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

emad says:

27 May27 May 09:20

🙁 I just booked flights to KL yesterday to fly out 5th July returning 13th July
Do you guys think they will award the bonus avios based on when you fly or when you book?
- Andy says:
  
  27 May27 May 09:22
  
  “The deadline for completing your return flight is July 14th.”
  
  you will be ok based on the above
avstar says:

27 May27 May 09:25

did anyone else get the free BA upgrade to 1st class promo/offer by email yesterday, or was it targeted?

“There’s still time to upgrade from Club World to First for free. To enjoy this one-way offer, simply book an eligible Club World return flight before 26 June 2015.

We look forward to welcoming you into the exceptional calm, comfort and dining of First — for free. “
- Alan says:
  
  27 May27 May 09:33
  
  Isn’t that just the regular (DFS-style!) never-ending sale offer they have on? If so it’s only for more expensive CW fare buckets, so you end up paying much more than you would with the I-sale tickets. If it’s something different that’d be great tho!
  - Andy says:
    
    27 May27 May 11:21
    
    I thought I was special!
John says:

27 May27 May 12:06

Willie Walsh has just expressed the hope that Ryanair will be “rational” now that he’s got the Irish government onside:

http://www.rte.ie/news/2015/0527/704043-aer-lingus/

Still won’t say what the four new transatlantic destinations from the IAG/EI hub will be, but since the first two have to be operational next year, I’d say LAX is a certainty.

A glance at the existing EI transatlantic network suggests that Walsh might go with a Canadian/Latin American route or two as well.

Hope the Americans increase capacity at the excellent US customs/immig pre-clear to match numbers IAG fly in on BA, IB and Eddie Stobart’s connections.

Imagine 2016’s the end of bargain Boston flights, alas, as yesterday’s announcement implied that EI will adopt Avios and put its own rubbish loyalty programme out of its misery.

One big issue for Walsh is that EI’s business class is now so much better than BA’s club world, and with so many more IAG passengers being routed through Dub in future, people will notice.
- ComeFlyWithMe123 says:
  
  27 May27 May 14:41
  
  Surely the cheap (or not so cheap after the miles devaluation) DUB-BOS redemption will remain in place or are you saying the miles will be the same (75K biz class) but the €77 tax will now be BA’s sky high prices (a bit like Iberia / BA for Madrid)
  - Rob says:
    
    27 May27 May 17:08
    
    Aer Lingus will join the existing AA / BA / Finnair / Iberia JV on transatlantic flights and so the fuel surcharge will be raised (on redemptions) to BA levels.
    
    Remember that AA has NO fuel surcharges yet BA still charges you a £300 one on a redemption so you pay the same as on a BA redemption.
    - Nick says:
      
      28 May28 May 21:27
      
      Lucky I got 4 seats with AI in Business, DUB-BOS last November to fly in July then.
      - Rob says:
        
        29 May29 May 05:56
        
        Impressive if you got 4 – most people struggle to get more than 2.
- James67 says:
  
  27 May27 May 20:00
  
  Great quote, it’s time WW was rational and decreased tge price to match the service on offer at BA or vice versa
Charlie says:

27 May27 May 13:28

LOL, that’s pretty risky, do you know if the wagered amount can be split into 20 x £1 instead?
Jon says:

27 May27 May 14:49

=£90 but deduct the £20 deposited = £70 profit.
- DaveX says:
  
  27 May27 May 14:57
  
  Hmm, I wouldn’t go there, myself. Anybody who advocates this kind of foolish roulette bet is not to be trusted.
  - Charlie says:
    
    27 May27 May 16:21
    
    The problem is the cash back (in this case £50) is not guaranteed, and slow at the best of times.
Nick says:

27 May27 May 16:23

Am I imagining things, or did I see BA run a free upgrade on one leg of a semi-flexible CW return recently? I’m sure I saw it a week or so ago, but can’t find the offer on their website.
- DaveX says:
  
  27 May27 May 19:43
  
  You saw it but it’s not really free. Discussed today on HFP.
Nick says:

27 May27 May 16:29

The wording of this offer is terrible.

“Book return flights and travel before 14 July 2015 and you could collect up to 4,000 bonus Avios every time you take off”

At best, that is confusing. “Every time you take off” suggests you get the points for each flight. You might expect to earn 16,000 for a return trip with two flights on each leg, for example.
- zark says:
  
  27 May27 May 18:43
  
  Or maybe they mean take off something, so would suggest wearing a lot before take off !
HR says:

27 May27 May 20:18

I am flying with BA fro Vancouver and back in July. Flight was booked in January so I think I get in on the old points structure. Sounds like there is a slight chance I might get the 4000 bonus even though flight was booked ages ago. Does it make a difference to how many miles I get if I register my Avios account number or my BA Exec number? On manage my bookings it tells me I will get 10,000 points against my BA exec number but it says contact Avios to find out the points if I enter My Avios number and I can’t find anything on the Avios web site which clarifies this. Any ideas which number I should enter or does to make no difference?
- Rob says:
  
  28 May28 May 02:05
  
  You can’t register an avios.com number – you can only register via the BA website (unless I’ve missed something). This means that you will need your BA number in the booking.