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

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.

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 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 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 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.)