Will there be an Avios platform announcement this week?

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We may get an announcement this week about the long-delayed restructuring of the avios.com platform.

There are a lot of moving parts, but what is rumoured is that avios.com will close as a standalone platform. You will no longer have an avios.com account – you will only be able to have accounts with one of the airline partners.

You may have noticed that the avios.com website has been looking a little abandoned recently:

Avios wing 12

the Laithwaite’s wine deal closed 10 days ago but is still being promoted even though the landing page is dead
the opposite has happened with the new Economist offer of 13,200 Avios – the Avios landing page only shows 4,400 until you click through.
the Lloyds Avios credit cards are still being promoted although they are no longer available online

avios.com will not be going away, however. Instead, the website may (or may not) become – like milesandmore.com – the place where you go to check your balance and redeem your points, with redemption stripped from the airline sites. Aer Lingus and Vueling already operate like this, so it is ‘only’ a question of changing British Airways, Iberia, Meridiana, kulula.com and LEVEL. I’m not sure how Flybe would be treated.

This is still very much speculation, however. For clarity, this is not a devaluation and no-one will lose out, although there may be an impact on avios.com partners who are exclusive to that platform.

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.

Kai says:

9 Apr9 April 11:11

OT: for the old MBNA virgin atlantic upgrade voucher, do I have to be the person travelling or can I use it for someone else? Thanks
Louie says:

9 Apr9 April 11:12

Am I too late to set up a household Avios.com account (as a way of moving Avios between hubby and me)? I can’t see any links to set one up on the Avios.com site (obviously that would be no surprise but you never know….).
N says:

9 Apr9 April 11:33

OT: Upgraded my partner from Gold to Plat, but got the “we’ll get back to you within 10 days” message rather than a straight success.

Is this normal?
- Graham Walsh says:
  
  9 Apr9 April 12:17
  
  That is sometimes the case. The cards should just arrive in the post in the next few days. That is what happened when I applied for SPG the other week.
  - rash says:
    
    9 Apr9 April 13:24
    
    I had this for my wife but its now been over 10 days… she’s had Amex cards fine before. Have others had this before? In terms of just being dropped of the radar and hearing nothing back about the application
    - mark2 says:
      
      9 Apr9 April 13:54
      
      I applied for a BAPP on 27th March. As normal it was deferred, but normally the card arrives after 5-6 days. It seems like a long time but is only 7 business days because of Easter. I hope that it arrives soon as I need to earn a 241 before October.
    - Crafty says:
      
      9 Apr9 April 16:57
      
      We too have a surprisingly long delay over the same period. Hopefully nothing untoward.
    - Liz says:
      
      9 Apr9 April 17:20
      
      I applied for the Gold Card 2 wks ago and hadn’t heard a thing. Phoned them this morning and was told I have been accepted and will receive the cards in 3 days time. No referral pts have posted or emails received yet.
- N says:
  
  10 Apr10 April 15:39
  
  Just to update – Plat showed up in the app this morning.
1DES1 says:

9 Apr9 April 11:36

O/T – I currently have a Curve Mastercard. I have been reading on this forum that I am best to convert this into the “Debit card” Curve which has recently been made available.

I got in touch with Curve and they have offered me either the Corporate Debit Card or Personal Debit Card. Which one should I use? I had thought Corporate is better (plus I also have a company so can legitimately ask for one) but I would be grateful for confirmation.

Finally, I have nearly £11,000 in Corporate Tax due by September 2018. Which credit card should I link with Curve to maximise the benefits of this payment? I understand I will need to place multiple payments across to HMRC. I currently hold the Lloyds Avios rewards duo pack of cards, HIlton Honors Visa and the free IHG Mastercard.

Many thanks in advance,

Chris
- Rob says:
  
  9 Apr9 April 11:58
  
  Seems to make no difference now. Take the personal version because some companies (eg ba.com) still charge fees for using CORPORATE debit and credit cards as opposed to personal ones.
  
  £10k would get you the 241 voucher or the upgrade voucher on the new Virgin Reward+ card, or perhaps get the paid IHG card and trigger the free night for £10k.
Phill says:

9 Apr9 April 11:53

Any idea on what will happen to the Lloyds Avios card points, will this go directly to BA or will the card get discontinued
- Alan says:
  
  9 Apr9 April 15:29
  
  FAQ says they’ll go direct to BA…
  - Yorkieflyer says:
    
    9 Apr9 April 20:28
    
    I expect they’ll set up a new BAEC account to send them across to….
    Safe bet that this whole business will be the usual BA IT shambles
Anna says:

9 Apr9 April 12:01

More comments on Facebook about pax being split from family members on BA flights in all classes and having to pay to change seats. Has anyone experienced this in the last couple of weeks? I don’t really want to be seated away from my son in CW this summer, but I’m not paying £80 to change seats!
- Rob says:
  
  9 Apr9 April 12:05
  
  If your son is under 12 you can’t be separated from him under CAA guidelines.
  - Anna says:
    
    9 Apr9 April 14:49
    
    He’s 12 but I still wouldn’t want him sitting too far away for 8 hours (nor would the people next to him as they will be expected to answer non-stop questions on current events!). There have been posts on Facebook about a parent being split up from a 4 and 5 year old so they could sit a VIP family together.
    - simon says:
      
      9 Apr9 April 16:43
      
      Do not worry about this. It would take a very very very strange person to not swap with you in this situation, if it actually happened…… My family have always been sat together in CW, thought my kids are under 12.
Vasco says:

9 Apr9 April 12:30

Off Topic: Have you considered doing a review of S7? It’s one of OW’s most obscure airlines, I can find almost nothing about what flying with them is like.
- Rob says:
  
  9 Apr9 April 12:56
  
  If they started flying UK to Moscow or St Petersburg I probably would, but it is a bit tricky otherwise. They did come up as an option when I tried to get back from Asia last year, something like China to Moscow and then changing to a BA.
  - Vasco says:
    
    9 Apr9 April 13:13
    
    They seem to have seasonal flights from DUB-DME if that makes it any easier. My curiosity is enhanced by their business class being similar to US domestic First (in the narrow body aircraft that make up the entirety of their fleet), rather than the same seat with a blocked middle seat we tend to see in European airlines.
KevMc says:

9 Apr9 April 13:35

O/T Just received the following email from amex regarding my Platinum Card:

The Global Hotel Sale.
Enjoy complimentary nights1 or up to 30% off pre-paid hotels2 for stays between 1 June 2018 and 30 September 2018, and get 5X Membership Rewards® points.3 Book by 16 May 2018.*

Reading he T’s and C’s, it looks like all Amex Travel bookings made by 16th May will receive 5x points, including flights etc, so not just hotel stays:

5X Membership Rewards Offer

Cardmembers enrolled in the American Express Membership Rewards programme will earn 5 Membership Rewards points for every full £1 spent on flights, pre-paid hotels, car hire and experiences booked through American Express Travel at americanexpress.co.uk/travel between 3 April 2018 and 16 May 2018. Membership Rewards points cannot be earned on FINE HOTELS & RESORTS, The Hotel Collection and cruise bookings.

Platinum Cardmembers who currently earn 2 Membership Rewards points for every full £1 spent on flights, pre-paid hotels, car hire and experiences booked through American Express Travel, will therefore receive an additional 3 points for every eligible £1 spent on the above mentioned bookings made through American Express Travel at americanexpress.co.uk/travel between 3 April and 16 May 2018. Points earned during this sale on current rate and the additional points, will show on Cardmembers statement within 10 weeks as two separate credits from ‘American Express Travel’.