Are the Lloyds Avios Rewards credit cards now fully closed to new applicants?

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The Lloyds Avios Rewards credit cards were closed to new online applications on 1st March as we wrote here.

At the time, Lloyds told us that you could continue to apply via telephone or in a branch for a limited period.

That period appears to be over. A reader tried to apply this week by telephone and in a branch and was rebuffed on both occasions. Apparently it no longer even appears as an option on the branch IT system.

On the upside, as Lloyds made some in-branch applicants watch two videos on ‘how to use a credit card sensibly’ before they would process the application, this may be for the best ……

I am told, however, that we may not have seen the back of these cards for good. How Lloyds expects to compete with a £24 Mastercard earning 0.25 Avios per £1 when Virgin Atlantic now offers a free Mastercard earning 0.75 Flying Club miles per £1 is a different question.

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.

Mark LLL says:

4 May4 May 05:40

Congrats to Lee. His prize flight sounds as good as my whole holidays LOL.
Such a great raffle prize, well done HfP and Qatar airways.
Rob, more comps please 🙂
KP says:

4 May4 May 06:21

OT- new buy on board menu at BA for May-Aug. It’s all the same stuff with slightly different choices. Same prices and avios as far as I can tell
- Roberto says:
  
  4 May4 May 06:57
  
  The new IPA replacing Tribute will get my attention today. Just for research purposes I might add.
  - Alex W says:
    
    4 May4 May 13:15
    
    Don’t give BA any of your money!!
Richard says:

4 May4 May 06:25

90 people on an A380… ouch.
- Yuff says:
  
  4 May4 May 06:38
  
  More Qatar sales 😉
  Like the one last week 241 🙂 first decent sale for a while
- Lee says:
  
  4 May4 May 07:48
  
  Quite the opposite on the other 3 flights though, they were very full! The crew on the A380 were also surprised to see it as quiet as that, it was unusual.
- JamesB says:
  
  4 May4 May 08:05
  
  My partner was on an SQ a380 flight to LHR on Boxing Day dome years aho that only had 4 or 5 people in business.
- Czechoslovakia says:
  
  4 May4 May 12:06
  
  Best service I ever had was on a CSA A320 to Manchester. 4 crew, 4 relief crew, extra pilot and copilot, and, erm, 7 paying pax, including myself. Was December 24th, mind.
callum says:

4 May4 May 06:51

The reason they make you watch that video is because of all the scam-artists claiming they were “missold” PPI etc. (some very clearly were, I have my doubts about many of them!)

TSB made me do a long interview just to open a second current account ages ago – I already had one, they should have been pretty aware I knew how to use it…
Anna says:

4 May4 May 06:56

OT – is there a page on the BAEC website which shows “pending” avios similar to the one on the avios.com site? I’ve started shopping via the BA portal but can’t find anywhere which shows the avios I’ll earn.
- Lyn says:
  
  4 May4 May 08:35
  
  Anna, I don’t know if this is consistent with other people’s experience, but sometimes BAEC send me an email soon afterwards with the number of pending avios, which then always post eventually, Sometimes there is no email but the avios still post.
  - meta says:
    
    4 May4 May 12:10
    
    I always get an email from avios.com. Actually two, when pending and when they arrive. I also now get from BAEC too.
  - Anna says:
    
    4 May4 May 16:07
    
    Thanks Tom, found it now!
Mike says:

4 May4 May 07:06

Lee – great report, glad you enjoyed your prize
- Lee says:
  
  4 May4 May 07:48
  
  Thank you, Mike! A fantastic prize.
  - John says:
    
    4 May4 May 16:15
    
    Lucky Lee! How did you get on in Japan? Did you stay long, travel around?
    - Lee says:
      
      5 May5 May 19:50
      
      Very lucky, John! Japan was amazing, just a quick 5 day trip to Tokyo but had a day in Osaka too. Fantastic place, so glad I got the flights there as it made the whole trip excellent.
Simon says:

4 May4 May 07:12

Thanks Lee
I’m going a bit pedantic nerdy here but was it the new 350-1000 on the way back, or a new -900. Not that there is any difference at the front.
- Lee says:
  
  4 May4 May 07:53
  
  It was the A350-900 (A7-ALZ), and I was surprised to see a brand new one as I thought the 1000’s would be coming in about now. It was very nice to fly on!
  - JamesB says:
    
    4 May4 May 08:13
    
    Glad to hear you enjoyed your prize Lee. Was this for one person or two? How were tge noise levels on the a350?
    - Rob says:
      
      4 May4 May 08:34
      
      It was one ticket.
    - xcalx says:
      
      4 May4 May 11:58
      
      Agreed, It’s good to here from a prize winner. I may have missed the recent winners comments although I do read the comments a few times a day.
    - xcalx says:
      
      4 May4 May 11:59
      
      Hear.
    - Lee says:
      
      4 May4 May 12:18
      
      Thanks, it was definitely a prize to be enjoyed! The noise on the A350 was really low, I expect an overnight flight where you’re sleeping on it would be pretty good. I’m sure it helped being brand new too.
Ahop says:

4 May4 May 07:34

OT: How far in advance can Virgin Atlantic redemptions be made? I’ve looked on their site and it appears not as early as BA, but I can’t quite pinpoint exactly when.
- BLT says:
  
  4 May4 May 08:14
  
  330 days in advance