Avios and Barclays Premier agree a long-term points-earning partnership

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Last Autumn, Barclays Premier tried to do an ‘under the radar’ trial with Avios, offering 25,000 Avios to a small group of people if they opened a bank account. The secret trial got ruined when we decided to tell everyone about it. The good news is that Barclays got to understand how popular this incentive could be!

You can learn more about the 2019 Avios / Barclays Premier offer here.

Unsuprisingly, following the strong response last year, Avios and Barclays have signed a long-term agreement to promote Barclays Premier.

Barclays Premier and Avios

You should note the deal is NOT yet live again and won’t be for a while. However, when it returns, there will be a generous Avios sign-up bonus for opening a Barclays Premier current account.

You will also be able to earn Avios on “other banking products as well as receive additional loyalty benefits and experience”.

There is nothing to do at the moment, although if you were thinking of moving your banking to HSBC Premier or another premium provider then you may want to hold off for a few months. An Avios incentive from Barclays Premier will be along soon.

PS. If you missed it, take a look at our recent article on the top 10 reasons to get the British Airways Premium Plus American Express credit card.

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

Barclays Avios Rewards, British Airways and Avios

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

Chris says:

18 Feb18 February 11:38

Flew from CDG to LHR on Sunday, on one of the aircraft trialling the digital in-flight mags (G-EUXG). Didn’t bother trying to look at them during the very brief time when the in-flight wifi would have been on during a 45 minute flight.

We were then held on the tarmac at LHR for 1 hr 45 minutes during the chaotic meltdown caused by the airport’s IT systems going down and the fact that we, along with many other delayed flights, had finally managed to land after Storm Dennis while there was a huge backlog waiting to take off, meaning that there were no arrival gates for the dozens of queued-up arriving flights. So while waiting for almost 2 hours to deplane, we might have wanted to peruse the magazines to ease the boredom. But with the digital trial, that wasn’t an option. (It wasn’t until I read this article that I realised crew still had a stash of magazines!)
Grant says:

18 Feb18 February 11:59

@ EwanG – success with Accor. Thanks for your help!
- EwanG says:
  
  18 Feb18 February 12:12
  
  Excellent, seems it was a bit slower for you @Grant but glad it’s all worked out. Thanks also to @Sina who brought it to my attention.
Simon says:

18 Feb18 February 12:19

O/T • Revolut top-up via Hilton Barclaycard Card and redress over cash advance fee (£43.26).

I thought that I’d share that, following Grant’s excellent tidbit a few weeks ago about how his formal complaint to Revolut elicited a top-up fee being returned to him, then I followed suit myself with Revolut over a cash advance fee I’d incurred for topping-up my Revolut account via my supp Hilton Card. I received an email today from Revolut — circa nine days post-complaint — saying they’ve agreed to refund me the fee. (I had called Hilton directly initially, but, as a supp card holder, they were unprepared to speak to me without the main card holder also phoning in… which was not going to happen as my wife has moved to the USA for 11 months and hasn’t the time to do that.) Anyway, long story short — the cash advance fee amount will be paid into my account by Revolut in spite of it being a Hilton charge. (Of course, I do appreciate it was Revolut who recoded the MCC, but still.)

Thanks for the information originally, Grant!

I hope this augurs well for other HFPers perhaps in the same boat. 🙂
- Grant says:
  
  18 Feb18 February 13:12
  
  Glad to see they are being consistent, Simon. For 5 minutes work filling out the survey monkey form, it really is worth doing if you have been stung with cash advance fees.
  - Scott says:
    
    18 Feb18 February 16:18
    
    HI Grant – do you happen to remember when you shared your formal complaint a few weeks ago? Can’t find it using the search function 🙁
    - Grant says:
      
      18 Feb18 February 16:33
      
      I can’t, sorry. The short version is go on to live chat with an agent and ask them to provide the link for the complaint form. Make sure you have screenshots from your CC statement showing the charges as you can upload these with your complaint and it makes finding the transactions on the Revolut side easier.
  - Simon says:
    
    18 Feb18 February 17:13
    
    Fortunately, there were, Grant. Thanks so much again! 🙂
TripRep says:

18 Feb18 February 12:19

Revolut – with Hilton BC visa & Virgin MC now charging are there any fee free credit card tops available anymore?

I also have a Curve if anyone has any tips. TIA. 🙂
EwanG says:

18 Feb18 February 12:25

Thanks @Dave @Andy for confirmation of M plastic GCs, in particular what buttons staff need to press. Success on Sunday (@BJ I saw your comment the other day that particular store is still offering paper vouchers).
Also @BJ not tried the Drum Brae branches, but my success was at the stores 880m and 1200m NNE and NE of the M we are talking about above.
- BJ says:
  
  18 Feb18 February 12:57
  
  Ok thanks Ewan, I think I already know one of those stores so I’ll figure the other. All we need now is a new amex offer to relieve M of the last of their funny money.
krys_k says:

18 Feb18 February 12:45

OT. Wanted to let folks know that going through SÖP (https://soep-online.de/) I managed to get €250 compensation for a Swiss flight delay from 2014. After contacting SÖP the process was about 6 weeks and received a call with the offer. Extremely efficient and successful process (considering that Swiss didn’t want to give a dime – I had sporadically over the years tried to get compensation from them but it wasn’t a top of the agenda item – I then read about SÖP and thought I’d give them a go).
- Lady London says:
  
  18 Feb18 February 13:19
  
  Very well done. Is there no limitation of 3 years to claim in Switzerland as there is in the UK?
  
  Or as 2014 is 5-6 years ago were they just being nice?
  - Charlieface says:
    
    18 Feb18 February 14:31
    
    Claims in the UK are up to 6 years.
    Sounds like an advert, how much do they charge, dare I ask?
    - krys_k says:
      
      18 Feb18 February 17:10
      
      SÖP is an arbitration service. No cost.
      And if I’m advertising anything – it’s the fact that if you aren’t getting anywhere with Swiss there is an option that works.
      - New Card says:
        
        18 Feb18 February 19:33
        
        I had a very similar experience. Swiss resisted everything, stopped responding to messages, and I couldn’t find a UK address to MCOL them at. I went through the SOP instead (years after the flight) and got ~80% of what I was asking for, which I was content with.
collector says:

18 Feb18 February 13:17

OT: has anyone topped out Monese with Curve linked to Virgin Atlantic? Will this incur a cash advance fee or other charges?
- stevenhp1987 says:
  
  18 Feb18 February 13:36
  
  MCC 6012, so no charge.
  
  You’ll be limited to £600 weekly though.
  - Neil Donoghue says:
    
    18 Feb18 February 13:37
    
    Looks like it worked for Stevehp1987 but sadly not for me
    - stevenhp1987 says:
      
      18 Feb18 February 13:46
      
      I last topped up during the last gift card giveaway.
      
      Their MCC could have changed since then as that was over a month ago now?
- Neil Donoghue says:
  
  18 Feb18 February 13:36
  
  Incur’s fees
  - collector says:
    
    18 Feb18 February 13:40
    
    Thanks, both. @Neil, how much were you charged and what was the transaction code if I may ask?
    - ash says:
      
      18 Feb18 February 15:34
      
      Kindly let us know if you get any fees
  - Phil G says:
    
    18 Feb18 February 14:14
    
    I topped up on 12th, virgin via curve no fees
- ashish says:
  
  18 Feb18 February 16:50
  
  good to hear this, the Mr bj poster on here said there was another since the revoult shut down.
  
  now to do this one with Hilton is best value?
Harry T says:

18 Feb18 February 14:18

OT:
Flying from T3 Heathrow at 20.00ish on 3rd March on my Qantas golden tickets. What’s the best priority pass lounge in the evening? We don’t have status but do have Amex Platinum.

We’ve also decided to stay at the Langley the night before for the first time on Bonvoy points, in the hopes that the spa will help us cope with the economy night flight!
- Shoestring says:
  
  18 Feb18 February 14:24
  
  it would be quite a disappointment to get turned away before a big trip, so your only option is No1 & paying £5/6 to reserve a place
  
  good lounge as well, plenty of drinks to sample & get you in the mood for sleeping
  - Harry T says:
    
    18 Feb18 February 14:29
    
    Thanks, appreciate the advice. I’ll need a couple of drinks before Qantas economy to Sydney!
    
    The link Rob posted still let me book it for £5 each. Thanks @Rob!
    - Lady London says:
      
      18 Feb18 February 19:54
      
      If you get a big enough gap in SIN Plaza Premium has showers moderate cost. If you get stuck there due to any delay (unlikely) see if they’ve got a massage slot. One time the timings worked for me the massage made all the difference.