Get 18,000 cheap Avios with The Economist – and stack it with £45 Amex cashback

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IMPORTANT UPDATE (10th June): Despite the Amex call centre telling some readers otherwise, Amex has confirmed to us that this offer DOES qualify for the £45 American Express cashback.

If you are running low on reading material whilst sat at home, British Airways and The Economist have brought back their special offer for taking out a subscription.

As you can see at this link, you can earn up to 18,000 Avios with a new one-year subscription.

What is special this time is that you can tie this in with the current £45 American Express cashback deal with an Economist subscription.

Ignoring the Amex cashback for a moment, here are the two subscription options on offer if you are a UK resident:

Digital only: £179 with 15,000 Avios (1.19p per Avios)

Print and digital: £215 with 18,000 Avios (1.19p per Avios)

‘Print only’ subscriptions are no longer available.

Subscribing to The Economist could make sense just for the Avios bonus even if you have little intention of reading it in detail, although there are occasional opportunities to buy Avios points for nearer 1p each.

Don’t forget your £45 cashback with American Express

As we wrote two weeks ago, you should also check your American Express cards for an Economist offer:

You’ll get £45 cashback when you spend £179 or more, which is conveniently the same price as a digital subscription. When factoring in the cashback, the value increases further:

Digital only: £134 with 15,000 Avios (0.89p per Avios)

Print and digital: £170 with 18,000 Avios (0.94p per Avios)

0.89p per Avios is very attractive in its own right. Getting a full year of The Economist on top is an added bonus.

Looked at another way, on the ‘Digital only’ offer, you could convert the 15,000 Avios into £120 of Nectar points, so your net cost for The Economist would be only £14 for the year!

As always, if you are self-employed you may be happy writing off the subscription cost as a business expense. This would sharply reduce your price per Avios even further.

This offer runs until 4th July although the American Express cashback deal ends on 30th June. You can subscribe 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.

Robert says:

4 Jun4 June 06:24

Great news. I was holding out for this offer to return, but when I click the link and go to order I get this error:

“We’re sorry but there was a problem with selecting a correct offer. For technical help or to get in contact with us please visit http://www.economist.com/help. Your offer item does not match selected entry point. Please try again.”

Any thoughts?
- Mark Rogers says:
  
  4 Jun4 June 08:09
  
  I’m hoping someone can confirm this as I’m a buyer if the £45 stacks, not otherwise.
  - MD says:
    
    4 Jun4 June 08:18
    
    It will stack, it’s always stacked before. And of course you do not have to use the link on the Amex page, that’s just not how Amex offers work at all.
    - Mark Rogers says:
      
      9 Jun9 June 10:23
      
      It did NOT stack for me, Amex have said it wasn’t eligible but little else, but they did keep asking me to confirm I used the link in the offer on the Amex website.
Olly says:

4 Jun4 June 06:35

Can anyone confirm that this offer will work if you have previously taken out a subscription with this offer? We did it last time it ran and I’m keen to make sure we would still get the Avios.
Thanks
Dan says:

4 Jun4 June 06:42

If you’ve applied for this offer before in a previous iteration and got the bonus points would you be eligible again – with a different e-mail address?

The only thing I’m concerned with would be it the Exec Club number will be the same both time – which may cause issues?
- Genghis says:
  
  4 Jun4 June 07:11
  
  Yes. With same email address. A new customer is a person taking out a new subscription.
  - Green Plastic says:
    
    4 Jun4 June 07:19
    
    That’s excellent news – I’m guessing you’ve done this before Genghis? 🙂
    - Genghis says:
      
      4 Jun4 June 09:47
      
      I’ve done this offer a few times in the past, all using the same details.
  - Dan says:
    
    4 Jun4 June 07:37
    
    Thanks – that’s good to know. To be on the safe side, I’ll probably use another e-mail just so they don’t have it in their systems.
    - Lady London says:
      
      4 Jun4 June 11:18
      
      not necessary. will only give them another email for spamming
Danny says:

4 Jun4 June 06:52

Don’t forget you also receive 269 Avios for paying with an BA Amex card – 179 plus 90 if you have the current 1 bonus Avios for every £2 spent.
- AJA says:
  
  4 Jun4 June 08:00
  
  That’s a good point. It’s even better on the BAPP, I get 2 Avios per £ in addition to the normal 1.5 Avios which works out to 626 Avios for £179 spent.
M says:

4 Jun4 June 06:52

I don’t suspect there’s a way to receive the magazine at the address abroad?
- ZZ says:
  
  4 Jun4 June 07:26
  
  You are able to change the delivery address on the online portal once the subscription is live. This is what I did as I have been living temporarily in Italy and have UK subscription but was able to arrange for the magazine to be sent to Italy.
  - M says:
    
    4 Jun4 June 08:18
    
    Thank you!
    - Binnie says:
      
      4 Jun4 June 08:55
      
      You won’t get the full UK edition, it is a very slim version when you get it posted to your address abroad. Still got the essential articles, though.
- Dominic says:
  
  4 Jun4 June 07:44
  
  Other countries will be signed up to the same offer. Canada, for example, will be cheaper than the UK offer.
- BuildBackBetter says:
  
  4 Jun4 June 09:56
  
  Well, you can’t subscribe from a low cost country (example South Asia or africa) and change to an address in a developed country.
  But the other way round is possible after the subscription commences.
  - Bagoly says:
    
    4 Jun4 June 10:07
    
    If you live in a low cost country and a few months later move to a developed country then presumably you can. Although perhaps they ask for more money?
- Lady London says:
  
  4 Jun4 June 11:22
  
  easy.
  just select where you are. or even where you would like tobe and select a deserving school, hospital or friend.
  
  Lightly perusing comments on the HfP articles on earlier rounds of this offer should inform you.
Dominic says:

4 Jun4 June 07:44

Unfortunately renewed a month ago for £1 a week for a year… £70 more for 18k avios would have got me, ah well!

It’s running later than last year..
- Dan says:
  
  4 Jun4 June 07:56
  
  £1 a week, so you’re paying £52 for a year subscription?
  - Dominic says:
    
    4 Jun4 June 10:09
    
    Correct. I paid even less last year. Note that this is a digital subscription, though.
Baresi says:

4 Jun4 June 07:58

Hi All,
I took out the last offer for Economist with Avios in Sept last year and my subs runs to 9 Sept 2021. Can i cancel my subs and then submit for new subscription offer and get the Avios?
Thanks in advance 👍
- Lady London says:
  
  4 Jun4 June 11:26
  
  ask for later start. Who wants The Economist delivered to their home when they’re away for their holidays?
Alex says:

4 Jun4 June 08:01

Thanks, Rob! Been waiting for this to come along for a while now. Even better with the AMEX offer…