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If you don’t already have the BA Amex Avios card (whether the free standard card, or £195 premium option), you should give it some serious thought. It’s a great way to pick up Avios on everyday spending, and the “two for one” BA reward flights it offers is one of the best “travel hack” incentives out there.
The added good news is that Amex are currently offering a little summer sweetener. It’s not overwhelmingly generous, but if you’ve got a big spend coming up (holiday, anyone?) it could work very well for you.
Spend £3,000 or more on your British Airways American Express Credit Card (or £7,000 or more on your BA Amex Premium Plus) between 1 June and 31 July 2017 and you’ll get 3,000 bonus Avios. That’s in addition to the 3,000 Avios you will earn for that £3k spend anyway (plus a further 6,000 if you’re a new sign up to the card – see below). The Premium card would earn you 10500 Avios plus the bonus.
Frankly I think the Premium Plus card target is a touch ludicrous, but if you’ve got a really big spend coming up (we’re talking wedding level here really though) then of course it’s a bonus. However, the standard card spend and bonus seems a lot more realistic.
Should I try and manufacture a £3k spend?
There’s all sorts of ways to get a £3k/£7k spend on your card, whether it’s refundable hotels or flights or the plethora of other “manufactured spend” options. However, keep some perspective. 3000 Avios is worth around £30, so don’t go to too much trouble.
How do I get the offer?
If you’ve got the BA Amex, the offers (whether 3k or 7k) apply automatically – there’s no need to register.
The bonus Avios will be credited to your count once the spend requirement has been met (which needs to be before 31 July). Amex do however note that “in rare circumstances it may take up to 6 weeks from the campaign end date for the bonus Avios to be applied”.
If you’re new to the BA Amex Avios card, apply for it via this link and, in addition to the above bonus, you’ll get 6,000 bonus Avios if you spend £1,000 in the first three months (or 26K Avios for a £3k spend on the Premium Plus card).
The BAPP is getting 7,000 Avios for a £7k spend.
Very helpful – updated, thanks.
Hi Tom, I’m curious about your other manufactured spend options as it’s something I’ve been thinking about a lot. I understand the reluctance to post openly but if you could get back to me on the email provided on the comment submission I’d be very grateful.
Thanks, James
I think Tom was referring to one of the simpler methods of MS (not really much of a secret), which is to make a refundable hotel booking (through hotels.com say at a chain hotel will a good cancellation policy) where you need to prepay. Then in August or September when you’ve safely earned the bonus miles, you cancel the hotel booking for a refund. Of course, you most likely will lose the base miles, but you ought to be fine for keeping the bonus miles…