How To Choose The Best Avios Credit Card

The benefits of using an Avios Credit Card can be huge… some cards have generous sign-up bonuses and others have great ongoing earning rates on your spend. But with so many on the market, what is the best Avios Credit Card for you? There isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach but with multiple cards on the market, you are bound to find one that suits you!

Why Get An Avios Credit Card?

One of the main reasons people get an Avios Credit Card is that they’ve read or heard from friends great things about collecting Avios. Flying half-way across the world in Business Class for less than the price of an economy ticket sounds good right?

Whilst it’s perhaps not as simple or as ‘easy’ as some people may lead you to believe. It certainly is possible to make long-haul business class redemptions without being a big spender. Many people make usage of some of the generous sign-up bonuses to bump up their Avios points. Did you know as someone who has never had an American Express card before you can quickly fast-track yourself to 200,000 Avios? That’s enough for a first-class return to New York from London or 2 business class returns!

Of course, that isn’t the only reason people get Avios Credit Cards, the two other mains reasons are…

1) The earning of Avios points on day-to-day spend. If you channel your daily spend through an Avios earning card rather than your normal card you’ll soon seen the points start to add up.

2) Additional benefits e.g. the BA Companion Voucher (basically a 2-4-1 voucher on Avios redemptions) with BA Amex cards & Lounge Access with the Platinum Card to name 2 examples.

What Avios Credit Cards are available to me?

There are currently 9 different cards that you can get that earn Avios points. This is either directly or indirectly (by exchanging other points into Avios.) These are… (sorted in size of the sign-up bonus in Avios points)

Make sure you check your sign-up bonus eligibility for each card. Particularly if you are interested in the card mainly for the bonus. We talk a little bit about American Express sign-up eligibility here.

HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard

Sign-up bonus –  80,000 HSBC points = 40,000 Avios points. (40,000 HSBC points for spending £2,000 in 90 days & 40,000 HSBC points for spend £12,000 or more in your first 12 months of card membership.)
Annual fee – £195
Avios earn rate – 2 HSBC points per £1 = 1 Avios per £1
Other Travel Benefits – Free airport lounge access with LoungeKey
Notes – Whilst it is the best non American Express card to earn Avios points it has pretty tough eligibility criteria. It’s only available to HSBC Premier account holders.

American Express Platinum Charge Card

Sign-up bonus –  30,000 Membership Reward points = 30,000 Avios points. (Spend £4000 in 3 months)
Annual fee – £575
Avios earn rate – 1 Membership Reward point per £1 = 1 Avios per £1
Other Travel Benefits – Unlimited access to over 1,200 airport lounges, travel insurance & elevated hotel status amongst others.
Notes – Whilst it has a large annual fee of £575 you may find if you travel regularly the fee is worthwhile/value for money. Many users get the card for it’s large sign-up bonus and then cancel after they’ve hit their spend target for a pro-rata refund of the annual fee.

British Airways American Express Premium Plus Card

Sign-up bonus –  25,000 Avios points. (Spend £3000 in 3 months)
Annual fee – £195
Avios earn rate – 1.5 Avios per £1
Other Travel Benefits – BA Companion Voucher (2-4-1) when you spend 10K in a year. This allows you to redeem 2 tickets for the price of 1 in Avios points (both tickets taxes & ‘fees’ will still be due.)
Notes – It does have an annual fee of £195 BUT for a lot of people, it will make sense. Particularly in the first year with the 25,000 sign-up bonus & the 2-4-1 voucher at 10K spend. Read more about the voucher here. I keep mine for the 2-4-1 voucher & the generous 1.5 Avios per £1 earning rate.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Credit Card

Sign-up bonus –  10,000 Membership Reward points = 10,000 Avios points. (Spend £3000 in 3 months)
Annual fee – FREE for the first year (normally £140)
Avios earn rate – 1 Membership Reward point per £1 = 1 Avios per £1
Other Travel Benefits – 2 free lounge passes.
Notes – As the first year is FREE this often recommended as the first card for newbies to ‘point collecting.’ The 2 free lounge passes are handy too.

Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card

Sign-up bonus –  20,000 Marriott Bonvoy points = 6,666 Avios points. (Spend £3000 in 3 months)
Annual fee – £75
Avios earn rate – 2 Marriott Bonvoy points per £1 = 0.66 Avios per £1
Other Travel Benefits – Marriott Bonvoy Silver Elite Status, Upgrade to Gold Elite when you spend £15,000 each year & A Free night up to 25,000 points, when you spend £25,000 per year.
Notes – If you want to optimise your sign-up bonuses from Amex cards this is the card you should get first. This is because you will be able to get a bonus on this card, then the Platinum card & finally the BA Premium card.

The American Express Rewards Credit Card

Sign-up bonus –  5,000 Membership Reward points = 5,000 Avios points. (Spend £2000 in 3 months)
Annual fee – FREE
Avios earn rate – 1 Membership Reward point per £1 = 1 Avios per £1
Other Travel Benefits – N/A
Notes – If you want the sign-up bonus on a ‘free’ card I would go for the Gold Card for the first year. This card is useful if you want to cancel your Gold Card or Platinum Card & keep your membership reward points alive.

British Airways American Express Credit Card

Sign-up bonus –  5,000 Avios points. (Spend £1000 in 3 months)
Annual fee – FREE
Avios earn rate – 1 Avios per £1
Other Travel Benefits – BA Companion Voucher (2-4-1) when you spend 20K in a year. This allows you to redeem 2 tickets for the price of 1 in Avios points (both tickets taxes & ‘fees’ will still be due.)
Notes – Read more about the voucher here. I think spending 20K on the free card for the 2-4-1 voucher isn’t the best strategy. I cover why later on in his post.

IHG Rewards Club Mastercard

Sign-up bonus –  10,000 IHG points = 2,000 Avios points. (Spend £200 in 3 months)
Annual fee – FREE
Avios earn rate – 1 IHG point per £1 = 0.2 Avios per £1
Other Travel Benefits – Receive Gold Elite status in IHG Rewards Club
Notes – This has the worst ‘earn’ rate out of all the cards. You are much better off just using this card for IHG stays.

HSBC Premier Mastercard

Sign-up bonus –  N/A
Annual fee – FREE
Avios earn rate – 1 HSBC point per £1 = 0.5 Avios per £1
Other Travel Benefits – Airport lounge access for £20 a visit
Notes – Whilst it is the best FREE non American Express card to earn Avios points it has pretty tough eligibility criteria. It’s only available to HSBC Premier account holders.

So what is the best Avios Credit Card for me?

This is my experience using the points system and is not a recommendation of any financial product. There are other credit cards which can earn you travel points including the Miles & More Credit Card & Virgin Atlantic credit card. If you use one of my referral links to an American Express card upon you being accepted I will receive points, this varies between 9,000 – 18,000 depending on the card I refer you from.

To get a referral (for bonus points) go here – https://pointsuncovered.com/amex-referral-link-uk/

If you are new to point collecting/don’t want to pay an annual fee for an Avios Credit Card

My first choice would be The American Express Gold Card which is FREE for the first year. To avoid paying an annual fee just cancel & move cards towards the end of your free year. It has the largest sign-up bonus of all the free cards which is 10,000 membership reward points for spending £3000 in 3 months. These convert to 10,000 Avios points (1:1 exchange rate.) It also comes with 2 free lounge passes to kick-start your next trip.

My second choice (potentially to move to after my free year on the Gold Card) would be the BA American Express Credit Card which is FREE (no annual fees.) This card comes with a 5,000 Avios bonus for spending £1,000 within 3 months.

Both cards have the same earning rate on everyday spend which is equivalent to 1 Avios per pound spent.

You don’t want an American Express

If you don’t want/can’t use an American Express card for your spending you can choose from HSBC Premier World Elite MasterCard, HSBC Premier Mastercard, Tesco Clubcard Mastercard & IHG Rewards Club Mastercard.

The highest-earning non American Express cards are the HSBC Premier World Elite MasterCard (which earns 1 Avios per £1) and the HSBC Premier Mastercard (which earns 0.5 Avios per £1. These, however, require people to have a Premier Account with HSBC which has some pretty strict eligibility criteria.

The only other option/alternative is the IHG Rewards Club Mastercard. It earns 0.2 Avios per £1 spent (by converting IHG points to Avios) but does come with a 10,000 IHG point sign-up bonus when you spend £200 within 3 months (worth 2000 Avios Points.) It also has no annual fee.

Couples looking for an Avios Credit Card

There are two cards which earn the BA Companion Voucher (BA Amex 2-4-1) they are the BA American Express Credit Card (FREE) & the British Airways American Express Premium Plus Card (£195 annual fee.) This voucher as I briefly mentioned earlier allows you to redeem 2 tickets for the price of 1 in Avios points (both tickets taxes & ‘fees’ will still be due). On the FREE card the voucher is valid for one-year & on the Premium card it’s valid for two-years.

The Free BA Amex requires an annual spend of £20000 to get the BA Companion Voucher. This would net you 25,000 Avios Points with your spend and the sign-up bonus.

The Premium BA Amex requires an annual spend of £10000 to get the BA Companion Voucher. This would net you 40,000 Avios Points with your spend and the sign-up bonus.

Out of the two, I would preference the Premium BA Amex. This is because you get an extra year validity on your voucher and you only need to spend 10K to get the BA Companion Voucher as opposed to 20K on the free BA Amex. You can then utilise the other 10K you would have put on the free BA Amex for other sign-ups bonus.

For example, you could get the Gold Card or Platinum Card from American Express and get an additional sign-up bonus.

On the Gold Card (free for the first year) a spend of £3000 in 3 months will net you 13,000 points with your spend and the sign-up bonus. Add this to your spend on the BA Premium Card and you will have spent £13,000, paid £195 annual fee for the BA Premium Card and have 53,000 Avios points!

On the Platinum Card (£575 annual fee) a spend of £4000 in 3 months will net you 34,000 points with your spend and the sign-up bonus. Add this to your spend on the BA Premium Card and you will spend £14,000, paid £195 annual fee for the BA Premium Card & £575 annual fee for the Platinum Card (Total £770) and have 74,000 Avios points!

Remember… ALL American Express annual fees are pro-rata refunded when you cancel. So if you cancel the Platinum Card, for example, after 3 months you would receive a £431.25 refund on the £575 annual fee bring your costs down.

Big spenders looking for an Avios Credit Card

The British Airways American Express Premium Plus Card has the most generous earning rate of 1.5 Avios per £1 on everyday spend. After 10K annual spend, you will also get the BA Companion Voucher. This allows you to redeem 2 tickets for the price of 1 in Avios points (both tickets taxes & ‘fees’ will still be due.) How valuable this voucher is to you depends on how many Avios you have to spend on a redemption.

You may wish to consider following the strategy below to fast-track your Avios earning and ending on the BA Premium Card for the generous earning rate and ‘2-4-1’ voucher.

You want to get as many Avios as you can, as quickly as you can without spending a lot

We’ve written a guide on how to fast-track yourself to 200,000 Avios. Your outlay will be roughly £422.50 (annual fees) depending on how long you keep each card. You would also need to utilise £20000 worth of existing spend over 18 months (or quicker depending on how quickly you meet targets.) It sounds a lot but I think £422.50 is a good result considering where you can go with the points. You should be able to get at £2000 worth of value from your 200,000 avios.

Other ways of quickly earning Avios with Avios Credit Cards

American Express has a generous referral scheme which rewards you for referring friends and family to Amex. How many points you get depends on what card you refer from… (All of these are for successful applications through your referral link up to a maximum 90,000 points per points currency per year)

British Airways American Express Card – 4,000 Avios Points

British Airways American Express Premium Plus Card – 9,000 Avios Points

Preferred Rewards Gold Card – 6,000 Membership Reward Points ( = 6,000 Avios)

Platinum Card – 12,000 Membership Reward Points ( = 12,000 Avios)

Marriott Bonvoy Card – 9,000 Marriott Bonvoy Points ( = 3,000 Avios)

You can refer people by clicking the link inside your card account or by going here – https://www.americanexpress.com/en-gb/referral

Conclusion

What Avios Credit Cards do you keep in your wallet? Do you have a favourite?