As originally announced in May, American Express is making substantial changes to the British Airways American Express Premium Plus Card on Wednesday 7th October.
The Avios earn rate is being cut from 1.5 Avios per £1 to 1.25 Avios per £1.
The offer of double Avios (3 per £1) for spending with British Airways and British Airways Holidays is also being dropped. These transactions will earn 1.25 Avios per £1 going forward.
It’s an interesting move. The gap between the £300 per year Premium Plus card and the free British Airways American Express Credit Card is now minimal if you are not using your Companion Voucher for a long haul premium cabin flight.
Let’s compare the Premium Plus and free British Airways American Express cards from Wednesday:
- Earn rate: 1.25 Avios per £1 vs 1 Avios per £1
- Bonus for BA spending: No bonus on either card
- Companion voucher terms: 2 year expiry / valid in all cabins / extra business class availability for Premium Plus cardholders, 1 year expiry / valid only in economy for free BA Amex cardholders
There is one positive change
From 1st April 2027, there will be a positive change to how tier points are earned in The British Airways Club for Premium Plus holders.
This is what will happen:
- the accrual rate remains 1 tier point per £10 of qualifying spend
- the maximum number of tier points you can earn per year will increase to 3,000 from the current 2,500
- tier points will be earned ‘as you go’ – they will no longer be credited when you hit certain thresholds (currently £15,000, £20,000 and £25,000 of spending)
The third point is interesting. It means that all Premium Plus cardholders will receive some tier points, even if they are only spending modestly on their card.
It also means that, effectively, you could almost hit Bronze status at 3,500 tier points in The British Airways Club purely from card spend.
You would only need £500 of net spend with British Airways to earn the additional 500 tier points required (assuming you spent £30,000 on your Premium Plus card) – or you could buy £250 of SAF credits and earn the status with zero cash flying!
Past changes have not dented the card
We have got used to seeing the annual fee on the British Airways American Express Premium Plus Card creep up, from £150 at launch (free for those who held certain other Amex cards) to £300 today.
If I’m honest, the fee increases don’t seem to have done much to hurt the appeal of the card. This is partly because new benefits have been added (use the voucher on a solo trip, use the voucher on Iberia and Aer Lingus, use the voucher for flights starting outside the UK, add extra Club World availability). It is also partly because the voucher on the free card was weakened to economy-only.
Will this cut in the earning rate be the final straw for some people?
Given that a huge £35 billion is spent across the various American Express and Barclaycard Avios credit cards each year, I suspect not.
What are your alternatives?
Arguably the cut in the earn rate isn’t enough to make most people switch or cancel.
Someone who spends £15,000 per year on the card, of which £1,000 is BA spend, will ‘only’ lose 5,250 Avios.
However, there are still four ways of earning 1.5 Avios per £1.
Of course, none of these options will also allow you to earn a 2-4-1 Companion Voucher or earn British Airways Club tier points.
That said, if tier points are not important to you and you can easily hit £15,000 of spend for your 2-4-1 Companion Voucher with annual spend capacity to spare, you may want to move some spending elsewhere.
The obvious option: Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard
The representative APR is 80.1% APR variable, including the annual fee. The representative APR on purchases is 29.9% variable.
In February 2022, Barclays launched two Avios-earning Barclaycard Avios Mastercard credit cards.
These are very, very good products with everything you could ask for, and are easily (in my view) the most attractive Visa or Mastercard credit cards in the UK. You get:
- a great sign-up bonus which the majority of HfP readers will qualify for
- a very high Avios earning rate
- an annual BA cabin upgrade voucher for hitting spending targets
Every HfP reader in the UK should seriously consider applying for one of these cards.
If you are looking to maximise your Avios, you want the Plus card which has a £20 per month per fee BUT also comes with a 25,000 Avios sign-up bonus if you hit a spend target.
The benefits of the Plus card are:
- a £20 per month fee (reduced to £15 for customers who also hold Barclays Avios Rewards via their current account)
- a sign-up bonus for new Barclaycard customers of 25,000 Avios if you spend £3,000 in three months
- you earn 1.5 Avios per £1 spent
- you earn a British Airways cabin upgrade voucher if you spend £10,000 in a card year
- alternatively, you can take 7,000 Avios instead of the upgrade voucher
- you receive a Dragonpass airport lounge pass which allows you to book lounges for just £24
Even if you decide to stick with your British Airways American Express Premium Plus Card, you should have one of the two Barclaycards for places where American Express is not accepted. Most councils accept Visa / Mastercard, but not Amex, for council tax payments for example.
Whilst there is also a free card, earning 1 Avios per £1, it makes FAR more sense to start with the Plus card and rethink after you have earned the 25,000 Avios bonus. The fee is billed monthly so you can cancel or downgrade at any time.
Our full review of the Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard is here.
You can apply here.
Option 2: American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Credit Card
The representative APR is 85.8% variable, including the annual fee. The representative APR on purchases, and in the first year which has no fee, is 29.1% variable.
You may not have given Amex Gold much consideration as a core card, but it offers features which are not immediately obvious:
- the headline earning rate is 1 American Express Membership Rewards point per £1, which transfers into 1 Avios per £1
- however, there are spend bonuses – 5,000 points for hitting £10,000 of spend in a card year and another 5,000 points for hitting £20,000 of spend in a card year
- this means that if you spend exactly £10,000 you will receive 15,000 points (1.5 per £1) and if you spend exactly £20,000 you will receive 30,000 points (1.5 per £1) – this is identical to the current earn rate on the BA Premium Plus card
- Amex Gold gives double points on ALL airline spend when booked direct – this means 2 points per £1, so 2 Avios per £1. Remember the Premium Plus Amex card will only give 1.25 Avios on BA spend going forward and has never given you a bonus on other airlines.
- you earn double Membership Rewards points on foreign spend, so 2 points (2 Avios) per £1. There is a 2.99% FX fee, so this is only a benefit if you are charging company expenses. For personal spend, focus on a card with no or low FX fees.
- Membership Rewards points are what we call a ‘transferable currency’ – 1 Membership Rewards point is more powerful than 1 Avios. Whilst you can convert it into 1 Avios, you can also convert it into multiple other airlines schemes, including Virgin Points and Flying Blue, multiple hotel schemes (Hilton, Marriott, Accor, Radisson), Club Eurostar or even cash via statement credit.
Amex Gold is free for your first year but £195 per year after that. Other benefits include four airport lounge passes per year and £120 of Deliveroo credit (24 x £5 vouchers). You won’t qualify for the sign-up bonus because having had a British Airways American Express card in the previous two years disqualifies you.
Our full review of the American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Credit Card is here.
You can apply here.
Option 3: HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard
The representative APR is 100.2% variable, including the annual fee. The representative APR on purchases is 29.9% variable.
Arguably, HSBC Premier World Elite is the highest-earning Avios credit card on the market.
The HSBC Premier World Elite rewards scheme gives 3 points for every £1 spent in the UK and 4 points for every £1 spent abroad (2.99% FX fee applies). Each point is worth 0.5 airline miles or hotel points. This means that you earn 1.5 Avios or other airline miles per £1 for UK spend and 2 miles per £1 for foreign spend.
However HSBC runs regular transfer bonuses to Avios. The most recent one ended last week. There is no certainty that these bonuses continue but if they do – and they have been running for many years now – you are effectively getting (1.5 x 20% bonus) 1.8 Avios per £1 for UK spend.
Like American Express Membership Rewards, HSBC Premier credit card points can be transferred into multiple schemes at the same 2:1 rate:
- Air India Maharaja Club
- Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- The British Airways Club
- Emirates Skywards
- Etihad Guest
- Flying Blue (Air France KLM)
- Qantas Frequent Flyer
- Qatar Airways Privilege Club
- Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
There are also two hotel partners, which we don’t recommend (1 airline mile is worth more than 1 hotel point by a wide margin):
- IHG One Rewards
- Wyndham Rewards
The snag is that the HSBC Premier credit cards are only available to HSBC Premier current account holders. HSBC Premier has tough eligibility criteria. See here and scroll down.
As well as opening a HSBC Premier current account, you must have £100,000 invested with HSBC, either in a savings account or via an investment product.
Alternatively, you qualify if you earn over £100,000 and pay your salary into your HSBC Premier account.
The World Elite card has an annual fee of £290, offset by a bonus of 40,000 HSBC points in your first year. There is also a free card earning at half the rate (1.5 HSBC points per £1, so 0.75 Avios) with a potential annual transfer bonus on top.
(Until 1st December 2026, the sign-up bonus is increased to 70,000 HSBC points, which would convert to 35,000 Avios – or 42,000 Avios if you wait for the next 20% transfer bonus.)
Our full review of the HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard is here.
You can apply here.
Option 4: Nectar Credit Card from American Express
The representative APR is 35.8% variable, including the annual fee of £30. The representative APR on purchases, and in the first year which has no fee, is 29.1% variable.
It’s also worth mentioning the Nectar option for completeness.
The Nectar Credit Card from American Express earns 2 Nectar points per £1 spent. This is equivalent to 1.25 Avios per £1.
However, you will often see 20% conversion bonuses from Nectar to Avios. There is one running in October 2026, for example.
This is enough to push your rate up to 1.5 Avios per £1. The key is to not automatically convert your Nectar points to Avios but to leave them sitting in your Nectar account until a bonus comes along.
The Nectar Credit Card is free for the first year and then £30 per year thereafter. You won’t get a sign-up bonus because you are blocked by having had a British Airways American Express card in the last 24 months.
Our full review of the Nectar Credit Card from American Express is here.
You can apply here.
Option 5: a route to 1.35 Avios per £1 via the free Barclaycard Avios Mastercard
The representative APR is 29.9% variable.
We looked at the paid-for Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard above. I wanted to throw in a niche argument for the free Barclaycard Avios Mastercard.
This card earn 1 Avios per £1 spent, as does the free British Airways American Express Credit Card.
After £20,000 of spending, you can choose a Barclaycard Upgrade Voucher (see here for how that works) or a bonus of 7,000 Avios.
If you spend exactly £20,000 and take the 7,000 Avios bonus, you would have received 27,000 Avios for £20,000 of Mastercard spending. This is 1.35 Avios per £1, from a free card.
It’s also easier to spend £20,000 on a Mastercard than it is on an American Express card.
Of course, you can do the same ‘trick’ with the paid-for Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard. However, if you were not planning to use the annual upgrade voucher then you probably shouldn’t have this card long term. The fee does not offset the higher earn rate.
As I said above, we do NOT recommend applying directly for the free Barclaycard Avios Mastercard. You should get the £20 per month Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard, bank the 25,000 Avios sign-up bonus (if you hit the spend target) and then cancel and reapply or downgrade to the free card.
Our full review of the free Barclaycard Avios Mastercard is here.
You can apply here.
Option 6: swap to the Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard
The representative APR is 69.7% variable, including the annual fee. The representative APR on purchases is 26.9% variable.
It would be wrong not to mention one other card which earns 1.5 airline miles per £1 – the Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard.
This article is too short to discuss the pros and cons to moving into Virgin Points and the Virgin Atlantic / SkyTeam ecosystem. This opens up redemptions on Virgin Atlantic, Air France, KLM, SAS and other SkyTeam partners.
You will earn 1.5 Virgin Points per £1 plus a voucher worth 75,000 Virgin Points (terms apply) for hitting £10,000 of spend in a card year.
There is an annual fee of £160.
The card comes with a sign-up bonus of 18,000 Virgin Points if you hit a spend target so your risk is very low for your first year.
Our full review of the Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard is here.
You can apply here.
PS. If you were planning to book any British Airways flights this week, it is worth booking by Tuesday night whilst you still earn 3 Avios per £1 on BA spend, vs 1.25 Avios per £1 from Wednesday. If you have a British Airways Holiday booked and have yet to pay the final balance, you may want to pay it now for the same reason.
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