Cards That Earn Avios
The UK card landscape in order — BA Amex first, then Barclays Avios, then flexible points cards that feed Avios
Most Avios in the UK are earned on the ground, not in the air. Credit cards are the biggest driver — through sign-up bonuses, everyday spending, and the vouchers that come with certain cards when annual spend thresholds are met.
The market is relatively straightforward. British Airways American Express cards are where most people start and remain the core option for earning Avios directly. Barclays Avios cards come next, widening where you can earn and adding upgrade-focused rewards. After that, a smaller set of flexible points cards — American Express Membership Rewards, HSBC and some fintech options — can be converted into Avios if needed.
If you rely on flying alone, Avios usually build slowly. Cards do most of the heavy lifting, both through bonuses and everyday spending, to reach meaningful balances. This guide explains how these card types fit together and what each is for.
The right card setup is not about finding one “best” card. It is about how cards work together — a primary earner for everyday spend, a secondary card covering the gaps, and an understanding of which voucher type matches your travel pattern. Most strong setups use two or three cards in combination.
At a Glance: The Three Card Lanes
Lane 1: BA American Express — Direct Avios earning at 1–1.5 per £1 and the 2-4-1 Companion Voucher, which is the single most valuable annual card benefit in the UK. The foundation for most Avios strategies.
Lane 2: Barclays Avios — Mastercard acceptance (everywhere Amex is not taken), Avios earning at 1–1.5 per £1, and the Upgrade Voucher — a fundamentally different reward that reduces the Avios cost of a cabin upgrade rather than giving you a second seat free.
Lane 3: Flexible Points Cards — Earn points in a transferable currency (Amex Membership Rewards, HSBC Premier, Revolut RevPoints) that can be converted into Avios later. More optionality, but no Avios-specific vouchers.
If you want Avios specifically, prioritise direct-earning cards first. Use flexible points cards when you value optionality across multiple programmes.
1. British Airways American Express Cards
BA American Express cards are the default starting point because they do two things well: they generate Avios consistently from everyday spend, and they unlock the 2-4-1 Companion Voucher — which is, in the view of most UK points collectors, the single most valuable perk available from any UK credit card.
There are two versions: a free card and the Premium Plus paid card. The critical difference is not just the earn rate — it is what the Companion Voucher can do.
Free BA American Express
No annual fee. Earns 1 Avios per £1 on all eligible purchases. Sign-up bonus of 5,000 Avios when you spend £1,000 in three months (you must not have held either BA Amex card in the previous 24 months). Minimum income requirement of £15,000.
When you spend £15,000 in a card membership year, you receive a 2-4-1 Companion Voucher. This voucher is valid for one year and can only be used in Economy class on BA, Iberia or Aer Lingus. A solo traveller can use it for a 50% discount on the Avios required for one ticket instead.
BA American Express Premium Plus
Annual fee of £300. Earns 1.5 Avios per £1 on all eligible purchases, and 3 Avios per £1 on flights and holidays booked directly with BA. Sign-up bonus of 30,000 Avios when you spend £6,000 in three months (same 24-month rule applies). No UK credit card earns more than 1.5 airline miles per £1 in ongoing spend.
When you spend £15,000 in a card membership year, you receive a 2-4-1 Companion Voucher valid for two years, usable in any cabin — including First Class. This is the key difference. The Premium Plus Companion Voucher unlocks additional Business Class Avios seats that are not available to the free card voucher, and it is the only voucher of any kind that can be used in First Class.
The Companion Voucher spend threshold was raised from £10,000 (Premium Plus) and £12,000 (free card) to £15,000 for both cards in November 2024. This made the free card significantly harder to justify for many people, since the Economy-only, one-year voucher now requires the same spend as the Premium Plus version.
How the Companion Voucher Works
The Companion Voucher lets you book two Avios reward flights for the Avios cost of one. You pay full taxes, fees and carrier charges on both seats. It works on BA, Iberia and Aer Lingus flights (vouchers earned from September 2021 onwards). Bookings can depart from outside the UK.
This is extremely valuable on long-haul premium cabin redemptions. A return Business Class flight to New York might cost 160,000 Avios — with the Companion Voucher, two people fly for the same 160,000 Avios. The saving on that single booking is worth more than the £300 annual fee many times over.
If you can realistically spend £15,000 per year on the card, the Premium Plus is almost always worth the £300 fee — the Companion Voucher alone can save tens of thousands of Avios on a single booking. If you cannot hit £15,000, downgrade to the free card (getting a pro-rata fee refund) and use a Barclaycard Avios card alongside it instead. Your voucher spend progress carries over when downgrading.
Tier Points from Card Spending
From June 2025 to February 2026, BA Amex Premium Plus holders could earn up to 2,500 Tier Points through card spending (£25,000 threshold). This was the first time Tier Points could be earned without flying. BA has confirmed that Tier Points from Premium Plus card spending will return from April 2026, though the exact structure and rates have not yet been announced. This could be significant — particularly for travellers targeting Bronze (3,500 TPs) or Silver (7,500 TPs) status, where card-earned Tier Points could supplement a modest flight schedule.
What the BA Amex Does Not Do Well
American Express is not accepted everywhere. Some retailers, many small businesses, most government services and several online platforms do not take Amex. The card also adds a 2.99% foreign exchange fee on non-sterling transactions, making it poor value for spending abroad. You need a secondary card for both gaps — which is where Barclays fits in.
Read next → BA Amex Strategy Guide
2. Barclays Avios Cards
Barclays offers two Avios-earning credit cards — a free card and a paid Avios Plus version — both on the Mastercard network. Their primary role for most collectors is covering spend where Amex is not accepted, while progressing towards their own annual reward: the Upgrade Voucher.
Free Barclaycard Avios
No annual fee. Earns 1 Avios per £1 on eligible purchases. Sign-up bonus of 5,000 Avios when you spend £1,000 in three months (must not have held either Barclaycard Avios card in the previous 24 months). When you spend £20,000 in a card year, you can choose between an Upgrade Voucher (valid two years) or 7,000 bonus Avios.
Barclaycard Avios Plus
Monthly fee of £20 (£240/year). Earns 1.5 Avios per £1 on eligible purchases. Sign-up bonus of 25,000 Avios when you spend £3,000 in three months. When you spend £10,000 in a card year, you choose between an Upgrade Voucher (valid two years) or 7,000 bonus Avios. Includes DragonPass lounge access at £20.50 per visit. Apple Pay and Google Pay supported.
If you hold both the Avios Plus card and Barclays Avios Rewards (see below), you receive a £5/month discount and four free lounge passes per year via DragonPass.
How the Upgrade Voucher Actually Works
This is widely misunderstood. The Barclays Upgrade Voucher is not a cabin upgrade. It is a pricing discount on an Avios booking in a higher cabin. You book the higher cabin directly — you need availability in that cabin — and the voucher reduces the Avios charged to the price of the next cabin down. You still pay the taxes and charges of the higher cabin.
For example: you book a return Club World (Business Class) flight to New York. Normally this costs 198,000 Avios at peak pricing. With the Upgrade Voucher, you pay the World Traveller Plus (Premium Economy) Avios price of 132,000 — saving 66,000 Avios. On a return Business flight to Sydney, the saving can exceed 140,000 Avios.
The voucher covers one return flight for one person, or two one-way flights for two people. It cannot be used to upgrade into First Class. When using the voucher, you are locked into the “most Avios, least cash” pricing option — you cannot select alternative Avios/cash combinations. This is generally the best value on long-haul but can be poor value on short-haul routes.
The Companion Voucher and the Upgrade Voucher are fundamentally different rewards. The Companion Voucher gives you a second seat free (Avios-wise). The Upgrade Voucher lets one person fly in a higher cabin at a lower Avios price. They complement each other — a household that earns both can use the Companion Voucher for two seats and the Upgrade Voucher to reduce the Avios cost of those seats by flying in a higher cabin. This is why many collectors hold both BA Amex and Barclays cards simultaneously.
Important: Switching Between Barclaycard Versions
If you upgrade from the free Barclaycard Avios to the Avios Plus (or downgrade in the other direction), your spend progress towards the upgrade voucher resets to zero. This catches people out — if you are close to the £20,000 threshold on the free card, trigger the voucher first before switching. The voucher itself is deposited into your BA Club account within five days of reaching the spend target, so wait until it appears before making any changes.
Both Barclaycard Avios cards add a 2.99% foreign exchange fee, matching the BA Amex. Neither is suitable for overseas spending.
Barclays Avios Rewards (Current Account)
Barclays Premier customers can add Barclays Avios Rewards to their current account for £12/month. This is not a credit card — it is a banking add-on that earns 1,500 Avios per month (18,000+ per year), plus an annual choice between an Upgrade Voucher or 7,000 bonus Avios. New customers who switch their current account to Barclays Premier can earn up to 25,000 Avios as a switch bonus.
Requires Barclays Premier Banking — eligibility is typically £75,000+ annual income or £100,000+ in savings and investments with Barclays.
This means a Barclays Premier customer with the Avios Plus card can earn two Upgrade Vouchers per year — one from the card and one from Avios Rewards. Combined with the monthly Avios, the £5/month discount and four free lounge passes, the Barclays ecosystem becomes a serious secondary earning track alongside BA Amex.
Barclays Premier Avios Rewards only makes sense if you qualify for Premier banking anyway. The earning is strong — 18,000+ Avios per year plus an upgrade voucher for £144 (or £84 net with the £5/month Avios Plus discount). But switching banks purely for Avios is rarely worth the disruption unless you were already considering Barclays.
Read next → BA Upgrade Vouchers Explained
3. Flexible Points Cards That Feed Avios
Beyond BA Amex and Barclays, a smaller group of cards earns flexible points rather than Avios directly. These points can later be transferred into Avios if that is where you decide to use them. The trade-off is simple: more flexibility upfront, but no Avios-specific vouchers.
American Express Membership Rewards
The Amex Gold card and Amex Platinum card both earn Membership Rewards (MR) points, which transfer to Avios at 1:1. This is one of the most valuable transfer partnerships in the UK because MR points can also be sent to other airlines and hotel programmes — giving you the option to redirect points if a non-Avios programme offers better value on a specific trip.
The Amex Gold has historically offered some of the strongest sign-up bonuses in the UK market. MR points sit in a flexible holding position until you decide where to send them. The key principle: keep MR flexible until you have a specific redemption in mind. Once transferred to Avios, the conversion is irreversible.
HSBC Premier Rewards
HSBC’s credit and debit card rewards transfer to Avios at 2 HSBC points → 1 Avios. The base rate is modest, but HSBC runs periodic transfer bonuses — recently 25% extra — several times per year. Waiting for these promotions before converting meaningfully improves the effective rate. Requires HSBC Premier (£75,000+ income or £100,000+ saved/invested).
Revolut and Fintech Options
Revolut’s RevPoints can be converted to Avios at variable rates depending on your Revolut plan. The rates are generally less competitive than Amex MR or HSBC, but RevPoints accumulate on everyday transactions including where traditional credit cards might not earn — making them a useful supplementary channel rather than a primary earning tool.
Flexible points cards are powerful if you value choice. If your clear goal is Avios, direct-earning cards generally move you faster — and crucially, they come with vouchers that flexible points cards cannot replicate. The Companion Voucher and Upgrade Voucher are only available through BA Amex and Barclays respectively. No amount of Amex MR or HSBC points can substitute for those.
How Most People Combine Cards
The typical strong Avios setup in the UK is not one card — it is two or three cards used deliberately together.
BA Amex Premium Plus handles the bulk of everyday spending where Amex is accepted. It earns 1.5 Avios per £1, progresses towards the Companion Voucher at £15,000, and from April 2026 may also earn Tier Points on spending.
Barclaycard Avios (free or Plus) covers everything Amex cannot — supermarkets that reject Amex, small retailers, government services, foreign transactions on a separate FX-free card. It earns Avios on this spend and progresses towards its own Upgrade Voucher.
Amex Gold or Platinum sits alongside for those who want flexible MR points that can be directed to Avios or elsewhere depending on need. Some collectors alternate between BA Amex and Amex MR cards on a two-year cycle to capture sign-up bonuses from each.
Together, these cards ensure that virtually every pound spent feeds Avios earning — and that two different voucher types accumulate simultaneously, each serving a different travel need.
Points only have value if you avoid interest. Carrying a balance erodes any benefit quickly — often completely. Only spend what you would have spent anyway, pay your statement in full every month, and never borrow for the sake of earning Avios. Every strategy in this guide assumes you are spending money you would spend regardless and paying it off in full.
In the UK, Avios are primarily built through cards. BA American Express forms the foundation with its Companion Voucher. Barclays expands earning to Mastercard acceptance and adds the Upgrade Voucher. Flexible points cards provide optionality. The right setup is not about one “best” card — it is about how they work together to capture every pound of spend and generate two complementary voucher types each year.
Read next → BA Amex Strategy Guide
Read next → BA Upgrade Vouchers Explained
