British Airways American Express: Earn 25% Bonus Avios, and Tier Points Are Returning
- Sam
- Feb 25
- 3 min read
Twenty-five years ago, American Express and British Airways launched what would become one of the most popular credit card partnerships in the UK. A quarter of a century later, the two are marking the occasion with a year of promises: bonus Avios, exclusive prizes, experiences, and more surprises still to be revealed.
But today, they've announced 25% more Avios for holders of both the free British Airways American Express and the Premium Plus cards, and teased that tier points are coming back for spend on the Premium Plus.
Here's what you need to know.
British Airways American Express 25% Bonus Avios Offer: What You Actually Get
Both the free British Airways American Express card and the Premium Plus are kicking off the celebrations with a bonus Avios offer. The headline framing is "25% more Avios," which sounds great, but that's not quite what's on offer.
Free card holders get 500 bonus Avios for spending £2,000 by 8th April 2026. Premium Plus holders get 1,500 bonus Avios for spending £4,000 by the same date. In both cases it's a flat bonus for crossing the spending threshold, and not a 25% uplift applied to everything you spend. The "25% more" figure refers only to what you'd earn on the qualifying spend at the standard earn rate. Calling it 25% more Avios is a slightly odd way to frame what is, in practice, a fixed bonus for hitting a target.
That's not to say it's a bad offer. I'm not going to be turning down 1,500 Avios for everyday spend that I'd make anyway, and the same goes for the free card's 500 Avios for £2,000.
One important detail: the offers need to be saved to your card to activate, either in the app or on the Amex website. The offers are also capped at 200,000 cardmembers, so it's worth doing that sooner rather than later.
Tier points are returning to the British Airways Premium Plus
In the email to BA Premium Plus holders, Amex confirms that from April 2026 BAPP holders will once again be able to earn tier points on everyday card spending. No rate has been announced yet, but we've been here before and can make a reasonable guess at what to expect.
When the last tier point offer ran on the BAPP from June 2025 through to February 2026, holders could earn a maximum of 2,500 tier points per year, which required £25,000 of card spend. BA confirmed at the time that the offer would return from April 2026, which conveniently lines up exactly with this announcement.
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To put that in context: Bronze status requires 3,500 tier points, Silver status requires 7,500 tier points, and Gold requires 20,000. At an effective rate 1 tier point per £10 spent if you spent £25,000, card spend alone didn't get people to Bronze. This offer worked well as a top-up alongside flying, and was particularly useful for anyone who found themselves a few hundred tier points short at the end of their membership year.
Whether this becomes a permanent feature of the card or is yet another time-limited promotion remains to be seen. Last time around it was the latter, as a means of placating members disgruntled with the changes to the BA Club.
We'll be covering the full details as soon as they're confirmed.
More to come, but tell us, what do you want?
Amex is promising more surprises throughout the anniversary year, without giving much away. So we'll put it to you, what would you like to see? Concorde tours? A higher Avios earn rate? Transfer bonuses? Something to make the annual fee feel a little more justified for those who don't fly enough to trigger the companion voucher?
Let us know in the comments, we'd really love to hear what you're hoping for, and you never know, someone from BA/Amex may just see your idea and run with it...
Sam
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