British Airways American Express Premium Plus: boosted 60,000 Avios welcome bonus

You can get extra Avios points in this boosted welcome deal worth £200 profit

The BA Amex Premium Plus credit card is a decent way to earn Avios points, especially when the welcome offer is boosted. And until October you can get a huge 60,000 points – but only if you apply via British Airways itself.

Here’s everything you need to know, plus how much those points could be worth as Nectar points.

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What is the British Airways American Express Premium Plus credit card?

This credit card (for short we’ll call it the BA Amex Premium Plus) lets you earn Avios points as you spend. You’ll get 1.5 points for every £1.

To get an idea of what that means, you can convert the Avios to Nectar points, and it effectively means you’ll get a rate of 1% back (one point is worth 0.67%). That’s up there with the best cashback or reward cards out there.

But you do need to factor in the annual fee. This stands at £250 for the year, and American Express has recently removed the option to get a pro-rata refund if you cancel or downgrade the card during the year. So, unless you can get one of the other perks from this card, it’s not going to be the best way to earn.

The biggest of those extras is for those new to the card. If so you might be able to get the welcome bonus on top. This can offset the fee, particularly when it’s boosted, as we detail in the rest of the article.

And there’s another perk with the BA Amex Premium Plus. If you spend £10,000 on the card in a year (starting from when you open it), you will get a 2-4-1 voucher to spend on BA flights, including in business and first class.

What are the latest BA Amex welcome offers?

The standard offer for the British Airways American Express Premium Plus is 25,000 points when you spend £3,000 in three months. For the free card it’s 6,000 points when you spend £1,000 in three months.

BA Amex Premium Plus: 60,000 Avios points

From 30 August to 10 October 2023 the welcome bonus is increased on the BA Amex Premium Plus card to a huge 60,000 if you spend £5,000 in the first three months. This is more than double the usual offer of 25,000 points.

You’ll also earn points on your spending, which in total will mean you have at least 67,500 from this card if you meet the spending requirements. That’ll covert to £450 in Nectar points, giving you a profit of £200 (more on this below).

However you won’t find this offer if you go via the American Express website, and there’s an increased minimum spend required to trigger the bonus.

BA Amex: 12,000 Avios points

Also part of this promotion is an increase to the free card bonus to 12,000 Avios points. To get this you only need to spend £1,000 in three months. These points covert to £80 in Nectar points.

I’m not going into detail on this offer in this article, however it’s worth noting you cannot get this free BA card bonus if you’ve had any Amex in the last two years.

Card	Reward type	Normal bonus	Boosted bonus	Offer ends
British Airways American Express Premium Plus credit card	Avios Points	25,000	60,000	10 October 2023
British Airways American Express credit card	Avios Points	6,000	12,000	10 October 2023

How to get the boosted deal

Are you eligible for the offer

First up, you need to be eligible for the welcome deal. Unlike with most other American Express cards you can get this one even if you already have an Amex.

The only cards that rule you out are the two BA Amex cards. So if you’ve had either of these in the last 24 months in your name (supplementary cards added to someone else’s card don’t count) then it’s bad news.

But if it’s been more than two years, or you’ve never had either card, then you’re good to move on to the application stage.

Apply the right way

If you want to check your changes of getting the card first (which I’d strongly encourage), you can check your eligibility via the Amex website. Once this is done, do not then apply for the card. Close the tab down. That’s because this route will only get you the standard 25,000 welcome bonus.

To get this increased offer you need to apply via the British Airways Executive Club. This is BA’s loyalty programme and it’s free to join. You’ll need one anyway with this card as it’s where you’ll access your Avios.

Once you’ve signed in, scroll down. You’ll see the offer listed in the bottom of the lefthand sidebar on desktop or right at the bottom on mobile.

You must click the link there in order for the offer to track. You’ll be taken to an offer landing page with more details, and from there you can apply for the card. This will however take you straight to the application process.

Minimum spend

Once you’ve been accepted for the card you need to spend £5,000 in three months. This will earn you another 7,500 points and earn you a total of 67,500 points.

Swapping your points for £450 in Nectar points

If you don’t want to use them towards flights, you can instead swap them to Nectar points. I think this is the best usage, and those 67,500 points will convert to 90,000 Nectar points – which is worth £450. Here’s my guide to swapping the points.

Of course, you do need to factor in that £250 annual fee, so your profit is going to be £200. Overall that’s not bad, and perhaps a better way of using your points than putting them towards flights.