One of the perks of Barclays Premier Banking is being able to enrol in Barclays Avios Rewards. This is essentially an Avios subscription service with a few extra benefits. For £12 per month you’ll receive 1,500 Avios per month, a signup bonus, an annual British Airways cabin upgrade voucher and lounge access.
It is worth noting however that to be eligible for Barclays Avios Rewards you have to have a Barclays Premier Banking Account. This is Barclays “premium” current account and has a few requirements to meet. You’ll either have to:
- Hold over £100,000 with barclays in savings or investments accounts
- Pay a gross annual salary of £75,000 or more into your Barclays Premier account
If you can meet these requirements then I definitely recommend Barclays Avios Rewards, for reasons I’ll discuss below…
British Airways & Avios
British Airways is one of the largest airlines in Europe and the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom. They are owned by International Airlines Group (IAG) who also own Aer Lingus, Iberia and Vueling. Whilst none of those airlines are especially noteworthy in my opinion, they do benefit from a wide route network and unified reward program. Through flying British Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingus, Vueling and pretty much any Oneworld airline you can earn Avios. All you need to do is create a British Airways Executive Club Account and you can start earning. I wrote an in depth article on the British Airways Executive Club here. So please check it out if you want to know the best ways to earn and spend Avios.
Monthly Avios & Signup Bonus
For £12 you’ll get 1,500 Avios each month. Even without any of the other perks this alone is actually quite a good deal. The Points Guy UK values Avios at 1.1p per point whilst the best rate I’ve been able to achieve is 1.5p per Avios. This means by paying £12 you’ll be getting anywhere from £16.5 to £22.5 worth of Avios per month. This is a lot better than just breaking even so if you know you’ll be using Avios for flights it is definitely worth doing this to beef up your Avios
The joining bonus will vary depending on how long you’ve been with Barclays. If you’ve opened or switched into this account within the last 3 months (and this is your first Barclays account), you’ll receive 25,000 Avios. If you’ve been with Barclays for more than 4 months you’ll get just 2,500 Avios.
Clearly this deal works best if you’re a new barclays customer. 25,000 Avios could be worth over £300 if you use it correctly. Sadly for me, I’ve been with barclays for years so could only get 2,500 Avios. This meant I was able to earn 20,500 Avios in my first year, reducing to 18,000 in future years. That’s easily enough for a return flight in Europe in Economy. And almost enough for business class (a return business flight from London to Geneva cost me 30,000 Avios).
Anniversary Voucher
Perhaps the best perk of Barclays Avios Rewards is a free cabin upgrade voucher once a year on your signup anniversary. This voucher can be used to upgrade from Economy to Premium Economy. Or Premium Economy to Business, but unfortunately they can’t be used for an upgrade to First Class. You can see all the terms of the upgrade voucher on British Airways website here.
It’s very hard to put a value on a cabin upgrade voucher, but consider an upgrade from Premium Economy to Business Class. The value of this upgrade on a long haul flight could be worth hundreds or potentially thousands of pounds. Of course, the voucher is only worth it if you plan on flying at least once a year with British Airways, preferably long haul. But if you do regularly fly long haul it is probably one of the cheapest ways to get a cabin upgrade.
Lounge Access
Finally Barclays Avios Rewards also offers discounted airport lounge entry through DragonPass. They don’t really provide much information about this but considering it’s only discounted entry and not free entry I don’t think this perk is useful.
Bottom Line
If you’re a Barclays Premier Banking customer and regularly fly British Airways then Barclays Avios Rewards is a no brainer in my opinion. For £12 a month you’ll get about £20 worth of Avios a month which is enough for a return economy flight in Europe.
Whilst I don’t think the lounge access is worth mentioning, the cabin upgrade voucher could really come in handy and save hundreds of pounds. Finally, if you’re eligible the signup bonus can also make the offer even more appealing.
More from me…
Please feel free to check out other related posts I’ve written:
- British Airways Avios Subscription – Another Avios subscription from British Airways
- British Airways Club Europe Trip Report – Geneva to London Flight
- British Airways Executive Club – The Complete Guide
And if you fancy earning some fantastic rewards and Avios points through American Express, please use my referral links below:
- The Platinum Card – You Receive 50,000 Membership Reward points after spending £3,000 in the first 3 months: https://americanexpress.com/en-gb/referral/fREDEGgRA5?CPID=100493012
- British Airways Card: You Receive 8,000 Avios after spending £1,000 in the first 3 months: https://americanexpress.com/en-gb/referral/fREDEG42lN?CPID=100503089