Have you ever found yourself asking what is the best UK credit card for earning air miles? Then you’re in luck! American Exress offer two different British Airways Credit Cards to earn Avios points. In this post I’ll discuss whether you should get the free or premium version and explore how it compares to competitors. So here I ask the question: Is the Amex British Airways Premium Plus Card worth it?
British Airways American Express Card – No fee
To start with I’ll cover the card I personally own, the British Airways American Express Card. This is essentially the basic version with no annual fee. You’ll earn 1 Avios per £1 spent and a companion voucher after spending £12,000 (I’ll talk more on that later).
Currently Amex are running a signup offer where you’ll receive 5,000 Avios if you spend £1,000 in the first 3 months of card ownership. This is a relatively easy goal to meet so should be free points.
However, if you use my referral link you could earn 12,000 Avios after spending £1,000!
British Airways American Express Premium Plus – £195 Annual Fee
The British Airways American Express Premium Plus Card is the premium option offered by Amex. You’ll earn 1.5 Avios per £1 spent and a premium companion voucher after spending £10,000. These better perks come at a cost however, specifically and annual fee of £250.
With the Premium Plus card you can access a much better signup bonus of 25,000 Avios after spending £3,000 in the first 3 months. This could be worth £275+ but obviously you’ll need to assess your personal spending to decide if you’ll be able to reach that level of spending in 3 months without financial difficulty.
Comparison
I’ve compiled a table to make a rough estimate of the Avios value you could potentially earn with each card at different annual spending levels. I’ve used The Points Guy UK‘s estimate of 1.1p per Avios in redemption value. In practice I’ve actually found you can get more than this, but is is highly dependant on route, travel date and cabin class. Most recently I was able to redeem Avios at a value of about 1.5p per Avios. I used it on a return flight in Club Europe from London to Geneva for 30,000 Avios which I reviewed here. If I were to pay with cash for the same flights it would have cost over £400.
I found that if you spend around £5k or less a year then definitely get the free card. If you spend £10k or more then it is worth getting the Premium Plus card. Especially considering you’ll get a Premium companion voucher which is potentially worth £1,000s.
More importantly though, the companion voucher on the standard card is only redeemable on economy flights, whilst the Premium Plus card companion voucher is redeemable in any cabin including business class (Club World). This is a pretty huge difference in my opinion. If you’re fine flying economy then the standard card is the way to go. But I feel that if you’re going to redeem a companion voucher it’s much better to go business class. This limitation would certainly make me recommend the Premium Plus card. After all an economy companion voucher is only worth about £800, but a Premium Plus companion voucher could be redeemed for as much as £2,400 according to this article by The Points Guy UK. Finally the Premium Plus Companion Voucher is valid for 24 months compared to only 12 months on the standard card.
Alternatives
Barclaycard Avios
Barclaycard offer two different credit cards which are almost identical in benefits to the two American Express cards I’ve discussed above. I wrote in detail about the potential points earnings you could get with the Barclaycard Avios here. I also have the free version of the Barclaycard Avios as a backup for when American Express isn’t accepted.
First is the standard “Barclaycard Avios” which will earn 1 Avios per £1 spent and a companion voucher after spending £20,000. Then the “Barclaycard Avios Plus” which earns 1.5 Avios per £1 spent and a companion voucher after spending £10,000. The extra earnings on the plus version do come at the cost of £20 per month however. Both cards also have a signup bonus at the time of writing. 5,000 Avios after spending £1,000 on the free version, and 25,000 Avios after spending £3,000 on the plus card. Both of these spending goals need to be met within the first 3 months.
Really choosing between the Barclaycard and Amex cards comes down to personal preference as they are extremely similar. Consider how many of your most visited shops accept Amex.
The Virgin Atlantic Credit Card
Virgin Atlantic also offer two tiers of credit cards which are again almost identical to both the American Express British Airways card and the Barclaycard Avios. The only difference being you earn Virgin miles instead of British Airways. Potential earnings are very similar so really it comes down to which airline you prefer flying with. Additionally you should consider which Airline Alliance you most often fly with and want to earn status with. British Airways are part of the Oneworld Alliance whilst Virgin are soon to join Skyteam. I wrote a full article on which is the best airline alliance here if you want to learn more.
I’ve included a short breakdown on what kind of value you can get out of each card using The Points Guy’s estimate of 1.2p per mile. Assuming they keep the 15,000 signup bonus the Reward+ card is definitely worth the annual fee.
American Express Platinum Card
The American Express Platinum Card is a more premium offering from Amex which earns Membership Reward (MR) points instead of Avios. These MR points can be converted to many different airlines and other partners, meaning far more redemption options. It is also great if you’re easily impressed by shiny things like me. The card is made out of metal which is just cool in my opinion and feels good when using.
It really comes down to whether you plan to maximise your spending or not but the American Express Platinum Card definitely has the potential to be the highest earning points credit card in the UK. Even with the £575 fee I’ve easily been able to get £000s of value out of it. It is worth considering though if these benefits are actually worth it for you. If you don’t ever buy from Harvey Nichols, eat at fine dining restaurants or visit airport lounge then you won’t be able to fully utilise the card. I’ve compared the potential earnings at different spend levels for the basic British Airways card and the Platinum card below:
Conclusion
Overall I would say the Premium Plus card is the clear winner but you should consider what you will use the card for. If you plan on using one of these as your primary credit card and will be able to reach the companion voucher the Premium Plus version is the best choice. If you’re like me and won’t spend enough to get a companion voucher then just go with the free version.
The American Express British Airways Card is very competitive compared to its rivals. I have both the Amex and Barclaycard Avios and earn similar points on each. The big difference is that American Express will often run cashback offers. For instance I recently used a Fairmont hotels offer of “Spend £750 get £100 back”. Barclaycard don’t have such lucrative and wideranding offers. If you want to earn Virgin Atlantic miles instead then their credit card is the best choice.
More from me…
Please feel free to check out other related posts I’ve written:
- Best Airlines in the World – If you want to find out which airlines I think are better than British Airways, read this…
- Best Airline Alliances and why you should care– For a guide on how to decide between Oneworld, Star Alliance and Skyteam.
- Best Airline Reward Programs – What I think are the best airline reward programs from each alliance, for those based in the UK.
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 35,000 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 12,000 Avios after spending £1,000 in the first 3 months: https://americanexpress.com/en-gb/referral/fREDEGuUeO?CPID=100493012