Best Cards to Earn 1.5 Avios Per £1 After BA Amex Cuts

From 7th October 2026, the British Airways American Express Premium Plus Card will earn just 1.25 Avios per £1 - down from 1.5 Avios per £1 - making it a noticeably weaker everyday spending card. The cut to BA and British Airways Holidays spend is even more dramatic, dropping from 3 Avios per £1 to 1.25 Avios per £1. If you rely on this card as your main Avios earner and tier points are not a priority, it is worth knowing there are still personal credit cards that match or beat the old earn rate.

Before October, the BA Amex Premium Plus offered 1.5 Avios per £1 on everyday spending and 3 Avios per £1 on BA and British Airways Holidays purchases. After 7th October, both rates collapse to a flat 1.25 Avios per £1. The 2-4-1 Companion Voucher and BA Club tier point earning remain, but the core earning rate - the reason many people hold the card day-to-day - will no longer be competitive.

The cards below are personal cards only and each earns at least 1.5 Avios (or equivalent airline miles) per £1. None of them offer a 2-4-1 Companion Voucher or BA tier points, so if those are central to your strategy, you may still want to keep the BA Amex for the 2-4-1 voucher and use one of these as a supplementary card.

The Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard is the most direct like-for-like swap. It earns 1.5 Avios per £1 on all spending, charges a £20 per month fee (reduced to £15 per month if you also hold a Barclays current account with Avios Rewards), and comes with a 25,000 Avios sign-up bonus if you spend £3,000 in your first three months. It also awards a British Airways cabin upgrade voucher when you spend £10,000 in a card year, or 7,000 Avios if you prefer the cash equivalent.

One practical advantage over the BA Amex is that it is a Mastercard, which is accepted almost everywhere - including most councils for council tax payments, where American Express is typically refused. Even cardholders who plan to keep their BA Amex should seriously consider adding the Barclaycard Avios Plus as a backup for Amex-unfriendly merchants.

If you want to see how 1.5 Avios per £1 adds up against your typical annual spend, the Avios Value Calculator can help you model the numbers quickly.

The American Express Preferred Rewards Gold earns 1 Membership Rewards point per £1 at baseline, which converts 1:1 into Avios. That sounds weaker - but the card pays a 5,000-point bonus at £10,000 of annual spend and another 5,000-point bonus at £20,000. Spread across the spend thresholds, both tiers work out to exactly 1.5 points (and therefore 1.5 Avios) per £1 - matching the old BA Amex rate.

There are two additional earn boosts worth noting. Amex Gold gives double points (2 Avios per £1) on all airline spend booked direct with the airline - not just BA, but any airline. It also awards double points on foreign currency transactions, though a 2.99% FX fee applies, so this only makes sense when charging business expenses rather than personal travel spending.

Importantly, Membership Rewards points are more flexible than Avios. As well as converting into Avios, they transfer to Virgin Points, Flying Blue (Air France/KLM), Hilton Honors, Marriott Bonvoy, Accor, Radisson Rewards, Club Eurostar, and others. That optionality is genuinely valuable. Amex Gold is free for the first year, then £195 per year. It also includes four airport lounge passes and £120 of Deliveroo credit annually. One important caveat: if you have held any British Airways American Express card in the past two years, you will not qualify for the sign-up bonus.

The HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard earns 3 HSBC points per £1 on UK spending and 4 points per £1 abroad (2.99% FX fee applies). Each HSBC point converts to 0.5 airline miles, so the base rate is 1.5 Avios per £1 on UK spend. HSBC has also run annual transfer bonuses to Avios - the most recent was a 25% bonus in February 2026. If similar bonuses continue, the effective earn rate rises to approximately 1.875 Avios per £1 on UK spend, making this arguably the highest-earning personal Avios card available.

HSBC Premier points transfer to a broad list of airline partners at the same 2:1 rate, including Avios (British Airways), Cathay Pacific Asia Miles, Emirates Skywards, Flying Blue, Qatar Airways Privilege Club, Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, and several others. The catch is significant: the card is only available to HSBC Premier current account holders, who must either have £100,000 invested with HSBC or earn over £100,000 and receive their salary into the HSBC Premier account. The annual fee is £290, partially offset by a 40,000-point first-year bonus.

The free Barclaycard Avios Mastercard earns 1 Avios per £1 on all spending. After £20,000 of annual spend, you can opt to take 7,000 bonus Avios instead of a cabin upgrade voucher. That brings the total to 27,000 Avios on £20,000 of spending - an effective rate of 1.35 Avios per £1, from a card with no annual fee. It is not as strong as the options above, but it is a meaningful step up from spending on a standard 1 Avios per £1 card.

One recommended approach: apply for the Barclaycard Avios Plus first, earn the 25,000-point sign-up bonus (spending £3,000 in three months), then downgrade or cancel and reapply for the free card. The fee is charged monthly rather than annually, so there is no penalty for changing tiers partway through the year.

If you are open to stepping outside the Avios ecosystem, the Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard earns 1.5 Virgin Points per £1 on all spending, plus a voucher worth 75,000 Virgin Points (subject to terms) when you spend £10,000 in a card year. The annual fee is £160 and the sign-up bonus is 18,000 Virgin Points on hitting a spend target.

Virgin Points open up redemptions on Virgin Atlantic, Air France, KLM, SAS, and other SkyTeam partners. The value per point varies by route and cabin, but for those who already fly Virgin or Air France/KLM, switching currencies entirely may make sense. Use the Virgin Atlantic Points Calculator to compare the redemption value against Avios before making the switch.

To put the differences in concrete terms, here is what £10,000 of annual spending earns on each card:

At a conservative valuation of 1p per Avios, the gap between the new BA Amex rate and the 1.5 Avios cards is £25 per £10,000 of spending. On £20,000 of annual spend that difference reaches £50 - before accounting for any transfer bonuses on the HSBC card. Use the Avios Value Calculator to model your own redemption value.

None of these alternatives earn British Airways Club tier points. If you are working towards BA Silver or Gold status, the BA Amex Premium Plus (or the separate Barclaycard Avios Plus for ground spend tier points) remains relevant even at the lower earn rate.

The earn rate drops from 1.5 Avios per £1 to 1.25 Avios per £1 from 7th October 2026. The bonus rate on BA and British Airways Holidays spend also falls from 3 Avios per £1 to 1.25 Avios per £1 on the same date.

The HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard earns 1.5 Avios per £1 at baseline and has historically offered an annual 25% transfer bonus to Avios, pushing the effective rate to around 1.875 Avios per £1 - the highest of any personal card. However it requires a HSBC Premier current account with £100,000 invested or a £100,000+ salary. For most readers, the Barclaycard Avios Plus at 1.5 Avios per £1 is the most accessible alternative.

Not quite, but the free Barclaycard Avios Mastercard can reach 1.35 Avios per £1 if you spend exactly £20,000 in a card year and take the 7,000-point bonus instead of the upgrade voucher. For a true 1.5 Avios rate with no annual fee, there is no personal card currently available in the UK.

The 2-4-1 Companion Voucher is only available on the British Airways American Express Premium Plus Card - none of the alternative cards above offer an equivalent. If hitting £15,000 of spend per year for the voucher is important to you, it may be worth keeping the BA Amex alongside one of these higher-earning cards for general spending.

The BA Amex Premium Plus earn rate cut from 7th October 2026 makes it noticeably weaker as a day-to-day spending card. For most UK cardholders who prioritise Avios earning over tier points and the 2-4-1 voucher, the Barclaycard Avios Plus is the clearest replacement - same 1.5 Avios per £1 rate, accepted more widely as a Mastercard, and with a 25,000-point sign-up bonus to get started. Amex Gold is worth a look if you spend across multiple airlines or want the flexibility of Membership Rewards points. HSBC Premier World Elite leads the market on headline rate but is realistically only open to a small slice of readers.

If you are unsure whether the maths works for your own spending pattern, run your numbers through the Avios Value Calculator before making any changes to your card setup.

These are the top credit card welcome bonuses we're tracking. Offers change frequently - see all cards.

1. Currensea Hilton Honors Debit Card: 30,000 points after spending £2,500 in 6 months (£1.5/yr)

2. Business Gold Card: 40,000 points after spending £3,000 in 3 months (No annual fee)

3. Currensea Marriott Bonvoy Debit Card: 40,000 points after spending £3,000 in 12 months (£1.75/yr)

Looking to redeem your points? Here's what's available right now (via Award Travel Finder):

Hotels:

Status Matches:

• Flying Blue Status Match - Air France / KLM (SkyTeam)

• Flying Blue UK (BA Status Holders) - Air France / KLM (SkyTeam)

• Flying Blue (Iberia) - Air France / KLM (SkyTeam)

Buy Points & Miles Deals:

Browse every award deal we track at AwardTravelFinder.com →

Award Travel Finder hunts down the best redemptions so you don't have to.

See all deals at AwardTravelFinder.com →