British Airways and IAG Loyalty have launched two limited-time Avios offers today (9 July 2026), and both are worth a quick look before you reach for your card. There's a 40% bonus when you buy or gift Avios, and a separate 33% uplift in value when you spend Avios on British Airways Holidays packages. You can buy Avios directly over at avios.com, and the holidays offer lives at ba.com/aviosoffer.

Buy-Avios bonuses are rare from BA - we've only seen a small handful this year - so when one lands it's worth running the numbers properly rather than getting swept up in the "40%!" headline. Let's break both down.

This is the headline act. From now until 23:59 BST on 16 July 2026, members of The British Airways Club get a 40% bonus on Avios they buy or gift. It works on purchases from as little as 2,000 Avios, so every 2,000 you buy nets you an extra 800 for free. The offer is available to members globally, with the one exception being those based in Germany.

Ordinarily BA caps you at buying 100,000 Avios per calendar year. During this promotion that cap is lifted to 200,000 base Avios, and because the bonus points don't count towards the limit, you can walk away with up to 280,000 Avios in a single go (assuming you haven't already bought or gifted this year).

This is the bit that matters. BA's standard buy-Avios pricing is tiered - the more you buy, the cheaper each point gets. Without any bonus, you're looking at roughly 2.45p per Avios at the small end (2,000 Avios) dropping to around 1.76p per Avios if you max out at 200,000.

Apply the 40% bonus and those effective rates improve to roughly:

For context, I work on a rough rule of thumb that an Avios is worth about 1p when you're deciding between "fewer Avios, more cash" and "more Avios, less cash" options at checkout. On that conservative basis, even the best-case 1.26p is still above what I'd typically value a point at - so this is not a deal you buy speculatively.

Where it does make sense is if you're topping up for a specific, high-value redemption you've already found space on - think Qatar Airways Qsuite in business class, or a Club World long-haul seat where the cash fare is eye-watering. In those cases, buying the last chunk of Avios you need at ~1.26p and unlocking a seat worth 3p+ per Avios is a clear win. The key word is found - check availability first.

If you want to sanity-check whether buying from BA is even the cheapest route, it's worth comparing against Qatar Airways and Finnair, who also sell Avios and often run their own promotions. Our Avios Balance Booster Calculator does exactly that - pop in what you need and it'll tell you which programme gives you the best rate right now.

I'd be doing you a disservice if I didn't say this plainly: unless you have an immediate redemption lined up, you'll almost always come out ahead earning Avios through everyday spend and welcome bonuses rather than buying them outright. A single credit card sign-up bonus can hand you tens of thousands of Avios for spend you'd be doing anyway.

If that's the route for you, our guides to the best Avios-earning credit cards in the UK and the best business cards for Avios are the place to start. On the personal side, the American Express cards convert to Avios at 1:1, and for limited company directors the Capital on Tap card and Amex Business cards are strong earners with no foreign exchange fees on the former.

The second offer is a quieter one but arguably better value for the right person. From 9 to 14 July 2026, when you use Avios towards a British Airways Holidays Flight + Hotel or Flight + Car package, your Avios are worth 33% more. It applies to all destinations, for travel between 9 July 2026 and 27 March 2027, and it's UK market only.

In plain terms, you use fewer Avios to unlock the same saving. BA's own worked example: a four-night trip to New York in World Traveller (economy) would normally need around 56,275 Avios to knock £242 off the price. During this offer, that same £242 saving costs just 42,206 Avios. That's roughly a 25% reduction in the Avios required for the identical discount - a tidy uplift if a package holiday was already on your radar.

The exact Avios-and-cash split you're offered varies by package, cabin, destination and party size, and you'll see the options on the "Add Extras" page during booking. My take: this is a genuinely decent way to burn Avios if you were going to book a BA Holidays package anyway - but I wouldn't contort your plans around it. It's a "nice bonus on something I was doing" offer, not a "change my summer plans" one.

Two very different offers here. The 40% buy-Avios bonus is the flashier of the pair but the narrower in usefulness - only worth it if you've got a specific, high-value redemption you can actually book. The BA Holidays uplift is the sleeper: less shouty, but if a package holiday was already on the cards it's close to free extra value.

As always, the golden rule with buying points holds: never buy speculatively. Points programmes devalue, and Avios expire after 36 months of inactivity. Buy for a plan you've already got, not a plan you hope to have.

If you're weighing up where those Avios could actually take you, our how many Avios you need for a BA flight tool covers every route from London, and Award Travel Finder will hunt down live award space across BA, Iberia and oneworld partners so you can see whether the seat you want is even available before you commit a penny.

Safe travels, and spend those Avios wisely,

Jack