You run a business, you travel for work, you never miss a chance to collect Avios: you might think you already have travel rewards nailed. But if you’re collecting reward points only when you fly, you’re missing out.
This guide is a paid content promotion brought to you by American Express®.
Accelerate your Avios earning. Earn up to 150,000 Avios in your first year with the British Airways American Express Accelerating Business Card.
Representative example: When you spend £1,200 at a purchase rate of 26.3% (variable) p.a. with a fee of £250 per annum, your representative rate is 104.3% APR (variable). Learn more
Using a rewards card for all your day-to-day business spending gets you more rewards, faster. In this guide we cover the BA Amex Accelerating Business Card, which is aimed at SMEs and comes with a with a fee of £250 per annum. These 5 game-changing hacks will make sure you get your money’s worth.
If you spend £5,000 in your first 3 months as a Cardmember, you’ll pick up a 30,000 Avios bonus. That’s more than enough for an off-peak return flight to Italy: you’ll just need to pay £1 plus tax, fees and carrier charges per person. Find out more.
What’s more, you get Avios for every £1 you spend on the Card, so by spending that £5,000 you’ll earn 7,500 Avios on top of your bonus.
Avios is the reward currency used by British Airways, along with Aer Lingus, Qatar Airways and a range of other partner airlines. You can earn Avios directly through flying with these airlines, or by using an Avios credit card like this one. You can spend Avios on flights, upgrades, accommodation, other travel-related costs like car hire, and…wine!
From office snacks to software, business expenses can go on the Card and earn you Avios. The only way you won’t earn is if you use the Card to get a cash advance – you won’t earn any Avios but you will have to pay interest at 29.8%, plus a cash advance fee of 3% (min. £3).
Your monthly software subscriptions? Your ad spend? Finally replacing that company car? It can all go on the Card.
Not only will you earn Avios for each £1 you spend, you’ll also get 56 days interest-free on purchases as long as you pay your balance in full: handy for managing your cash flow when unexpected costs come up.
The Card also offers Purchase Protection and Refund Protection – if you’ve used it to pay for an item that gets stolen or damaged within 90 days, Amex will replace or repair it, or refund you up to £2,500 per eligible item.
Got a supplier that doesn’t accept Amex? Ask to pay through PayPal instead. PayPal will let you select your Amex Card as the payment method, and you’ll still earn Avios for every £1 you spend.
You can apply for up to 99 Employee Cards for your staff to use for work-related spending. Manage your business expenses from one account and earn Avios for the main Cardholder’s Avios account from each Card.(Just remember that as the account holder, you’re liable for the repayments.)
Let’s say your social committee spends £100 on a Card to book a venue for your next team night out, your client liaison lead covers a £200 restaurant bill with their Card, and your marketing manager heads to Edinburgh for a presentation and puts the £500 cost of trains, accommodation and meals on their Card. That’s 1,200 Avios points. Keep that up all year and you’ll have enough Avios for a 5-star hotel stay in Europe.
When you and your team spend £20,000 in a single year, you’ll get a tiered milestone bonus of 10,000 Avios on top of your usual 30,000 Avios. You can get this bonus up to 3 times a year, for a total of 30,000 bonus Avios. Add that to the welcome bonus, and you could earn 150,000 Avios in your first year as a BA Amex Accelerating Business Cardmember, based on spending £60,000, as we show below.
| Regular x Avios | Bonus Avios | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spend £20,000 (including £5,000 in your first 3 months) | 30,000 | 40,000 (that’s the 30,000 welcome bonus plus 10,000 tiered milestone bonus) | 70,000 |
| Spend another £20,000 | 30,000 | 10,000 | 40,000 |
| And another £20,000 | 30,000 | 10,000 | 40,000 |
| Total | 90,000 | 60,000 | 150,000 |
You won’t get the welcome bonus in future years, but you’ll still get the 3 annual bonuses, so that £60,000 will net you 120,000 in Avios every subsequent year.
The Accelerating Business Card is designed for business owners who travel for work and leisure, just like you. As well as providing insurance in the form of Travel Accident Protection and Travel Inconvenience cover, the Card offers 2 On Business Points for every £1 spent with British Airways. That’s double the usual earn rate.
On Business is a reward currency for businesses rather than individuals. Think of it this way: your Avios belong to you; your On Business Points belong to your business. You can earn On Business points with American Airlines, British Airways and Iberia, and redeem them for reward flights and upgrades: ideal if you need to send one of your team to Barcelona or even Boston.
Once you’ve earned On Business Points by booking your flights, make sure you make the most of every opportunity to earn Avios on your trip. For example:
Is the BA Amex Accelerating Business Card right for your business? It depends how much you travel and how much you spend. You’ll get the most out of this card if you fly regularly and you spend at least £60,000 a year. If you’re a much smaller business, you might struggle to justify the £250 per annum fee. To find out more about business credit cards, compare all types in our guide.
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