Do British Airways Avios Points Expire? Here’s What You Need to Know

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INSIDER SECRET: British Airways Avios expire … but they’re super easy to keep from expiring and worth it with sweet redemptions like transferring to Iberia to save big on fuel surcharges.

Avios are among the easiest types of points to keep from expiring because of British Airways’ relaxed rules that allow you to reset your Avios expiration as long as you earn, share, spend or purchase Avios within a certain time frame.

And it’s easy to meet the specifications to keep your British Airways Avios from expiring. We’ll show you below.

Do British Airways Avios Points Expire?

Per British Airways, as long as you earn or spend 1 Avios every 36 months, your points won’t expire. All you have to do is earn, purchase, share or spend.

I’ll show you what qualifies for each of these!

Earning British Airways Avios Points

Link: Collecting Avios

There are so many easy ways to earn British Airways Avios points. You can book flights, hotel stays, car rentals, vacations and more.

A quick way to earn that single “Avio” may be at the British Airways shopping portal, where you can buy something you’ve been itching to purchase anyway.

Also, transfers from partners like Amex Membership Rewards or Chase Ultimate Rewards qualify as earning.

Spending British Airways Avios Points

Link: Spending Avios

It’s just as easy to spend Avios as it is to earn them. You can use your points to book flights, hotel stays, car rentals, etc. You can even use your Avios for flight upgrades and food.

Purchasing British Airways Avios Points

Link: Purchasing Avios

We rarely encourage folks to purchase points because it’s usually better to earn points from a welcome bonus. But sometimes you need to purchase points to top off an account or keep an account balance from expiring.

Gifting Avios works the same way, but you can designate someone else to receive whatever amount of points you purchase. Just remember that you have to purchase a minimum of 1,000 points and can purchase a maximum of 100,000 at a time.

Sharing British Airways Avios Points

Link: Sharing Avios

As long as you have 1,000 Avios, you can transfer them to another Avios account for a steep fee of $37.50. And the fee increases with the number of Avios transferred. We don’t recommend this option if you’re trying to keep your account balance from expiring. It’s easier and more valuable to use one of the above methods.

Cards That Earn British Airways Avios Points

Transfers from partners like Amex Membership Rewards or Chase Ultimate Rewards qualify as earning, so it’s beneficial to have one of the following cards in your wallet if you need to transfer points to your Avios account to reset the 36-month clock.

The British Airways, Iberia and Aer Lingus Visa Signature® Cards earn British Airways directly through everyday spending and welcomes bonuses. But we prefer earning flexible and transferable rewards like Chase Ultimate Rewards and Amex Membership Rewards.

Chase Ultimate Rewards Earning Cards

Chase Ultimate Rewards points are great for many reasons. One is that they are easy to earn. There are so many cards you can use to collect them, including:

• Ink Business Preferred Credit Card (top small business card)
• Chase Sapphire Preferred Card (best card for beginners)
• Chase Sapphire Reserve (top premium travel card)
• Ink Business Cash Credit Card
• Ink Business Unlimited Credit Card
• Chase Freedom
• Chase Freedom Unlimited

The information for the Chase Freedom card has been collected independently by Million Mile Secrets. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

The most valuable Ultimate Rewards card is the Chase Sapphire Reserve. The Chase Ultimate Rewards points expiration policy is never an issue, so our team members happily keep their cards open year after year.

Amex Membership Rewards Earning Cards

I’ve recently started to expand into the Amex Membership Rewards world, and I’m liking it a lot. There are a ton of transfer partners, like British Airways, and the Amex Offers are great.

• The Platinum Card® from American Express (best Amex card for flights)
• Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express (best Amex card for cash back)
• The Business Platinum Card® from American Express (best Amex card for small businesses)
• The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express (best Amex card with no annual fee) (See Rates & Fees)

You can even transfer Marriott Bonvoy points and Hilton Honors points to British Airways Avios but at a much smaller rate. Try to stay away from this option unless absolutely necessary, because it’s not the best deal.

Bottom Line

British Airways Avios points are awesome because they’re easy to keep from expiring and they have a shelf life of at least 36 months.

To reset that 36-month time frame, just earn, share, purchase or spend at least one point. You can even transfer points from Amex Membership Rewards or Chase Ultimate Rewards to keep your Avios from expiring.

What’s your favorite method to keep your Avios from disappearing?

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For rates and fees of the Blue Business Plus card, click here.