In mid-2024 we wrote in detail about British Airways’ “Balance Boost” option for buying Avios points, a feature first launched in 2023 that allows you to double (1x), triple (2x) or quadruple (3x) any British Airways Avios you have earned in the last 30 days, by paying what we reckon is a pretty reasonable fee.

This includes points you have accrued in the programme through flight activity, shopping, hotel points transfers or – perhaps most crucially – via most credit card points transfers.

It can be a very useful way to accumulate a larger Avios balance for a reasonable cost, and over the next few days the airline has an attractive promotion running that you might want to take a look at.

Limited time: Boost your 2024 Avios accruals up to 4x

Usually you can use BA’s “Avios Balance Boost” option to apply a multiplier of 1x, 2x or 3x to Avios collected only over the last 30 days.

However, for the next four days, the airline is allowing you to:

• Boost all Avios accrued in 2024, and between 1st January 2025 and 3rd February 2025, via eligible transactions, provided they have not been boosted before
• Boost Avios by up to 4x (i.e. quintuple them), rather than the usual maximum of 3x (quadrupling them)

For example, under this offer you could boost a January 2024 transfer of 25,000 HSBC Reward points into 10,000 British Airways Avios fourfold, netting an additional 40,000 Avios (for an effective total of 50,000 Avios), at a cost of US$480 (~S$648).

That’s assuming, of course, that you didn’t boost that transfer already, within 30 days of first initiating it.

Multiply the Avios you’ve collected from 2024 by up to 4 times. That’s the whole year’s worth, rather than the usual 30 days.

British Airways

The cost per Avios point for the 4x multiplier option matches that of the year-round 3x transfer one, making it the lowest rate available through the “Avios Balance Boost” programme. The exact pricing varies based on the currency linked to your BAEC account, determined by your registered address, as shown below.

British Airways Executive Club Avios Boost Rates (first 300,000 Avios per year)
Account Currency	1x	2x	3x or 4x
GBP	£0.0096	£0.0094	£0.0092
USD	$0.0125	$0.0122	$0.0120
EUR	€0.0115	€0.0113	€0.0111

As you can see the cost per Avios reduces slightly as you boost in larger multiples, though the limited-time 4x offer sadly doesn’t get a further discount, compared to the year-round 3x one.

If like me your BA Avios account is registered in the UK, you’re lucky enough to be able to boost your Avios balance from as little as 0.92 British pence (~1.55 Singapore cents each), but if like most of our Singapore-based readers your pricing is denominated in USD, it’s a slightly steeper 1.2 US cents (~1.62 Singapore cents each).

The rates shown above are only valid for the first 300,000 Avios you boost in a calendar year. If you boost further Avios after that, the rate becomes very expensive, and this is unlikely to be worth it, as shown below.

British Airways Executive Club Avios Boost Rates (over 300,000 Avios per year)
Account Currency	1x	2x	3x	4x
GBP	£0.0177
USD	$0.0230
EUR	€0.0212

You can check how many Avios in your BAEC account are eligible for boosting by logging on to your account and clicking ‘Buy Avios’ then ‘Balance Boost’.

Note that you won’t be able to boost points credited to your account via:

• Avios conversions from other Avios partners like Qatar Airways and Finnair
• Avios exchanged from shopping partners, like Nectar in the UK
• Avios purchased, shared or gifted

How it looks for me

In mid-2024, I already quadrupled an HSBC Reward points transfer using the Avios Boost 3x option, as outlined in this detailed article, so those Avios in my BA account are no longer eligible to be boosted again.

However, I later earned 2,425 Avios from a hotel stay in September 2024, which I didn’t boost at the time. As a result, this small balance is eligible for the latest offer.

Here are the boost multipliers and prices on offer for me to hike this 2,425 Avios points accrual, if I wish to do so.

As you can see, I can buy up to 9,700 additional Avios points here for GBP 89.24 (around S$150), a cost of approximately 1.55 Singapore cents per point, which is quite attractive.

I’m probably not taking the plunge with this, only because I already have a healthy Avios balance – maybe a little too high in fact – something I’m working to reduce in the coming weeks with a number of redemptions for the rest of 2025.

However, if I were to buy the additional points the process is instant via credit card. The Avios would then be added to my account instantly, as they were when I boosted my 10,000 Avios transfer by a further 30,000 points back in June last year.

Do note that BA states that immediate crediting applies “in most cases”, adding that “there may be occasions where there is a delay of up to 3 working days in the Avios being credited to your account”.

Full terms and conditions for the “Avios Balance Boost” option, including those that apply to this promotional deal, are available here.

Deadline: 4th February 2025

This offer ends at 11.59pm GMT on Monday 3rd February 2025, which is 7.59am on Tuesday 4th February 2025 Singapore Time.

You’ll therefore need to take a look at your eligible 2024 BA Avios accruals over the next few days and take the plunge with this deal before that time, if you’re interested.

After that, you’ll return to being able to boost only eligible accruals made over the last 30 days, by a maximum of 3x – the year-round deal.

BA Avios can be transferred to other programmes

Remember that British Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingus, Qatar Airways, and Finnair share the same Avios currency.

This allows seamless transfers between accounts once linked via British Airways, even those accrued though boosting.

Avios can be instantly and freely transferred at a 1:1 ratio to Qatar Airways or Finnair, unlocking additional redemption options such as Bangkok Airways awards and Cathay Pacific intra-Asia flights with lower Avios requirements and no fuel surcharges.

Which banks transfer to BA Avios in Singapore?

You can transfer credit card points to British Airways Avios from four banks in Singapore, as shown below.

Singapore Bank to BA Avios transfer partners

= Same transfer ratio as a KrisFlyer conversion
= Poorer transfer ratio than a KrisFlyer conversion

Note that, apart from having a poor transfer ratio, OCBC to BAEC transfers are not eligible for the Avios Balance Boost – so you’ll only see Amex, Citi and HSBC transfers on your list.

Here’s what we know about transfers into BA Avios that then can and can’t be boosted:

  Can be boosted:

• Amex US
• Barclaycard UK
• Capital One US
• Chase US
• Citi SG
• HSBC SG
• Heathrow Rewards
• IHG
• Marriott Bonvoy

  Can’t be boosted:

• Bilt Rewards US
• Heymax Max Miles
• OCBC SG

Good value Avios awards

If you’re not too familiar with the kind of awards you can unlock using Avios points in this part of the world, while the programme certainly can’t compete with KrisFlyer in terms of the scale of options available, there are still some great Oneworld and partner redemption opportunities worth knowing about.

These include:

• Malaysia Airlines Singapore to KL Business Class for 12,500 Avios (for a Oneworld ‘lounge safari’ at Changi).
• Finnair Business Class Singapore to Helsinki for 62,500 Avios, with minimal taxes and good award space.
• Qantas Singapore to Perth for 38,750 Avios in Business Class or 13,000 Avios in Economy Class.
• Qatar Airways Qsuite trips from Singapore to Europe for 70,000 to 75,000 Avios.

Finnair Business Class to Helsinki is the cheapest miles award in this cabin between Singapore and Europe – 40% less than the 103,500 KrisFlyer miles Singapore Airlines charges for a Saver award in this cabin on its own non-stop Europe flights.

As noted earlier, you can link your British Airways Executive Club and Qatar Airways Privilege Club accounts, allowing free 1:1 Avios transfers between them. This also grants access to additional ‘sweet spot’ redemptions within the Qatar Airways programme, such as:

• Great value Cathay Pacific intra-Asia awards in long-haul J seats, with no fuel surcharge, like Singapore – Bangkok in Business Class for 16,500 Avios + S$67 and Singapore – Hong Kong for 22,000 Avios + S$67.
• Bangkok Airways Singapore – Koh Samui flights for 6,000 Avios.
• Virgin Australia flights from 6,000 Avios in Economy Class and 12,000 Avios in Business Class.

British Airways is offering a limited-time enhancement to its “Avios Balance Boost” deal, with an opportunity to multiply all your Avios accrued in 2024 (and indeed through to early February 2025) by up to 4x, at an attractive cost of approximately 1.6 Singapore cents per mile.

This promotion allows you to accumulate a much larger Avios balance than you may have thought you could achieve for future redemptions, at a reasonable price, but you’ll have to take the plunge before 8am Singapore Time on 4th February 2025.

Boosted Avios can be transferred freely between British Airways, Qatar Airways, Finnair, and Iberia, unlocking valuable redemption options like lower-cost Cathay Pacific intra-Asia flights and Bangkok Airways awards.

As always though, don’t buy Avios via this Boost offer unless you have a firm plan on how to use them, ideally with award space you have already checked in advance.

No-notice devaluations in the Avios programme have happened before, and could easily happen again.

(Cover Photo: British Airways)