The Avios earning rate on BA Holidays is sharply reduced

Back in January, I wrote this article explaining the good deals that could be secured via BA Holidays. In particular, how booking a hotel and flight package could be cheaper than just booking a flight – a topic I am returning to in a few days.

One extra upside was bonus Avios points. BA has historically offered 5,000 Avios for a short-haul holiday (ie a flight and hotel booked together) – and that is on top of your BA Amex points (doubled on the BA Premium Plus Amex card as it is classed as BA spend) and the Avios from your flight.

This part of this deal has now been significantly devalued, however.

The new BA Holidays home page is here.

Instead of earning 5,000 bonus Avios on a short-haul break, you now earn 2 bonus Avios per £1 spent. Given that a typical weekend away with Club Europe flights is under £1,000, the bonus has come down sharply.

BA Holidays is still worth a look if you are planning a weekend away, especially if a package is cheaper than just the flights. You can also get away with just paying a £150 deposit, whilst booking just flights would require the full amount to be paid upfront.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2024)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.