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All six avios.com sale offers revealed early

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My earlier article today said that the first avios.com sale offer would be revealed at lunchtime.  However, you don’t need to wait, as I have them all for you here!

These are the headlines – I have no idea what the terms and conditions are, whether deals are limited to various routes etc.

50% off Avios required for long-haul flights – noon Mon 6 to noon Wed 8

25% off car hire – noon Wed 8 to noon Fri 10

50% off hotel bookings – noon Fri 10 to noon Mon 13

Reward Flight Saver tickets reduced to £1 – noon Mon 13 to noon Wed 15 (see image above!)

50% off hotel bookings (again, a mistake?) – noon Wed 15 to noon Fri 17

40% off Eurostar – noon Fri 17 to noon Mon 20th

The first offer – 50% off long-haul redemptions – goes live at noon.  I don’t know yet if it will be just for economy flights or for all classes, and if all routes are included.

What this list does tell us is that ba.com cannot be offering exactly the same deals as avios.com, because they do not allow Eurostar bookings.

Meanwhile, over at ba.com ….

The first ba.com sale flights have been loaded in the system.

New York, for instance, is coming up at 20,000 Avios in World Traveller.  Unfortunately, all other flight classes are still showing at full price.  Given that taxes are £353, this is still a pretty poor deal unless you are booking for peak season or need the flexibility to cancel which a cash ticket wouldn’t give you.

The full destination list is Boston, Chicago, Dubai, Denver, Shanghai, New York, Toronto, Washington. World Traveller (economy) only for travel by 31 May. It says you must depart from London but its worth trying with a regional connection.

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

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:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

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Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

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

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

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British Airways American Express

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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.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

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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.

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

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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.

American Express Business Platinum

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American Express Business Gold

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

Category

British Airways and Avios

Comments (143)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Mick says:
    6 Jan6 January 10:18

    Can the 50% be used with a BAPP AMEX 241 voucher?

    • Manuel says:
      6 Jan6 January 10:20

      Ok. Is BA already live and some destinations?

    • Andy says:
      6 Jan6 January 10:37

      I think a previous post said no, perhaps it can only be used with a BAEC account not Avios.com, but I’m no expert.

  • Bobby says:
    6 Jan6 January 10:19

    Do you think you will be able to use the Amex 2-4-1 with the 50% off? 60k for 2 club returns to BKK sounds to good to be true!

    Although having said that I am £5 off getting my 2-4-1 as I have been waiting to trigger it (card year end is July ’14). If I was to spent that £5 now how long will it take to activate the 2-4-1 voucher? Will I make it!

    • Rob says:
      6 Jan6 January 10:27

      Yes, in the past ba.com discounted redemptions have been combinable with a 241.

      • Bobby says:
        6 Jan6 January 12:00

        Thanks Raffels! do you know how long for the Amex 2-4-1 to activate?

        • Rob says:
          6 Jan6 January 12:21

          Within 72 hours of the transaction that takes you over £10k posting to your Amex statement

  • squills says:
    6 Jan6 January 10:20

    Yep I’m getting

    Unfortunately, it is not currently possible to combine your Avios online due to a technical error. We apologise for any inconvenience this causes you. Please contact your local Executive Club service centre to combine your Avios.

    Bad luck for long haulers but should be fixed soon, best of British 😉

    • thesaver79 says:
      6 Jan6 January 10:22

      See my comment above, you can do it on the avios.com site.

      • squills says:
        6 Jan6 January 10:27

        Not sure I can do it from BMI —> Avios.com, do you happen to know?

        • squills says:
          6 Jan6 January 11:30

          Thanks Raffles, hadn’t thought of that 😉

          • squills says:
            6 Jan6 January 11:54

            Not working any more Raffles: Diamond Club redirect you to the BAEC site, which is still down.

            Won’t be down forever though 😉

      • Rich says:
        6 Jan6 January 10:34

        +1 this is definitely working. Hover over ‘My Account’ and click on Combine My Avios (2nd link from the bottom)

  • squills says:
    6 Jan6 January 10:21

    In passing, I’ve been waiting (like many) for the bonus convo from Tesco – but I guess RFS = £1 would tempt me out 😉

  • flood says:
    6 Jan6 January 10:25

    Couple of questions, would be grateful if anyone could shed any light.

    How long does it generally take for Tesco -> BA conversions?

    Any ideas if BA will be adding any award availability during this sale period? It’s all well and good to advertise 50% off but if there are no seats to book it’s somewhat moot…

    • Rob says:
      6 Jan6 January 10:27

      Generally 2-3 days.

      Unlikely that availability will improve, to be honest, but you never know. Annoyingly, availability is often worse during BA ‘cash ticket’ sales and we are in one of those periods until the end of January.

  • Rich says:
    6 Jan6 January 10:39

    I’m jumping on this. Transferred all my CC points yesterday. I was holding out for a Tesco conversion bonus but I have a number of bookings which I can’t delay any longer.

  • Susan says:
    6 Jan6 January 10:40

    T&Cs for Avios offers say WT only . Clicking through (Toronto, mid May) is offering, one way: WT at 10k WY+ at 30k, J at 40k and F at 60k

    “The required amount of Avios will be reduced by 50% on the following destinations departing from London; Boston, Chicago, Dubai, Denver, Shanghai, New York, Toronto, Washington for bookings in World Traveller made between 12.00pm 06/01/14 GMT and 11.59am 08/01/14 GMT for travel completed by 31/05/14. 

    All flights depart from London airports. The full airline taxes, fees and carrier charges will apply. 

    All flights are subject to Avios terms and conditions. Flights are strictly subject to availability which may be very limited or not available on some routes at certain times.

    *Plus taxes, fees and carrier charges. Prices are per person. 

    This offer cannot be combined with any other offer [but may be used with the Lloyds Credit Card Companion Vouchers]. “

    • MaltapointsTom says:
      6 Jan6 January 11:00

      Yes – 50% off World Traveller fares is still 20k Avios plus £355 to New York for example. Not very tempting really, especially when compared to the recent Iberia sale + tax rates.

    • Eshaq Choudhury says:
      6 Jan6 January 10:59

      Seems to allow booking at sale rates for dates later than 31/05/2014.

    • pazza2000 says:
      6 Jan6 January 11:36

      Are you seeing discounted rates (to Toronto) in CW/F via Avios.com?

      • Susan says:
        6 Jan6 January 12:18

        Don’t think so – the 60k one way rate is the standard not discounted I believe.

  • Roger says:
    6 Jan6 January 11:10

    I just made 2 dummy bookings to JFK for May. At avios.com,
    only WT available: 40,000 Avios plus £710 extras for 2 of us
    return. At ba.com, also 40,000 Avios + £710

    • Chris says:
      6 Jan6 January 11:12

      Isn’t that the regular cost?

    • Roger says:
      6 Jan6 January 11:35

      Regular price for 1 is 40,000 Avios + £355-ish. The 40,000 Avios + £710 I mentioned was for the two of us.

      • chris says:
        6 Jan6 January 12:11

        I was refering to the 160,000 CW ticket you said you were interested in

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