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British Airways opens up 13,000 Club World seats for Avios over Christmas

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Instead of holding a last minute £1,000 sale, as they did last year, British Airways has decided to drops its unsold Club World availability over Christmas into the Avios redemption bucket.

The following statement has appeared on ba.com here:

“Additional reward flights availability in Club World for limited destinations departing from London Heathrow only on British Airways flight-only bookings. For travel between 14 December 2015 and 3 January 2016 exclusively. Additional availability varies depending on destination and date of departure.”

13,000 Club World seats have been released.  That works out at 650 per day which should mean at least a couple per flight.

I am pleased about this – I was critical last year of British Airways launching a £1,000 cash sale when it could easily have opened up these seats for redemption instead.

You can argue about whether it is better to pay £1,000 cash or redeem Avios and pay £500 in tax, but the latter clearly requires a lower cash outlay.

Feedback on Flyertalk is that availability is indeed there on most routes, so it is well worth a look.  British Airways has not emailed Executive Club members about this so the seats are unlikely to be going too quickly.

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

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

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

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review

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

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review

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.

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

Huge 30,000 points bonus until 12th May 2024 Read our full review

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

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

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

40,000 points sign-up bonus and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

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 (81)

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

  • Rob says:
    10 Dec10 December 17:18

    Well done!

    • Metatone says:
      10 Dec10 December 19:13

      Yes, thanks to Rob, according to email (it hasn’t come through on accounts yet, so I’m not counting the chickens until they hatch) I’ve won a pile.

      • North says:
        10 Dec10 December 21:39

        And I have just won 15000 avios in the Iberia competition. I forgot I’d even entered. Thanks.

  • Jonathan says:
    10 Dec10 December 17:32

    OT: Once you hit the BA Amex 10k spend and have the statement produced, how long does it typically take to have the companion voucher issued on your BA account? Also is it clearly visible in the main area of your Exec account?
    Awaiting the voucher and praying the flights we’re after don’t go beforehand!
    Thanks All.

    • Toby says:
      10 Dec10 December 17:35

      I reached the spend target November 17th, and am still waiting. I assume it transfers over with your avios whenever that may be. For me it is the 16th of the month I think! 🙂

      (It should be noted, my mums voucher transferred the next day! This was a few years back however!)

      • Jonathan says:
        10 Dec10 December 17:54

        Thanks – Frustrating as I think we hit the spend about a week prior to the Avios transfer, but given the processing time and potentially a day or two for the Amex spend calc to update, it would appear we just missed out.

        Sounds like we may have to wait a month.

    • Rob says:
      10 Dec10 December 18:10

      It should trigger within 48 hours of the qualifying spend hitting your account.

      If it doesn’t show on your BA account within 72 hours, something has gone wrong. Remember that the annual fee does not count towards the £10k, neither do some other classes of transaction.

      • Jonathan says:
        10 Dec10 December 18:12

        Thanks Raffles.

        On the phone to BA (hold for 22 mins and counting)! I can see it was recognised on the Amex site on the 26/11 and the next sweep to BA Exec was on 02/12 so sounds like something has gone wrong.

  • Peter Taysum says:
    10 Dec10 December 17:43

    OT

    I booked AMS to GIG return with Iberia for £600 and 20000 Avios in August thanks to Raffles. I’ve just “won” 42 500 Avios from Iberia Plus from their “Summer Flights” I think I was entered for booking that; just thought would share and say ANOTHER Thank You!
    I really like this hobby!

  • florida says:
    10 Dec10 December 21:23

    OT just looking at Eurotunnel for avios, has anybody done that, is that vfm? Website says to ring but too late today.

  • florida says:
    10 Dec10 December 21:25

    ha just looked again and saw that its 10k avios give 50gbp off, so not that good. They say 5x avios per gpb spent though. Any other ideas for eurotunnel deals (apart from tesco vouchers)?

  • vcu basketball says:
    11 Dec11 December 00:10

    vcu basketball

    British Airways releases 13,000 Avios seats

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