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Bits: earn Avios with the Malaysia / Emirates partnership?, changes to BA peak pricing?

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News in brief:

Earn Avios with the new Malaysia / Emirates partnership?

It is a little known fact, unless you read HfP, that you can earn Avios points and British Airways tier points when you fly with Emirates.  The secret, as I explained here, is to book your Emirates flights under the Qantas flight code and not the Emirates one.

Malaysia Airlines has just launched its own codeshare arrangement with Emirates.  Most Emirates flights outside Asia can now be booked as Malaysia Airlines codeshares with an MH flight number.

Do these earn Avios and BA tier points too?  No.

As you can see on this page of ba.com, a flight with a oneworld flight code but operated by a non-oneworld airline does NOT earn Avios or tier points.  The Qantas / Emirates partnership is an exception to this rule as the small print shows:

“Flights booked under the Qantas code (QF) operated by a non-oneworld airline will earn Avios and Tier Points unless operated by Jetstar in a class other than L class.”

If you book an Emirates flight on a Malaysia flight number, you will be out of luck.  Stick with the Qantas flight codes.

Changes coming to Peak and Off Peak BA pricing?

British Airways has been reticent about publishing new ‘peak’ and ‘off-peak’ redemption calendars recently.  This is why it is impossible to know if this situation is a bug or not.

If you go to ba.com and try to book a redemption flight for Tuesday 14th February or Wednesday 15th February 2017, they are pricing at peak rates.  This will be half term for most schools.

When the new peak and off-peak timetable was introduced, BA promised that every Tuesday and Wednesday would be off-peak, whatever the season.  Something has either gone wrong with the IT or BA is planning changes.

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, Emirates and Emirates Skywards, oneworld alliance partners

Comments (36)

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

  • Liz says:
    29 Feb29 February 13:16

    Gavin you missed a trick there because for most of Feb they were doing 5 packs for a £1 – I bought a couple of batches – got some for my daughter at Uni and the rest went in the food bank box!

    • Gavin says:
      29 Feb29 February 13:43

      Liz, looks like I did miss a trick, still a good deal regardless though!

      Will have some tonight for the team, they look very much like student stodge convenience food but the avios is welcome.

      • Gavin says:
        29 Feb29 February 22:05

        My conclusion is if you need some noodles it’s worth spending 39p on the maggi ones for a 48 avios brucey bonus

  • Mr Fluff says:
    29 Feb29 February 17:27

    Not sure if this is the best place to ask, but looking for advice on BA Club World seating on A380? I’m travelling LHR-YVR in August with my wife and 6 mth daughter. Currently have seats 10J and K booked, but wondering what 14E and F would be like? I’ve read posts saying avoid the centre seats as you have to climb over the passenger in the aisle seats, but I was hoping this would be different on row 14 due to being the row before the bulkhead? Can anyone confirm?

    • mark2 says:
      29 Feb29 February 17:41

      Can’t answer your question (sorry) but you confirm what I thought that the flight to Vancouver is on A380, but on 1 Oct 16 according to the timetable on BA web site it changes to 747.
      I am not intending to go until May/Jun 17 so anything may happen in the meantime.

  • kevino says:
    29 Feb29 February 18:03

    Anybody know if this works on either of the emirates from New Zealand to Aus (SYD or MEL), and if so how do you book it?

  • Genghis says:
    29 Feb29 February 18:48

    OT but I received a letter today from Amex about a closed Amex Gold account. In Sep 15 they told me that I’d earn 2MR points on petrol, supermarkets and travel for 12 months and in Nov 15 that said that this was a mistake. Today I’ve been awarded GBP9.29 (the cash value of the missing MR points on the points I should have been awarded between Sep and Nov as informed). Has anyone else had this?

  • Genghis says:
    29 Feb29 February 18:53

    Also OT – I need to send some money to a Swedish bank account in SEK (paying in GBP). Any advice on the cheapest (with points earning?) method of doing this? TIA.

  • Carl says:
    4 Mar4 March 10:47

    Quick FYI for anyone struggling with the Emirates / Avios trick. No go with NRT-DXB-LHR. Although there is a codeshare on the DXB-LHR leg which can be booked on a QA flight number (via a travel agent), there is no codeshare on the NRT-DXB leg.

  • nick smith says:
    7 Mar7 March 21:59

    I notice that Emirates points are transferable to Quantas.
    Does this not mean that you can earn Emirates points (via a non code share flight) and just transfer them to Quantas ff programme then move them to Avios. (i’m sure not otherwise you would have suggested it !)

    • Rob says:
      7 Mar7 March 22:04

      They are NOT transferable to Qantas. You can earn Emirates points when flying Qantas (and vice versa) and redeem EK for Qantas (and vice versa) but you cannot do a straight transfer from Skywards into the Qantas scheme.

  • Tilly71 says:
    16 Mar16 March 08:12

    You paid 39p for 20 cc points?

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

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