New British Airways sale launched – includes decent First deals

British Airways has launced a new sale with offers in all travel classes.

The home page for the sale is here.  You can book until 17th May.

On most routes you can travel up to 27th April 2017 which is 10 days after Easter Monday.  It varies by route so take a look at the small print at the bottom of the sale website.

The easiest way to check out the best prices to a specific destination is with the British Airways Low Fare Finder tool on ba.com. This will show you the cheapest price on any route, in any class, on month by month basis.

If you can be flexible with dates, there are some decent fares available.

In general, the deals are on a par with the previous sale in March.  However, there are some excellent First Class offers to North America.  In general, these are priced at roughly £400 above the equivalent Club World fare.  You will be paying £700 – £1,000 less to fly First Class than you would have in the pre-Easter sale.  World Traveller Plus fares to the US are also down on the previous sale.

Here are some major destinations, priced as World Traveller / World Traveller Plus / Club World / First:

New York £380 / £773 / £1,469 / £1,897

Miami £391 / £870 / £1,995 / £2,472

Abu Dhabi £348 / £698 / £1,238 / £1,838

Mumbai £450 / £723 / £1,427 / £2,027

Bangkok £499 / £1,018 / £1,711 / na

Tokyo £549 / £1,049 / £2,041 / £3,779

There are also some deals on European short-haul flights with some destinations under £200 return for 80 tier points. I spotted Angers, Amsterdam, Bergen, Berlin, Billund, Dublin, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Geneva, Gothenburg, Hamburg, Madrid, Munich, Palma, Paris, Quimper, Rotterdam and Stuttgart for £200 or less on certain dates. There are plenty more under £225 return as long as you stay away over a Saturday night.

One route that caught my eye for the wrong reasons is Cape Town – this continues to be offered at around the £3,000 mark in Club World which is terrible.  Johannesburg, oddly, is just £3,320 in First Class.

Bangkok, Beijing, Chengdu and Hong Kong are good value by BA standards at around £1,600. You may be cautious about paying even that much, however, given the regular Finnair, Qatar and Etihad sales which will either cost less or offer a better product.  Occasionally both!

Dubai has come down in First Class and is now on a par with Abu Dhabi which makes sense as the two airports are only a short £40 taxi ride apart. It is worth noting that the Abu Dhabi flight is usually better timed for a day flight than the Dubai options.  £1,300 for Club World to Dubai or Abu Dhabi is a reflection of the fact that the Etihad A380 Business Class Studio is light years ahead.  Remember, until Sunday, Qatar will sell you a business class ticket from Edinburgh to Dubai for £880 return ….

Remember that ‘Part Pay With Avios’ can be used with these fares.  The maximum discount at present is £200 for 30,000 Avios points per return flight in Club World or First.  All other flights are capped at £100 for 15,000 Avios – including Euro Traveller and Club Europe short haul flights.

It is also worth pricing up BA’s ‘flight and hotel’ or ‘flight and car’ options.  Adding a one-star hotel for just one night of your trip, or a small car for one day, can bring down the cost to less than just a flight.

The best thing to do if you are interested is to pop over to ba.com and have a look around.  The full sale details are here.

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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.