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BA sale Part 1: ‘Part Pay With Avios’ at 1p is back, Club Europe from £52 return

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British Airways launched a new sale yesterday.  

Full details can be found on this page of ba.com.  This is the page for Club World flight and holiday deals but you can navigate to the other sale pages from there.

You need to book by 12th July. 

Avios wing 14

‘Part Pay With Avios’ is also back on special offer

Running alongside the sale, BA is promoting ‘Part Pay With Avios’ again.  As with the sale in May, this has led to some crazy prices appearing such as Club Europe flights from £52 return.

British Airways introduced ‘Part Pay With Avios‘ back in 2013.  This allowed you to pay part of the price of a cash ticket using Avios points.

At the time, a lot of people felt deflated by the product.  BA had been making noises for a long time about allowing Avios points to be used for revenue fares, but the actual implementation was a damp squib with a maximum saving of just £30.

BA has been constantly tweaking (or fiddling, depending on your view) with the scheme since then.  The current offer, which is running alongside the BA sale but is valid on sale and non-sale fares, is not bad.

Until 12th July, you can get the following discounts using ‘part pay with Avios‘ to reduce the price of a cash ticket:

Club Europe – maximum saving of £150 for 15,000 Avios

Euro Traveller (short haul economy) – maximum saving of £150 for 15,000 Avios

World Traveller (long haul economy) – maximum saving of £150 for 15,000 Avios

Club World and First – maximum saving of £300 for 30,000 Avios

All of these deals are offering you 1p per Avios point which is a decent deal.  Remember that, because you are buying a cash ticket, there are no availability issues and you will receive Avios and tier points back when you fly.

This is not as generous as it was in March when you got 1.33p.  Under this deal, which is the same as the Easter one, you only get 1p.  However, the total saving allowed this time is bigger than it was when the discount was 1.33p.

As with the last time this offer ran, there are still some silly prices available. 

I was able to get a Club Europe return to Palma down to £52 return after spending 15,000 Avios points.  This is a cheap way to pick up 80 tier points if you are chasing status, and you will earn at least 2,000 Avios back.

Here are the key points to remember when using Part Pay With Avios:

You cannot part-pay Air Passenger Duty or any equivalent foreign tax. What this means, in practice, is that the maximum discount offered will be reduced if the fare is too low to not cover the taxes.  This is only likely to be an issue on short haul tickets.

Only BA operated flights are valid, not codeshares (so, for example, only BA flights to Madrid can be discounted, not the ones flown by Iberia with a BA flight number)

Any itinerary with a non-BA flight on it will not be offered ‘Part-Pay With Avios’ even if it also contains a UK or short-haul flight

You can only book at ba.com or via the BA call centre

It cannot be combined with promotional discount codes or ‘flight plus car’ / ‘flight plus hotel’ packages

It CAN be combined with Hotlines (discounted staff tickets)

It works OK on the ‘hand baggage only / Basic’ fares

It works OK on open jaw tickets

If you are in a Household Account, you will be allowed to use Avios to part-pay flights for people who are outside the Household Account

The Avios are deducted from the account of the person making the booking, even if the other passengers have their own BA or avios.com accounts

All travel must be completed by 21st June 2017 for non-premium cabins and 24 May 2017 for premium cabins.

The official ‘Part Pay With Avios’ website is here.  Click on the ‘Find Out More’ button to see the special promotional rates – the rates shown on the home page are the normal ones.

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:

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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.

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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 (61)

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

  • mtb says:
    17 Jun17 June 13:34

    I was following the prices for my route and the prices have actually gone up! Not sure if this qualifies for a ‘sale’.

  • Ian says:
    17 Jun17 June 13:51

    Has anyone else had a surprise at the total cost booking a cash return Club Europe ticket? Looking at a trip to Paris in December, it clearly showed £95 each way. I know the return fare can “re-calculate” after selecting the outbound flight but I re-checked carefully and it still showed £95, so I was expecting a total of £190 or possibly pence under. No – it’s over £198. It’s not a lot of money but I’ve not encountered this before?

  • pompeyyorkblues says:
    17 Jun17 June 14:36

    Hi,
    I have just looked at New York (JFK) next Easter and it is coming up at 605 pus 150 off with 15000 Avios.. Is around 455 return to New York Economy good value anyone know? I fancy going there for my birthday next year…The dates I checked were 100417×170417.

    Any advice anyone can give me on the best way to get to New York as cheap as possible from up North (York) is appreciated..

    thanks a lot..

    • Ian says:
      17 Jun17 June 14:59

      Flight prices to NY vary considerably depending on the time of year and I would say £455 is an excellent price over the Easter weekend. You might like to compare prices from MAN if it’s convenient for you to get over there. Being based in the south, I don’t know off the top of my head which airlines fly direct from there.

      • Leo says:
        17 Jun17 June 20:19

        I don’t think that’s a bad price. I was there last week – whilst I was on a Virgin UC redemption my 10 friends (a birthday celebration) paid on average between £450-500 on BA and Virgin in Y. In my experience prices really increase particularly for accommodation around Thanksgiving until New Year.

      • harry says:
        17 Jun17 June 20:36

        It’s not £455 though – it’s £605

    • Genghis says:
      17 Jun17 June 15:20

      That doesn’t seem like great value. If you’re interested in going just to New York for a few days, I’d have a look on BA holidays. I got a decent price a year or so ago (£640 in Y with 4 nights in the Aloft in Brooklyn) – bear in mind hotels in New York are very expensive.

      • Pompeyyorkblues says:
        21 Jun21 June 11:54

        Thanks everyone…I appreciate your time…Cheers!

      • Pompeyyorkblues says:
        22 Jun22 June 08:52

        Thanks.. I have found what looks like a great deal.. 2000 for 2 return from Manchester in the New York Edition (26/475 on Tripadvisor), so will probably go for that I think..seems pretty reasonable when the hotel is around 300 a night anyway..A package seems a lot better way of doing New York…

  • Steve R says:
    17 Jun17 June 15:07

    Yet again, not much use to us up ere in northern power house

  • roberto says:
    17 Jun17 June 15:15

    OT & FWIW

    The new Supercard is NOT contactless….

    • Rob says:
      17 Jun17 June 15:44

      Bit rubbish – although I’m not sure how widespread contactless is outside the UK.

      • Alan says:
        17 Jun17 June 16:15

        Yep, this was confirmed a few days ago on their Twitter (I posted a link here at the time).

        Contactless is massive in Australia – funny it hasn’t taken off so much here yet. Seems to be slowly taking off in Europe. In the USA it seems to be restricted to Apple/Android Pay.

        I’m actually a little surprised that Curve offers this, unless they take the responsibility themselves as a contactless payment wouldn’t seem to give them enough time to check with the original card issuer as they normally do for their transactions?

        • Kiran says:
          17 Jun17 June 23:00

          Contactless in the USA is strange. I’ve heard from my providers (AmEx and Lloyds) that UK cards should work fine, but everytime I try the card comes back as declined. No issues using Apple Pay though (where it is accepted). A lot of people here still seem annoyed when they are told to insert their cards instead on swiping them and in a lot of places only do chip+signature as a move to chip+pin was considered too much for the Yanks in one go…

          • Will says:
            17 Jun17 June 23:17

            I think the US rejected chip And pin in the basis of processing times – a card swipe out there seems to be instantaneous.

      • roberto says:
        17 Jun17 June 16:21

        Yes , and odd considering Curve is.. And as for contactless I was in Vegas last week and instinctively tapped the credit card machine in a shop with my Virgin Amex and the guy behind the counter almost pee-ed himself with delight to see the transaction process. He had never even heard of contactless transactions and was truly gobsmacked when the POS terminal whirred into life and spat out the paper.

        The bigger question is will the supercard number start with a 5162 ( like the curve ) and get treated mostly as a credit card rather than a debit like the white Beta product did. I hope not.

        • Mr Dee says:
          17 Jun17 June 22:02

          I’m sure 5162 is for the business credit card so is unlikely and I am hoping for a debit card number which is likely however remember their new fees on UK transactions before people get over excited….

      • Nick says:
        17 Jun17 June 17:33

        It’s pretty ubiquitous in Australia. Up to A$100 I think.

  • mtb says:
    17 Jun17 June 15:19

    I was wondering what thoughts would people have in a scenario where BA price is much higher than prices on major OTAs. Surely, the savings isn’t what is claimed by BA as you could get the same tickets cheaper by booking on experdia, ebookers etc. Unlike hotel bookings, there isn’t any specific advantage by booking directly with BA? (except the 24 hour cancellation).

    • Rob says:
      17 Jun17 June 15:43

      No advantage at all to booking direct apart from the 24 hour rule. If there is a lower price elsewhere then take it.

      • mtb says:
        17 Jun17 June 15:48

        Thanks Rob – one of these days I would quite like to test BA’s price match policy for a ‘part pay with avios’ booking.

        • Sean says:
          17 Jun17 June 18:42

          Buying tickets on OTA will stop you from upgrading with miles before the flight (the ticket is only handed over to the airline 24 hours before the flight). And some OTAs add the card fees at the very end of the process

  • Simmo says:
    17 Jun17 June 15:38

    Can you Part Pay with Avios, and then use Avios to upgrade again?

    • James67 says:
      17 Jun17 June 15:50

      I asked the same question some months ago and the answer was yes. There is some protection too because you can cancel within 24 hours should your option to upgrade disappear at just the wrong time. That is, if I’m right in assuming that cash tickets can be cancelled within 24 hours in the same way as award tickets.

      • Polly says:
        17 Jun17 June 22:49

        We just upgraded to F from a J part pay avios to NYC. Got the u/g on the return leg. Trying now to do the same on the o/b leg. So yes it’s possible.

    • Barry cutters says:
      17 Jun17 June 17:29

      Yes . Totally fine if you book a ticket class that is upgradable

  • Jason says:
    17 Jun17 June 22:55

    OTT strangle got a renewal for a priority pass today for an Amex account that is cancelled does the card have any chance of working??

    • Will says:
      17 Jun17 June 23:20

      If recently cancelled then not likely.

      If long time cancelled then it’s very unusual and I think you have a good chance it will work

    • Rob says:
      18 Jun18 June 00:14

      No, as there is no credit card behind it to pay for guests so it is rejected when swiped.

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

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