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‘Kids Fly Free’ on BA to/from Leeds, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Inverness, Belfast and Billund

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British Airways has launched a bigger and better version of the ‘Kids Fly Free’ offer which it has run in the past.  This is a genuinely good deal with no catches or small print.

From 1st June to 31st October, two children under 12 will fly entirely free when accompanied by an adult.

Applicable routes to or from London Heathrow are:

Leeds Bradford

Newcastle

Edinburgh

Inverness

Belfast

Billund (in Denmark, home of Legoland)

There are genuinely no catches attached to this offer.

You pay the standard lowest adult fare for your flight as shown on ba.com

The kids (under 12) are entirely free – you don’t even pay taxes

Two children can travel per adult

You can book a one-way or return flight

There are no minimum stay requirements, no ‘Saturday night’ rule and no minimum booking period although there is a comment that “Blackout periods apply on some destinations”

You can find full details at ba.com here.

If you are travelling on this offer, BA has also arranged a ‘kids eat free’ deal at Giraffe in Heathrow Terminal 5 – see the small print on ba.com for details.

The offer only works for point-to-point trips to or from Heathrow – you won’t find a trip such as Leeds – Heathrow – Berlin gets any cheaper if booked as one ticket.

Remember that children under 16 travel free on Heathrow Express now.  Given that adult tickets can cost less than £6 one-way when booked in advance, this does give the potential for a cheap family break in London.

Note that the terms and conditions specifically state that you will be in trouble if you book two child tickets along with a ticket for yourself – in order to reserve a full row of seats for yourself – and then you turn up at the airport without any kids …..

Full details are on ba.com here.


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.

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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.

Comments (60)

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

  • vindaloo says:

    Blackout dates are listed in the full Ts & Cs as follows:

    INV: 1 Jul – 5 Sep & 1-15 Oct
    EDI: 24 Jun – 30 Jul & 13-23 Oct

    • Alan says:

      Surprised they didn’t blackout August when the Festival is on!

      • Jen says:

        Given I couldn’t see availability to Edinburgh in economy on any day in august they didn’t need to specify that

        • Alan says:

          Showing fine for me – random dates in middle of August gave £109 return. Seats available everyday, obviously varying prices. There’s no way that route would have no economy seats available for a whole month given the sheer number of flights they have!

  • JP says:

    OT: Did anyone else see rumours of a ban on all laptops in the cabin on all flights to USA ex Europe? Supposedly will be announced by DHS today if true.

    thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/05/10/u-s-to-ban-laptops-in-all-cabins-of-flights-from-europe

    • Rob says:

      If it is true, we’ll write about it. Until that point …..

    • Alan says:

      Yep saw it on OMAAT (see my other post) – really hope this is some #fakenews from Trump but sounds worryingly plausible…

  • christopher Whitehead says:

    Can you book this with avios?

    • Rob says:

      No. Anyway, best to use cash especially if you do get Avios on their tickets!

  • Nick M says:

    Good timing – will be booking some flights to Belfast in the summer over the next week or so!

    Is there a way to book 1 adult and 2 children (1 seat, 1 lap) with cash, and then another booking for an adult with Avios and then to link them so that we’d get a row together? (We don’t have any airline status)

    • Enjoy says:

      Book 1 adult and 2 children 2-11 – that will give you a row to yourself.

      Then it sounds like you have an under 2. That’s fine (you’re not flying Delta!). They can have their own seat if they wish – albeit I realise he/she will sit on a parents knee.

      Meanwhile your Avios flight (seat) is inconsequential

      • Nick M says:

        Good idea – thanks… we (legitimately) did this when traveling with our eldest when she was 12-24 months but for some reason it didn’t occur to me just now!

    • the real harry1 says:

      the linking of the different bookings is easy with a phone call to BA

  • Nick_C says:

    Not that I would dream of doing this of course, but isn’t this open to abuse? Make up an imaginary child or two to have an empty seat next to you?

  • Vic1 says:

    The T&C’s state: A maximum of two children aged 12 and under can travel for free…”
    But when booking for a 12 year old the fare is not free?

    • Jimmy says:

      I think I understand what you’re saying. On some sales channels, it appears to want to charge for the accompanying child (incorrectly)….but on others, it doesn’t & correctly quotes the child/children for free.

      I agree its poor…but then BA IT is woeful across the board. Trust me, I know 😉

      I can only suggest you access the offer page directly, and perform your search/quote/purchase from here: https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/offers/flights/kids-fly-for-free

      Best of luck….

  • DV says:

    Is this only between LHR and the cities listed, or is it any shorthaul from LHR?

  • Anna says:

    If they ban ipads on transatlantic flight it will swing my decision about where to take next year’s big summer holiday. Accommodation prices in Europe in August are so horrific that a holiday in the US was working out around the same price, even factoring in flights, but I’m not subjecting us to 8 hours of kids demented with boredom (including ours!)

    • Anna says:

      I mean, £2000 (accommodation only) for Eurocamps in the south of France? Really?

      • He says:

        You wouldn’t get me paying anything near that – but clearly there is a market for gullible punters? Nothing new really.

        • the real harry1 says:

          makes me feel better about our running costs for the old place in the sun 🙂

          • Anna says:

            Harry, have a look at the price of a caravan at a Haven site in August. You won’t just feel better, you’ll be cracking open champagne!

          • the real harry1 says:

            the good news is: the 3 teenagers are not remotely bored about going there every single holiday – instead of different/ more exciting places – it’s only my wife who keeps muttering we should drive out there (instead of fly) and stop for a few days in various centres of wonderful European culture on the way

            perhaps no complaints from the kids because our broadband connection out there is better than this one in the UK…lol – they deserve their downtime as are hard at it in school, is my opinion – they don’t watch a minute of TV out there so no probs

            I guess it’s south of £3000 a year to keep house & 2 cars going

          • Anna says:

            Brilliant, you’d struggle to get a fortnight somewhere decent for that in July/August. We have 2 timeshares so benefit from the fact that we can use them all over the world at any time and pay a flat maintenance fee. Probably why I am always so shocked by accommodation prices for other trips!

          • the real harry1 says:

            wahay – only 2 weeks until we head off there again 🙂

        • Anna says:

          It’s not gullibility, it’s being parents of school age children! Have you got a nice villa I can have for £500 then?

          • He says:

            Absolutely, it’s your lucky day! Just send me your credit card details.

            PS – that’s £500 per night, ok?

          • Anna says:

            You joke, but you’re not far off!

    • Geordie says:

      Bucharest / Sibiu and/or Bratislavia / Vienna?

      Bratislava Doubletree and Vienna HGI are both 10,000 Hilton points per night, as is Sibiu Hilton. Sibiu is a beautiful train ride from Bucharest. And Bucharest does not get as silly price wise as Budapest or Prague, for example, in the summer. You might even bump into Count Duckula too. Or at least tell your kids you’re on a mission to find Count Duckula 🙂

      • Anna says:

        It all sounds divine, I love all that central/Eastern European fairytale stuff!

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