For a few years now, British Airways has been playing ‘catch up’ with the Expedia‘s of this world by trying to sell discounted ‘flight and hotel’ packages. These are very lucrative because of the healthy commission on the hotel room and the ability to sneak out flight tickets at a discount without damaging the ‘headline’ ticket price paid by corporates.
This occasionally means that you can book a Club Europe flight plus a hotel via BA Holidays for less than a weekend-away Club Europe flight on its own.
There is a decent combination of deals available at the moment which makes this option even more interesting.
If you click here, you will see the bonus Avios you earn as a British Airways Executive Club member when you book via BA Holidays. 1,000 Avios for a short-haul Economy flight holiday is not exciting. 5,000 Avios for a short-haul Club Europe holiday is better!
Amusingly, BA has also launched ‘book now and pay later’! As long as your travel dates are more than 10 weeks away, you can pay a £150 deposit and settle the rest later.
Let’s look at Dubrovnik, the lovely walled Croatian city, as an example. From the 15-17 March, using the ‘flight and hotels’ booking option at ba.com, I can get 2 nights at the Hilton Dubrovnik (a very smart restored historic property) for 2 people for £555. This is with Club Europe flights.
The price is competitive – the flights on their own, via ba.com, come out at £424 so you are getting the Hilton – which is a five-star property – for £65 per night.
BA Holidays is definitely worth a look if planning a weekend away in Europe.
(Want to earn more Avios? Click here to see our latest articles on earning and spending your points and click here to see our list of current Avios promotions.)
About Head for Points
Zoe, glad to see you found what you were looking for. If you are not a member already join Avis Preferred as this will give some additional benefits (see Raffles posting on Avis) however I’ve never seen a free upgrade on this type of package. You will however be able to the skip the bank holiday queue for pick-up!
Sorry if I’m being daft, Raffles, but if I search for holidays with business-class flights, Dubrovnik comes up around twice as expensive as you mention above. Have I misinterpreted (was it £555 was per person)? (Am searching for London to Dubrovnik, 15-17 March, with Business/Club and ‘lowest price’ options selected under the flights.)
Many thanks for an excellent blog, by the way — it has held my hand through the introduction to Avois, AEMR and BAEC. It’s all going well so far!
Wow, it has gone up massively! No, it was £555 for 2 pax when I priced it up. Try 17-21 March, for example, which comes out at £382 per person (more than my example but this is for 4 nights and all midweek, not weekend).
Dates in April are also nicely discounted for Dubrovnik.