Big news – ‘small print’ of the Avios sale bargains revealed, including the £1 RFS destinations

The avios.com and ba.com January sales are continuing.  Hopefully the upcoming offers will be more exciting than the half-price World Traveller redemptions to the US and Canada we had on Monday.

(This offer is still valid until noon today – 50% off the Avios needed for economy flights to Boston, Chicago, Dubai, Denver, Shanghai, New York, Toronto and Washington.  Full details here.)

I now know the ‘small print’ of four of the remaining five offers.

25% off car hire

Noon Wednesday 8 January to noon Friday 10 January

This deal will go live today at noon at avios.com and ba.com.  You must book with Avis – paying with Avios points – for any destination.  It is valid for bookings up to 30th September.  I discuss this further below.

50% off hotel bookings

Noon Friday 10 January to noon Monday 13 January

This offer is actually slightly better than I expected.  It is valid for hotels in Vienna, Dubrovnik, Prague, Copenhagen, Berlin, Budapest, Istanbul and Algarve, for bookings up to 30th September. There is a special booking website you need to use, but the selection of properties seems decent.

Here is the key thing.  You normally get 0.57p per Avios when using your points for a hotel redemption as I showed here.  Via this deal, you will getting 1.14p per Avios.  That is a very decent offer.

Reward Flight Saver tickets reduced to £1

Noon Monday 13 January to noon Wednesday 15 January

This deal is not the ‘free for all’ we were hoping to see.  It is restricted to the following routes only: Amsterdam, Barcelona, Dublin, Jersey, Lisbon, Madrid, Rome, Nice.

That said, being able to book a flight to these places for just £1 instead of the usual £35 is certainly a good saving.

You will need to fly between 31 January and 31 May.  Economy only.

50% off hotel bookings

Noon Wednesday 15 January to noon Friday 17 January

The same offer as before, but with a different set of cities – London, Venice, Edinburgh, Guernsey, Florence and Milan. There are 103 hotels available across the 6 cities, to give you an idea of the scale.

Again, you can book a stay at any hotel on the special website for stays up to 30th September.

40% off Eurostar

Noon Friday 17 January to noon Monday 20 January

This offer will only run on avios.com.  I do not have the ‘small print’ for this one!  As ba.com does not offer Eurostar redemptions, their sale will simply finish three days earlier.

Today’s new offer

The offer to be launched today offers 25% off the cost of an Avis car rental when you pay with Avios.  This will be live from noon.

You can book for any destination, with the only proviso being that you pick up the car before 30th September 2014.

This may be an OK deal.  As car hire prices vary so wildly, it is difficult to make a broad judgement.  With just a 25% discount, I doubt that you will be able to get more than 1p per Avios of value compared to a pre-paid cash booking however.

If you are interested, you should price up the car on BOTH ba.com and avios.com.  For odd reasons, it has been shown in the past that the sites often throw up different prices for the same set of dates.

The ba.com link to book an Avis car is here.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (March 2025)

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 Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

Get 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

30,000 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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large 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, and the standard card is FREE. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review

There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business

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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 8th April 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Business Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to 120,000 points. You receive 80,000 points when you spend £12,000 within three months and a further 40,000 points if you spend on the card between Month 14 and Month 17. Points convert 1:1 into Avios and many other programmes. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 8th April 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Business Gold is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 60,000 points. You receive 40,000 points when you spend £6,000 within three months and a further 20,000 points if you spend on the card between Month 14 and Month 17. Points convert 1:1 into Avios and many other programmes. Click here to apply.

American Express Business Platinum

Up to 120,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

Up to 60,000 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.