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Avios sale – £1 Reward Flight Saver routes launch and are bookable now

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Today sees the launch of one of the most interesting parts of the 2014 Avios ‘sale’!

(Don’t forget, though, that until noon today – Monday – the previous offer is still running.  Until 12pm, you can still book a hotel in Vienna, Dubrovnik, Prague, Copenhagen, Berlin, Budapest, Istanbul and The Algarve for 50% off!  The 50% discount applies whether you pay by Avios or by cash, and you can stay up to 30th September.  Full details are in this article.)

These flights are already bookable – at least for some routes – as at 8am on Monday!  Until noon on Wednesday, the taxes on Reward Flight Saver tickets will be dropped from £35 to just £1.

The following routes are included:

Amsterdam

Barcelona

Dublin

Jersey

Lisbon

Madrid

Nice

Rome

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

Only economy seats are available.

One way flights are available for 4,500 Avios plus 50p.

It works OK with UK connections as well, so a one-way Manchester-Heathrow-Amsterdam is still just 4,500 Avios plus 50p.

Remember that avios.com has greater reward availability than ba.com for economy short-haul flights.  (I think avios.com can access G availability, if these things mean anything to you!)  You should therefore look via avios.com and not ba.com, and use ‘Combine My Avios’ to move your points across.

ba.com should only be used for open-jaws (if allowed) or stopovers (if allowed in London on regional departures) which avios.com cannot handle.  The only exception to this is for BA Executive Club Gold card holders, who get additional economy seats made available to them and will therefore be better off looking at ba.com.

Remember, though, that you can only book Reward Flight Saver tickets on avios.com if you have ‘earned’ an Avios point in that scheme in the last 12 months.

There is little point opening an avios.com account today (with the intent to make a transfer of Avios from ba.com) because you will not be able to book Reward Flight Saver tickets. Unless, that is, you spend £31 to buy 1,000 Avios in avios.com to activate the account – although this may make sense if you want to make a number of bookings and can see availability at avios.com which is not at ba.com.

The avios.com flight booking page is here.

If you need to cancel, the standard £25 fee should not apply as long as you cancel online.  You will only lose your £1.  All your Avios points will be returned.

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.

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.

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

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.

Category

British Airways American Express

Comments (170)

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

  • Rich. S says:
    13 Jan13 January 17:44

    Also just booked a single AMS – Lon – (break) – ABZ domestic connection on city flyer…. For 4.5 k plus 50p great, as the domestic is for half term and quite £

  • pazza2000 says:
    13 Jan13 January 18:51

    I believe both, so book individually…

  • Guesswho2000 says:
    13 Jan13 January 20:18

    Excellent, weekend in Amsterdam booked that I was going to book using points anyway, so a good saving. I booked on Avios.com rather than BAEC, how do I add my AA Plat FF# to the booking?

    • CV says:
      13 Jan13 January 20:24

      Use Manage My Booking on BA website and input booking reference to add the flight then you can add AA FF number. I did this with my CX Gold to allow seat reservations, also added the extra luggage allowance.

      • Guesswho2000 says:
        13 Jan13 January 20:40

        Thanks, I didn’t have a record locator, but the second email had it, and that worked a treat, nice one.

  • Letsfly says:
    13 Jan13 January 21:20

    Interesting point… for example Jersey – Dublin… £1.50 even with the second flight after November… ie 4500 avios + £1.50 for Jersey – LGW in May… LGW – Dublin in November :-))))

  • Rob says:
    13 Jan13 January 21:36

    You can cancel one but I think you must ring

    • pazza2000 says:
      13 Jan13 January 23:04

      Yes I think it would (unless Gold). I actually never knew you could cancel Indivual persons within the one reservation; I had been making tentative Indivual reservations tonight as I suspected I may need to drop one or two persons, but wanted to lock in the £1 rate. Had I known, I would have just stuck us all on the one single res.

      • Alan says:
        13 Jan13 January 23:17

        I think they have to split the booking (PNR), so if you think it’s likely you might need to cancel some folk off you’re probably as good doing it the way you have done 🙂

        • pazza2000 says:
          13 Jan13 January 23:32

          Split it as in to per person? A benefit of booking as one over individually is the ease in ensuring we will be seated together, it’s also pretty tedious to book multiple (7 in this case) persons indivually! That being said, I do expect a persons/s to be unable to take up this reservation.

          • Alan says:
            13 Jan13 January 23:35

            Agree much less hassle when booking to do it en bloc, but I’d imagine it may depend a bit on which telephone agent you get if you then have to split the booking and cancel individual people as to whether it’s less hassle booking separately. If they don’t all have status it would be a bit of a pain for seating though I agree. Perhaps could compromise and do it in groups that are likely to either all travel or cancel? Good luck regardless!

  • Phil says:
    14 Jan14 January 08:05

    Couldn’t resist, got a long weekend (3 nights) in Nice. Got good flights from MAN-LHR-NCE on 25th-28th Apr/il

    Booked 3 nights in the IC Cannes with the proceeds of the IHG Big Win.

    Hope everyone has a good time!

  • thesaver79 says:
    14 Jan14 January 08:19

    Does anyone know how long it’ll take to have the avios recredited when cancelling a booking made via avios.com?

    • Rob says:
      14 Jan14 January 09:55

      On ba.com it is immediate (need to log in and log off to see them). I would imagine avios.com is the same?

      • thesaver79 says:
        14 Jan14 January 09:59

        Because you can’t do it online via avios.com, I had to call. They said it can take up to a couple of days to process. Still no Avios in my account. I’m in contact with their social media team to find out more.

  • Mo-Mo says:
    14 Jan14 January 08:24

    Hi,

    I wanted to book a weekend away in April but at the moment am not sure due to work whether I can stay for 2 or 3 nights. I want to book both options and then cancel one of them at a later date once I know my work rota.

    If I did this would I only lose the £1/ticket and would my avios be refunded? Or would I have to pay £25 cancellation/ticket? I am booking through avios. Many thanks!

    • Rob says:
      14 Jan14 January 09:55

      Almost certainly ‘yes’ if you can cancel it online, you will get the Avios back and just lose £1.

      • Mo-Mo says:
        14 Jan14 January 11:25

        Thanks raffles.

        But when I called avios they said a £25 fee would apply if cancelling. According to their terms and conditions I think it is £25 too. I just didn’t want to leave it and the have to pay £50 for the cancelled tickets, therefore negating any saving!

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