British Airways Executive Club ‘birthday bonuses’ still going strong

Clearly I did something wrong, because British Airways Executive Club forgot my birthday entirely last November.  (Although I did get some freebies from other loyalty programmes.)

However, reader James got in touch this week to confirm that the BAEC ‘birthday bonus’ programme is still going strong – at least for the lucky few who are chosen each month.

James has his birthday in May.  He received an email on March 3rd offering him a big Avios bonus if he booked a flight before 31st March to take in the month of his birthday.

The bonuses are:

• European economy return – 4,000 Avios
• European Club Europe return – 8,000 Avios
• Long-haul economy or World Traveller Plus return – 15,000 Avios
• Long-haul Club World return – 30,000 Avios

Here is another interesting one – the bonus is valid on cash, Avios and ‘Avios and money’ bookings.

This represents an excellent deal, especially for the solo traveller.  (The bonus is per booking, not per person, so it is worth more to a single traveller.)  On a short European flight, you would be getting 4,000 Avios back after spending just 9,000.

On a long-haul economy flight to the Middle East or New York, you would be getting 15,000 Avios back after spending just 40,000.

If buying a ticket for cash, the ‘sweet spot’ is the 15,000 Avios points for a long-haul economy trip.  If you could bag a cheap enough ticket, the bonus Avios – plus the Avios from the flight itself – could effectively make the flight almost free!

If you doing a redemption, the ‘sweet spot’ would be a Club World booking.  30,000 miles back on, say, an 80,000 mile flight to Dubai is a pretty good discount.

The bonus is strictly targetted, with the bonus Avios posting in arrears, presumably after BA manually works through a list of people who were invited to see where they travelled.  You only get the bonus on one flight, but if you take multiple flights during your birthday month, you get the highest bonus to which you would have been entitled.

(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.)