Free First Class upgrade on Heathrow Express for BA Executive Club members

British Airways and Heathrow Express have joined up to offer a FREE upgrade to First Class if you book a Heathrow Express ticket before August 31st.  You can travel at any time until the end of November.

This offer is ONLY available if you book via the dedicated Heathrow Express / British Airways website.  The good news is that you will also receive a handful of Avios points with your purchase.

The discount only shows if you click through from ba.com (Heathrow Express does this quite often these days with special offers).  You need to visit this page on ba.com and then click the link to go to the Heathrow Express site.

The (minor) downside is that the upgrade is not genuinely free.  You can currently save 12% on a Heathrow Express ticket by using the special Mastercard offer I outlined here.

This means that the upgrade is costing you the 12% differential in ticket price between the BA site and the Mastercard site, albeit this is offset by the 100 Avios earned.

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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:

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

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.

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.

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.

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.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.