Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Short haul Club Europe bargains from £175 in the British Airways sale

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The launch of the British Airways Winter Sale was overshadowed by the Air Traffic Control meltdown which occurred on the same day.  Aviation is always a tricky business to manage at the best of times.

The long haul part of the sale is ‘average’ as far as I’m concerned.  What IS of potential interest is that the ‘ex-Europe’ sale has also now launched, so you may want to check your target destination for prices out of Copenhagen, Brussels, Dublin, Amsterdam and Oslo.  These have all offered aggressive prices over the past year.  I will pick out some of the best deals next week.

BA Luxury World

I was taking a look at short-haul prices out of the UK yesterday.  The easiest way to do this is to look at the Low Fare Finder tool on ba.com which is one of the cleverest wheezes that BA has launched in recent years.

I spotted was some decent deals in Club Europe.  These will be of special interest to anyone who is close to requalifying for Silver or Gold status and would like 80 cheap tier points to top up their balance.

If you set a cap of £225, the following routes look interesting.  Note that you can get tickets at these prices for most of the 2015:

  • Gatwick to Alicante £174 return
  • City to Amsterdam £198 return
  • City to Angers £199 return
  • Gatwick to Barcelona £175 return
  • Heathrow to Bilbao £175 return
  • Gatwick to Bordeaux £219 return
  • City to Dublin £199 return
  • Gatwick to Geneva £219 return
  • Gatwick to Ibiza £224 return
  • Gatwick to Malaga £174 return
  • Gatwick to Nice £220 return
  • Gatwick to Pisa £219 return
  • City to Quimper £195 return
  • Gatwick to Rome £219 return
  • Gatwick to Seville £175 return
  • Gatwick to Turin £219 return
  • Gatwick to Venice £219 return
  • Gatwick to Verona £220 return
  • City to Zurich £199 return

If you look at short-haul economy, there is a LOT available for under £100 per person.  Bilbao starts at a laughable £66 return.  Again, the Low Fare Finder tool is your friend.

All of these fares need to be booked by 27th January at ba.com.  They are, in general, valid for almost all of 2015.


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.

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.

Comments (27)

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

  • Singing Dwarf says:

    [Off Topic] Removal of children from Household Account

    I know this has been discussed before, but I emailed BA recently to ask what would happen if I removed the childrens accounts from the Household account. The website warned me that their accounts would be deleted if I tried this, so I emailed, asking what would happen to their Avios, earned in their own names.

    I was informed that “If you delete your children from your Household Account profile, the Avios balance lying in their respective account also will be deleted.”.

    Can anybody confirm if this is a change, as I have elsewhere (possibly FT?) that removing a childs account causes the Avios to be credited to the head of household account?

    • Rob says:

      I can guarantee you that they (used to) go to the head of the account. The HHA rules are not clear http://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/executive-club/terms-and-conditions#householdaccount although if the agent read 18.1.13 it would explain why they said what they said.

    • Polly says:

      If indeed that is the case, I wouldn’t risk it. Just do what I did….Transfer their ba avios quickly into a family avios account, then separate it out again, with the kids avios being credited to your account. Just make sure each form is signed with 100% of their avios to go to the head account holder or wherever you want them. Bingo saved, not lost. It’s a faffle but works. They have to mail you the forms or print them out, send by post, very snail mail etc.. But at least in the end they are not lost. Am sure they are very hard earned too!

      • squills says:

        Or just use up all the Avios first, before deleting the kids.

        • Rob says:

          Or, move Avios from your account to a personal Avios.com or Iberia account. Leave just enough so that the kids plus what you left behind is exactly what you are redeeming. It will zero all the accounts and you can then move your personal points back.

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

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