Three outstanding Avios earning airfares …. all with a catch

If you chasing cheap British Airways tier points, or are simply looking for a good deal for your next holiday flight, there are three interesting deals with oneworld partner airlines which crossed my desk this week. As they are on oneworld airlines, you will earn Avios and tier points when you fly them.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that they all come with some degree of inconvenience …. but you may consider it a price worth paying.

Get business class tickets to Asia for under £900

Cathay Pacific is currently running an excellent fare sale to just about anywhere in Asia.  From Moscow.

Don’t stop reading yet.  For a start, you don’t need a Russian visa if you are only transiting Moscow without passing into the country.  Do NOT book this without getting proper advice on whether you can connect OK.

Whilst you need to get to Moscow to start and end these tickets, it is a Reward Flight Saver route.  Club World (on a 747) is only 40,000 Avios + £50 return, although be careful which flight you book as there are also short-haul planes on this route. You can travel at any point from 1st April to 31st August.

As a typical fare, Moscow to Bali via Hong Kong comes up at £881 return.  That would be 560 tier points which is over 90% of a British Airways Silver card. Fares are non-refundable.  You can book via the UK Cathay Pacific site.  The flight from Moscow to Hong Kong is the old style Cathay seat (picture below) but your onward connection may be more modern.

Get business class to Dubai for €895 (£660)

Finnair is currently offering this very aggressive fare from Helsinki to Dubai.  Availability is good over Easter as well. Sounds great?  Well, here are the snags:

• The route only operates 29 March – 27 April and 9 – 23 October
• It is a short-haul A320 plane.  Whilst the business class seats are big and comfy, they are a million miles from an Emirates flat bed.
• The outbound flight is 8.25am so you would need to spend a night in Helsinki
• I couldn’t price the fare from London – although it would make more sense to do an Avios redemption anyway for the connection.  Finnair also flies from Manchester to Helsinki to connect.

Get business class from Colombo to Auckland for $1,300 (£845)

I won’t go into this in detail, but View from the Wing had a piece on this fare yesterday.  You would be flying on Qantas for the bulk of the trip. It would be easy to get to Colombo on a SriLankan redemption from London with Avios or via a cash or Avios ticket from The Maldives (accessible via British Airways).

This ticket seems difficult to book in practice.  However, it is worth noting that there are many, many excellent fares out of Colombo which is probably the cheapest place in the world to buy premium airline tickets.  Qatar had a £900 business class return fare to London recently, for example.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 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.

American Express Business Platinum

50,000 points when you sign-up 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.