£266 Los Angeles returns available on British Airways in the New Year
Links on Head for Points may pay us an affiliate commission. A list of partners is here.
If you like the idea of getting away from a cold English Winter to the sunnier climes of Los Angeles, help may be at hand.
British Airways is, yet again, quietly easing out excess capacity by selling heavily discounted tickets from outside the UK.
Copenhagen is the best starting point as far as I can tell. This sample itinerary:
… works out at £266 return. Plus, of course, the cost of getting to Copenhagen – your flight will be cancelled if you miss the first leg.
Ludicrously, you will earn back half the cost in miles. American Airlines still gives 1 mile per mile flown on cheap economy tickets so this trip would earn you 12,080 American Airlines miles – even more if you have BA status.
Don’t credit the flight to BA. It only awards 25% of flown miles for long-haul cheap economy tickets.
There are some similar deals of other European cities, but not as cheap. They tended to come out at around £350 (eg Dublin, Rome, Madrid). Copenhagen seems by far the cheapest. Have a play around at ba.com and see what you can find.
January and February have the best availability.
If you just fly London to Los Angeles on the dates in my example above, it will cost you £560 – more than double.
How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (May 2022)
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. You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:
Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard
25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher for spending £10,000 Read our full review
Barclaycard Avios Mastercard
5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher for spending £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 UK’s most valuable card perk – the 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 £12,000 Read our full review
You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points.
The Platinum Card has doubled its sign-up bonus to 60,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert to 60,000 Avios, if you apply by 1st June 2022.
American Express Preferred Rewards Gold
Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & two airport lounge passes Read our full review
The Platinum Card from American Express
60,000 points (SPECIAL OFFER) and an unbeatable set of travel 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 10,000 Avios.
Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa
10,500 points bonus – the most generous Avios Visa for a limited company 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 a long list of travel benefits 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.
(Want to earn more Avios? Click here to visit our home page for our latest articles on earning and spending your Avios points and click here to see how to earn more Avios this month from offers and promotions.)
David 
RIccati 
Joe 
Graeme 
Rob 
Polly 
Cloud Runner 
TimM
Mike
David
intransitmostlikely
stevenhp1987
Comments (74)