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Avios ‘last minute deals’ are back for next weekend – where can you go?

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Back in November, avios.com trialled a new product – 50% off a last-minute break.

How last minute?  For the following weekend.

The trial apparently went well and Avios will be running this offer more frequently.

Here is the current selection of deals.

You can fly in either direction next Friday, Saturday, Sunday or Monday.

You can only book tickets in economy and the taxes and charges are not reduced.

Here are the routes involved:

Heathrow – Edinburgh

Heathrow – Brussels

Heathrow – Frankfurt

Heathrow – Oslo

Heathrow – New York

Heathrow – Boston

Birmingham – Amsterdam (on Flybe)

Whilst the website does not mention this, you can mix and match promotional and non-promotional dates.  Imagine that you are happy to fly to Edinburgh next Saturday but prefer to return on Tuesday instead of Monday.  In that case, you would pay 2,000 Avios (half-price) for Saturday but the full 4,000 Avios for Tuesday.

Since cash tickets increase in price the nearer you get to the day of departure, these deals could represent good value – although that assumes you would normally book a flight to New York for cash at 5 days notice.

Remember that you cannot book these deals at ba.com.  You must use avios.com and transfer your points from British Airways Executive Club into an avios.com account.

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.

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.

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.

Category

British Airways and Avios

Comments (25)

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

  • Mark says:
    23 Jan23 January 08:57

    Sounds like a great deal and something I can see myself using quite a bit. Is it known when and where the list of promotional routes will appear? A weekly update on HFP would of course be welcome!

  • Lumma says:
    23 Jan23 January 09:20

    While the European deals are a great idea, I don’t see the point in New York or Boston.

    A quick search on skyscanner, pulls up return cash economy fares for less than the taxes for next weekend (direct, from Heathrow on BA, but as a Finnair codeshare) and if you can wait a few weeks, you can book on ba.com for £344, get £100 off for 15,000 avios and get 1,700 back, so almost the same outlay.

    • Kathy says:
      23 Jan23 January 11:21

      Yes, it seems unlikely that they’d be doing Avios discounts on long-haul routes if there weren’t cheap tickets available.

  • aliks says:
    23 Jan23 January 09:32

    Amsterdam: Now 4,500 Avios + approx £60.04 taxes, fees and charges

    On the face of it not a good deal but we are talking about flights next weekend:

    ITA Matrix gives KLM at £134, and BA at £183
    Skyscanner gives Easyjet at £104

    Even though the taxes look punitive this could be an interesting option if they throw in a decent range of destinations.

    • Mark says:
      23 Jan23 January 11:41

      Why is Amsterdam £60+ taxes, not £35 RFS?

      • n says:
        23 Jan23 January 12:19

        RFS booked through BA.com

        No RFS for avios.com bookings.

        • AndyR says:
          23 Jan23 January 12:23

          RFS is available for BA flights booked on avios.com. The reason it is £60 in taxes is that the flight is with Flybe from BHX.

      • Bsuije says:
        23 Jan23 January 13:06

        I think its because flybe operating the flights, rather than BA.

    • n says:
      23 Jan23 January 12:18

      “hotel”

      it’s a crap hostel, at best. and one that took pride in being ‘the worst hostel in the world’ only a few years back !

      • Alan says:
        23 Jan23 January 14:52

        They had a YouTube campaign to promote how bad they were. I actually went to a stag do there. It was as bad as was suggested.

  • Fenny says:
    23 Jan23 January 10:03

    If they did Daventry to Sheffield, I’d definitely be booking every weekend for the foreseeable!

  • Andrew H says:
    23 Jan23 January 10:12

    O/T. Judging by the Flyertalk thread, Iberia/Groupon are starting to give people their missing avios.

  • Gavin says:
    23 Jan23 January 11:00

    Fingers crossed the destinations I need will come up in the future. Can’t see many opting for the long haul options

    • Rob says:
      23 Jan23 January 11:32

      Bad timing for the US East Coast I admit!

      • Gavin says:
        23 Jan23 January 14:28

        I’m off to New York next Friday for 4 nights. Fingers crossed it’s all back to normal by then! Might have been fun to witness it live though had I chosen this weekend

  • Waribai says:
    23 Jan23 January 11:43

    Slightly OT, I matched my mum to Air Berlin
    Gold recently but she didn’t receive the membership card. So, I told her to show a screenshot of her membership at the Gatwick North No. 1 traveller lounge yesterday. Sadly, it was a no go. They said access was for BA status pax only not one world partners. Is that right?

    • Rob says:
      23 Jan23 January 16:38

      Depends what deal BA has made with No 1 to be honest. Would be ok at a normal BA lounge.

      • Waribai says:
        23 Jan23 January 17:23

        Thanks. Yes, I guess they are restricting access because of the sharing arrangement!

  • Manuel says:
    23 Jan23 January 12:21

    Hello,

    Why has Avios.com 47 taxes on a oneway to BRU?
    From LHR on BA it is 4000 Avios + 21 euro.

    So much cheaper

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

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