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Save 25% on Flybe redemptions via avios.com

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Flybe, the UK regional airline, is offering a 25% discount on the Avios needed for a redemption this Spring.

This looks like a good deal to me in certain scenarios.

Here are the headline rules:

Flybe Avios 25 per cent discount sale

25% discount is valid on all Flybe flights available at avios.com

You must book before 17th March

You must fly between 10th March and 6th July

Flights operated by Stobart Air are excluded

Full taxes and charges are payable – Flybe is not in Reward Flight Saver so the number will be higher than the usual £35 in most scenarios

Full details can be found at avios.com here.

Understanding Avios and Flybe

Flybe now has a slightly confusing position in the Avios universe.

It used to be that you could only book Flybe redemptions via avios.com.  In 2014, Flybe ditched its own reward scheme and began to award Avios points instead.  As part of this, Flybe availability started to appear on ba.com as well.

Availability between avios.com and ba.com does not match so you should check both.  As far as this promotion goes, however, you need to book at avios.com to receive the discount.

If your Avios are in ba.com, you can move them across to an avios.com account using the ‘Combine My Avios’ function on either website.

Flybe has a bad reputation for redemptions because of their artificially high taxes.  If you are checking bags, however, you will be getting decent value.

The other upside is that Flybe has a huge route map – there are few parts of the UK they do not cover now.  You can see it here.

The last time I ran a pricing example on Flybe, this is how it worked out.  I picked Birmingham to Stuttgart as a random route.  A cash ticket was £120.  An Avios ticket was 9,000 Avios plus £59.  That is 0.67p per Avios of value which, whilst not great, is not terrible either.

However, an Avios redemption “includes 20kg checked baggage and 10kg hand baggage allowance”.  A cash ticket which included a bag would be £168.  That is 1.2p per Avios of value which is a very good deal.

Note that, to get a free checked bag, you must book via avios.com (see their Flybe rules here).  Flybe bookings made with Avios on ba.com do not receive free checked baggage. 

Remember that you need to book on avios.com to get this 25% Avios discount – and free checked baggage.  A search on ba.com will show the full price and will leave you paying up for a suitcase at the airport.

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 (26)

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

  • Matt says:
    29 Feb29 February 06:38

    They appear to have closed Travelmoneynow a day early

    🙂

    It’s not March yet, mate.

  • Alan says:
    29 Feb29 February 07:55

    Is there a list of which routes are Stobart Air ones? (I’m guessing it could be a lot of the Scottish ones, grr!)

    • Rob says:
      29 Feb29 February 08:46

      Anything out of Southend is very likely.

    • Reddot says:
      1 Mar1 March 07:37

      I redeemed a few EDI-LCY flights for £26 and 3375 Avios, compared to 4000/4500 Avios and £17.50 for BA RFS. Being a bit low on Avios as we do 50 Edinburgh flights a year, the Avios savings was worth it for us especially on peak BA dates. BA was also low on reward flights for the May bank holiday.

      Note that LCY-EDI is £52 of taxes though!

      • Alan says:
        1 Mar1 March 20:20

        Agree that’s a good deal Southbound, interesting the taxes are so much higher ex-LCY, they must be following the LHR passenger fees model!

  • Jeff says:
    29 Feb29 February 11:36

    Rob

    FlyBe are horrendous, shockingly poor ‘reward’ value on domestic routes (read – a complete waste of time)

    Plus as you mention, their ‘artificially’ high taxes, how is this permitted? Either they are taxes or they are not. If the figure is artificially high, what transparency is there as to how the ‘taxes’ sum is arrived at?

    Has anyone, anywhere, ever investigated this farce?

    • Volker says:
      29 Feb29 February 12:11

      Have got a domestic Flybe flight for 2 coming up around Easter time. Booked a couple of days ago using the offer. Paid 13,500 Avios plus £82 taxes instead of £400 (regular cash price). Happy days.

    • Rob says:
      29 Feb29 February 12:33

      By ‘artificially high’, I mean that the taxes and charges on a reward are often more than the cost of a cash ticket!

      If you look at the terms and conditions of their credit card ‘free flight’, this is actually stated very clearly as a warning to you.

      Lufthansa does the same, by the way, with Miles & More shorthaul rewards. Tax can be well over £120 on an economy redemption to Germany whilst, of course, cash tickets are often less than that all-in.

  • Waribai says:
    29 Feb29 February 12:22

    Slightly OT but any word on the 9-10 monthly hotel points to avios transfer bonus? I think the last one took place at the beginning of May so we are due one soon me thinks!

  • Kirill says:
    29 Feb29 February 14:02

    OT – I have a question about refunding BA charges on redemption ticket from HKG

    I have booked HKG – LHR in Y for January 2017 earlier in the year and when I try to book it now, the charges are slashed to £10 a pax and I paid £20.60 a pax.

    What are the chances of getting the difference refunded?

    • Kirill says:
      29 Feb29 February 14:07

      the ticket confirmation states:
      Fare Details GBP 0.00 + Tax/Fee/Charge GBP 41.20 = GBP 41.20

      This is for 2 passengers

    • Max says:
      29 Feb29 February 15:00

      That’s because HK abolished fuel surcharges for tickets issued from Feb 2016. You won’t get the charges refunded.

  • CV3V says:
    29 Feb29 February 16:18

    Completely O/T, but having just updated my OCD spreadsheet with the points/miles which I have redeemed I am now well over the 1 million mark! Including hotels, I am at 1.3 million points redeemed with an estimated cash value of £31K and after various fees etc, a cash ‘saving’ of £29,500. NB all my cash estimates are based on the cost of booking the equivalent fare at the time of booking and certainly don’t hold up to any scrutiny whatsoever.

    The time period for this was since I started collecting/tracking points at the beginning of 2014. At the time I estimated I might collect about 80,000 points per year, enough for one CW redemption to NYC (pre devaluation). So thanks to Raffles and a number of the regular commenters for their valuable tips and advice.

  • James says:
    29 Feb29 February 18:05

    OT – Just to let anyone know whos thinking about booking a hotel, Rocketmiles have a 3000 bonus on first bookings until 3rd of March. Something to do with some weird frog…I dont see how its relevant but Im not complaining if there is bonuses to be had!

  • Alan says:
    1 Mar1 March 10:33

    6,750 avios + £28 to Newquay from Gatwick.

    Cheapest cash fare is £76 so I think this is a good deal?

    • harry says:
      1 Mar1 March 20:42

      Not a lot in it – even the whingers say 0.65p is fair – so (6750 x 0.65) + 28 = £71.88

      I reckon I get more than 0.65p, so personally unless you’re an Avios millionaire – which I just remembered I am 🙂 – I’d pay cash & keep the Avios for another redemption

      especially if you get the bag

      • harry says:
        1 Mar1 March 20:44

        Just remembered you’ll get some Avios points for the cash ticket, so nothing much in it at all

        Why are you doing flying down to Newquay?

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