Get an extra £100 off BA Holidays as Brexit bites, plus short haul BA sale deals

The Brexit decision last Friday has had a disastrous toll on the travel industry.  It hasn’t fully filtered through into Stock Exchange announcements, although British Airways issued an immediate profits warning just in case and easyJet also warned a few days later.

However, I have spoken with various airline, rail and hotel executives this week as part of my usual stream of meetings.  The UK prognosis is, without exception, dire.

The hotel groups have a little leeway due to Wimbledon, Henley and the Farnborough air show but that is it.  Bookings elsewhere are virtually dead, and hotels are seeing substantial cancellations of corporate bookings, especially functions, for the Autumn.

The upside, of course, is that we can expect to see some good deals coming our way in the next few weeks.

First out of the traps is British Airways.  The current sale has been running for a couple of weeks.  I covered the good ‘Part Pay With Avios’ deals here, which let you get 1p per Avios point if you use your points to bring down the cost of a cash flight.

I also took an initial look at the BA Holidays deals here.

Yesterday, British Airways cut the price of its BA Holidays packages by up to £100 for bookings by 5th July.  Whilst not massive extra discounts, you should remember that these prices were already very competitive.  New York, for example, starts at £1,372 per person for Club World flights plus 3 nights in a four star hotel, based on two sharing.  That is a futher £35 down on where it was, even though the increase in the $ should have seen the price go up.

You can see what else is available on the BA Holidays pages of ba.com here.

Good short haul sale deals – from £35 each way

When I originally covered the British Airways sale deals I didn’t mention short haul routes.  I should have because there are some good deals to be had.

The ba.com Low Fare Finder tool remains the best way to see what is available.

What is surprising is the number of destinations with one-way flights in Euro Traveller at £35 – £39 each way.  This is exceptionally cheap for British Airways, especially if you have lounge access via status.

£35 – £39 one way fares are available to Berlin, Basel, Dublin, Geneva, Inverness, Jersey, Krakow, Lyon, Menorca, Nice and Oslo.  Istanbul is astonishingly cheap at £45 each way on certain dates although the security issues there have obviously impacted demand.

If you are looking for cheap tier points, there are some good Club Europe opportunities too.  At £200 return or less you have:

• Alicante
• Amsterdam
• Barcelona
• Bergen (from £160 return in Club Europe)
• Berlin
• Billund
• Bordeaux (here is our review of the new InterContinental Bordeaux hotel)
• Brussels
• Dusseldorf
• Friedrichshafen
• Geneva
• Genoa
• Gothenburg
• Hamburg
• Hannover
• Jersey
• Lyon
• Paris
• Pisa
• Rome
• Rotterdam
• Seville
• Stavanger
• Stuttgart
• Turin
• Valencia
• Venice
• Verona
• Vienna

You can see the months these fares are available via the Low Fare Finder.

Remember that you can combine these cheap short-haul flights with the special ‘Part Pay With Avios’ offer.  If you take Bergen as an example – which is a lovely town to visit, far prettier than Oslo – you can get the £160 cheapest return Club Europe fare down to £95 each by redeeming 7,500 Avios.

Istanbul, at £300 return in Club Europe, would generate 160 tier points – but that is easily beaten by Malta which is £222 return for 160 tier points from September.  A full list of Club Europe routes giving 160 tier points is here.

PS. If you are not a regular Head for Points visitor, why not sign up for our FREE weekly or daily newsletters? They are full of the latest Avios, airline, hotel and credit card points news and will help you travel better. To join our 65,000 free subscribers, click the button below or visit this page of the site to find out more. Thank you.

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.