Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

British Airways launches a big new sale in all classes

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British Airways launched its latest World Sale yesterday with discounts on long-haul and short-haul flights in all classes.

Full details are here.

Bookings must be made by 26th September.  Travel dates vary.

One interesting quirk is that First Class is priced at a fixed £400 return above Club World on many North American routes, which will be tempting purely from an Avios and tier points perspective.  This is for departures between 21st November 2017 and 6th August 2018.

A380 1

Sao Paulo is an interesting deal at £2199 return in Club World, as is Buenos Aires at £2240, given that you rarely see Latin America heavily reduced.  Kingston at £1127 is the cheapest Club World deal, closely followed by Punta Cana.

As usual, the best way to find a good deal is via the BA Low Fare Finder website.  This lets you see the lowest price, on a month by month basis, for any route in any class.   It is one of the most customer friendly bits of BA IT.

Here are some headline prices:

Club World

  • New York from £1503 return
  • Las Vegas from £1629 return
  • Los Angeles from £1679 return
  • Hong Kong from £2297 return
  • Barbados from £1749 return
  • Punta Cana from £1196 return
  • Kingston from £1127 return
  • Tel Aviv from £1327 return
  • Bangkok from £1698 return
  • Singapore from £2045 return
  • Buenos Aires from £2240 return
  • Sao Paulo from £2199 return

Club Europe

  • Paris from £99 one-way
  • Malaga from £99 one-way
  • Rome from £119 one-way
  • Vienna from £148 one-way

There are many more Club Europe offers – use the Low Fare Finder site to see them quickly.

North America in World Traveller:

  • New York from £398 return
  • Miami from £409 return
  • Boston from £339 return
  • New Orleans from £549 return
  • Chicago from £509 return
  • Orlando from Gatwick from £455 return
  • Tampa from £430 return
  • Las Vegas from £568 return
  • Fort Lauderdale from £378 return
  • Calgary from £466 return

Europe in Euro Traveller:

  • Tenerife from £40 one-way
  • Malta from £35 one-way
  • Dubrovnik from £45 one-way
  • Paphos from £40 one-way
  • Funchal from £40 one-way
  • Fuerteventura from £40 one-way

There are many more European economy offers – use the Low Fare Finder site to see them quickly.

Elsewhere in World Traveller:

  • Barbados from £465 return
  • Tokyo from £648 return
  • Muscat from £349 return
  • Dubai from £359 return
  • Mauritius from £610 return

BA Holidays

There are also deals on BA Holidays packages, home page here.

Unlike ‘flight only’, you can secure a BA Holidays package with a deposit as low as £150 per booking, not per person, with the balance only due five weeks before departure.

Remember that it is often cheaper to book a ‘flight and hotel’ or ‘flight and car’ package than just a flight on its own.

The examples below – which are all in economy – were provided by the British Airways press office and are not my recommendations!

Las Vegas – three nights at the 3* Circus Circus Hotel, Casino & Theme Park / Excalibur, from £499 per person, travelling January 1 to January 31

New York – three nights at the 3* The Gallivant Times Square, from £469 per person, travelling January 7 – January 31

Barbados – seven nights at the 3* All Seasons Europa/Rostrevor, from £529 per person, travelling April 23 to June 29

Tobago – seven nights at the 3* Grafton Beach, from £669 per person, travelling May 1 to June 29

Nice – two nights at the 3* Comfort Suites Cannes Mandelieu, from £99 per person, travelling November 1 to February 28

Abu Dhabi – three nights at the 5* Le Meridien Abu Dhabi, from £379 per person, travelling May 1 to May 31

Dubai – three nights at the 3* Hilton Garden Inn Dubai Al Muraqabat, from £399 per person, travelling May 1 to May 31

Hong Kong – four nights at the 3* Best Western Plus Hotel, Hong Kong, from £509 per person, travelling January 2 to February 15

If you are looking for a Club World holiday deal, you will find those here.

Conclusion

With both short-haul and long-haul, and all travel classes from economy to First, included in the sale – plus BA Holidays – it is impossible to pick out everything.

The best thing to do is to visit the sale page of ba.com here or the BA Holidays home page here and have a play around.  You might find something you like.

You must book by 26th September.  Travel dates vary by class and route.


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.

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.

Comments (42)

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

  • Mike says:

    Ex-INV seems to be a better option that Ex-DUB for this one. Also you can do open jaw and end in London, not having to worry about dropping the last leg.

  • Optimus Prime says:

    When Qatar do their January sale – do they release all offers at the same time?

    I’ve been reading this blog’s articles covering the January 2017 sale and looks like they released some Tokyo deals a few days later? Something like €630 return from Brussels or Amsterdam.

    • Rob says:

      The Tokyo thing was an odd flash sale which was run for one evening only, without advance notice, and only from Brussels!

      There is always a massive January sale, then usually a mix of sales and ‘241’ sales throughout the year – but rarely as good as the January offers.

      • Optimus Prime says:

        Ah, okay. Do you remember if Tokyo happened to be on the January sale too? I mean – if you book it on sale day 1 for €1200 and then they bring it down to €630 two days later, I wouldn’t be very happy 🙂

        • Rob says:

          Tokyo is rarely reduced on any airline but there is usually something with Qatar from some EU outpost. Or do what we did and go to HK and get a JAL or Cathay connection on Avios. Seoul is the nearest connection, only about 2 hours onwards.

          • Optimus Prime says:

            Makes sense, thanks.

          • Zild says:

            I am sure there were LHR-TYO WT tickets for around £550 earlier this year (I nearly booked some) – if £648 is a sale price I guess the £550 must have been the January sale price.

      • BlackBerryAddict says:

        It was from AMS too. And then transferred to London 🙂

  • Sara says:

    Muscat in J travelling April/ May next year can be had for just over £1000 rtn on a few dates.

  • Russell Gowers says:

    Thanks! Booked 3 nights in Mallorca in October, all inclusive, £250 each in CE. 80 TP towards my target too. Lovely.

  • Downtheback says:

    OT. Sorry Rob wasn’t sure where to ask this question, thinking of getting the Ambassador card for IC and using it in Berlin. Plan is to pay for Sat, use free night on Sun and IHG Points for the Mon night. If I pay for the Sat night in a room with access to the Club lounge do they let you keep it for the next 2 days as well ? I already have Spire status with IHG.
    Also if I book a room with Club access is there a danger they will upgrade me to a suite which looks like it doesn’t come with access to Club lounge ?

    Thanks DTB

    • Rob says:

      Here’s the thing. At some places it is the room that gives lounge access (ie all 10th floor guests get it). At others, like IC Paris LeG, there are no club rooms per se and they simply code it in to the room.

      If Berlin is the former you are fine for all 3 nights. If the latter, you may not get access on Mon.

      • Downtheback says:

        Thanks Rob, looks like Berlin is by room type ie “King Bed Club Room” so should be ok.
        Thanks DTB.

        • jason says:

          downtheback I can highly recommend the Hilton in Berlin and if you take the challenge you will get platinum which gives you lounge access and IMO is a better location we also got upgraded to a suite

    • YL says:

      As long as you book Club room you will get club access at IC Berlin. The Club is on the 8F of the East Wing, although the normal Club room are on 7F & 8F. However, as long as you book the club room your key card will let you access the club floor at the East Tower. I think if you book Deluxe you will get Junior suite with Club access.

      Thought about it many times, but have not tested the club room following points stay there yet… would also be interesting to know how it turns out. Enjoy your stay.

  • Chris A says:

    Sorry for the o/t but I want to book a one way flight with Monarch TFS to LGW but the only pricing option is in EUR? I have the 10% Amex statement offer loaded, does anyone know if amex will honour this if it goes through as EUR and not GBP?

    • Rob says:

      The rules of these deals normally say the sale must be in £ – but I’ve seen it work both ways. The current Hilton offer clearly works in all currencies as you must pay on departure to get the £50 credit.

    • Genghis says:

      Don’t Monarch have a DCC option (though will eat into a lot of the 10%)?

      • Neil says:

        They certainly do. Just booked a flight tonight ex-Spain and it offered GBP or EUR

        • Chris A says:

          Thanks guys, I’m sure I’ve used the DCC option before but for the life of me I can’t see it. Maybe because I’m on the mobile site (iPad)?

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

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