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Earn double Avios on all BA flights until 31st December – registration required

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British Airways has brought back its ‘double Avios’ promotion for flights booked and taken between now and the end of the year.

It is a decent deal and may even work for some leisure travellers as well as business travellers.  You need to be wary about the small print though.

Here are the rules:

you receive double Avios on flights you BOOK and take between now (assuming you register today) and 31st December 2017

you MUST register via this page at ba.com to take part

all Executive Club members can register except for those based in the US, Canada, Mexico or South Africa

you can fly in any cabin on any regular ticket type

you will receive the bonus on your first FOUR return trips (or eight one-way trips)

double Avios only applies to your base points and not to any cabin or status bonus

Registration is here.

British Airways double Avios promotion

Here is the list of what flights would and would not qualify:

YES – any BA operated flight where your ticket has a BA flight number

YES – a transatlantic flight operated by AA, Finnair or Iberia where your ticket has a BA flight number

YES – the OpenSkies services from Paris to New York

YES – any BA flight operated by SUN-AIR Of Scandinavia 

NO – flights on other oneworld partners, even with a BA flight number

NO – flights on BA codeshare services

NO – flights on BA franchise partners such as Comair in South Africa

Remember that pre-booked flights do not count.  In reality, if your flight was booked by a travel agent then it might slip through but you shouldn’t rely on this.

Don’t be caught by the ‘four flights’ rule

British Airways thought that it made sense to restrict this offer to your first eight flights taken after registration, but it may backfire.

Let’s imagine that your travel plans between now and the year end are:

Johannesburg in Business Class

Edinburgh in Economy

Glasgow in Economy

Edinburgh in Economy

Johannesburg in Business Class

Because only the first eight segments will earn double Avios, your 2nd Johannesburg flight won’t count.  You therefore have two options:

remove all traces of your BA account from one of the domestic flights (but be careful your corporate travel agent doesn’t keep adding it back) or

using a different airline to fly one of the domestic routes

If you know that you will have four long-haul flights between now and the New Year, you may want to move your short-haul flights to other carriers.

How to sign up

The registration page on ba.com is here.

As usual, the registration process is not working properly.  After clicking register you will be taken to a blank page headed “British Airways offer registration” but with no message.

It has worked, however, because if you try to register again you will get a message saying that you are already registered.

This offer is not targetted and, as long as your BA account is not based in one of the excluded countries above, you will be fine to register.


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 (29)

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

  • Roberto says:

    I have 16 sectors between now and the end of the year.. All booked and paid for.

    • Michael Jennings says:

      I have three. It’s highly unlikely I will be booking any more. So yeah.

  • Tom says:

    Always find these deals a bit annoying, in that they are targeted maybe at the business traveler who doesn’t know their movements until weeks before they fly. Clearly with the holidays many home bound flights / holidays / skiing flights will have been booked up months ago.

    Surely if the purpose is to encourage transactions / bookings and maybe filling up seats pre-Christmas, there would be no harm in extending the travel period into next year?

  • Andrew (@andrewseftel) says:

    Is ‘base points’ 100% of miles flown? How would the exclusion of cabin ‘bonuses’ apply to discount economy tickets that earn 25% or 50%?

    • Stu N says:

      Base points is the mileage x fare code factor.

      Say you book one of the cheapest domestics in ET and you are BAEC silver, you would get 125 base Avios (25% of notional 500 Avios for miles flown) and 250 bonus for being Silver (50% tier bonus). Total is 375.

      Double Avios only applies to base Avios element so you would get 125×2 plus 250 = 500 Avios.

  • Jonathan says:

    Sorry if I’m being blind. Can someone point out the Ts&Cs clause about already booked flights? I can only find the end date (31 Dec).

    • Jonathan says:

      Oh, I think I’ve found it: 2a + 2b: register then…. book and fly before 31st dec.
      That’s a shame as it excludes my existing booking.

      • EwanG says:

        That’s frustrating.

        Surely 2a should just say “register” and not “pre-register”. Rubbish T&Cs.

    • Genghis says:

      “book and fly up to (and including) 31 December 2017”

  • LondonFoodie says:

    Typical. 2 days after I book some nice long haul flights…

  • Dave Barron says:

    Thanks Rob. I fly tomorrow having booked a few weeks ago. Let’s see if I get any extra points! Keep you posted 🙂

  • vindaloo says:

    Also worth mentioning that, as always with these promotions, anyone under 18 isn’t eligible.

    • Michael C says:

      Grrr….is that in the Ts&Cs? The system let me sign my 3-yr old up.
      Surely that’s ageist?!

  • dicksbits says:

    I have 9 sectors booked and paid for before the end of the year. What is the point of this promotion? Most people have already planned and booked their autumn breaks and Christmas market away weekends.

    • dicksbits says:

      in fact 11 booked and paid for. More fool me for loyalty as a Gold member. Never upgraded either! Ever!

      • Drav says:

        just because you are foolishly loyal to BA doesn’t mean they are obliged to reward you in any way. the only reason they would want to occasionally do so is so that you don’t move elsewhere

    • Rich says:

      To fill a few more seats? To try to increase the likelihood of card holders booking BA over a competitor? It’s that simple I guess.

    • Drav says:

      to give an extra incentive to those that haven’t….

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

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