Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Cheapest British Airways Club Europe fares ever – from £114 return for 80 tier points

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

British Airways has launched some incredibly low Club Europe fares out of London Gatwick.

In fact, these are the cheapest Club Europe fares I have ever seen.  Back in October 2015 BA ran a flash sale offering seats at £150 return, but these deals beat that.

The lowest fare on offer is, admittedly, a niche one.  Nuremberg in Germany is £114 return for travel in late December to early January.

British Airways BA A350 in flight

More mainstream destinations are also very cheap.  Barcelona is £140 return in Club Europe from London Gatwick, for example.

The maths is compelling:

You get 80 tier points for the flight, so at well under £2 per tier point this is worth considering for no other reason than it is a cheap way to earn or retain status.  As I note below, Catania is £215 return for 160 tier points.

Even a British Airways Blue member would earn 2,150 Avios for a return flight to Barcelona, so that is at least £20 of value coming straight back

You will get access to the impressive new British Airways Galleries lounges at Gatwick which we reviewed here 

You will get the other benefits of Club Europe – fast track security (which works well at Gatwick), priority boarding, empty middle seat, a free meal and all the champagne you can get through

The best way to look at the available routes is via the Low Fare Finder tool on ba.com.   Click here, select ‘Europe’ and select ‘Business’.

This is what I see for travel between January and April for under £200 in Club Europe.  Remember that a 2-night minimum stay or a Saturday night may be required:

  • Alicante from £180 return
  • Amsterdam from £180 return
  • Barcelona from £140 return
  • Bilbao from £198 return
  • Bordeaux from £136 return
  • Friedrichshafen from £150 return
  • Geneva from £156 return
  • Genoa from £146 return
  • Innsbruck from £188 return
  • Limoges from £144 return
  • Luxembourg from £158 return
  • Lyon from £170 return
  • Malaga from £180 return
  • Nice from £180 return
  • Nuremberg from £114 return (late Dec / early Jan only)
  • Pisa from £196 return
  • Porto from £190 return
  • Rome from £186 return
  • Salzburg from £180 return
  • Seville from £170 return
  • Turin from £160 return
  • Venice from £180 return
  • Verona from £170 return

If you are after tier points, you should take a look at Catania in Sicily.  This is a 160 tier points route and is selling for as low as £215 return in May, June and July.  My article listing all of the 160 tier point Club Europe routes is here.

You should also have a look at the BA Holidays website here and do a dummy booking with a hotel or car hire added.  You might find it gets even cheaper.

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 (67)

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

  • IndiaCharlie says:
    19 Dec19 December 15:33

    This is exactly why I have the twitter alert set up for HFP! Thanks Rob, cancelled my Swiss flight that I booked yesterday (full refund <24hrs after booking) and rebooked CE to GVA for only £30 more.

    • Curious says:
      19 Dec19 December 15:47

      How does the twitter alert work? Does it only work on specific Twitter clients? (iOS/macOS?)
      I ‘thought’ I had an alert setup, but I’ve never received such an alert!

      • IndiaCharlie says:
        19 Dec19 December 19:20

        I have it on twitter app on my Samsung but don’t think it’s unique to this. Next the following button is a bell system on mine which allows me to receive a pop up alert. HFP is actually the only one I get
        .

  • Anna says:
    19 Dec19 December 17:23

    I wonder if these deals are in any way linked to the fact that there’s no Gatwick-Manchester shuttle any more? I would love to know how much Northern business BA lost as a result of that decision. Gatwick is now so inaccessible that people prefer to travel via the US!

    • Catalan says:
      19 Dec19 December 17:29

      When there’s demand there will be supply.

    • David says:
      19 Dec19 December 20:44

      This was the biggest route loss of my life !! BA would get 75% more of my Leisure flying a year, which is 10-15 trips a year, if I could do it via LGW on BA ! I detest Ryanair but quite often i’m forced to fly them as they do MAN-ALC for £20 while EZY are £50/60 more and LS even MORE ! I used to be able to do ALC-LGW -MAN for £100, loved it !

  • Christian Harris says:
    19 Dec19 December 18:20

    CAn you back-to-back at Catania? Obviously on two separate bookings!

  • Nick says:
    19 Dec19 December 18:47

    Has anyone found any 160TP routes cheap during the winter schedule? I spent the afternoon looking but everything seemed really expensive 🙁 CTA and most of the Greek routes are summer only and I need it before then!

    • John Gwinnell says:
      19 Dec19 December 19:19

      Look at Marrakesh – I’m going CE at the beginning of February.

    • Geoff says:
      20 Dec20 December 10:11

      Earliest CTA cheap fare (£215) I can see is 25 March – is that early enough?

      • Nick says:
        20 Dec20 December 20:01

        No, as I said, I want winter schedule (which always runs to the last Sunday in March). CTA is summer-only, hence what you found. Need the TPs before a big trip in economy over Easter!

        Thanks though.

  • Clive says:
    19 Dec19 December 19:14

    Very cheap Y flights to the Caribbean and ME as well

  • Pumplekin says:
    19 Dec19 December 22:18

    Just got back from NUE this weekend. It was a lovely little town, but you will indeed get most of the highlights done in a couple of days at most, and one of the “highlights” is from the grim part of German history, so may not appeal to everyone.

    Will obviously be significantly quieter, but with less highlights once the Christkindlmarkt is over, which might explain the bargin BA tickets.

    • shd says:
      20 Dec20 December 08:10

      Plus that a certain LCC flies to NUE for £20 return. Add a comfort seat next to you, that makes it £40 return.

      Bring your own scone, and it’s CE 😉

      • Colin MacKinnon says:
        20 Dec20 December 09:05

        If you are a couple then you share the comfort seat and it is only £30!

  • Else M says:
    20 Dec20 December 07:15

    Am I the only person who cannot access any hotels on the BA website?? I have tried several different cities and dates but keep getting message the page cannot be found and then it goes back to main page and I start again. I already have flights so just want to book hotel. Tried different computers and it makes no difference.

  • Optimus Prime says:
    20 Dec20 December 08:21

    Have booked Salzburg for late June. Than you Rob for the heads-up!

    Any hotel recommendations? We’ve got status on the chains provided by Amex Platinum and IHG Black.

    Have just noticed the Crowne Plaza is sold out. There’s a Holiday Inn but would like something a little bit fancier since we’ll be celebrating Mrs Prime’s birthday.

    Looks like SPG has the Goldener Hirsch which is top 3 in TripAdvisor? What puts me off is that it’ll close for renovations in September which means it could feel quite old and tired…

    • Rob says:
      20 Dec20 December 09:12

      CP is not sold out. It is leaving IHG on 1st January and going independent. If you email them you can still book for next year, we are there one night in February.

      Goldener Hirsch is probably one of the oldest hotels in the world 🙂

      Options really are the old town (historic building, pedestrianised area, small rooms) or just outside (Sheraron, ex CP) which are more conventional.

      The Sheraron is plush and is one of the best in the chain.

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

New to Head for Points?

Welcome!  We’re the UK’s most-read source of business travel, Avios, frequent flyer and hotel loyalty news. Let us improve how you travel. Got any questions? Ask them in our forums.

Latest Forum Posts

Get 40,000 bonus points (worth 40,000 Avios) and £300 dining credit with The Platinum Card

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

See a whole year of reward seat availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

Get £10 when you spend £150 on your free Currensea card

Booking a luxury hotel?

Our luxury hotel booking service offers you GUARANTEED extra benefits over booking direct. Works with Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz Carlton, St Regis and more. We've booked £1.7 million of rooms to date. Click for details.

SME? EARN POINTS WORTH 10,500 AVIOS WITH CAPITAL ON TAP

Get 20,000 bonus points, four airport lounge passes and your first year free with American Express Gold

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.

Got it!