Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

British Airways Europe flash sale – one way flights from £23

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British Airways has launched a short flash sale on many of its European routes.  The headline prices are as low as you will ever see, with headline fares from £23 each way.

You don’t have long:

The Heathrow sale is now over – you had to book by midnight on Sunday for travel by 18th March

Gatwick is stilll on – Gatwick departures must be booked by midnight on Tuesday for travel by 18th March

BA Holidays packages must be booked by midnight on Tuesday

British Airways BA A350 in flight

From Gatwick, ba.com states that:

Destinations included in the sale are Malaga, Alicante, Barcelona, Naples, Salzburg, Tenerife, Verona, Venice, Rome, Genoa, Bari, Pisa, Valencia, Glasgow, Bordeaux, Nice, Cagliari, Catania, Malta, Turin, Paphos, Dubrovnik, Faro, Funchal, Lanzarote, Palma, Mahon and Gibraltar.

The Low Fare Finder tool (click here) is your best friend, as usual.  This shows the lowest prices that BA is offering on every route over the next year.

Despite the cheapness of these fares you will still receive at least 125 Avios and 5 tier points each way.

I can see (and these are just the sub-£30 routes):

  • Alicante £25
  • Barcelona £23
  • Basel £29
  • Bilbao £29
  • Bordeaux £28
  • Inverness £28
  • Luxembourg £22
  • Malaga £25
  • Malta £28
  • Naples £24
  • Palma £27
  • Pisa £29
  • Salzburg £28
  • Tallinn £26
  • Valencia £28
  • Verona £23

Before booking, check out BA Holidays here – click on ‘City Breaks’ – and see if that offers an even better deal when you add a hotel or car.

To maximise your miles when paying, your best bet is the British Airways American Express Premium Plus card which earns double Avios (3 per £1) when you book at ba.com or via BA Holidays.  You do not get double Avios if you book with the free British Airways American Express card.  Another option is American Express Preferred Rewards Gold which offers double points – 2 per £1 – when you book flight tickets directly with an airline.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (March 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 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

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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 8th April 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Business Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to 120,000 points. You receive 80,000 points when you spend £12,000 within three months and a further 40,000 points if you spend on the card between Month 14 and Month 17. Points convert 1:1 into Avios and many other programmes. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 8th April 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Business Gold is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 60,000 points. You receive 40,000 points when you spend £6,000 within three months and a further 20,000 points if you spend on the card between Month 14 and Month 17. Points convert 1:1 into Avios and many other programmes. Click here to apply.

American Express Business Platinum

Up to 120,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

Up to 60,000 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 (70)

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

  • Jody says:
    13 Jan13 January 13:57

    O/T. We have a reward night booking (Hilton credit card free night deal) at the Waldorf Astoria in Rome. Is there any benefit in me trying to get a status match with Hilton (I’m currently Platinum Elite with IHG)?

    • Mr(s) Entitled says:
      13 Jan13 January 14:02

      Free breakfast now for Gold and above.

      Exec lounge access if you are Diamond irrespective of the room booked.

      I am there in April. Looking forward to it.

      • Elaine says:
        14 Jan14 January 16:32

        No access to the Imperial lounge in the WA in Rome even as a Diamond unless you pay for an upgrade. Specifically excluded in the T&Cs. You might get lucky but they don’t have to give access there.

    • Leo says:
      13 Jan13 January 14:24

      Achieving 4 stays (Gold) in 90 days for one breakfast seems like hard work in my book – okay if already have those stays booked obviously. 8 stays needed for Diamond. However you do get status for those 90 days, not clear if Hilton matching IHG Platinum to HH Gold or Diamond these days – whether you keep it depends on the amount of stays so could be worth it. Also not sure if you can go for a status match again in the future after having done it before – am yet to try; there might be a more lucrative prospect than one breakfast in the future….

      • Adam says:
        14 Jan14 January 07:43

        Yep, HH Diamond being matched using IHG Platinum as i git this onky three weeks ago.

    • Rob says:
      13 Jan13 January 15:07

      Free brekky as Gold.

    • Genghis says:
      13 Jan13 January 15:29

      Is Hilton Gold from Amex Plat / spending £10k on your HH card an option?

      • Rob says:
        13 Jan13 January 18:20

        The Hilton match is guaranteed to succeed, might as well do that. It only lasts 90 days so time it right.

  • Scott says:
    13 Jan13 January 23:40

    Interesting. Unsure would be referring someone for the cash back so not sure of their intentions.

  • Roger I* says:
    14 Jan14 January 08:12

    On topic.

    LHR-Zurich ‘sale’ Jan-May lowest £66. OTOH normal June-Dec lowest £66. Er …

    No LGW-ZRH these days.

  • Lindsay says:
    14 Jan14 January 13:35

    got LHR-LUX for £44 rtn for a weekend day trip in march. best thing is its out of T3 so CX F or QF lounge

    • Doug M says:
      14 Jan14 January 15:00

      Which actually became £42.70 in my case. It feels like stealing.

      • Andy says:
        14 Jan14 January 19:11

        Also done this for May, added on a return connection from Leeds to make LBA-LHR-LUX rtn for £97.

    • RIccatti says:
      15 Jan15 January 18:32

      Someone spotted that (or systems) and removed LUX from the sale.

  • The streets says:
    14 Jan14 January 22:33

    Yes 18000

  • ee says:
    15 Jan15 January 07:20

    There are some decent priced LCY flights as well, especially later in the year. NCE to LCY prime Sunday evening for £42 when booked as the return of an outward LHR-NCE fare (outward £33).

    • Lady London says:
      15 Jan15 January 14:41

      You can OJ these but the BA website won’t do it. Multi city forces ripoff. I got told on the phone BA can’t do it on phone either. Respectable OTA did no problem. Too bad British Airways you’ll have to pay the OTA for this. Too bad I don’t care.

    • e14 says:
      15 Jan15 January 15:05

      I can see the LCY return legs pricing at £39-42 but can only see Gatters for the outbound price – maybe this was when LHR was in the sale …

      • ee says:
        15 Jan15 January 18:09

        Yes, was last night for LHR at £33. Works well for us as we like the F lounge before the 9pm departure, and returning back to LCY is great because we live in Essex so just a quick change from the DLR at Stratford gets us home. 2+2 and no BoB on the LCY flights are a bonus (plus I was able to nab the mid plane exit rows!)

  • Braiden says:
    16 Jan16 January 14:07

    Booked my parents on BA J from Vienna to LHR T3. They are non EU. How do they get fast track passes? Crew or at check-in?

  • Canuck says:
    16 Jan16 January 17:05

    Not bad! Thanks for the heads up. Just booked family of 4 one-way LGW to GIB for £134. Usually pay that per person on BA.

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

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