Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Fly for just £1,009 in British Airways Club World business class to Beijing or Shanghai

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British Airways has launched its own Chinese New Year event, and it is a very attractive one.

As long as two people travel together, you can fly from Heathrow to Beijing or Shanghai in Club World for just £1009 each (£2018 for two).

There is even a way of getting the price below £1000 each as I show below.

Here are the travel dates where you will find the fare.  As you see, April, May and June are your best bets:

  • 1st April to 30th April
  • 14th May to 31st May
  • 1st June to 7th July
  • 24th September to 4th October
  • 15th October to 31st October
  • 12th November to 6th December

In typical BA style, this deal is not being shown on the ba.com home page or the special offers page.  Neither have they emailed the public or trade partners like us about it.  The fare is definitely there though.

Remember to search for TWO Club World passengers.

A Saturday night stay is required.

Last year you may remember I wrote about our own visit to Beijing at Easter.  We did not require a Visa to get in because we were technically in transit – we flew in from Tokyo and flew out again, three days later, to London.  You DO still require a Visa if you fly into China and it is your final destination.

My review of the impressive Waldorf Astoria Beijing is here.  It is a very smart hotel and, importantly, only a few minutes walk from the Forbidden City.  That said, if it is a toss-up between Beijing and Shanghai then I think the latter is more interesting.

These British Airways Club World deals need to be booked by Wednesday 21st.

Don’t forget the BA Holidays booking option

You can also book these deals via BA Holidays via this page.

Search for ‘flight and hotel’ and various options for two people for a similar price as the flights (£2018) or even less will appear.

For example, for a 3-night stay from 16th to 19th June, I can book 2 x Club World flights to Shanghai PLUS three nights in the Rayfont Hotel South Bund (3-star, admittedly) for just £983 per person!

BA Holidays bookings earn Avios and tier points as usual on the flights, although they do not earn credit in the BA On Business small business loyalty scheme.

Don’t forget the other benefits of booking via BA Holidays:

You only need to pay a deposit of £300 per couple now, with the balance due 5 weeks before travel

You earn an extra 1 bonus Avios per £1 spent

It is worth playing around on the BA Holidays site to see what comes up.

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.

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 (82)

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

  • Charlie says:
    18 Feb18 February 09:21

    Thanks Rob for highlighting such a great deal. I just booked 4 nights at the Four Seasons Shanghai in November for £1300 each with a £300 deposit. However BA is making me pay for seat selection even though I’m a silver card holder. Is that because it’s a BA Holiday?

    • Rob says:
      18 Feb18 February 09:23

      Must be an IT error. Try later in MMB or call BA. BA Holidays does not have different rules. More likely that your BAEC number has not percolated into the booking.

  • Scott says:
    18 Feb18 February 09:38

    Great offer – thanks Rob for highlighting managed to get flights and hotels for £1300 a piece Heathrow to Beijing 20k+ Avios each and 280 tier points. Very chuffed.

  • MrZee says:
    18 Feb18 February 10:27

    Is there a limit to the number of transit visas you can get in 12 months?

    I was thinking of using this with onwards to AKL and then returning so that would require 2 transit visas.

    Thanks

    • AndyR says:
      18 Feb18 February 11:03

      Yeah that’s fine.

      • Scott says:
        18 Feb18 February 11:35

        Yes no problem at all. Just be prepared to wait at immigration. They still do not seem to have it down to a smooth process for the transit visa. I have been left for an hour in Beijing in a room and my passport taken away twice in Shanghai.

  • Benjirocks says:
    18 Feb18 February 10:38

    Can you do the visa waiver in 2 directions? So for example (depart sat) LHR – PVG – TYO then TYO – PVG (depart Sunday week later)- LHR? With a two night stop in TYO to break it up? Would having a hotel booked in PVG throughout the whole period ( as it is cheaper this way) complicate the matter further?

    • AndyR says:
      18 Feb18 February 11:07

      Yes you can do it in 2 directions. How many nights is the hotel booking for? Less than 6 days?

    • Coolguycp1 says:
      18 Feb18 February 11:17

      I guess this options means two separate flight bookings, LHR-PVG using the BA current deal, and PVG-TYO on another ticket(with maybe another airline)?

      • Benjirocks says:
        18 Feb18 February 11:21

        Yes two separate flight bookings. Nested. Would prob go somewhere else tues/weds/thurs. I think the hotel booking would end up being 7 nights. Sunday night through to the next Sunday morning

        • AndyR says:
          18 Feb18 February 13:55

          Not sure but could be a problem when you check in as hotels usually check your transit without visa in your passport.

  • Kenneth Tan says:
    18 Feb18 February 10:49

    Just a comment about the relevance of the £1009 price. This is the Chinese lunar year of the dog. In Cantonese (Chinese as spoken around Hong Kong), the sound for for word “nine”, is very very close to the sound for the word “dog’.

  • Renaud says:
    18 Feb18 February 11:17

    Any chance these would be upgradeable to First using Avios, or to make this work somehow with an open jaw?

    We’re going to Beijing + Japan late March/early April and I have a London-Beijing + Tokyo-London redemption on a 241 voucher (First outbound, CW inbound) + a separate Beijing-Tokyo JAL redemption in between.

    The taxes were £551 each, so this sale is very tempting indeed. Would probably have to lose a day + do one more redemption to get back to Beijing instead of returning direct from Tokyo though.

    • Scott says:
      18 Feb18 February 11:37

      Open jaw will increase the cost significantly if it back from Tokyo. Upgrading is absolutely fine as long as there is availability.

    • Rob says:
      18 Feb18 February 11:48

      Certainly upgradeable but you can’t open jaw, unless you open jaw Beijing and Shanghai.

      • Geoff says:
        18 Feb18 February 15:04

        Can you upgrade with avios when booking as a BA holiday?

        • KevMc says:
          20 Feb20 February 18:32

          Yes, you definitely can, as long as there is availability. I upgraded our outbound section to Shanghai for just 30,000 points each. I just had to call them, as the option was available online. No extra costs involved etc.

      • TGLoyalty says:
        18 Feb18 February 18:45

        Shaghai is a great city if possible. Would also be visa free as Beijing and Shaghai are separate when it comes to transit visas?

  • Michael C says:
    18 Feb18 February 18:57

    Just fyi flight prices also work for 3 people!

  • Wayne says:
    18 Feb18 February 20:13

    Thanks for that info Rob,
    Now cancelled our LHR/PEK avios redemption with 241 in first and took the Club World offer LHR/PEK PVG/LHR, used 31,000 part pay to save £240, not the best value for the Avios but we will be earning 40,000 avios plus tier points with the new flights that we wouldn’t of earned with the reward flights, so not bad.
    So we can save the refunded 241 and 170000 avios for another time!

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