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Is British Airways running down Flight Pass?

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After making a fresh attempt to breath some life into Flight Pass last year, it looks like British Airways may be running it down.

Flight Pass is no longer available for sale for use beyond 31st December.  All 12 month passes have been withdrawn – we need to see if 9 month passes are withdrawn on 1st April.  OptionTown, which runs the scheme for BA, is not responding to queries.

If you don’t know about Flight Pass, via this OptionTown link, you can buy route passes for economy travel on flights from Heathrow, Gatwick and City.

British Airways A320

There are a huge number of pricing permutations based on how many people would share your pass, how many tickets you want, what expiry date you are willing to accept and how close to the date of travel you want to book.  You can buy a pass for one route or for an entire country.

For example, you can buy 12 one-way flights from Heathrow to Newcastle for £605, so £50 each.  This includes taxes.  You must use them within 3 months AND must book 90 days in advance.  At the other extreme, 12 one-way tickets bookable up to 4 hours in advance will cost you £131 per seat.

Given the huge number of pricing options, it is impossible to say if this offers decent savings or not but I know many frequent air commuters use it.  Note that you can only book return flights with Flight Pass which means that it is less flexible than you may think – you may be able to book your outbound with just four hours notice but you need to lock in the return at the same time (changeable for a fee).

You have last seat availability.   If there are still seats for sale, irrespective of the price, you can book them – as long as you are inside the booking window of your Flight Pass.  There are no blackout dates or minimum stays.

All of this is irrelevant, of course, if the product is now on its last legs.

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 (81)

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

  • JamesB says:
    22 Mar22 March 11:36

    OT Nectar: They might be targeted bug I thought worth flagging up for those with kids. 1500 points gets a voucher for £11+ off Pizza Express. 200 points gets a 3 month subscription to kids tv app hopster.

  • Simon says:
    22 Mar22 March 14:55

    OT(dropped it in another bits, but missed this one… sorry!)
    I want to travel LON-NYC on BA.

    I have 40k amex points and 3k avios. I’ve not bought any points. My flights will be a shade over £1k for 2 people in economy. Can anybody suggest the cheapest way to book these flights?

    Thanks

    • Rob MC says:
      22 Mar22 March 15:04

      What dates and why specifically BA?

      • Simon says:
        22 Mar22 March 15:22

        Thanks for the response!

        28/04-06/05 (ish, can wiggle by a day or two)

        Wanted BA as a friend can usually get us upgrades on BA (not BA/AA flights though) once we’re on the system, thought it would be a good treat especially if the return flight is overnight.

    • Rob says:
      22 Mar22 March 15:07

      Don’t fly on BA. Book Aer Lingus from Dublin and get a separate ticket to Dublin. Tax will drop from roughly £300 per person to under £70. See https://headforpoints.com/2018/02/06/how-to-redeem-avios-points-on-aer-lingus/

      You need to call BA to check Aer Lingus availability.

      • Rob MC says:
        22 Mar22 March 15:21

        If it were me I would use the amex points for a hotel in NYC, much more lucrative than the savings made by an economy redemption, especially if no interest in going to Dublin

        • Simon says:
          22 Mar22 March 15:24

          Solid advice, thanks – I’m still feeling my way round all the points fun. Happy to save the points for hotels. Any recommended to make the most of the points?

        • Simon says:
          23 Mar23 March 10:17

          Thanks for both your comments, really appreciate the insight.It’s taken a while to get the hang of points/taxes/redemptions.

      • Simon says:
        22 Mar22 March 15:25

        Had been keen on BA, given potential for an upgrade via a friend, however will look into aer lingus. Thanks!

        • Rob MC says:
          22 Mar22 March 15:32

          Just looking , economy redemptions are only available 26/4 or 30/4 on the way out, bit good availability on return.
          And for two it’s 52k avios and £742 tax.. so you’re not getting good value at all.

  • RTS says:
    22 Mar22 March 16:57

    OT – Any recommendations for hotels in Singapore? I have status with Hilton, SPG and Marriot and Expedia credit via Nectar.

    • Genghis says:
      22 Mar22 March 17:01

      We really liked the IC near Bugis (used AMB cert). Others I know like the Conrad but we found it very average.

    • Rob says:
      22 Mar22 March 17:30

      If money is not an issue, Capella on Sentosa. You can even rent a villa (normally long-term rented to expats) via a separate website if they have any spare. Great for kids as 30 seconds walk to the beach, albeit across a road.

    • Roger says:
      22 Mar22 March 20:49

      I have a stay coming up at JW Marriott courtesy travel package.
      Review seems to be good too.

      • Genghis says:
        22 Mar22 March 20:59

        I would love to spend a week in Singapore eating at loads of different food courts. Enjoy.

  • Alex Sm says:
    22 Mar22 March 18:58

    A friend of mine works for a regional airport in a small European country – and commercial support is often the only working tool to attract LCCs To Fly to these destination. Ryanair is still using it high and wide, btw. Then it’s just a question is whether paying the airlines is justified in terms of ROI – whether passengers bring more money into the country/region than it’s being spent on commercial support

  • rams1981 says:
    22 Mar22 March 19:16

    OT Marriott resorts. Will my gold status get any recognition? I’m staying at Grande Lakes, Orlando

    • Stevie G says:
      22 Mar22 March 20:30

      Not much as it is a resort. More points. That’s about it.

    • JamesB says:
      22 Mar22 March 20:46

      On the subject of resorts, is there any way of knowing whether a hotel might classify itself as a resort even if it does not have the word resort in the hotel name?

      • Cate ⛱️ says:
        22 Mar22 March 21:22

        Interesting comment JamesB. I usually avoid Marriott hotels with the word ‘resort’ as there are no elite benefits but, if a hotel decided to call itself a resort then they could supposedly refuse your elite benefits. I suppose the only way to know is to drop them an email.

        • Rob says:
          22 Mar22 March 22:13

          Don’t think so. Venice is called a resort but for the first year of operation was not one. Then, overnight, it decided it was and out went free breakfast and upgrades.

  • vlcnc says:
    23 Mar23 March 07:36

    Another post promoting Vueling *sigh*

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