Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

‘Kids Fly Free’ on British Airways is back, inc Leeds, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Aberdeen ….

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British Airways has launched a bigger and better version of the ‘Kids Fly Free’ offer which it has run in the past.  This is a genuinely good deal with no catches or small print.  Free means free.

From 1st June to 5th November, up to two children under 12 will fly entirely free when accompanied by an adult.

Applicable routes to or from London Heathrow are:

Leeds Bradford

Newcastle

Edinburgh

Aberdeen

Belfast

Glasgow

Inverness and Billund are NOT included this year.

There are genuinely no catches attached to this offer.

You pay the standard lowest adult fare for your flight as shown on ba.com

The kids (under 12) are entirely free – you don’t even pay taxes

Two children can travel per adult

You can book a one-way or return flight

There are no minimum stay requirements and no ‘Saturday night’ rule

There IS a deadline for booking, which is 13th May

You can find full details at ba.com here.

The offer only works for point-to-point trips to or from Heathrow – you won’t find a trip such as Leeds – Heathrow – Berlin gets any cheaper if booked as one ticket.

Remember that children under 16 travel free on Heathrow Express now.  Given that adult tickets can cost less than £6 one-way when booked in advance, this does give the potential for a cheap family break in London.

There are also a number of restaurants at Heathrow offering ‘kids eat free’ during school holiday weeks.  Details are here on the Heathrow Airport site.

Full details are on ba.com here.


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 (22)

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

  • Richard says:

    Rob, I love your blog and read it every day, and hope you don’t mind my pointing out that the Yorkshire airport referenced in the title of the article is Leeds Bradford, not Leeds. Keep up the good work!

    • roberto says:

      Blame the search engine optimization of websites and title tags. If you want traffic online (and via twitter) these are the kind of omissions that are just collateral damage unfortunately.

    • Rob says:

      I know that, having been brought up down the road, but as I have said many times – headlines have to be very short, mainly for Twitter.

  • Michael says:

    Two questions I couldn’t answer in the T&Cs:

    1. Is it only economy?
    2. Can you pay avois or just cash?

    • vindaloo says:

      The Ts & Cs don’t say this but it is Economy only. I tried last night and Business prices up with the full fare and taxes for everybody. Fair enough since the kids have to pay full APD in Business.

  • Kinkell says:

    It’s disappointing that this offer excludes Inverness. In fact it’s really mean spirited of BA .

    • Anna says:

      And Manchester! Presumably they have enough paying customers on these routes.

      • Boris says:

        Luckily I can still fly EDI to LCY and foresee few pesky youngsters on this route. I’d rather have a nice flight experience, with a bit of space, and a nice glass of wine, and then take fifteen minutes or so extra time to cross London than what happened last year and the year before from Newcastle and Edinburgh: groups of children with high maintenance mothers. The worst ones are the mothers who are silver card holders. Luckily for me the punishing ends on these routes at T5. But I pity the poor business lounge. All because Cruz has a couple of sprogs himself 🙂

  • luckyjim says:

    Can anyone explain why a 12 year old is not regarded as a child nowadays? It’s not just airlines.

    • Rob says:

      I have a 10 year old and in many ways she is no longer a child! Phone, money, goes shopping on Kings Road by herself, same shoe size as my wife (39) …..

    • Anna says:

      For one thing it reduces the amount of “free child places” offered by travel companies. Another way to gouge parents.

      • Zild says:

        They are offering three seats for the price of one, and still people complain?!

        I suspect my wife is smaller and lighter than a number of 11 year olds. Perhaps she should qualify for a free seat too?

        • Mr(s) Entitled says:

          Does she have her own phone, money, and go shopping on Kings Road by herself? If yes, and she has size 39 feet, then in many ways she is not a child.

  • Nick_c says:

    BA’s target market is now children? That explains the new seats 😉

    I guess the profit comes from selling bags of Peppa Pig sweets.

  • Alexander says:

    What if I’ve already booked flights on this route and paid for my 2-year old? Any way to recoup that?

    • Nick_c says:

      That’s about as likely as getting a refund on any ticket when the price drops. You enterered into a contract and presumably were happy with the price you paid.

    • Rob says:

      No

  • Alexander says:

    Thanks 🙁

  • mutley says:

    A bit of good BA news! Lovely stuff, off to Carnoustie, via Edinburgh with 11 year old son, Open is free for kids under 16

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

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