How to book American Airlines flights with Avios whilst ba.com is not working properly

In theory, booking American Airlines flights with British Airways Avios is very straightforward.

British Airways will show American Airlines flights on their booking system and you book them like any BA redemption.

However, ba.com once again has issues displaying American Airlines award availability. This has been going on for a couple of weeks now with no end date in sight.

The good news is that you can still book American Airlines Avios redemptions.  The bad news is that you need to do some research first and then call the BA call centre.  There are reports that the call centre can also struggle to see availability at times, but you do at least have a chance.

You will need to use the American Airlines website to find dates with available seats, which to be fair you should be doing anyway as their search system is easier to use and more advanced than the BA one.

How to find American Airlines business class availability

Here is a step-by-step to finding American Airlines reward availability via the AA website, which you can then call BA and ask them to book for you.

On the AA home page, enter your preferred flight details, select ‘Redeem Miles’ and click ‘Search’.  On a route flown by American and other carriers, you may want to go into ‘Advanced search’ and restrict the search to AA.

On the results page select select ‘Economy (or BusinessFirst or First) MilesAAver’ and ‘Full Calendar’.  You can only book MilesAAver redemptions using Avios – ignore the other options that the website offers.

There is one thing you need to know.  When you click on the coloured menu options, eg First MilesAAver, you will see results in two colours.  Only days showing the same colour as the menu bar are bookable.  Other days show one of the other available options, usually an AAnytime award which BA can’t book.

In my example, you want days showing 57,500 miles seats.  Click through and make sure that the flight offered is direct.  In this particular case, between New York and Heathrow, we recommend the 77W flights on new Boeing 777-300ER aircraft as these have by far the best seat.

Usually you would go over to ba.com at this point, plug in the same dates and the same flights will show.  But with the BA website currently not showing American Airlines flights you will need to give the BA call centre a call in order to book, with fingers crossed that they can get it to work.  Make sure to ask them to remove the phone booking fee as the flights were not available to book online.

For clarity …. you do NOT pay 57,500 miles.  That is the price if you have AA miles.  You will, in this example, pay 60,000 Avios each way which is the one-way cost of an Avios business class redemption from London to New York.  Remember that all American Airlines flights are charged at peak day Avios pricing.

Hopefully this method can help you get around the current inability to book American Airlines redemptions online.

This is also a useful method if you are looking for American Airlines redemptions domestically as the AA website will often suggest flight combinations which ba.com does not spot.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 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 Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

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.

American Express Business Platinum

50,000 points when you sign-up 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.