Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Last day to book economy Avios redemptions for 50% fewer points

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Until midnight tonight, 17th June, over 90 British Airways long-haul routes can be redeemed at 50% off, but in Economy only.  

Unfortunately taxes, fees and carrier charges are NOT reduced and will set you back around £350 per person (£275 for the Middle East).

This offer is for flights from or to London Heathrow and Gatwick between 1st September 2018 and 31st May 2019.  In reality, despite what the rules say, regional departures seem to work OK too.  If you live near Inverness this means that you can wipe out the Air Passenger Duty by starting from there as it is exempt.

Avios wing 6

One way redemptions are allowed.

You cannot combine this offer with a British Airways American Express 2-4-1 voucher or a Lloyds Avios Rewards upgrade voucher.

Avios part payments are excluded from this offer, but Avios plus cash is included.  The reduced Avios price will automatically be applied when booking.

Here are some typical off-peak prices for return World Traveller (economy) flights including taxes with this offer:

  • Bermuda for 13,000 Avios + £367.16 (peak 20,000 Avios)
  • Seychelles for 16,250 Avios + £369.61 (peak 25,000 Avios)
  • Hong Kong for 19,500 Avios +£341.35 (peak 30,000 Avios).

Of course, even at half price most of these deals remain poor.  Should I want to go to Dubai, for example, it will cost me 13,000 Avios + £259 on an off-peak date.  Cash tickets can often be had for £295 to £325 which means that the redemption is still a bad deal unless you need the flexibility to cancel if needed.

That said, do the maths.  If you are travelling in high season it may still make sense.  Whilst economy redemptions are usually not great value long-haul, this offer would make sense if a cash ticket would otherwise set you back £550 – £600 or so. This would value your Avios points at 1p each which is fine by us.

You must book by tonight for travel between 1st September 2018 and 31st May 2019 to redeem for 50% fewer Avios – and 0% fewer taxes.

The special offer page for the deal is here.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

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 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.

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.

Category

British Airways and Avios

Comments (96)

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

  • Gavlar says:
    17 Jun17 June 14:09

    My base airport is Inverness so when I am not using my 2for1 BA voucher is there any point in using a positioning flight followed by an Aer Lingus / Iberia hub for redemptions to avoid charges if APD is already excluded for me. Perhaps other than when there are differences in peak & offpeak dates with those carriers

    • the real harry1 says:
      17 Jun17 June 14:18

      yes at times because the price difference isn’t solely APD, ie ex-EU could still present good savings

      I think I’m in the camp that says if you really enjoy the extra opportunity of spending a night or 3 @ the positioning city (ie extra holiday experience), this can make ex-EU really enjoyable/ good value – if you don’t, then sometimes the hassle often isn’t worth the saving

      • Gavlar says:
        17 Jun17 June 14:24

        Thanks, I see your logic and with 3 kids in tow that often tips the balance!

        • Polly says:
          17 Jun17 June 22:59

          Get a great kick out of spending the APD on a mini city break

  • JPV says:
    17 Jun17 June 17:06

    OT: is the barclaycard online service down for anyone else? I’m unable to login on both my own and my partner’s account

  • Brexiteer says:
    17 Jun17 June 17:26

    Why not have this party in the North?

    Sick of everything being so London-centric on this blog.

    • John says:
      17 Jun17 June 18:11

      Money talks and bullshit walks.

      London is where the money is!!

      • Rob says:
        17 Jun17 June 18:19

        I was in Manchester this morning as it happens, on the way to Atlanta.

        • Peter K says:
          17 Jun17 June 18:49

          If your target audience is mainly in the South you concentrate on the South. Likewise, if you live in the South and are organising the party then you likely keep it in the South.
          Similarly, a number of competitions are UK only as most readers of this site are.

    • Lady London says:
      18 Jun18 June 02:25

      Believe it or not it’s a lot easier from a lot of “the North” to reach London than “other North”

  • ankomonkey says:
    17 Jun17 June 20:19

    I predict the party sponsor is Curve. Or Virgin Atlantic.

    • Rob says:
      17 Jun17 June 21:48

      No and No. It isn’t someone we usually work with.

      • ankomonkey says:
        18 Jun18 June 09:58

        Gulf Air? Creation? No, Creation would insist it be held in Solihull.

    • Genghis says:
      17 Jun17 June 22:21

      When I went to the curve offices they didn’t have any decent tea bags for a proper cuppa. V lean operation.

      • Michael Jennings says:
        17 Jun17 June 23:06

        Other than the whole “must be losing loads of money on every customer” thing.

      • Lady London says:
        18 Jun18 June 02:26

        Believe it or not it’s a lot easier from a lot of “the North” to reach London than “other North”

  • C F Frost says:
    17 Jun17 June 23:39

    OT Amex Plat referrals. Does anyone have experience of testing whether the 90k MR annual ceiling is definitely and always enforced across both the primary and supplementary cardholder? Or, in other words, has anyone on a supplementary card managed to squeeze in referrals on top of the five the primary has made? And on a finer point – does the year end according to the primary cardholder’s dates, or does the supp retain his/her own dates and is there any IT ineffectiveness here to permit >5 referrals a year across both cards?

    • Steve says:
      18 Jun18 June 00:21

      Hi Default Amex Card Guy!

      Interested to know how a supplementary card holder would make referrals – didn’t know there was such an option.

      On the last point about year end, it is done by calendar year, you could potentially earn 180k points over December and January with 5 referrals each side of new year.

    • Rob says:
      18 Jun18 June 01:33

      It is firm and is per MR account per calendar year.

      • vlcnc says:
        20 Jun20 June 09:11

        You can dress a turd up all you want Rob but it is still a turd. So you might get a nicer seat and some food but it is still their frankly atrocious and despicable staff, terrible delays and frankly sadistic customer services.

        • vlcnc says:
          20 Jun20 June 14:50

          Apologies wrong thread – was meant to go in the Vueling thread!

  • C F Frost says:
    18 Jun18 June 00:32

    It’s a disappointing but hardly surprising dead end. I think I just got lazy. I’d seen the referral link on my plat account but never had any need to follow it. I just have, but the only cards that show are primary Amex cards.

    Would you believe me if I said this was my real name?

  • Yuval Lange says:
    18 Jun18 June 07:50

    Sometimes good things exist where you least expect them.. I just booked 2 one way economy flights to the USA and back (NYC and MCO) for next Easter with avios which gave me 3p per avios due to BA’s ludicrous price and the redemption promotion. Thanks for the information and for reminding me of the expiry date.

  • vlcnc says:
    20 Jun20 June 09:10

    You can dress a turd up all you want Rob but it is still a turd. So you might get a nicer seat and some food but it is still their frankly atrocious and despicable staff, terrible delays and frankly sadistic customer services.

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