Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

British Airways launches an August-only US Business Class sale from Dublin

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British Airways has launched a range of attractive Club World business class fares out of Dublin, exclusively for travel in August.  Only the US seems to be included.

Here are some examples:

Dublin to New York JFK – €1,337 return 

Dublin to San Francisco – €1,629 return 

Dublin to Las Vegas – €1,557 return 

Dublin to Miami – €1,778 return

Some routes give you the option of flying on American Airlines, either directly from Dublin or with a change in the US.  This will be a little cheaper.  You may even see Iberia options up there!

If you are not flying on American and transiting via Heathrow, remember that Dublin to London should be on a BA plane where possible.  This gets you Club Europe with better service and more tier points and Avios.  Aer Lingus short haul flights are all one class.

Here are the fare rules:

You must book 14 days in advance, so the early days of August are not available

All travel must be completed by 31st August

A Saturday night stay is required

You must book by 23rd July

As usual, I STRONGLY recommend getting a matching quote from the BA Holidays premium fares site, which is here.

You may well find that you can add a hotel to your booking and actually pay the same or even less!

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 triple points – 3 per £1 – when you book flight tickets in a foreign currency, because it triggers both the ‘double points for airline spend’ and the ‘double points for foreign spend’ bonuses.


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 (28)

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

  • Nick says:

    Unfortunately, after a Saturday night in Temple Bar I’d be worried I’d miss my U.S. flight! 🙂

    • Nick says:

      Forget that, brain not in gear yet! The Saturday night is obviously in the U.S,

    • the_real_a says:

      Id be more worried about bankruptcy personally in temple street!

  • Matt says:

    O/T advice needed please. Tried booking an open jaw flight using Avios through the Iberia call centre to avoid the higher taxes imposed by booking two one ways (US-LHR has high “charges”). Both the Iberia and websites showed availability for the route/date/class I wanted so I gave these details to the agent but she said these flights were not bookable with Avios – I explained they were available online but I was getting nowhere and thought I’d call back to speak to another agent but I got exactly the same story. Is there a reason why flights can be bookable online using Avios but not available for the Iberia call centre to book?

    • Matt says:

      *Iberia and BA websites

    • sunguy says:

      Oh, the sorrid tales of the Iberia call centre……..they realy are worse than useless – at least you didnt get an agent on the “English” line that pretended they couldnt speak English!

    • the_real_a says:

      Are they partner flights?

      • Matt says:

        Yes they are BA flights LHR to DEN and LAS to LHR. They flights I want are bookable using Avios on both Iberia and BA websites but the call centre say they are not bookable with Avios!

        • GeoffGeoff says:

          Pretty sure Iberia redemptions on partners have to be return flights, so the system is just enforcing this rule.

      • Matt says:

        I want to book a return flight I just want it to be open jaw. Although I didn’t think the return redemption rule applied to BA just other Oneworld partners?

        • Rob says:

          IB does not allow open jaw partner redemptions (apparently). Partner redemptions must be returns and not OJ.

  • Stu N says:

    “If you are not flying on American and transiting via Heathrow, remember that Dublin to London should be on a BA plane where possible. This gets you Club Europe with better service and more tier points and Avios. Aer Lingus short haul flights are all one class.”

    The downside of BA is that they fly out of T1 at Dublin, a total dump, and the shared airport lounge is one of the shabbiest I’ve ever been to. However BA fly into T5 which should make for easier connections to the long haul on BA.

    EI fly out of the much nicer T2 into T2 at LHR which is easier if you’re connecting to AA or one of the US flights that go from T3.

    • Daftboy says:

      The lounge at T1 has improved over the last 18 months or so and is now not so bad – a bit utilitarian, and a better food and beverage offering than the Aer Lingus lounge in T2. With fast track at T1 it’s not bad overall, but agreed the terminal is well past its prime

  • Andrew says:

    Interesting offer on BA Amex, spend £750 on any combination of :-

    BA, BA Holidays, Avis, Heathrow Express, Marriot, Ritz Carlton,Sheraton 4 Points by Sheraton, JW Marriott, Autograph, W Hotels, Westin, Edition, Renaissance, Delta, Marriott Apartments, Marriot Vacation, Gaylord, AC by Marriot, Courtyard by Marriott, Residence, Springhill, Fairfield, Towneplace, Moxy, St Regis, Luxury Collection, Meridien, Tribute, Design, Aloft, Element

    And earn 750 Avios. Payable up to 3 times. Offer Ends 31/12/2018

    Various terms regarding currency and locations.

    • Crafty says:

      No point messing around with all of that for such a measly Avios pile – fire and forget.

      • Rob says:

        “Pay £20+ in BA Amex FX fees to stay at ….. and get 750 Avios” 🙂

        That said I am likely to do £750 in Avios taxes and charges before the year end.

    • Rob says:

      But I got:

      Save to Card to get 3,000 Avios on a transaction of £3,000+ at participating Avios travel partners like BA, Marriott and Avis by 31 December 2018. You can redeem this offer up to three times. Terms and payment restrictions apply.

      My wife has the 750 version.

    • Andrew (a different one) says:

      I have a different version: £1,500 spend for 1,500 Avios, redeem up to 3 times by 31 December.

      Not going to change my behaviour but if I trigger a few bonuses then it’s better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. Plus it might be stackable with other offers (eg £25 back on a £175 spend at Avis).

    • Stu N says:

      Nothing here and have some BA Holidays balances to pay this year. Shame the old trick of merging offer codes and offerIDs doesn’t work any more.

  • rob says:

    OT – Can lloyds upgrade voucher and/or BA 241 upgrade voucher be used EX:Dublin? ie. DUB-PEK? I didn’t know if that would count as 2 journeys or just 1 as it’s a connection.

    Thanks

  • Mike says:

    Hi – as many of the routes include DUB-LHR at the beginning and LHR-DUB at the end of the would there be any negative implications with not paying for but not using the final leg to DUB and making my own way home from LHR?

    • Rob says:

      No – but your bags would be checked through unless the last leg departs from another airport.

    • Polly says:

      Mike
      You got to book the final leg from either lcy or lgw. That way you get bags off at lhr as you need to change airport. But you just didn’t manage to make that last leg! Bad traffic…

  • Clive says:

    No Tesco BA bonus again

  • Philip Walsh says:

    Booking San Francisco using AA via PHL gave me 280 tier points one way, could find a suitable return on AA at the offer price so back via LHR on BA for 180. 460 tier points for €1604 not a bad result.

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