Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Great deal: book £1,050 British Airways Club World business class flights to Durban

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As part of its occasional ‘Dream Tickets’ promotions, British Airways is running a 2-4-1 offer on Club World tickets to Durban.

Full details are on ba.com here.  You must:

book by 1st March

travel between 1st April – 31st May or 1st July – 31st August

both passengers must travel together at all time

The cost will be £2,099 for two tickets which is EXCELLENT value, albeit that you are heading into Winter.  Availability is limited so there is no guarantee you will see seats at that price for your chosen dates.

You can use ‘part pay with Avios’ to reduce the cost further but you’re getting well under 1p per point so I don’t recommend it.

If your ultimate destination is Cape Town or Johannesburg, remember that you can redeem Avios for direct Comair flights from Durban to both cities.  Full ‘Dream Tickets’ details are on this ba.com page.

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 double points – 2 per £1 – when you book flight tickets directly with an airline.

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 (173)

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

  • 1nfrequent says:
    26 Feb26 February 10:30

    O/T but thought it was of interest to those who use cabs/car services in London – deal on my BA Amex with Wheely – spend £25 in a single transaction and get £25 back up to 3 times. Looks like it’s a private car company. May be of interest to some here.

    1F

    • Rob says:
      26 Feb26 February 10:37

      Yes, it’s like Uber. Decent deal if those are the terms. Not many cars though so quite a wait to get one in my (admittedly historic) experience with them.

    • Anna says:
      26 Feb26 February 12:09

      I have just had a minor stressful episode with that offer – at first glance I thought it referred to luggage sales and we have just replaced all ours lol.

  • nick says:
    26 Feb26 February 10:30

    Anyone book the virgin reward flights to Tel aviv yet?

    Looks like flights only loaded from 1 November. Nothing in October at all? What gives?

  • nick says:
    26 Feb26 February 10:32

    anyway to make the Amex Travel booking over the phone and claim the credits?

    Need to make a combined flight/hotel booking for 4 people. Total cost £2600 – ideally want to split over 4 amex cards (for the £200 off each)

    • Rob says:
      26 Feb26 February 10:33

      No, needs to be online.

      Tried to use this yesterday and it was a joke. Need flights between Athens and Corfu. Amex Travel website claims that no airlines fly this route!

      • nick says:
        26 Feb26 February 10:40

        Also find the Amex Travel website sh**

        Poor poor selection of hotels. Forcing me highest room category (ie suites) as soon as I add a child, same issue with flights (tons of mainstream carriers missing)

        Whats the deal here? No wonder they can throw those 200 credits around..

        • Mark says:
          26 Feb26 February 10:47

          tried to use this yesterday too, tried to book a hotel but kept glitching saying need to verify address, despite it passing the amex security key. Called up and they couldn’t figure out why it wasn’t working but could only offer to book online. Still have 8(!) pending tractions for this booking but they confirmed none of these will be processed, did get the email to say I had redeemed the offer but I know this won’t clear as I won’t have completed the booking.

        • Jovanna says:
          26 Feb26 February 16:17

          Can’t book easyJet flights online with Amex.

      • Alan says:
        26 Feb26 February 12:15

        Sadly Amex Travel website is pretty useless – on the phone they can be OK but dreadful online. Basically only use them when they have an offer on that requires me to use it!

        • Charlieface says:
          26 Feb26 February 14:18

          Wasn’t too impressed with their phone service either.
          After booking a 85min. connex in Lisbon on TAP they emailed a few weeks later to say the first flight was moved 10min later so it falls under 90min MCT (it was already shorter??). 2 weeks of back and forwards calls and emails and them refusing to rebook on any other airline (regardless of EC261) eventually they just confirmed the same flights anyway.

      • Tom H says:
        26 Feb26 February 19:57

        Had a similar thing, booking flights from LHR to BODRUM, flights showed on the website, tried to book kept erroring. Online chat and multiple calls, with multiple excuses and asked to call back on different days. Eventually complained as had to book through Turkish to get the same price as advertised by Amex Travel. And got 2k points. Win some you loose some!

  • Craig says:
    26 Feb26 February 10:44

    Some Hilton spend £250, £50 back offers just appeared on BAPP and supp.

    • Anna says:
      26 Feb26 February 12:12

      Sheesh, it’s just not my day! Got 3 nights at Embassy Suites in NYC at the end of May, this offer expires on the 15th!

    • Russ says:
      26 Feb26 February 12:20

      On Gold today to. May I take it that elite benefits won’t be extended?

      • Anna says:
        26 Feb26 February 12:36

        I don’t think it affects elite benefits as you still make the booking via Hilton, not via Amex or another third party.

    • Andrew says:
      26 Feb26 February 12:39

      There seem to have been working on offers today. First thing this morning all non-saved offers had disappeared.

      The old ones are now back, but I now have

      Wheely – Spend £25 and get £25 cash back up to three times. Not in London so hopeless.
      Mews – Spend £200 on Pizza and get £50 back. No way am I spending £200 on Pizza.

    • Stewart says:
      26 Feb26 February 15:24

      Brilliant cheers. Shame it doesn’t cover the new hilton in Murcia wanted to try it.

    • Mikee says:
      26 Feb26 February 22:35

      Any idea whether it will work on cumulative spend or only 1 transaction >£250?

  • Bonglim says:
    26 Feb26 February 10:54

    Is there an exceptional hilton in Paris that is worth it?
    Or in fact what would people choose for a weekend in Paris from any hotel (chain or not)?

    Thanks

    • Genghis says:
      26 Feb26 February 11:00

      What’s your budget? Paris can be pricy. For work stays I go for Idol (independent) not far from the office. For leisure stays, I’ve stayed at Hilton Opera (good junior suite with cut yourself leg of iberico ham at breakfast) IC Opera (small room but great service) and Hotel du Collectionneur (big rooms and great breakfast). Going back now for leisure I’d try the Renaissance Republique on Marriott points.

    • Rob says:
      26 Feb26 February 11:10

      Purely in terms of location, the main IC is a good choice. However, you really need lounge access with a large room, ideally junior suite. Classic rooms are unbelievably small (we’re almost talking ‘stretch out your arms and touch both walls’ small) and the restaurant is the most famous cafe in Paris and so charges €45 for breakfast.

      If you book via Emyr you will get free lounge access, worth €140 per night, on any booking which is a GREAT deal. The lounge here is excellent.

      We’ve reviewed Hilton Paris Opera too and, as Genghis mentioned, I stayed at Renaissance Republique last year which was surprisingly lovely including ‘no buffet’ free (with Marriott status) a la carte breakfast. Location is a bit off-centre but manageable.

      • Bonglim says:
        26 Feb26 February 11:35

        Thanks for the replies will have a look – not much of a limit in terms of budget, perhaps happy to splash 500-1000 euro for a night.

        Will have a look.Thanks again.

        • Rob says:
          26 Feb26 February 12:13

          If you have a high budget, the Four Seasons George V is generally seen as the best ‘city’ hotel in the world.

        • Lady London says:
          26 Feb26 February 14:19

          The Bristol used to be excellent and probably still is.

        • Shoestring says:
          26 Feb26 February 19:31

          Are we back to the Brassiere, Lady London? 🙂

        • RussellH says:
          26 Feb26 February 20:43

          Had a couple of nights at the Bristol as a competition win quite some years ago. Memorable in part as several African Heads of State were staying too – so far too many ‘heavies’ standing around in the corridors.
          But a great Hotel experience.

      • Lyn says:
        26 Feb26 February 17:00

        I can also recommend booking the IC Le Grand via Emyr, which will give you access to their excellent Club Lounge, and an upgrade from the small rooms as well, in addition to IHG points and any IHG/Ambassador status benefits you are entitled to. As Genghis says, their customer service is great. Especially the lounge staff.

        If you have a high budget though, why not ask Emyr for other recommendations to consider as well? I imagine he can book most, if not all, of the high end Paris hotels with special benefits.

    • Brian says:
      26 Feb26 February 11:36

      Try Airbnb. You can get lovely apartments on the Seine for a similar price to a decent (not great) hotel.

    • Liam says:
      26 Feb26 February 11:43

      We’re staying at the Moxy Paris Bastille in April. I’d be interested to know the thoughts of anyone who’s stayed there before.

    • TripRep says:
      26 Feb26 February 23:05

      Bonglim – don’t forget your yellow jacket 😀

  • Mark1980 says:
    26 Feb26 February 11:55

    OT does a plat supp application create a credit check? Thanks.

    • George says:
      26 Feb26 February 13:04

      Never has for me

    • Charlieface says:
      26 Feb26 February 14:11

      Credit check is only for someone applying for credit, which this is not. It usually triggers an identity check which won’t show up on credit report

  • Anna says:
    26 Feb26 February 12:07

    Thanks Harry, will have a look. The Majestic wines are good but not enough to earn my unquestioning loyalty!

    • Shoestring says:
      26 Feb26 February 19:42

      Anybody wanting the Virgin Wines deal – and remember, it works out £2/ bottle & change if you are a first time customer so get the 3000 Airmiles – it was only 97 cases left this morning so don’t delay.

  • Dominic says:
    26 Feb26 February 12:23

    Rob, any idea whether the Marriott promotion will count for existing bookings?

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