Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Amazing £1,070 BA Club World business class flight deal to Rio, starting in Paris

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British Airways is currently offering an exceptional £1,070 return fare to Rio de Janeiro in Business Class.

You need to travel to Paris Charles de Gaulle to start your trip, but this is a modest inconvenience given the price.

Here are the fare rules:

You must travel OUTBOUND between 13th August – 13th September, or 27th October – 13th December

You must travel INBOUND before 13th September, or 4th November – 24th December

You must stay away over a Saturday night

You must book by 31st July (although it may be pulled earlier)

Whilst this doesn’t always work, I would recommend trying to book through the BA Holidays site here and adding in a hotel or car hire.  This can bring down the fare even further if you get lucky.

In terms of British Airways Executive Club tier points, you will earn 40 + 140 + 140 + 40 = 360 for the return trip.  The Head for Points British Airways tier point calculator is here.

If you don’t have a credit card with 0% foreign exchange fees, your best bet to maximise your miles when paying is with the British Airways American Express Premium Plus card.  This 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.

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 (25)

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

  • Lumma says:
    21 Jul21 July 21:09

    Is the Rio flight direct now or does it still stop on Sao Paulo first?

  • NigelT says:
    21 Jul21 July 21:27

    I booked this deal earlier today when it was a little cheaper – direct flight to GIG

  • Jonathan says:
    21 Jul21 July 22:47

    It’s a 787-8 for anyone interested so no First cabin.

    • AJA says:
      22 Jul22 July 12:17

      Unless they do a change of aircraft for operational reasons. In late June it was substituted with a 787-9 so lots of pax got operational upgrades. Lucky people. 2 friends of mine got upgraded to CW from WT+. LHR to GIG.

      Seriously thinking about this latest deal ex CDG but not having any success finding availability via the app.

  • Gautam says:
    21 Jul21 July 23:06

    Doesn’t seem to work for August dates…

    • Rob says:
      21 Jul21 July 23:08

      Despite what the fare rules say, I think you’re pushing your luck finding it at such short notice.

      Technically only 7 days advance booking is required under the ticket rules.

    • Allan says:
      21 Jul21 July 23:38

      13th, 20th, 21st available for 1218 EUR (~£1090) depending on your FX provider and 7 night trip

  • Doug M says:
    22 Jul22 July 00:43

    Many of the good BA fares in the last couple of weeks have been out of CDG, are they treading on AF toes, or is it just a random start point to gain business?
    4th July I booked Vancouver next May for €1328. Routed to produce 720TP, well under £2/TP for a place I’ve long wanted to visit, so more creative holiday route than TP run. This is an AA booking, simply because their multi-city option works better than BA, I prefer BA for the extra Avios, but when AA make their endless schedule changes between now and May it does make it easier to resolve things when booked directly with them.

    • Aston says:
      22 Jul22 July 01:46

      Could you kindly provide a breakdown of that 720tp please?

    • Lady London says:
      22 Jul22 July 15:23

      LH & LX are offering same pricing on this route right now – I will take a bet British Airways is only doing it because of that.

      As soon as the LH and LX offers disappear then British Airways offering it will disappear too.

  • Colin MacKinnon says:
    22 Jul22 July 09:34

    A couple of months ago I got a great ex-CDG to Denver for the wife in CW – c 1100 euro.

    Have got her the flight back to Paris 21 hours after the Denver flight arrives in London – so hopefully she’ll be allowed her bags back for the overnight in London 😉

    And I have two nights in Paris with her on the outbound for my birthday with our IHG vouchers!

  • Alan says:
    22 Jul22 July 12:45

    Is it possible to not continue on back to Paris on return leg? Or would that result in mileage penalties?

  • nick says:
    22 Jul22 July 14:26

    OT
    On the virgin 2-4-1 voucher – do I need to be one of the passengers? Or can I book for 2 family members?

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

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