Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Exceptional British Airways Club World and First Class flight deals if you can fly very soon

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I don’t want to suggest that the threat of the British Airways pilots strike has left forward bookings in premium cabins looking a little thin, but British Airways has launched an exceptionally good sale in Club World and First Class.

When BA runs a great sale, it is usually for travel many, many months in advance.

Not this one.

If you have a long-haul Avios redemption booked before the end of September, you should do the maths and decide whether to cancel and replace it with a cash flight.

You must book by 19th August and travel between 19th August and 30th September.  This means, if you are able to squeeze in a last-minute getaway – and you are confident that the pilots strike will be settled – you can get a great deal.

You need to travel with a companion to get these deals.  There is nothing here for the solo traveller I’m afraid.

The following routes are £2019 for two people in Club World:

  • New York
  • Miami
  • Las Vegas
  • New Orleans
  • Philadelphia
  • Washington
  • Dubai
  • Abu Dhabi

If you can dig a little deeper, we have:

  • £2399 for two – Dallas, Atlanta, Austin, Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto
  • £2998 for two – Beijing, Hong Kong, Bangkok
  • £2999 for two – Mumbai, Chennai, Lagos, Abuja
  • £2305 for two – Antigua
  • £2332 for two – Barbados
  • £2399 for two – Toronto
  • £2998 for two – Bangkok, Beijing
  • £3019 for two – Accra
  • £3998 for two – Tokyo

There are also some Club Europe deals if you look at the sale page of ba.com, although nothing to get too excited about.

British Airways BA A350 in flight

For an even better deal, take a look at the BA Holidays website here.

Deals include:

  • Dubai: Club World flights plus three nights at a 4* hotel from £1069 per person
  • New York: Club World flights plus three nights at a 4* hotel from £1199 per person
  • Las Vegas: Club World flights plus three nights at a 4* hotel from £1149 per person
  • Dominican Republic: Club World flights plus seven nights all-inclusive at a 4* hotel from just £1359 per person

And in First Class ….

BA has highlighted the following – I’m not sure what other routes may be available but it is worth checking all the routes with Club World deals listed above:

  • £3019 for two – New York
  • £3019 for two – Miami

How should you pay?

When it comes to paying, remember that you earn double Avios (3 per £1) on ba.com transactions charged to the British Airways Premium Plus American Express card.

Alternatively, you get double points (2 per £1) on all airline transactions charged to the American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card.

How to book

There is a special page on ba.com dedicated to this sale which you should check out here.   Don’t forget to compare prices with the BA Holidays offers 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

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Capital on Tap Pro Visa

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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 (141)

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

  • chaim says:
    13 Aug13 August 13:49

    Any idea if can book 2 adults then call up to cancel one?

    • sloth says:
      13 Aug13 August 16:32

      of course…

    • Nick says:
      13 Aug13 August 17:36

      i imagine these are non-cancelable tickets. You obviously have the 24 hours, but presumably it will reprice as a single ticket at that point rather than just refunding half.

  • Mark says:
    13 Aug13 August 14:09

    O/T but no bits today. I have the Hilton at LGW booked for one night in Sept before a flight and have been offered an “estandby” upgrade…I am HH Gold and would obviously prefer not to pay to get upgraded but its only £11 to be on standby, what is people’s experience with this?

    • Russ says:
      13 Aug13 August 14:52

      Personally I wouldn’t buy it yet if you want the upgrade. If you check back regularly on that page the prices typically trickle down. It’s just Hilton’s way of trying to make more money out of you 🙂

    • @mkcol says:
      13 Aug13 August 15:57

      I’ve never not been upgraded at that hotel whether I was silver, gold or diamond. Save your £11 for a couple of pints downstairs.

      • TokyoFan says:
        13 Aug13 August 22:07

        Same here. And in fact I’d rather *not* be upgraded as there’s a higher likelihood of my room being within a mile or so of reception.

  • Therese says:
    13 Aug13 August 14:09

    I am getting £2367 instead of £2019 for Dubai!! Using the correct link.
    Am I doing something wrong?

    • Peter K says:
      13 Aug13 August 14:24

      All the cheap flights have gone?

      • Therese says:
        13 Aug13 August 15:10

        Well the price shows £2019 until i get to the payment page it shows £2367!!

        • TGLoyalty says:
          13 Aug13 August 20:46

          Are you been shown a hotel or car price? Scroll all the way to the bottom?

          The deal was 100% there I booked 4 seats myself. There are minimum nights and Saturday night requirements for some destinations

    • zaza says:
      13 Aug13 August 15:52

      I don’t get anything like those prices for almost any destination. Bangkok, for example, is 5k for two rather than 3k.
      Even places like Chennai, Accra, Austin, are all much higher.

  • NickAnon says:
    13 Aug13 August 14:25

    OT completely – Marriot moments at the O2, there’s been nothing for ages, any idea when there will be more concerts added?

    • Rob says:
      13 Aug13 August 15:01

      No. To be fair there is little on in August so it is possibly a big wave will emerge soon.

  • Mark2 says:
    13 Aug13 August 15:54

    OT
    I was told by Amex this morning that the non-receipt of 20,000 MR after upgrading from Green to Platinum ius a ‘technical issue’ and is being worked on.

    • Matt says:
      13 Aug13 August 16:46

      Thanks for the update. I’m waiting on a response after chasing the points up last week.

      • babyg says:
        13 Aug13 August 17:32

        tech issue = hfp crew all posting in public forums about the few remained chances at easy points.. tech issue will be sorted (closed) soon im guessing..

        • Shoestring says:
          13 Aug13 August 17:51

          not necessarily

          Plat is not free, it’s bloody expensive if you ask me – yes there might be a tiny % who cancel immediately after getting 20K points for upgrade but seeing as you have to spend £4000, more likely to be a couple of months = couple of months’ fees

          Amex people still no doubt getting KPI’d on new Plats

          • BJ says:
            13 Aug13 August 18:13

            Council tax and a flight booking next April, sorted in 10 days for me 🙂

          • Shoestring says:
            13 Aug13 August 18:20

            all right if you can stack up several council tax bills

          • BJ says:
            13 Aug13 August 18:32

            We can only pay £300 per day in Edinburgh AFAIK so a painful ten trips to the co-op.

          • Shoestring says:
            13 Aug13 August 18:37

            try going to different outlets/ going back

            £300 limit per diem sounds wrong

          • Genghis says:
            13 Aug13 August 18:40

            @BJ for us the top up limit is £249 IIRC but multiple batches can be paid in one go.

          • BJ says:
            13 Aug13 August 18:54

            Thanks guys, it’s the Edinburgh payment card as I understand it. It allows us to do 2x £150 swipes and then a single payment for £300. I’ve tried doing that twice in one day at the same co-op and it never works the second time. Shop assistant told me it is the payment card but I’ve never tried payments in two different co-op in one day. I had no need to pay up front this year so I’ll have the opportunity to try it later this month.

          • Shoestring says:
            13 Aug13 August 19:00

            bought my kid sister a flat in Marchmont about 20 years ago…to be fair she paid the mortgage

          • BJ says:
            13 Aug13 August 19:10

            I doubt she has any regrets about paying that mortgage 🙂

          • Shoestring says:
            13 Aug13 August 19:15

            she’s the one ended up marrying the NHS consultant, we worked out he’s on £125K/ pa

            I bet my flat impressed him about the financial perspicacity of my kid sister so he wasn’t just marrying any old nurse

          • BJ says:
            13 Aug13 August 19:24

            He was likely at The Royal at that time then so I hope it wasn’t just a marriage of convenience Haha.

          • Shoestring says:
            13 Aug13 August 19:30

            neither of us has been in that position but I guess wearing a short skirt and looking extremely attractive must help to hook the desired one

            luckily my wife is my intellectual equal & I think / hope that helps longevity in a partnership

            though she did have the best legs in ******* when I first met her!

          • BJ says:
            13 Aug13 August 19:42

            I’m saying nothing except to confirm that the only skirts I was ever seen in were of the tartan variety complete with sporrans at a number of formal occasions.

          • Shoestring says:
            13 Aug13 August 19:51

            what is it about kilts and getting groped? I had to wear a few kilts in my younger days (Scotch whisky) – and I must say that as a 26/27 YO young guy, I never got so many girls going for the old tackle without much more than a drink together

            I think they see it as an invitation, it was great being single by the way 🙂

          • BJ says:
            13 Aug13 August 22:17

            I think you’ve been watching too much Benny Hill Harry…

  • DavidK says:
    13 Aug13 August 15:59

    Interested in a break to Dubai but whenever I click through having found a deal I like it tells me the price is no longer available and it jumps up buy a few hundred per person. Irritating to say the least!

  • Pierre says:
    13 Aug13 August 21:31

    O/T Heathrow strike on 23/24 AUG seems to have been called off?

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