Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Get yourself a bargain in the new British Airways luxury flight and holiday sale

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British Airways has launched a new flight sale and is offering savings on both premium flights and holiday packages which include a First or Business Class flight.

You must book by 29th October and travel dates vary by destination. You can see all the available deals on the BA website here.

British Airways luxury flight and holiday sale

Business class flight deals

There are some good value Club World deals to the US and Canada, although these are not the cheapest deals we have ever seen.  In North America the most competitive fares are:

  • Montreal £1398
  • Nashville £1499
  • New York £1367
  • Orlando £1579
  • Philadelphia £1383
  • Toronto £1374
  • Washington DC £1399

Remember that selected New York (selected Boeing 777 flights) and Toronto (the A350 flights) services have the new Club Suite seat.

You can save a couple of hundred pounds on fares to the Caribbean and Latin America.  These are not rock-bottom prices but then again it is peak tourist season.  In general, these fares are available during Spring 2020:

  • Antigua £1745
  • Barbados £1766
  • Cancun £1645
  • Kingston £1694
  • Lima £1984
  • Providenciales £1891
  • Punta Cana £1521
  • St Kitts £1766
  • St Lucia £1765
  • Tobago £1716

The real winners, though, are in the Middle East and Africa – again, whilst not bargain basement sums, you will rarely see better direct fares than this during peak season:

  • Cape Town £2581 (in previous sales it was £3,200-£3,500)
  • Dammam £1859
  • Durban £2727 (again saving £500+)
  • Johannesburg £1709 (almost half price from previous sales!)
  • Nairobi £1246

British Airways luxury hotel and flight sale

And in First class ….

A lot of North American destinations are available for less than £2000 in First:

  • Atlanta £1899
  • Austin £1999
  • Boston £1998
  • Chicago £1999
  • Houston £1999
  • Miami £2099
  • Nashville £1899
  • New York £1798
  • New Orleans £2003
  • Philadelphia £1803
  • San Diego £2099
  • San Jose £1999
  • Seattle £1999
  • Toronto £1798
  • Vancouver £1998
  • Washington DC £1899

The sale isn’t great outside North America, but these are worth highlighting:

  • Beijing £2399
  • Shanghai £2399
  • Tel Aviv £1544

Travelling with a companion?

There are also fares for pairs, for two people flying the exact same sectors in Club World. These are extremely competitively priced:

  • Seychelles £2499 (£1249 per person)
  • Durban £2999 (£1500pp)
  • Nassau £3399 (£1699pp)
  • Santiago £3999 (£1998pp)
  • Singapore £4498 (£2249pp)

And in First:

  • Barbados £4930 (£2465pp)
  • Sao Paolo £5999 (£2999pp)
  • Santiago £5999 (£2999pp)

The full list of destinations offering ‘241’ deals in Business Class is: Seychelles, Kingston, Durban, Nairobi, Johannesburg, Islamabad, Chennai, Kuala Lumpur, Nassau, Santiago, Sao Paolo, Singapore and Sydney.

Get an even better deal with BA Holidays

There are also some good deals over at BA Holidays, assuming you are happy to package in a hotel with your flight (and you can often make substantial savings if you do).

Whilst it is hard to get your head around, the weird ways that flights are priced means that booking a flight with a car or a flight with a hotel can be cheaper than just booking a flight.  Note that if you add a car or hotel it must be for the full duration of your holiday if you want to trigger a package discount.

Some headline Club World deals are:

  • Abu Dhabi from £1409 per person – for travel between 15th November and 15th December 2019 including including three nights at a 4* hotel and return flights in business class from Heathrow
  • Barbados from £1999 per person – for travel between 16th June and 19th July 2020 including seven nights at a 4* hotel  and return flights in Club World from Gatwick
  • New York from £1579 per person – for travel in April 2020 including four nights at a 4.5* hotel and return flights in Club World from Heathrow

Remember that you don’t need to pay now when you book a BA Holidays package.  You just pay a deposit and can settle the balance up to five weeks before departure.

You also earn an extra 1 Avios per £1 when you book BA Holidays packages.  This is on top of the standard Avios you receive from the flight and the double Avios you would receive if you pay with a British Airways Premium Plus credit card.  The only downside is that flights booked as part of a BA Holidays package do not earn anything in the BA On Business SME loyalty scheme.

Conclusion

The BA luxury flights and holidays page is here. It is also worth using the low fare finder tool on ba.com to track down destinations and fares and which months they’re available. Make sure to book by the 29th October, which is when this sale ends.

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 (144)

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

  • Roger says:
    11 Oct11 October 05:18

    OT – Waiting for Amex Travel offer (£50 off £200) and (£200 off £600) travel spending on Amex Travel offer.

    Any ideas when?

    • BJ says:
      11 Oct11 October 07:15

      Your guess will be as good as that of anybody elese. Hilton offers appear to have dried up too and I’ve missed out on good rates waiting for one of those.

  • BJ says:
    11 Oct11 October 05:50

    I’m curious why there are rarely any decent offer from BA heading east beyond the ME despite this being one of the most competitive markets. Qatar exerting influence over BA or simply that BA only have one flight daily to most Far East destinations?

    • Genghis says:
      11 Oct11 October 05:56

      Competitive for those that don’t mind changing planes.

      • BJ says:
        11 Oct11 October 06:07

        Or those that have no choice; the thing I miss most about living in London 🙂

    • Paul says:
      11 Oct11 October 06:49

      They have limited capacity to fill and are protected at LHR. Their partners either own stock or have revenue sharing agreements so can pretty much charge what they like. The other carriers have little incentive to reduce prices either. One just has to look to ex EU fares and competition to see the harm being done to U.K. consumers.

      • BJ says:
        11 Oct11 October 07:11

        A couple of years ago it was easy to get one stop flights from the regions for £1450-1600 but now they are more typically £1700-1800. The £1250 options on TK that appeared regularly seem to be long gone, and the best prices on AY are now usually on schedules we would not prefer.

        • roberto says:
          11 Oct11 October 07:25

          Blame Sterling. . The new “norm” buys 10-15 less cents per pound than it did.

      • Lady London says:
        11 Oct11 October 09:14

        Well said, @Paul.

        Noting other airlines also behave like this in their home markets.

  • Nick G says:
    11 Oct11 October 06:04

    Does the sale apply to Europe does anyone know?

  • Simon says:
    11 Oct11 October 06:40

    O/T has anybody had any experiences of their Curve card being rejected at ATMs? Happened to me numerous times and wondering whether this is a general thing or my card is faulty.

    • Sam says:
      11 Oct11 October 06:47

      Worked for me a week ago with the HSBC WE behind it

    • BJ says:
      11 Oct11 October 06:52

      It happened to me three times but it was my fault as I later learned I forgot to update card details with new expiry date etc so check the simple things first.

    • Paul says:
      11 Oct11 October 06:56

      I just don’t get the love affair with curve. I had one of the first cards with the tumi wallet and amex link. The card failed more than it worked and was just grief.
      I also understand that using it results in a loss of some protections consumers have when firms go bust ( happy to be corrected on that)
      The reality today is that a Halifax clarity card gives no exchange rate fees and so I have amex, virgin and Halifax cards plus a trusty debit card. Given how little cash I ever use The loss of a few miles versus the grief from curve is no hassle

      • BJ says:
        11 Oct11 October 07:22

        ‘Free’ miles and points, what else? Amazes me how excited some here can get about 100 bonus avios 🙂 I don’t get the Halifax Clarity card, there are other foreign spend cards available that are less hassle.

        • TGLoyalty says:
          11 Oct11 October 11:04

          believe me Curve has helped to increase my IHG and Hilton balances by FAR more than 100 points.

          Missed opp if you haven’t been using it.

          And now my lloyds avios is dead its my go to abroad

          • Rob says:
            11 Oct11 October 11:20

            I’ve just hit my £50k annual limit, so that is 60,000+ Miles & More miles.

      • Rich says:
        11 Oct11 October 07:25

        Paying overseas FX fee free within limits and my large tax bill from HMRC with a rewards card (Lloyds Avios Rewards in my case) are the only benefits for me – but they’re certainly worth having.

      • Doug M says:
        11 Oct11 October 10:34

        I benefit from Curve. I have no idea how they think their business model sustainable. Curve great while they burn through dimwit investor money.

        • Octopus says:
          11 Oct11 October 14:04

          Does anyone have a Tandem card and know whether it works with Curve business services fee free?

          • RakishDriver says:
            11 Oct11 October 17:12

            +1 Would like to know of peeps experiences as just received one – will post result myself after linking and making a teeny Brighton payment.

          • Octopus says:
            11 Oct11 October 21:22

            Do you have a referral link/code for the Tandem card you would like to share as I haven’t applied yet?

      • lee says:
        11 Oct11 October 11:01

        Never had 1 rejection with my card

    • PaulC says:
      11 Oct11 October 07:16

      I had it fail at one ATM in Brugge last week, when straight to another and it was fine. No idea why. It’s does fail once once or twice but on the whole it’s been a great little earner when I can’t use a credit card or I want cash.

    • roberto says:
      11 Oct11 October 07:30

      My curve started to decline at cash machines and I discovered it was a chip fault. Would work as contactless (at contactless ATMs and elsewhere) but never if inserted , swapped the card for a new one and its sorted now.

    • Alan says:
      11 Oct11 October 08:03

      I’ve had mine rejected a couple of times at ATMs. I’ll have to try it again and if it rejects I’ll have to look at a new card.

      Do you just email Curve and ask for a replacement?

    • Nick_C says:
      11 Oct11 October 08:25

      No problem with Curve, but Revolut doesn’t work at Barclays or Nationwide ATMs, but works fine at Lloyd’s and Halifax.

    • Lumma says:
      11 Oct11 October 14:37

      Can you make chip and pin purchases with the card? Does it make a strange noise when you put it in an ATM? This happened to me and it was the chip was damaged. I hadn’t noticed as I was only usually making contactless or online transactions on top of the ATM withdrawals.

      When I first raised the issue with curve customer service they said it was due to using ATMs that didn’t have the necessary security features.

  • Paul says:
    11 Oct11 October 06:44

    Luxury and BA in the same sentence is an oxymoron!

  • Simon says:
    11 Oct11 October 06:45

    O/T I discovered last night after a phone call to Amex that SPG Amex spend at warehouse retailers (of which Costco is the only one in the UK) only qualify for 3 Starpoints per £2 spent (i.e. 50% less points). Is there a 50% points penalty on other Amex cards in Costco too?

    • Lev441 says:
      11 Oct11 October 07:33

      I found this too after a particularly large purchase a few years ago. It’s because it says they earn 50% less in warehouses. Membership rewards cards and the BA cards don’t have this in the t’s and c’s but I’m not sure about other cards.

  • Jonathan says:
    11 Oct11 October 08:21

    BA need to look at their hotel offerings in some of their cities they fly to, earlier on this year I flew to Rio De Janeiro for about a month, used a single night in a hotel, the hotel was all good indoors, but it was quite literally miles from anywhere, no where near any of the main tourist attractions, to get anywhere you’d need get a taxi.

    The hotel I used was one of only two options, the other being in RJ state, about 20 miles or so from the city.

    Using BA holidays is okay, but there’s huge improvements they need to make

  • Una says:
    11 Oct11 October 08:31

    Hello. Where can we find the 241 business class deals online? Do you just book as normal or is there a special link? Thanks in advance.

    • Rob says:
      11 Oct11 October 08:52

      Book for two and they should show.

      • Stuart Evans says:
        11 Oct11 October 10:51

        I’m trying to find Bus 2-4-1 to Sydney in March for a stay of 3 weeks or so. Doesn’t seem to come up at Ba.com. Is this within the eligible window? And is there a limit on the duration of the stay?

        • Rhys says:
          11 Oct11 October 10:58

          Don’t think Sydney is one of the destinations with these ‘pair’ rates, unfortunately.

          • TripRep says:
            11 Oct11 October 14:09

            Sydney is listed.

            “Destinations available..

            Seychelles, Kingston, Durban, Nairobi, Johannesburg, Islamabad, Chennai, Kuala Lumpur, Nassau, Santiago, Sao Paulo, Singapore and Sydney”

          • Rhys says:
            11 Oct11 October 14:22

            Fair enough! Looks like they only sent as a short list then.

    • TripRep says:
      11 Oct11 October 09:18

      Scroll down the link that Rob posted

      Traveling together…
      https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/offers/sale#companion

      Seychelles looks a steal.

      • KevMc says:
        11 Oct11 October 10:23

        The links to the various destinations don’t work – there seems to be no way of actually getting these fares at the moment. Has anyone managed to book one?

      • TripRep says:
        11 Oct11 October 14:01

        Found SEZ x2 CW for as little as £2450.20

        • roberto says:
          11 Oct11 October 14:18

          Binned my Amex 241 and paid cash for the same flights to SEZ today. Booked a car for 6 days and topped up at £2600. My 241 cost £1155 so after losing the £70 for cancelling the 241 it worked out at an extra £1475 to pay cash rather than miles.

          Add the 150,000 back for the cancelled 241 , a whopping 50,680 avios we get for the now cash booking , plus the 2600 for a BA holiday bonus and the (potential) 7800 avios for using my BA card to pay the bill we stand to “make” a net 211K avios ( plus the 241 back of course ) for our £1475 outlay.

          If anybody is looking for 2 x award avios J seats they may still be there. 4th July out and 19th July back.

          • TripRep says:
            11 Oct11 October 15:28

            Roberto – Where you staying, looking at the DT or the Hilton by any chance?

          • Roberto says:
            11 Oct11 October 16:37

            @TripRep – Left the choice to SWMBO and staying at http://lenautique.sc/ . They have two small hotels on Mahe and La Digue , doing a week in each.

          • babyg says:
            11 Oct11 October 16:54

            sez is a steal, i booked 3 (2 adult, 1 child) for £3300 for June 2020 (via skyscanner – couldnt do it via BA).. amazing

          • Cat says:
            11 Oct11 October 18:20

            That is an absolute steal – it’s quite rare to see flights to SEZ reduced that much.
            Have an amazing time! I absolutely love it there – I’m going back for the third time over Easter! I can’t wait!

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