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.

  • Nick_C says:
    11 Oct11 October 08:51

    Slim chance of finding an A350 to JFK. Far better I would have thought to take an AA flight (same price through BA) with the added bonus of using the Qantas or Cathay lounges at T3.

    Although the £200 upgrade to First would make BA tempting on the outbound.

    The days when these headline prices are available are few and far between. The recent ex CDG offers were much cheaper and there was lots of availability in June.

  • AJA says:
    11 Oct11 October 09:33

    I tried yesterday to book the 2 biz tickets for one deal to the Seychelles for several dates in March and the only return flights in biz were on Qatar Airways with an 8 hour stop in Doha and still priced up at £2.2k each. I couldnt find a direct flight back for a decent price and any of the short stop overs ~3 hours all had the Doha to London segment in economy! The other thing to bear in mind is the Seychelles-Doha flights are on an A330 with the old 2-2-2 biz class layout.

    • roberto says:
      11 Oct11 October 14:25

      BA only fly 2 days a week to SEZ.. Prehaps you are looking at prices for days they dont fly , try to look at other days/dates and you will see the cheaper non-Qatar deals.

  • John says:
    11 Oct11 October 10:00

    Interesting stuff from WW on Airbus, and how credit ratings do/don’t work.

    https://m.independent.ie/business/irish/huge-issue-aer-lingus-forced-to-postpone-introduction-of-new-routes-between-dublin-and-us-due-to-airbus-a321lr-aircraft-delays-38582705.html

    (Also on Brexit, if you follow link in Irish Independentstory)

    • marcw says:
      11 Oct11 October 11:10

      It’s old news – we now that already (remember IAG intention to buy 250 737 MAX?). The problem is no other manufacturer isn’t able to sell anything remotely similar to a 321LR.

    • Paul Pogba says:
      11 Oct11 October 11:11

      Willie Walsh prefers buying rushed Boeings that crash twice in 6 months and lose their airworthiness certificate. Willie Walsh likes penny pinching on IT and ends up paying a £183m fine for data breaches. Willie Walsh is a god damn genius.

      • Lady London says:
        11 Oct11 October 11:18

        Just wondering, as a matter of interest, are you American?

        • Polly says:
          12 Oct12 October 09:48

          Love it!
          Btw, we made into stn escape lounge last Thurs. Consider it a big achievement these days!
          In Thessaloniki enjoying da culture..gorgeous sites to visit.

          • Shoestring says:
            12 Oct12 October 19:07

            Made friends with a guy when we studied Italian together in Firenze, he invited me over to Saloniki, turned out his dad was the MP/ Senator so I got included in some visit to a newly discovered Roman underground gravesite!

            I also made friends with an amazing beautiful blonde girl on the Italian study course from Belgium, she also invited me over for a few days and her dad was also the local MP! A great couple of days.

            Try studying Italian, you meet all the right people lol

  • Secret Squirrel says:
    11 Oct11 October 10:43

    OT: Where is the VA credit card upgrade voucher found in your account?

    • stevenhp1987 says:
      11 Oct11 October 10:49

      It’s a line item in your Virgin Atlantic Flying Club Account – “Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Credit Card – Reward Qualification”.

      It doesn’t appear anywhere else.

      • Secret Squirrel says:
        11 Oct11 October 11:14

        Thanks, I had that line come up on my statement 2-3 weeks ago but cannot see any sign of a voucher in my VA flying Club account?
        I even tried a dummy booking using E with PE available but all the way to payment stage no sign of a voucher?

        • Rob says:
          11 Oct11 October 11:19

          You don’t see the voucher, and you can’t book online. You need to call Virgin – they can see it and they can book it.

          • Secret Squirrel says:
            11 Oct11 October 11:23

            Cheers Rob & Stephenhp.
            Been driving me mad trying to locate it.

  • Travel Strong says:
    11 Oct11 October 10:53

    O/T: If my *only* need is for up to £200pm of ATM withdrawals abroad – is Curve with an underlying rewards card the best way? (e.g. Curve to MBNA Horizon, or Virgin+)

    All other abroad spending is of course on a suitable CC. I only need a small amount of cash – £200 is fine.
    I’ve done the sums and estimate curve will net me 3-4% extra compared to exchanging cash on the highstreet or withdrawing on a debit card abroad.

    …. but am I missing any other tricks?

    • TGLoyalty says:
      11 Oct11 October 11:07

      you won’t be penalised for going too far over £200 per pcm. If you take the mic they will of course.

      • Mark says:
        11 Oct11 October 13:19

        Interesting. I’m not clear on whether the £500 loading free monthly allowance on the Blue card only covers purchases, or ATM withdrawals as well (I realise there’s the separate £200 monthly limit on that). Including the latter I went slightly over last month, but it didn’t seem to impact the rate. Does anyone know?

        Not many credit cards these days offer rewards for foreign spend and no loading so I find it’s actually quite useful for purchases as well (though not for anything where you’d want Section 75 – I do have a Tandem card as well).

  • Princess says:
    11 Oct11 October 11:03

    OT: i just want to thanks Rob and everyone that with comment contribute to this website. I’ve just manage to get Business Class seat from Hong Kong booking with full Avios and £60. Then I got half of the Avios refunded when I called to link them to the booking I already have with a companion voucher, but taxes didn’t go up!

    • Bob says:
      11 Oct11 October 18:47

      How come taxes didn’t go up?
      When I tried that last year, they told me that they need to cancel the return ticket to add it to the outbound. and taxes did go up big time.

    • Chuk says:
      12 Oct12 October 08:40

      Did this recently with tel Aviv. Saved £15

  • Steve says:
    11 Oct11 October 11:32

    OT:

    Can anyone remember from that Tesco Mobile deal what the deal is when you get a SIM from Tesco?

    I’m in this situation at the moment where my contract has ended with 3, I’ve taken out a new SIM only deal via the website that can not be named also with 3, but can not keep my number as you can not switch number 3 to 3.

    Thinking the best thing to do is switch from my recently ended contract with 3 to a PAYG with a different provider then switch that to my super new SIM Only deal with 3 (£5.16 for Unlimited Calls, Texts and 8G Data) so that way I should be able to keep my number.

    As the PAYG SIM will just be used to facilitate that, would be good if I could get one that can be activated without having to be credited with a top up.

    Can anyone remember if there is any credit pre loaded on to a PAYG SIM when you buy one for 99p from a shop?

    Thanks

    • sloth says:
      11 Oct11 October 12:37

      no there wont be (unless you get lucky), you will need to top up

    • Alice says:
      11 Oct11 October 17:42

      I’ve used GiffGaff for this purpose. Cash back declined. Twice. Also 3 is 3G. No 4G roaming.

    • e14 says:
      11 Oct11 October 19:39

      Asda free

    • xcalx says:
      12 Oct12 October 09:13

      Tesco free sim comes with 20p credit.

    • Lady London says:
      13 Oct13 October 11:56

      How to get a SIM?

      Poundland is good for SIMs. Most seem to want an initial £10 topup though. But they have usually 5 or 6 brands. So perhaps there is still one that comes with 50p-£2 credit as they used to.

      Amazon also has quite a few SIMs available for practically nothing as an add-on.

      You could try googling maybe if you are looking for one that comes with tiny credit. Mostly was with new mvno’s and not seen any for a while.

  • Shoestring says:
    11 Oct11 October 11:49

    Here we go in a Cathay sort of way 🙂

    And a big thanks to IB for the 90K upgrade!

    Looks like while I don’t exactly have the Topsham 10, I *do* have the T3 Four, so starting with Order et File, a Brewgog IPA & some dim sum and noodles

    • Genghis says:
      11 Oct11 October 11:56

      Get yourself a shower for the Aesop toiletries.

      • Shoestring says:
        11 Oct11 October 12:02

        It was. Pretty hairy on the M4 but that first glass of Champers has taken away the sweaty funk! Order et File damn autocorrect RODER & FILS

        • Shoestring says:
          11 Oct11 October 12:52

          RODIER ET FILS!

          • Shoestring says:
            11 Oct11 October 13:38

            Quick stop in the Australian now here in yank stadiumfor a double JDs on thick ice with ginger ale

            My son has a very nice looking beef stroganoff

          • Shoestring says:
            11 Oct11 October 13:41

            Just had 5 weeks stoptober September so I am a recovering alcoholic in the best possible sense lol

          • Cat says:
            11 Oct11 October 18:08

            Enjoy the recovery Shoestring! Have fun!

          • Lady London says:
            11 Oct11 October 18:20

            Roederer? Jealous. Enjoy your trip away with No.1 son.

          • Polly says:
            12 Oct12 October 09:32

            Sound start to the trip there, as G says don’t forget the nice toiletries

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