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Vitality Health drops British Airways flight discounts for members

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VitalityHealth, previously PruHealth, is a life insurance, health insurance and investment business.

The reason it has been of interest to Head for Points readers is that it offers discounts on British Airways short haul fares to members.  Full details are available on the VitalityHealth website.

The devil is in the detail when it comes to the flight discounts.  It is only included for free if you have a Personal Healthcare plan – other plans require a supplementary monthly payment which will negate much of the benefit.

You will receive a BA discount of 5%-40% based on your level in the plan (the more healthy activity you log, the higher your level)

You can claim the discount 1-2 times per year based on your level

For flights leaving between Sunday and Thursday, there must be at least two nights between the outbound and return flights. For flights leaving on a Friday or Saturday, there must be at least one night between the outbound and return flights

Only the plan holder receives the discount, not your fellow passengers

Short-haul only

Economy only

Your initial impression might be a bit ‘meh’.

However, for once, the small print actually makes the deal more attractive.

The discount applies to the FULL cost of the flight, including the taxes and charges. A Platinum level member receives 40% off the headline price which is not bad.

The discount applies to ALL ticket types, including fully flexible tickets. This can represent a substantial saving – at the most extreme, a fully flexible Euro Traveller ticket to Moscow is £1300.

This offer probably works best for someone who is self-employed and has to book the occasional fully flexible ticket. This could have meant an annual saving of £250+.

The ‘average’ leisure traveller who gets up to the Platinum level could save over £100 per year – assuming 40% off two economy / Euro Traveller BA flights with an average cost of at least £125.

However ….. don’t go rushing to sign up.  VitalityHealth has announced that it is scrapping its British Airways flight discounts from 13th December.

You can still book until 13th December for travel at a future date, so if you haven’t used your one or two discounts for the current year you should think about getting a booking made in the next few weeks.


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.

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.

Comments (101)

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

  • Benylin says:

    OT: how is everyone’s Barclays 25k move going?

    • aDifferentSimon says:

      Currently on hold trying to book an in branch id check for the switch. The online bit getting the account open was straight forward but the wait times on the phone are painful – I gave up on Friday after 15 minutes.

      • Anna says:

        The last time I opened an account in a branch, Halifax grilled me about money laundering etc for 45 minutes – I was only opening a junior savings account for my son!

        • Shoestring says:

          Online process with Halifax takes 2 mins then you just show your passport in branch, all done in 5 mins, no grilling

    • Steve-B says:

      OK so far. ID check booked for this Thursday (branch have since phoned and said that the 15 mins allocated by call centre wasn’t long enough… hoping not to have an experience like Anna). Service team confirmed Avios voucher will be made available as long as switching “had been initiated on or before 19th). So far so good…

  • Charlie Stead says:

    I have an Gold Amex small business card that I use for my own limited company and a BAPP card. The annoying thing is Amex puts nearly all the offers on the business card (currently there are 45) and practically none on the BAPP (currently just 1). As most of the offers don’t apply to my company, it messes up my accounts. On calling Amex, they said there was nothing they could do as it was down to their marketing department. Just wondered if anyone else has this same problem – and if anyone has managed to solve it?

  • Mr. AC says:

    There’s an option specifically for this in the app called “Pay with FREE NOW” (tap on the profile / settings). Never used it, but supposedly it allows you to grab a cab off the rank. Caveat is that they need to have the app as well.

  • Grant says:

    OT – anyone stayed at the Curio Aleph in Rome? Trying to decide on a hotel for a trip in Feb next year, preferrably on points if possible. Similar / better quality alternatives seem to be Bonvoy based which could also work on points – is the St Regis worth it?. IHG offerings seem to be low / middle end.

    • meta says:

      I stayed. Mixed feelings. Room wise – great! Even standard room was quite spacious and very nicely decorated. Plus soft drinks from the mini bar were free for Golds. Location wise also quite good. Service – not impressed. As then Gold, no upgrade offered. Their welcome letter stated that I will get an extra 2500 points if I spend €100 in their restaurant. Meal was terrible, seemed like frozen food heated up. They didn’t let us sit on the terrace as the owner was there with his friends. To make it worse I spend 6 weeks fighting with Hilton and the hotel to get those 2500 extra points. It was only when I posted a review that they actually gave me points. I also had some other small service issues. They did offer me an upgrade on the next stay as an apology, but I won’t be going to Rome any time soon.

      The breakfast was good as you had a buffet plus one item from the à la carte menu for free. So overall mixed.

      • Grant says:

        Thanks, this is helpful.

        Anyone tried any of the Bonvoy offerings?

        • TGLoyalty says:

          worth checking flyertalk forum. There a few Rome based hotel threads in the Hilton and Marriot areas

    • Cat says:

      I quite liked the Gran Melia in Rome, very central, huge rooms, nice spa, excellent use of gold birthday upgrade voucher!

  • Lee says:

    25% bonus on T_C_B to BA Avios currently.

  • GRIMZ says:

    OT, I am not seeing Shop Small on my Supplementary cards. Anyone else having this issue?
    Rob’s earlier post on Shop Small said all cards will receive Shop Small but a £50 limit per card not account!

  • Sebastian Ostman says:

    The BA discount was a con. I’ve been a Vitality Platinum member for years, and I’ve never managed to get a BA discount that wasn’t actually cheaper to book direct.
    The BA pricing found on Vitality was massively inflated, so when the discount was applied… it was almost always cheaper, or same price, to book direct with BA. An total con.

    • Kai says:

      Just bought a LHR-FCO return ticket this morning which is genuinely 30% off (I’m gold).

    • J says:

      Interesting – they do something similarly here in Singapore but for Emirates, except you book on the regular website, send in the recipes afterwards and they then send a cheque with the rebate. No booking portal involved I believe.

  • David Radcliffe says:

    Post Office offer was on 1 of 3 cards (gold vs BA & Plat).
    Ltd to first 30k

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

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