Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

British Airways Caribbean flight discounts – Club World business class from £1,399

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

British Airways has added some additional Caribbean discounts to the current sale, for Autumn travel.

All are priced at £1,399 return.  The destinations included are:

  • Antigua
  • Bridgetown / Barbados
  • Grenada
  • Kingston

  • Port of Spain
  • Providenciales
  • St Kitts
  • St Lucia
  • Tobago

You need to travel out between 18th August and 2nd October, returning by 9th October.

Clearly this is hurricane season in some parts of the Caribbean, but the risk varies sharply by island so do your research.   Barbados, for example, has not been hit by a hurricane since 1955.

You should also price up any booking via BA Holidays as well as looking at ‘flight only’, since this could lead to additional savings.  You could try a ‘flight and car’ booking if you were determined to book your accomodation separately.

Booking via BA Holidays brings other benefits too – you can just pay a deposit now (the balance is due seven weeks before departure) and you earn 1 extra Avios per £1 spent.  Your flights also earn Avios and tier points as usual.  The only downside is that your flights will not earn points in the BA On Business small business loyalty scheme.

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 (146)

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

  • The Man says:
    13 Jan13 January 08:59

    Booked yesterday using a Two Together, plan on using during peak time which I am not sure is entirely allowed with that railcard. Wonder if theyll actually say anything. Do they check tickets or is it just managed by the barriers at either end?

    • Shoestring says:
      13 Jan13 January 09:13

      or maybe the question is: do they check the tickets against a valid railcard, ie the 2 together? the tickets are valid enough if you succeeded in buying them – but as you say may *not* be valid for that railcard holder at that particular journey time (whereas some other railcards would be fine)

      my son has the new 17-18YO Railcard – excellent value as it allows another 2 years of half price/ child rail travel for £30 upfront cost (which we more than got back with the first 6 week season ticket)

      but he says the railcard has never been checked on train or at barrier – it’s an app on his mobile

      what they sometimes check is his rail photocard, which nowhere mentions the 17-18YO railcard, & is just an ID document

    • Charlieface says:
      13 Jan13 January 14:50

      The T&C for the 2TR says:

      4.5. Discounted tickets are not valid for travel between 04:30 – 09:29 hours, Monday to Friday, except on Public Holidays.

      The time restrictions are generally managed by barriers, although I think they are lenient when you’re at the last few minutes. Definitely you can get on the platform by telling the staff you’re going to get a later train. Although your ticket won’t be valid and you’re risking a penalty fare and/or prosecution.

  • Secret Squirrel says:
    13 Jan13 January 09:22

    OT:
    The BA Blue amex upgrade to BAPP, are the 241 vouchers coming through now with 24 x months or is the glitch still there on 12 x months still?

    • Charlieface says:
      13 Jan13 January 14:34

      AFAIK you can avoid the problem by hitting £10k only AFTER you upgrade

  • rob says:
    13 Jan13 January 09:35

    Need some desperate help if anyone can help.

    Have made a huge whoopsie and am currently booked DAD- HKG on 12th Feb, arriving at 9.20pm. I then have another flight to LHR at 23.45pm on a seperate ticket. Is there any way this connection can be made? WIll need to go through baggage and customs (as have hold luggage).

    Cheers

    • meta says:
      13 Jan13 January 09:42

      Maybe you won’t need to. Which is airline is DAD-HKG with? In my experience Cathay checks through bags, even for non-oneworld connections.

    • Rhys says:
      13 Jan13 January 10:26

      You may be able to check luggage through, it’s worth calling the airline.

      • EvilDoctorK says:
        13 Jan13 January 11:00

        Even if you can’t through check you’ve got almost 2.5 hours there … It shouldn’t be too much of a problem to make that connection as long as your inbound flight is reasonably on time … HKG is efficient and immigration and baggage is pretty quick

      • meta says:
        13 Jan13 January 18:11

        You can also check interline agreements on Expertflyer.

  • TripRep says:
    13 Jan13 January 09:44

    Bits OT, is the Tesco 40% bonus Avios conversion now dead?

  • mark2 says:
    13 Jan13 January 09:48

    OT

    someone mentioned this before but I have just opened a letter from Amex advising that the Starwood credit card is being re-branded to Bonvoy. On the second page it mentioned in passing that the earning rate is reduced from 3 points per £ to 2 but the annual charge remains at £75. But you will get 15 nights credit per year which will help some people.
    We shall certainly cancel my card and may cancel my wife’s too.

    • Harry T says:
      13 Jan13 January 09:57

      That’s awful. The earnings rate was one of the few reasons to have the card.

    • Lev441 says:
      13 Jan13 January 10:38

      Sigh… yet another devaluation from a credit card…
      That damn interchange fee rule..

    • MrM says:
      13 Jan13 January 10:49

      When is the devaluation effective from?

    • Donny says:
      13 Jan13 January 10:51

      Got the letter today, didn’t mention any other change about free night through spending. Disappointed.

    • Anna says:
      13 Jan13 January 11:43

      What will 15 nights credit mean for someone who has silver status due to holding the card?

      • Sandgrounder says:
        13 Jan13 January 11:47

        You will get silver going forward (10 nights pa min), and will only need to stay 10 nights pa to get to gold. So this is an improvement.

        • Alex W says:
          13 Jan13 January 13:16

          Gold still gets you naff all, though it will help reach platinum also.

        • Anna says:
          13 Jan13 January 13:21

          That is interesting – so I could retain gold by staying 10 nights and put my spend through a better earning card like the BAPP. I may make a few changes to my itineraries for the coming year!

      • TGLoyalty says:
        13 Jan13 January 11:54

        its a better way than just getting silver. You actually have 15 nights towards getting Gold or Platinum, worth £75 to me.

        I still think I’ll be using this as a reason to cancel nearer 26th Feb though and see what AMEX say 🙂

        • Lev441 says:
          13 Jan13 January 11:59

          maybe there’s hope they’ll launch a second card here (like the US) with a higher fee and better earnings rate, elite nights earning depending on spend etc… or is that wishful thinking?!

        • Freddy says:
          13 Jan13 January 12:38

          Wonder if the 15 night credit will work alongside the gold status for spending £15000 pa on the card or if that has been binned as well or replaced

          • meta says:
            13 Jan13 January 14:08

            And what about if you are already Gold via Amex Plat? I still think that you’ll need to spend 35 nights rather than 10 for Marriott Platinum in any case.

    • Timbo says:
      13 Jan13 January 12:55

      Speaking of Marriott, has anybody had the bonus points from the conversion offer yet? We must be past the 8wk deadline by now. I wasn’t targeted but did it speculatively, so it would be good to know either way if I’m ever likely to get them.

      • Grant says:
        13 Jan13 January 13:00

        Not yet. I asked Amex CS on chat who said it should be within 8 weeks of the transfer date. That has passed in my case so I was advised to speak to Marriott CS. I did so and the agent, whilst trying hard to be helpful, didn’t know about the offer so raised a back office for somone to look at it across our two accounts. I also was not targetted.

        I suspect, as others have said, that it will be within 8 weeks of the end of the offer (which was 31/12/19) so by end of Feb approximately. In my case I need the bonus to post for a redemption stay mid Feb hence why I was keen to chase with Marriott CS.

        • Timbo says:
          13 Jan13 January 16:23

          Good to know, thanks. At least you weren’t told that you wouldn’t be getting them due to not being targeted. I shall continue to hope!

    • Steve-B says:
      13 Jan13 January 13:16

      Arggh, I’m a big user of this card and was naively hoping the comment at the weekend wasn’t true! Really disappointed but not unexpected. Just two legacy co-brand cards left on pre-interchange rate terms…

    • Will says:
      13 Jan13 January 13:18

      Big shame, put big spend through that card and had some great redemptions on the back of it.

      15 nights is a welcome addition, certainly worth the £75 fee but will have to consider if it’s this or IHG that gets the spend ongoing.

    • Timbo says:
      13 Jan13 January 17:48

      Just got home and saw the letter. At least the new card design looks nice. The SPG one has always looked a bit odd to me.

      • Funtime says:
        13 Jan13 January 20:09

        I’ll take an “odd looking” card over the redesigned one that has just had its earnings rate slashed by 33%.

    • RK says:
      13 Jan13 January 19:42

      This is absolutely gutting! A devaluation of gigantic proportions. 1/3 of your earring points per £, disappears overnight. Will seriously need to consider whether to keep this card post changes.

  • Nicko says:
    13 Jan13 January 09:52

    Is there an agreed best method to downgrade the BA premium card to the standard blue one?

    Call? chat?
    or just apply for a new blue? – would that automatically switch the cards?

    • Rob says:
      13 Jan13 January 09:54

      Apply for a new Blue and it is automatic. If you call all they do is verbally do the application.

      • nicko says:
        13 Jan13 January 09:57

        Thanks Raffles – big fan since 2013

        And any BA Avios still in progress (ie sitting in amex, not yet transferred) will not be lost. All will continue as is?
        A new blue card will be sent out, and the black one cancelled?

        I am doing this to save the card fee -(already have the 2-4-1). Plan on going back to black when I have spend around 9.5k

      • Secret Squirrel says:
        13 Jan13 January 10:21

        BA free card upgrade to BAPP – is the 241 voucher still coming through @ 12 montgs expiry or gas the IT glitch fixed now & back to 24 months please anyone?

        • aDifferentSimon says:
          13 Jan13 January 10:45

          I got 12 months but I switched at 13k, it was suggested in the comments here a few days ago if I had switched before 10k hit then it would have been 24 months. Apparently a call to amex should sort my expiry issue out – but I haven’t tried yet.

    • The Urbanite says:
      13 Jan13 January 12:02

      I tried to cancel my BAPP last week over the phone – they persuaded me to downgrade and it was done by the next day.

      • TGLoyalty says:
        13 Jan13 January 19:21

        Unless there was a compelling bonus as a reason I would have cancelled and resigned up next time you need a BAPP 2-4-1.

  • SimonW says:
    13 Jan13 January 10:04

    O/T – anyone had luck with the green to plat upgrade link? Received a “application in progress” email over a week ago. Nothing since then…..

    • The Urbanite says:
      13 Jan13 January 12:04

      If not targetted the spend counter will appear in your account but might not activate. You may then have to prove that you were offered that bonus when you upgraded.

    • The Urbanite says:
      13 Jan13 January 16:23

      Wrt the link I successfully applied through it a few months ago.

    • SimonW says:
      13 Jan13 January 16:47

      Thanks. The green card took 3 days to arrive. 9 days since applying through the link and still heard or received nothing…..

      • Ikaz says:
        13 Jan13 January 18:40

        I applied mid last week (I have had the green card for a few months now) and just called to check on my application. They asked a lot of security questions and then expected a live response from the computer. Unfortunately that didn’t happen so they will call me back in a couple of days when I get an answer.

    • Harry says:
      13 Jan13 January 19:50

      I applied on 31st December and got the card on the 8th

      I have the spend counter for the 20,000 bonus, its not really a targeted offer since its publicly advertised on the website lol…

  • Caro says:
    13 Jan13 January 11:59

    OT – I am planning a last minute trip to Perth in April (flying solo) are the Qatar fares ex UK the best options or are there likely to be any further sales?

    • Rob says:
      13 Jan13 January 12:13

      Use Expedia and look at Stockholm to Perth, all airlines. Also try Stockholm to Sydney. There are some silly deals out of Sweden at the moment in Business.

    • The Savage Squirrel says:
      13 Jan13 January 19:56

      Gothenburg, Oslo and Stockholm will all be fertile hunting grounds. Also flying to this destination in April, so looked at exactly this a few weeks ago..

      • The Savage Squirrel says:
        13 Jan13 January 19:57

        Found Gothenburg especially good availability of low fares – probably due to recent increase in capacity.

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

New to Head for Points?

Welcome!  We’re the UK’s most-read source of business travel, Avios, frequent flyer and hotel loyalty news. Let us improve how you travel. Got any questions? Ask them in our forums.

Latest Forum Posts

Get 40,000 bonus points (worth 40,000 Avios) and £300 dining credit with The Platinum Card

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

See a whole year of reward seat availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

Get £10 when you spend £150 on your free Currensea card

Booking a luxury hotel?

Our luxury hotel booking service offers you GUARANTEED extra benefits over booking direct. Works with Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz Carlton, St Regis and more. We've booked £1.7 million of rooms to date. Click for details.

SME? EARN POINTS WORTH 10,500 AVIOS WITH CAPITAL ON TAP

Get 20,000 bonus points, four airport lounge passes and your first year free with American Express Gold

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.

Got it!