Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Book now – wide open Avios flight availablity to East Coast USA and Canada in Club World

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

British Airways has opened the floodgates on Avios availability to the US East Coast and Canada in Club World for the rest of 2020.  This even includes Easter and key Christmas dates.

Our main article on Wednesday covered the amazing Avios availability to Asia.  Unsurprisingly, this is not top of many peoples lists although I would be happy to risk a (refundable, remember) Avios booking for later in the year.

There are no risks to the US or Canada at the moment, of course.

Lots of Avios business class availability to the USA

The availability is astonishing on East Coast routes.  Here are some screenshots showing days where there are NINE or more Club World seats available on one aircraft.

I have even seen dates with 9+ seats available on the BA New York flight from London City, which only has 32 seats on it!

If your family is smaller than nine, you will have even more choice.

My gut feeling is that this is a cash grab by British Airways.  It needs money, and quickly.  Getting you to pay a couple of thousand pounds in taxes and charges for four Club World redemption seats is a FAR easier way of getting a few quid in the door than trying to sell a flight to Singapore for cash …..

Here are screenshots from seatspy.com taken on Wednesday.  A ‘hollow’ circle is off peak, a ‘full’ circle is peak.  Click to enlarge.  Remember that these are dates with at least NINE Club World seats showing on one aircraft.

(Do not look for First Class availability because, due to issues with the BA data feed, you will get false positives.  The Club World data is perfectly fine.)

Seats are wide open for Easter weekend (10th-13th April) on most routes.

It doesn’t work everywhere.  Orlando doesn’t have much, for example, and neither does San Diego.  Miami has a huge amount in late April but not much else.  It doesn’t cover new, niche routes like Portland, Nashville, New Orleans or Charleston either.

Turning to Canada, there is a lot between now and April if you need 9 Club World seats.

There is a lot to go at here.  See what you can find.

If you are looking into next year, you can find the 2021 calendar of peak and off-peak Avios redemption dates in this article.

PS.  If you missed it, take a look at our recent article on 10 good benefits of the British Airways Premium Plus American Express card.

PS. If you are not a regular Head for Points visitor, why not sign up for our FREE weekly or daily newsletters? They are full of the latest Avios, airline, hotel and credit card points news and will help you travel better. To join our 70,000 free subscribers, click the button below or visit this page of the site to find out more. Thank you.

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (June 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 Card

30,000 Avios and the famous annual Companion Voucher voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express Credit Card

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 Credit Card

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

50,000 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 points worth 0.8 Avios per £1 on the FREE standard card and 1 Avios per £1 on the Pro card. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 0.8 Avios per £1 Read our full review

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review

There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business Card

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.

The American Express Business Platinum Card

50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

The American Express Business Gold Card

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 (111)

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

  • Anna says:
    20 Feb20 February 05:21

    There’s also a lot of CE availability in the summer routes from MAN (I suppose they can make as many CE seats available as there is demand for on these routes). These obviously only attract the RFS fee so I’m wondering if BA are also on a mission to reduce the number of Avios in circulation.

    • Peter K says:
      20 Feb20 February 09:54

      I don’t think they mind too much about the number in circulation. Like gift cards, every one sold but not redeemed is money in the bank.

      I think it is more likely that they’ve been unexpectedly hit by the strikes last year, then the Corona virus now and it’s the quiet quiet months. They suddenly need some extra cash and getting the fees will help, with the avios liability gone a bonus.

  • Steve says:
    20 Feb20 February 07:18

    I have a BA 241 voucher, but no Amex cards in the family (as had cancelled all and am waiting a few more months for sign up bonus elibility to kick back in). Are there any other Amex card issuers left in the UK? I’d like to get an Amex but via another card issuer so I don’t have a direct personal Amex, but also so I can book using the 241, which demands the use of an Amex for payment. Any ideas appreciated.

    • Anna says:
      20 Feb20 February 07:28

      I can’t think of any now the Lloyds one is gone, have you got a friend with an Amex who would help you out? At the moment you can use any Amex to pay the taxes/fees.

      • Steve says:
        20 Feb20 February 08:01

        Darn it! Thanks I will ask around, else may need to break my strategy to grab a summer hols flight.

    • Lady London says:
      20 Feb20 February 12:04

      If you’ve done 6 months with an Amex and if you’ve got a genuine business of some sort then you could sign up for Business Amex Rob has done articles.

  • Will Chung says:
    20 Feb20 February 09:08

    The screenshot you shared, is that a standard BA tool to search or if you can share the link?

  • Peter K says:
    20 Feb20 February 09:25

    As already mentioned here, the taxes are really putting me off. £500 a person I could put up with, £662 a person I don’t want to.

    • Thywillbedone says:
      20 Feb20 February 09:40

      Indeed – and as several commenters have said.

      For me (family of 3), I am looking at options like Avios F redemption one way on Oneworld partners (for a better guaranteed product) and economy or PE back cash fare. Have three companion vouchers to burn but suspect they will go on European trips. The surcharges have become a con – I can almost imagine the sniggers in Waterside about how far they have been able to push these up.

    • ilou says:
      20 Feb20 February 09:44

      The way I see it is that you just add 660£ to 100k worth 1000£ and you go yourself a flexible ticket that you can can cancel for 35£.. 1600£ seems very good for flexible ticket
      you can always buy on sale for 1000-1200£ but it all deponds how you collect your avios and if you use 241

    • Anna says:
      20 Feb20 February 16:55

      But that £662 would get you Y ticket at peak time, so I look at it as using the relevant number of avios to upgrade to J or F. (Though obviously we don’t get any avios or tier points back, it’s not an issue as we’re very unlikely to be paying cash for 3 J or F seats).

  • J-J says:
    20 Feb20 February 09:52

    Is there any clear guidance on the Club Suite roll out? Looking at Toronto for later in the year, but it appears that BA93/92 revert back to the Club World Seat around the summer… anyone got any info?

    • Rob says:
      20 Feb20 February 10:00

      It will never be clear. BA is at the mercy of Boeing and Airbus to deliver the new aircraft on schedule (the first 787-10 is delayed AGAIN for example) and also to do the refurbs on schedule. You are then at the mercy of your plane not getting a mechanical issue and being swapped for a non-CS.

      Look at Qatar, where it is still a throw of the dice whether your QSuite aircraft appears, three years after launch.

    • Rhys says:
      20 Feb20 February 10:06

      Currently, for July Club Suite will be on Tel Aviv, Bangalore, Tokyo, Dubai, Philly, Washington DC and Austin (A350), Atlanta, Seattle and Dallas (797-10). The refurbished 777s are harder to spot, but some are on New York.

  • Alex Sm says:
    20 Feb20 February 09:56

    I would expect a lot of availability for Miami in Aug-Sep when they have hurricanes and no one wants to go. Or BA playing ethical and doesn’t want to mislead greedy but ignorant travellers?

    • Peter K says:
      20 Feb20 February 11:55

      August is key summer holiday season for the UK. There will be lots going to the theme parks etc. I bet BA think they can get enough cash buyers not to need to cannibalise the potential earning on the route with redemptions.

      • Anna says:
        20 Feb20 February 15:05

        Yes, lots of families heading to Orlando who can’t or won’t pay through the nose for direct flights which can be £1k pp in economy!

  • r* says:
    20 Feb20 February 12:56

    Is the club suite rollout to Tokyo still planned for July? Will that be all flights or only certain ones?

    • Rhys says:
      20 Feb20 February 13:25

      Yes, A350 takes over from 787 on BA5/6 in July. BA7/8 may get refurbished Club Suite 777 down the line but it isn’t yet.

      • Willie says:
        20 Feb20 February 14:19

        Not sure this is wholly accurate, the club suite ‘may’ only be available for Olympics etc.

        • Rhys says:
          20 Feb20 February 14:55

          The A350 is on Tokyo until the end of the summer schedule. The A350 has not yet been scheduled for winter 20/21 on any routes yet. So yes, this is subject to change but it is as accurate as it will ever be!

  • Sarah says:
    20 Feb20 February 14:26

    Masses of F availability to Miami has just opened up in April and May – 2 seats available on most days – they’re normally like gold dust.

    • Anna says:
      20 Feb20 February 14:48

      Indeed, we have F seats to MIA over Easter weekend – cash prices are now hovering around £11k return pp – what on earth is going on?!

    • PGW says:
      20 Feb20 February 14:54

      It is certainly unusual to see this many awards on the return leg which was a problem. I also noted that most of it is on a flight leaving MIA at 3.40 in the afternoon which is a new one on me.

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.

Get 25,000 Avios with the Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

GET A SIGN-UP BONUS OF 18,000 VIRGIN POINTS!

Latest Forum Posts

Get 50,000 bonus points (worth 50,000 Avios) and £400 of 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

Special offer: Get 30,000 bonus Hilton Honors points until 14th August 2025

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.

Get points worth 20,000 Avios with 'first year free' 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!