Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

How is British Airways Avios reward flight availability for late 2020 and early 2021?

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

Now that all British Airways 2-4-1 vouchers have been extended by six months (see our article here), you may be wondering what to do with it.

Although it may seem a little early, now may be the time to consider travel for six to twelve month’s time.  You are likely to find better Avios availability on routes if you book now, as many people will not be booking holidays at present.

This is a mistake. Whilst the current restrictions on travel and movement are prohibitive, they will not go on forever. By booking travel for October onwards, you are securing your tickets now.

Avios wing 14

If October rolls around and there are still restrictions in place (or you just don’t fancy travelling), you are only on the hook for £35 per person – all your remaining taxes and fees, as well as the Avios cost, are refunded, as we explain here.  I’ve just booked a pair of tickets to Bangkok for travel in February 2021.

Whilst I wouldn’t bet on the aircraft types or seats at this stage – the scheduling for the winter timetable, which starts in late October, is yet to be announced – you can be fairly certain that British Airways will get you to your final destination if the route is running.

Late last week I had a quick look at BA’s top destinations on SeatSpy to see which ones had good availability in Club World for two people or more.

This is by no means an exhaustive list as I was focusing on mainstream destinations – although you can usually rely on Lagos being available if you want it:

  • Abu Dhabi
  • Austin
  • Boston
  • Denver
  • Dubai
  • Johannesburg
  • Los Angeles
  • Nashville
  • New Orleans
  • Mexico City
  • Miami
  • Moscow
  • Montreal
  • New York
  • Orlando
  • Rio
  • San Francisco
  • Sao Paulo
  • Seoul
  • Tokyo
  • Toronto

Not all routes are open – there is very little to Bangkok, Barbados, Cape Town, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Maldives, Seychelles for example.

However, here is one thing I noticed.  March 2021 is VERY widely available.  It seems that, once coronavirus struck, everyone gave up jumping in as soon as seats were released.  For example, there are NO DATES AT ALL with two Club World seats to the Seychelles between October and February, but 9th March and 16th March were available yesterday.

The 2021 calendar of British Airways peak and off-peak dates for Avios flight redemptions is in this article. You can see how the British Airways companion voucher works in this article.

You can book on the British Airways website, here.

To maximise your miles when paying the taxes, 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.

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 65,000 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 (April 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

30,000 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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 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 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, and the standard card is FREE. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 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

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

50,000 points when you sign-up 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 (141)

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

  • Rob says:
    30 Mar30 March 08:43

    We do actually! Will run them this week.

  • Mikel says:
    30 Mar30 March 09:13

    Anyone else having issues searching for Avios availability using 241 from Glasgow, Edinburgh or other domestic connections to US destinations. Receiving stopover error on every search I’m doing. Select “no stopover” then the error pops up. London – Miami is fine but as soon as I search for Edinburgh / Glasgow – Miami I receive the stopover error. Just can’t get around it at the moment.

    • Anna says:
      30 Mar30 March 09:46

      Try selecting a stopover but just input the same travel date. That worked for me very recently (unfortunately I had to cancel that flight a few days later!)

    • Qfx says:
      30 Mar30 March 10:39

      Search for availability to find the US flight, then once found add in the EDI/GLA as Anna describes. Even when search is working correctly, adding in a ‘stopover’ like this can throw up extra long haul flights (it shouldnt, but sometime it does).

  • Ra says:
    30 Mar30 March 09:41

    How long are people waiting to get a refund from BA? Ten days since BA told us in a phone call that a full refund would be processed but no sign of the money. Booking has disappeared from MMB and not even included as a past booking. Phone calls to BA are cut off without even a queuing system and no response to twitter messages. It is tempting to book long haul Avios seats for 2021 but I would like to ensure that BA have honoured their refund obligations before trusting them with any more money.

    • Anna says:
      30 Mar30 March 09:47

      Someone said yesterday it’s up to 21 days now due to the Indian call centre closing down.

    • Tracy says:
      30 Mar30 March 10:13

      Day 13 for me with no refund….

      • paul says:
        30 Mar30 March 10:35

        the 21 day comment was mine. I spoke to You First yesterday as I am on day 12 for a refund of around £1350 for 3 F seats. Voucher and Avios returned immediately and voucher extended.

        The Indian call centres are now closed and refund work returned to the UK. The agent still says 14 day for refunds issued a week or two ago but from now they are quoting 21 days.

        I have a pending / saved insurance claim with Amex which I cant submit until everyone is given the opportunity to refund. Ill give BA till the end of the week and go from there

        • Lady London says:
          30 Mar30 March 11:15

          Even in peacetime they don’t meet their promised refund dates and many need chasing. I think you should be looking at 28 days and possibly up to 6 weeks. In the circ’s a lot of people might think even 2 months reasonable.

      • Adrian says:
        30 Mar30 March 16:19

        Day 13 for me too, also, no refund

    • Michael C says:
      30 Mar30 March 11:18

      I was told on the phone “maybe weeks”, though part of my trip was Avios with JAL, and the points and cash were returned within the hour!

      • Chabuddy geezy says:
        30 Mar30 March 18:54

        I had a refund take 12 days and another one about 5 days this month.

  • Liz Forrest says:
    30 Mar30 March 09:58

    I was able to get a 241 to New Orleans for Mardi Gras next February. Also received my refund of £1800 for a cancelled flight to SFO, so I went online and booked it again for November and I got First for £200 more ! If I had took Club World again, I still would have had to pay for the seats which would have been more than £200 so I was delighted.

  • Sandra says:
    30 Mar30 March 10:41

    If you contact Amex and ask they should refund credit back to your bank account

  • Linda says:
    30 Mar30 March 10:49

    How long did you wait for the refund to come through Liz just coming up,to 10 days ours now. Thanks.

  • Genghis says:
    30 Mar30 March 10:50

    Call up Amex and ask for the monies to be sent to your bank account.

  • Fenny says:
    30 Mar30 March 11:10

    My plan for next year was a month travelling round the world via Australia in April, just as our council goes unitary. Looks like both ideas may be on hold for a while. I still need to work out what to do about my holiday this year. I’m due to go to Greece on 28 May, but the options currently are rebook this year or next, but pay the extra or get a refund voucher. Timings for later this year are not ideal, which is why I was going in May. If I rebook for next year, I’ll struggle to find a decent slot that fits in with my plans for Oz.

    I wouldn’t mind so much, but my holiday last September got cancelled due to Thomas Cook going bust and I’ve had the world’s worst bout of sinusitis since then that has literally cleared up in the last fortnight. All I want is a week on a warm beach somewhere!

    • The Streets says:
      30 Mar30 March 14:57

      it’s like we are living mirror lives… I had a flight booked to Greece (Thessaloniki) on the 28th May! but have cancelled it. I also was due to travel last September but had to cancel for personal reasons.. the next dip in the sea will be remembered!

    • John says:
      31 Mar31 March 06:52

      Blackpool in July?

      • Rob says:
        31 Mar31 March 10:18

        The new Hampton is meant to be surprisingly nice.

      • Fenny says:
        31 Mar31 March 12:01

        It’s never been warm when I’ve been to Blackpool. Jubilee week 1977 was incredibly cold & wet!

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 80,000 bonus points (worth 80,000 Avios) and £400 of dining credit with The Platinum Card (Offer ends 27th May)

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

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

Get up to 10,000 bonus Hilton Honors points

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? GET THE ONLY FREE SMALL BUSINESS CREDIT CARD WHICH CAN EARN AVIOS

Get points worth 30,000 Avios with 'first year free' American Express Gold (ends 27th May)

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!