REGISTER NOW: Earn double Avios on British Airways flights and at BA Holidays

It’s back!  British Airways has launched a new ‘double Avios’ offer for the Summer and Autumn.

This has the potential to be very lucrative if you can work it around your travel plans.

This offer has also been extended to BA Holidays if your BA account is registered in the UK or US.  Not only will you get double Avios on BA flights booked as part of a BA Holidays package, but the bonus Avios you earn for using BA Holidays are doubled to 2 Avios per £1.

The sign up page for the offer is here.  You MUST register before making any bookings.

The offer is simple on the face of it:

Registration is required via this page of ba.com 

The offer is open to all BAEC members globally for flight bookings

The offer is open to BAEC members in the UK and USA for BA Holidays bookings

You earn double base Avios, excluding cabin and status bonuses, on your next 10 qualifying BA flights (a return trip = 2 flights)

You must book your flights between today and 31st August

Existing bookings prior to registration do not count 

You must fly before 31st December 2020

The offer is also valid on American Airlines, Iberia and Finnair flights when travelling between Europe and North America on a BA flight number.  Don’t be fooled by the statement at the top of the registration page that AA, Iberia and Finnair flights to North Ameria count – the terms and conditions say they do not, unless there is a BA flight number on your boarding pass.

British Airways flights booked as part of a BA Holidays package WILL count.  You also get an extra bonus for booking via BA Holiday which I discuss later on.

The offer is also valid on Comair-operated BA services in Southern Africa, although Comair is not currently flying.

Apart from the transatlantic exceptions above, no other BA codeshare or franchise flight will count.  You won’t get double Avios on, for example, a Bangkok Airways, Vistara, Aer Lingus, Qatar Airways or Vueling flight with a BA flight number.

Note that double Avios are awarded on the first ten qualifying flights that you fly after registering and booking. The order you book them makes no difference.  If you book 15 flights, you will get double Avios on the first 10 you fly and not the first 10 you booked.

Here’s a snag though ….

You only get double Avios on your first 10 segments. 

If you have a number of long-haul flights coming up before the end of the year, you don’t want to use up your 10 flight allowance too quickly.  This means, bizarrely, you may want to consider moving some short-haul flights away from British Airways.  This will preserve your 10 flight ‘double Avios’ allowance for long-haul flights which will be far more lucrative.

And an extra bonus when you book with BA Holidays

Regular readers of Head for Points will know that we are big fans of booking your flights via BA Holidays if you can, adding in a hotel or car rental.

The main reason for this is that a ‘flight and hotel’ or ‘flight and car’ package is often cheaper than booking a flight on its own, especially in Club World.

There are two other good reasons to book with BA Holidays:

you only need to pay a deposit at the time of booking, with the balance only due a few weeks before travel

you receive an extra bonus of 1 Avios per £1 spent on top of the Avios you receive from your flights and from your credit card spend if you use a BA Amex

The only downside is that flights booked via BA Holidays do not qualify for On Business points in the BA small business loyalty programme.

During this promotion, you get two extra bonuses for booking via BA Holidays at ba.com or via the BA call centre:

your flights will earn double Avios, as long as they meet the definition of ‘qualifying flights’ and originate in the UK

the extra Avios you receive for booking with BA Holidays is doubled from 1 Avios per £1 to 2 Avios per £1

The same rules apply as with the main promotion – you must register before booking, you must book before 31st August and you must travel by 31st December 2020.

Don’t forget to register before you book

You can register for double Avios here.  I would do it now, even if you don’t have any immediate plans to book and travel, just in case you forget.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (September 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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 26th September 2024, sign up for FREE Barclaycard Avios Mastercard and you will receive a sign-up bonus of 10,000 Avios. This is double the usual bonus! You only need to spend £1,000 within 90 days. Our full review is here. Click here to apply.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

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.

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.

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

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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 22nd October 2024, the bonus on American Express Business Platinum is increased to up to 80,000 Membership Rewards points, worth 80,000 Avios. You will receive 8 points per £1 spent for the first three months, on up to £10,000 of spending. Click here to read our full card review. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 22nd October 2024, the bonus on American Express Business Gold is increased to up to 40,000 Membership Rewards points, worth 40,000 Avios. You will receive 4 points per £1 spent for the first three months, on up to £10,000 of spending. The card is FREE for your first year. Click here to read our full card review. Click here to apply.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.