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MASSIVE AVIOS SALE: 50% off ALL long-haul flights, 25% off short-haul and it works with a 241

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British Airways has launched what is possibly the biggest Avios flight sale it has ever run.

All long haul flights, in all classes, are half price. Well, half points anyway.

Full details are on this special page of ba.com.

Avios 50% discount sale

This is what you need to know:

  • ALL long-haul redemptions (all routes, all travel classes) are reduced by 50%
  • ALL short-haul redemptions (all routes, both travel classes) are reduced by 25%

Here are the key dates:

  • You must book by 13th October
  • You must travel between now and 30th June 2021
  • Full taxes and charges are due
  • The discount is valid on both one-way and return flights
  • The discount only applies to British Airways flights and not partner airlines

Can this offer be combined with a British Airways American Express 2-4-1 or Lloyds voucher?

YES. Well, with an Amex 241 anyway.

British Airways told me that it doesn’t, but it does!

This may or may be an error. The small print does say that ‘vouchers’ are excluded.

British Airways Gatwick Airport

Should I cancel and rebook existing redemptions?

This is a tricky question.

For existing long haul bookings:

Clearly there are HUGE savings to be made if you cancel existing Avios long-haul redemptions and rebook them. You’d be crazy not to, to be honest, if it meant saving 50,000 to 100,000 Avios per booking.

(Do NOT do this with a Lloyds Avios upgrade voucher. As far as I know, these are still lost if you cancel a redemption flight which uses one.)

You need to be careful, however.

If you have enough Avios to make a fresh booking and didn’t use a 2-4-1 voucher, you don’t have any risk. You can make a new booking and then cancel your original at your convenience.

(Remember that, if you cancel online, you can only receive a Future Travel Voucher. This involves wrapping up the Avios, cash and any companion voucher in a voucher. You do NOT get the Avios, cash or companion voucher back in your accounts but you don’t pay any cancellation fees. Alternatively, you can ring BA, pay the £35 per person cancellation fee and get the Avios, cash and any voucher back directly.)

If you don’t have enough Avios to rebook, or need your 2-4-1 voucher back first, you are in a trickier position.

You need to call BA, trigger a Future Travel Voucher (which usually arrives within a few minutes, but isn’t guaranteed) and then call British Airways to rebook.

You should assume that your original seats will NOT go back into redemption availability. Only do this if you can see enough fresh seats available for the dates you want and you are willing to take the risk of them disappearing before you can rebook.

Half price Avios bookings

For existing short haul bookings:

For short haul, however, I don’t think it is worth the effort. The cancellation fees will outweigh a 25% Avios saving. Cancelling for a Future Travel Voucher and then rebooking to avoid cancellation fees is a bit of a faff for a modest return, even if seats are available.

Is there a special offer to buy Avios if I’m short?

No, unfortunately not. The 50% bonus promotion ended last week and I imagine there is no chance of a new offer before 13th October.

If you are happy to pay full price (1.6p per Avios plus a £15 handling fee), you can buy Avios via this page of ba.com.

Be careful not to get carried away ….

This is an exceptionally good offer. Offering 50% off all long haul flights, to all destination and in all classes, is not something you see every day.

However …. if you end up not flying the tickets you book, you will be paying £35 per person to cancel or taking a Future Travel Voucher, which comes with its own complications when you come to rebook (no name changes etc). Book with care.

Click here to visit the special sale page of ba.com and find out more.

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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 (712)

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

  • Ben says:
    10 Oct10 October 10:49

    Yeah I don’t know if you can use the FTV online or not

    • Louise K says:
      10 Oct10 October 12:41

      I think you have to call to use the FTV – I had to. Also, I can’t change any of my flights online. Not sure if this is because I have domestic connections, or it was booked with a FTV.

    • Ben says:
      10 Oct10 October 19:06

      Hi
      Update. Made a booking with companion voucher but after could not move the dates further than my voucher was valid for. So have cancelled and got an FTV expiring Apr 22. Unlike an evoucher, I have to call to redeem it.

  • Yorkieflyer says:
    10 Oct10 October 11:39

    Booked first class to SA 92.5k +£1170 for both of us with 241. So let’s see whether we’ll be let in. Need a 72 hour before departure PCR test for a Tuesday evening flight ex LHR I guess an in person in person Monday London test is the only option. Then a waiting game.
    I gather the deadline to cancel for a voucher is close of check in as opposed to the usual 24 hours for Avios booking. But can this be done online and after checking in, potentially even in the Concorde lounge?

    • Harry T says:
      10 Oct10 October 12:06

      They are talking about bringing in rapid point of care testing for arriving travellers in South Africa. I suspect they will start lowering the bar more as their economy bleeds.

      • Yorkieflyer says:
        10 Oct10 October 16:50

        I’m not sure I’d want to take the admittedly small risk of travelling, failing a test and having to quarantine in a government facility….

  • vlcnc says:
    10 Oct10 October 14:55

    Does anyone know if there is exclusions to this – for some reason when I look Vienna is shown at full Avios still??

    • Louise K says:
      10 Oct10 October 14:58

      Did you click through to the payment page?

      You can always call and ask them to book for you and explain it’s not pricing correctly.

      • vlcnc says:
        10 Oct10 October 15:44

        I did still says the full amount. On the day I got the email, I checked and it showed correctly but since then when I’ve searched to book – gone back to normal Avios amount.

  • John says:
    10 Oct10 October 17:49

    Great deal.
    Booked 2 return tickets in first to Dubai in January for 136000 avios plus taxes and then 2 return tickets in first to San Diego in March with Amex 2 for 1 voucher for 85000 avios plus taxes.

    Never been to Dubai before. Can anyone recommend a beach hotel for 10 days of chilling with restaurants close by so we’re not eating in the hotel all the time?

    • Rob says:
      10 Oct10 October 17:52

      Madinat Jumeirah complex (four hotels) has 70+ eating venues. Most are independent of the hotel. This is arguably the best place to be, unless you want to pay the extra for the Four Seasons. Mall of the Emirates is a £2 taxi ride if you need more food.

      Remember that you can’t serve alcohol outside of hotels so you won’t find ‘normal’ restaurants in the way you do in the UK. Cafe’s, yes, but not restaurants.

  • paul says:
    10 Oct10 October 18:35

    Just booked first return to sydney for 5 pax going out and back in december 2020.
    I am assuming that the Sin to Syd leg wont happen so i can change to date of choice anytime up until today + 355

    Thanks again Rob!

  • Andy Green says:
    10 Oct10 October 21:23

    Can anyone help me? I am trying to read through all of the posts above and educate myself as much as possible. I’ve been following this website for a couple of years so have some knowledge.

    We have a couple of upcoming trips but want to know if I should be doing anything clever with these.

    First off we have a regular paid for flights (no vouchers or Amex 2-4-1 used) from Oslo to Sydney flying out late Dec 2020. I’m assuming this is very unlikely to happen so I will be offered vouchers? The deal on this flights was excellent and it would be great if they just let us change dates when Australia reopens but I assume this will not be an option and a straight cash refund??

    Secondly – we booked Hong Kong using a Amex 241 voucher and avoid. I did this today. Flights are for March 2021. Question is, if travel is not allowed then what can we do with these tickets?? A future travel voucher or can I rebook dates ?

    Thirdly – I want to book something for October 2021 but want to make use of the current Avios 50% deal. If I book a destination with January 2021 flights and I assume travel will not be allowed can I then rebook the dates for later when travel is allowed and just change the date with no price difference etc??

    Thanks in advance!

    • Rob says:
      10 Oct10 October 21:31

      1. You’ll get a cash refund if the flight is cancelled
      2. Cancel for £35 to get everything back, or pay no fee and take the voucher. No rebooking.
      3. No, it will reprice

      • Paul says:
        10 Oct10 October 22:28

        3. Can pick new dates at no extra cost if BA cancels the flight.

        • Louise K says:
          10 Oct10 October 22:36

          My understanding is if they cancel then you can rebook up to 355 days of your original booking / when you paid the tax.

  • David says:
    11 Oct11 October 03:22

    I’ve just used the “trick” of cancelling five flights on three separate Companion Vouchers, two AMEX (UK) and one Chase (US). Saved a total of 186,250 Avios which included changing one location and one peak travel date to non-peak.

    Two problems to bear in mind:
    (a) the above resulted in two separate Future Vouchers with no included info on how much each represents making it difficult to ensure that BA have calculated the taxes/fees and cancellation fees correctly
    (b) the third resulted in a cash refund, but I was advised that this would take “weeks”, including the redeposit of my Avios.

    Still, at the end of it it should all be worth the time and effort, as long as BA are still in existence by next summer.

    • meta says:
      11 Oct11 October 09:07

      But you know the value of fees as it’s written on the original eticket receipt you get by email.

  • Annabel says:
    11 Oct11 October 06:41

    Looking at taking advantage of reward flight sale to Hong Kong for early April 2021 but thinking the strict entry requirements would probably still be in place for visitors from Uk? Any advice greatly received.

    • Robert says:
      11 Oct11 October 08:04

      Also looking at making a similar booking to Far East in April 21 and I’m 99% sure it will still be no tourist entry. The question is were BA to cancel your flights, would they re-book you onto future flights at the same 50% sale price or charge the full Avios amount, especially if you re-book for after June, when the sale period ends. Or like in the case of Tokyo which has flights every other day now, yours isn’t cancelled but it would be totally pointless to board it, as you would be sent straight back to uk.

      • Annabel says:
        11 Oct11 October 08:59

        Robert my understanding is if they cancel your flight then yes you could re book without any additional Avios / charges or get full refund ( 355 days from the date you booked not from the proposed travel date ). But if flight is still going we would have to pay more Avios to change the date ( if no reward sale on ) but not the £35 change fee if travel before 31/8/21.

        • Robert says:
          11 Oct11 October 11:49

          Thanks, those scenarios make sense. Currently have a booking to Tokyo in March for Cherry Blossom, there’s no more availability left so not worth cancelling and re-booking. Fingers crossed flights are cancelled by BA and similar 50% off sales continue in 2021.

        • Harry T says:
          11 Oct11 October 13:00

          Annabel is correct.

    • meta says:
      11 Oct11 October 09:10

      Transits are allowed, so you could combine it with another destination in Asia.

    • Bob says:
      11 Oct11 October 09:49

      I would say May would be a safer bet than March / April if possible. Japan looking at reopening in April for eg apparently.

      • Harry T says:
        11 Oct11 October 13:01

        That’s why I’ve booked June. Granted, not the best time to go, but looks achievable.

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