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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.

  • Chicarg says:
    6 Oct6 October 12:19

    I am looking long-haul for LHR-SCL but the standard avios pricing is coming up (i.e. no 50% discount) even if there are reward seats available, and before the cut off period of June.. are only certain routes eligible?! (PS: SeatSpy has collapsed :D… was it this article?!)

    • BlueHorizonuk says:
      6 Oct6 October 12:21

      BA press release – British Airways is offering customers the chance to fly to any long haul destination, in any cabin, for half the amount of Avios normally required.

      • BlueHorizonuk says:
        6 Oct6 October 12:22

        Book directly with British Airways (BA) between 06 October 2020 and 13 October 2020 for travel between 06 October 2020 and 30 June 2021. This offer applies to both peak and off-peak Avios Reward Flights and can be booked by any British Airways Executive Club Member that has earned or spent at least 1 Avios in the last 12 months, when logged into their account and with a sufficient Avios balance.

    • Chicarg says:
      6 Oct6 October 12:25

      Scratch that../ user error 😉

    • Stagger Lee says:
      6 Oct6 October 12:27

      Just checked and there was loads of availability. Avios at 87500 points in Club World. It was 191000 for a random date in September

  • Alan says:
    6 Oct6 October 12:20

    Good discount but June cut off means I’m just not sure where long-haul will be open for travel – really finding it difficult to muster up the will to book, would have jumped at this sort of offer back pre-COVID too!

  • Louise K says:
    6 Oct6 October 12:24

    Does the inbound travel have to be by 30th June?

  • Lucy says:
    6 Oct6 October 12:26

    Thoughts on the best ways to minimise taxes with these deals?

    • Harry T says:
      6 Oct6 October 12:27

      Fly ex Inverness.

    • Scanditraveller says:
      6 Oct6 October 16:51

      If you are travelling to/from Brazil, remember that if you book it as two one-way legs, the return from Brazil should cost you about £8 in taxes/fees. There is a bug on the BA website which adds additional fees, so you have to call BA (I did today – booked GIG-LHR for 37.5k Avios + £8 in CW)

  • Harry T says:
    6 Oct6 October 12:30

    For the US next year, the ex Luxembourg deals are still better, as the fares cost less than the BA taxes and charges. Plus you Avios and tier points.

    • Harry T says:
      6 Oct6 October 12:30

      Earn*

    • Josh says:
      6 Oct6 October 12:33

      Was going to do this however the issue is that we dont know how things will fare virus-wise and if the rules may change in Lux. I’d rather get the direct LHR to US

      • Harry T says:
        6 Oct6 October 12:38

        Fair enough, it’s a risk but miles better value if the situation is stable at that time.

  • Andrew says:
    6 Oct6 October 12:31

    I’m getting full price for PUJ.
    Anyone else tried?

  • MinR says:
    6 Oct6 October 12:33

    How long does Amex MR points transfer to BA take if your accounts were linked already?

  • callum says:
    6 Oct6 October 12:33

    I doubt the Lloyds vouchers would work on this – they didn’t last time, and you book them via Avios not British Airways.

    • Matthew says:
      6 Oct6 October 13:44

      I’d also like to know if this works as I have a voucher to use this month!

      • Simon Cross says:
        6 Oct6 October 16:08

        Lloyds vouchers can be extended until end Dec if you call them or if you use the chat facility. I did this with 2 vouchers 2 days ago without any problem. I also insisted on an email confirming the new expiry date which I received as of course the vouchers no longer show online in the Avios accounts

        • Matthew says:
          6 Oct6 October 16:21

          Great, thanks for the info! Based on a later comment it seems that the 50% off offer also works with the Lloyds voucher.

    • Simon Cross says:
      6 Oct6 October 16:06

      Lloyds vouchers do work on this – of course you have to call Avios to use them. I have just done so. BUT if you cancel you will lose the voucher (but get the avios back). If you change the voucher will stay with the new booking BUT the new booking will be priced at the them ruling avios rate – ie change later than the buy by date and you will then be charged the full avios rate.

      You have to be very confident that the destination will be open and that you can get trave insurance (in my opinion) to do this.

      • Matthew says:
        6 Oct6 October 16:25

        Thanks, I take it that you mean if you decide to change the flight at a later date then at that time you will be charged the full Avios for the new travel dates – so really the offer only applies to whatever booking you make now.

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

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