What is the British Airways Gold Priority Reward?

Today I want to answer the questions “What is the British Airways Gold Priority Reward, and how does it work?“.

As an Executive Club Gold member you might already be familiar with the range of benefits that British Airways Gold status holds – including lounge access, priority check-in and free seat selection – but one of the lesser known perks of being a Gold member is actually one of the best: the Gold Priority Reward.

For every flight, British Airways guarantees at least four business and eight economy class seats are available for Avios redemptions.  Long haul flights are also guaranteed two premium economy seats, making 14 Avios seats in total.

Whilst additional seats are usually released, you may find yourself out of luck with no seats available for Avios redemptions. In this case, you can either try and find an alternative flight that does have availability or – you may be able to use a Gold Priority Reward

What is a BA Gold Priority Reward?

Gold Priority Rewards allow you to book any seat on any British Airways flight* using Avios.  If you can see a seat available for cash on your chosen flight, you can call your Executive Club service centre and ask them to book you a seat with your Avios.

The catch is that it will cost you double the usual Avios amount and you must book at least 30 days in advance. Unfortunately, the offer is not valid with 2-4-1 vouchers.

Clearly, this is an incredibly powerful (and useful) ability if you are caught out and absolutely need to get on a particular flight.  Over February half term, for example, you can expect to pay £500 for a Saturday to Saturday return BA economy flight to the major ski resorts.  Use a Gold Priority Reward and you’ll only pay 18,000 Avios plus £35 which is a major saving.

Outside of peak times, as you are paying double Avios, it is generally poor value. However, it may be that you are Avios rich and value your time more than your Avios, particularly if most of your points are from work-funded business travel and do not need to justify a minimum value when you spend them.

There is one catch.  You can’t use a Gold Priority Reward on a BA CityFlyer service which means all of the short-haul services from London City Airport.  This is because, technically, CityFlyer is a separate business inside British Airways and not treated as part of the ‘mainline’ operation.  Strange but true.

(This article is part of our ‘BA Q&A’ series which explains how British Airways Executive Club works.  You can see all of our ‘BA Q&A’ articles here. )

(Head for Points is the UK’s biggest frequent flyer website with 2.3 million monthly page views.  Want to learn more about earning and spending Avios?  Click here to read our latest news stories, click here to join our email list and click here to read our ‘Avios Redemption University’ series.)

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (March 2023)

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: Successfully apply for either of the Barclaycard Avios credit cards by 2nd April 2023 and you will be entered into a free draw to win ONE MILLION AVIOS! Full details are on the application forms here (free) and here (paid). This competition is exclusive to Head for Points readers. T&C 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.

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.

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.

There are also good bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These are available to sole traders as well as limited companies.

Until 30th March 2023, the sign up bonus on American Express Business Platinum is increased to 120,000 Membership Rewards points – click here. The bonus on American Express Business Gold is increased to 60,000 Membership Rewards points – click here. T&C apply, see the application forms for details.

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