Get a 2p per Avios discount on British Airways long haul cash flights – but not in Business

If you are opted in to British Airways Executive Club marketing emails, you will have received a very interesting offer in your inbox yesterday.

If you book a BA long haul flight for cash by midnight on Monday 27th June, you can ‘part pay with Avios’ and receive 2p per Avios in value.

Full details are on ba.com here.

The offer is fairly flexible:

• you can book for any travel date
• you can book one-way or return flights
• you can book in long haul Economy or Premium Economy (but not Business / First)

All flights must depart from the UK.

Can you pay for your entire flight with Avios?

No.

Unlike Virgin Atlantic, which lets you ‘part pay with points’ up to the entire value of your booking, British Airways only lets you pay the base fare, excluding all taxes and charges, with Avios.

There are further limits as part of this deal.

For return cash flights, the only discounts available are (per person)

• £5 off for 250 Avios
• £18 off for 900 Avios
• £32 off for 1,600 Avios
• £56 off for 2,800 Avios
• £80 off for 4,000 Avios
• £100 off for 5,000 Avios
• £150 off for 7,500 Avios
• £210 off for 10,500 Avios

For one-way cash flights, these numbers are halved:

• £5 off for 250 Avios
• £9 off for 450 Avios
• £16 off for 800 Avios
• £28 off for 1,400 Avios
• £40 off for 2,000 Avios
• £50 off for 2,500 Avios
• £75 off for 3,750 Avios
• £105 off for 5,250 Avios

Each option gives you 2p per Avios, which is exceptionally generous. If you are making a BA booking this weekend, you’d be crazy not to take advantage of this offer up to the maximum number of Avios allowed.

Important: ‘Book With Confidence’ is over so you can’t redeem your full Avios balance for BA credit this time!

When this offer ran last year, British Airways was still running its ‘Book With Confidence’ campaign.

You could cash out your entire Avios balance for 2p per point in British Airways credit. All you had to book was book multiple BA flights, paying as much as you could with Avios, and then cancel them for a British Airways eVoucher.

This is no longer possible. ‘Book With Confidence’ was scrapped a few weeks ago for new bookings. All flights booked under this offer this weekend are non-refundable unless you pay the substantial premium for a flexible fare.

Conclusion

If you had been planning to book any long haul Economy or Premium Economy British Airways flights, this offer is a great opportunity to redeem some Avios for a discount at an exceptionally high rate.

Remember, however, that your bookings will be entirely non-refundable and that ‘Book With Confidence’ refunds no longer exist for new bookings.

You can find full details on this page of ba.com. The offer runs until midnight on Monday.

---

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 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.

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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

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 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.

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