What is worth a look in the British Airways flight sale?

British Airways launched its latest sale on Thursday.

It is the first one in quite some time, after Heathrow forced the airline to cap passenger numbers and cancel reams of flights in order not to over-stress the airport’s handling resources.

We will admit that it isn’t the most exciting sale ever. High oil prices have pushed sale fares to some of the highest levels we’ve seen since we started monitoring prices. You should expect to pay more for flights across all airlines this year.

EDIT: The sale has been extended to 4th October

You can see all deals available on the sale section of ba.com here.

You need to book by 20th September.

Business class: British Airways Club World sale deals

The days of sub £1,300 business class fares is mostly over, at least for the next few months or years.

Oil prices, higher costs and the limited capacity of airlines, having retired loads of aircraft in 2020, has increased average fares across the board, and this sale is no different. The cheapest transatlantic flight is £1,668 to New York.

That said, there are a few rogue routes which are surprisingly good value, including Pittsburgh and Cancun. Here are our top picks when compared to other BA sales this year:

• Dallas from £1,967
• Miami from £1,889
• Montreal from £1,793
• New Orleans from £1,876
• New York from £1,668
• Orlando from £1,894
• Philadelphia from £1,762
• Pittsburgh from £1,695
• Portland (Oregon) from £1,776
• Tampa from £1,895
• Toronto from £1,754

Outside of the US, better prices include:

• Cancun from £1,685
• Providenciales from £2,162
• Punta Cana from £1,742
• Dubai from £1,599

Note that travel dates may be very restricted. Want to book Dubai for £1,698? You can only travel in May 2023. Cancun, on the other hand, is available in January, February and March. The small print is at the bottom of the sale home page.

Business class: British Airways Club Europe short haul deals

Here are some of the better deals in Club Europe.  These will be of special interest to anyone who is close to requalifying for Silver or Gold status and would like 80 or 160 cheap tier points to top up their balance.

If you set a cap of £225 return, the following routes look interesting. 

• Aberdeen £160
• Alicante £206
• Amsterdam £192
• Basel £184
• Belfast £186
• Billund £174
• Bologna £182
• Bordeaux £200
• Brussels £198
• Copenhagen £184
• Dublin £164
• Dusseldorf £198
• Edinburgh £160
• Frankfurt £208
• Glasgow £156
• Gothenburg £192
• Hamburg £190
• Inverness £140
• Jersey £214
• Luxembourg £134
• Lyon £202
• Malaga £210
• Manchester £166
• Newcastle £152
• Nuremberg £184
• Paris £214
• Pisa £182
• Porto £206
• Prague £190
• Seville £224
• Sofia £194
• Stockholm £192
• Stuttgart £196
• Toulouse £198
• Turin £212
• Valencia £190
• Venice £192
• Verona £190
• Vienna £208
• Warsaw £192
• Zagreb £198

Dates vary for travel at these prices, of course, and most deals will be during the Winter.

Whilst just beyond our £225 target, Marrakech at £258 would earn you 160 tier points return – or 320 tier points if booked via BA Holidays with a five night hotel stay or car hire included.

How to check pricing

The easiest way to check for the lowest fares on any particular route, or across a series of routes, is via the British Airways Low Fare Finder – click here.

This is one of the most useful pages of the BA website. I find it especially helpful when looking for cheap Club Europe short haul business class deals to top up my tier points.

You can quickly see, for example, that New York gets no cheaper than £1,668. An aggressive (pre-covid) British Airways sale would see it at around the £1,200 mark.

British Airways Holidays has discounted holidays and city breaks, plus double Tier Points

British Airways Holidays has also got in on the act with a selection of ‘flight and hotel’ and ‘flight and car’ packages.

The key thing to know about British Airways Holidays is that booking a flight and hotel, or flight and car hire, together can offer better value than booking each element separately.

BA Holidays have also extended their double tier points offer to September 2023, so it is well worth seeing if you can find a better package deal there. You can see our article about this promotion here.

There are lots of other options available which you can see if you look here.

Booking a British Airways Holidays package gives you additional protection in case there are any issues with your flights or hotel, due to the strong legally-binding ATOL scheme.

How to pay for your British Airways sale booking

To maximise your miles when paying, your best bet is the British Airways American Express Premium Plus card which earns double Avios (3 per £1) when you book at ba.com or via BA Holidays. 

You do not get double Avios if you book with the free British Airways American Express card or the new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards (see here and here).

Another option is American Express Preferred Rewards Gold which offers double points – 2 per £1 – when you book directly with an airline.

Conclusion

The British Airways sale home page is here where you can find out more and get your head around what is available. 

Remember that you need to book by midnight on 20th September

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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.