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

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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

British Airways sale launched

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.

British Airways BA A350 inflight

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

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

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:

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

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

25,000 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.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a 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, 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.

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

Huge 30,000 points bonus until 12th May 2024 Read our full review

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.

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

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

40,000 points sign-up bonus 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 (71)

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

  • Thywillbedone says:
    4 Sep4 September 05:45

    Thin gruel. Only long haul I expect to do for the foreseeable future will be redemption fares.

    • Gordon says:
      4 Sep4 September 07:01

      Same here…. But as Rob says it’s not the most exciting of sales, So no great loss, R.I.P. The days of bargain air travel….

      • G says:
        4 Sep4 September 07:24

        There’s still bargains to be had. Low cost carriers from the UK are still competitive options and Jacks Flight Club still churns out decent long haul deals.

        I flew to Seoul from LHR via WAW for £365 return this year; in an exit row seat.

        • Gordon says:
          4 Sep4 September 08:26

          Never heard of Jacks flight club, Thanks for the tip….
          Maybe people are blinded by chasing status and points and can’t see the woods for the trees….

      • Andrew J says:
        4 Sep4 September 07:27

        Indeed this is the new normal and will never revert back.

    • dougzz99 says:
      4 Sep4 September 08:45

      I tend to overly focus on the USA, but the point made previously that still holds is the airfare is a decreasing fraction of the overall cost. Hotel prices are so top end that £200 or £300 off the flight price is a much smaller incentive than previously. The GBP being weak doesn’t help.

      • Thywillbedone says:
        4 Sep4 September 10:16

        Just because hotel prices are ridiculous doesn’t make high air fares any less palatable. Hopefully demand will start to ease next year as people catching up on missed holidays will have had their ‘fix’ through 2022 …many I know have either taken more trips overseas this year/overspent on their trips/or both …can’t see that persisting.

  • Jalpo says:
    4 Sep4 September 07:19

    The article links to the BA low fare finder for economy fares, but is there still one for business fares as well? I’ve used it before although now can’t find it. Many thanks.

    • Rob says:
      4 Sep4 September 07:54

      Same link – toggle to Business at the top.

      • aseftel says:
        4 Sep4 September 08:45

        Unless I’ve been doing it wrong all these years, you’re stuck on economy in the mobile view.

        • Dickie H says:
          4 Sep4 September 09:19

          Rotate your phone to view the page in landscape and the Business toggle magically appears 🙂

  • Steven says:
    4 Sep4 September 07:50

    I’ve always struggled when using the BA website to search for flight only (and flight and hotel) ideas when the departure airport is not London.

    Is there a way you can search outbound from another UK airport and then leave the destination blank to see what all the options are?

    I tried the link in the article for the low fare finder but again it comes up automatically departing from London.

    Many thanks.

    • Rhys says:
      4 Sep4 September 09:36

      Annoyingly the low fare finder doesn’t let you choose a departure airport.

  • The Original Nick says:
    4 Sep4 September 08:01

    BA double Tier points have been extended until September 2023 I thought?

  • Bluekjp says:
    4 Sep4 September 08:10

    Perhaps a small mention could be made for Business Class sale fares to RAK £258 and even the mysterious/always overlooked ALG £327 (for which a visa at cost is also required).

    • Rob says:
      4 Sep4 September 08:25

      Added RAK. It’s on the Africa page of Low Fare Finder which is why we miss it.

    • Rhys says:
      4 Sep4 September 09:37

      Operated by short haul aircraft which is why I typically ignore them!

    • Richie says:
      4 Sep4 September 10:00

      It’s a shame Iberia flights from MAD-RAK don’t appear to have BA flight numbers for the Double TPs offer.

  • NorthernLass says:
    4 Sep4 September 08:33

    Did you see the comments yesterday re BA apparently removing the option to start BA holidays in MAN? Not sure if this actually applies to all destinations or affects other regional airports. I am wondering if they are making so much money from the currently reduced service (CE can be £400 one-way!) that they don’t want to “waste” seats on package deals.

    • dougzz99 says:
      4 Sep4 September 08:50

      They’re trying to save you from the MAN experience. I actually enjoy reading that thread on FT as my dirty pleasure, it’s like a tabloid piece you want to pretend you ignore, but secretly can’t leave alone. One suggestion is they now require power leads removed and placed on tray separately.

      • NorthernLass says:
        4 Sep4 September 10:35

        I think that depends on the day of the week! I never know what they’re going to want (phones in bags? out of bags? who knows?). I’ll have a look at the FT thread lol.
        My brother-in-law starts in security at T1 soon, I’m looking forward to getting the inside story!

    • memesweeper says:
      4 Sep4 September 08:55

      If you start a search on the BA holidays page — which advertises ATOL protection etc — for MAN to (say) DBX —the BA site takes you through a standalone flight selection process followed by an option to add a flight and hotel. If that *doesn’t* create a “holiday” booking then BA are going to be in hot water with the relevant authorities. That’s indefensible legally. No normal holiday maker would notice any untoward in that booking flow.

      • Gordon says:
        4 Sep4 September 09:11

        DBX?! DXB….

      • memesweeper says:
        4 Sep4 September 09:12

        Just checked Inverness to Hawaii and the booking process looks more like the familiar “holiday” booking flow.

      • NorthernLass says:
        4 Sep4 September 10:38

        I’ll try that, I usually go straight to customise your trip as I never want a straight flight + hotel/car booking!

        • memesweeper says:
          4 Sep4 September 11:20

          If we think there’s any danger of BA trying to avoid ATOL/double TPs on holidays I’d be screenshotting every step of the booking process.

          I used to work for an OTA and if flights and hotel ended up in a basket together we had to sell it as a holiday, with ATOL protection and holiday T&Cs, even if we dynamically matched the component parts from various suppliers.

          • Rob says:
            4 Sep4 September 11:47

            There is a difference between booking something on BA.com that looks like a holiday and BA Holidays selling you a holiday.

          • Lady London says:
            4 Sep4 September 14:52

            No legal difference. You do get the statutory protections of ATOL etc as @memesweeper says whether BA call it a holiday or not.. And not only if same basket, any bookings of package components can be separately made (ie different bookings) and it’s still legally a holiday. So you get holiday protections.

            But 2x TP’s is BA’s own offer so if you don’t book the way BA is telling you, ie book it as a BA Holiday from the beginning then you won’t get them.

          • Lady London says:
            4 Sep4 September 14:56

            *if booked separately, must be within a 24hr period for it to count legally as a holiday

            If you want the extra avios and tp’s and any other things that are BA offerings then you have to book it in the way they tell you ie respect their ts and cs

    • Brian78 says:
      4 Sep4 September 09:17

      Levelling up 😢

    • Mike Hunt says:
      4 Sep4 September 11:20

      “BA apparently removing the option to start BA holidays in MAN” certainly doesn’t fit with the Levelling Up agenda.

      • Nick says:
        4 Sep4 September 12:04

        And what levelling up agenda do BA or BA Holidays have to follow? Name one law that demands BA has to follow in this respect? It’s just a cheapsound bite from the government anyway, nothing will come from it.

        But for northerners with a chip on their shoulder, it’s not true anyway. Regional airports are still available as BAH starting points.

        • Brian78 says:
          4 Sep4 September 14:06

          Mike Hunt just likes to say it every other day.

          • Mike Hunt says:
            4 Sep4 September 14:34

            You are certainly going to hear more about Levelling Up under Liz Truss and as we approach the next general election – there is currently a proposal on the table for a Levelling Up referendum to generate greater Conservative support

    • Brian78 says:
      4 Sep4 September 14:43

      Thought you hated BA anyway?

  • Thegasman says:
    4 Sep4 September 09:06

    Slightly OT but potentially relevant. Ethiad have a decent sale out of Amsterdam at the moment. Stand out is probably SYD for €25xx. If you can pay with an Amex then AMXD0120 should knock another €100 off taking you down to ~£2000 which would have been pretty good even pre Covid.

    Amsterdam is probably one of the better ex EU starting points as well given the plethora of cheap flights from all over U.K. plus it’s a nice city to spend a day in if you choose to build in some contingency on outbound or return.

    • Gordon says:
      4 Sep4 September 09:15

      I’m carrying out a Tier point run LHR-AMS in Oct. 4 hour turnaround, And I’m kicking myself now for not making a day of it in Amsterdam….

      • Andrew says:
        4 Sep4 September 19:47

        Depending on your fare conditions you might be able to do an on-the-day flight time change (must be same day, same cabin, same airport pair), but on the day you could try to change to an earlier outbound or later return flight (or both) if conditions permit.

  • Rob says:
    4 Sep4 September 09:25

    Please may I clarify something re the double tier points offer. Does it have to be booked through BA Holidays specifically or will any flight and car rental or flight and hotel accommodation combination of more than 5 days, booked on the general BA website qualify for double tier points?

    • yonasl says:
      4 Sep4 September 09:37

      You can either book a BA holiday or book a BA flight and on the first 24hrs add a car or hotel (which converts it into a package holiday).

      You cannot buy a BA flight and past the first 24hrs add a car or hotel or use the BA website to book stuff during the dates of your flights unfortunately.

      • Thegasman says:
        4 Sep4 September 10:25

        I think adding car/hotel etc within 24 hours of booking flight doesn’t qualify for all of the BAH benefits like extra Avios, ability to pay deposit & double TP’s.

        It does get you the extra protection afforded by package holiday regulations though. These aren’t all positives though eg. they can just refund you rather than replacing elements of holiday that are cancelled/changed.

        • NorthernLass says:
          4 Sep4 September 10:40

          I think you also have to pay up front for it all instead of just the deposit.

        • Nick says:
          4 Sep4 September 12:07

          You get the package holiday benefits, but the double TP offer (funnily enough) is not part of the ATOL (etc) protections. This means BAH T&C apply, which state very clearly that it must be booked as a holiday from the start. If you look at the URL it will actually show ‘badp’ (for dynamic packaging).

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