British Airways launches ‘Avios-only’ flights – where EVERY seat is available for redemption

Here’s an interesting story I didn’t expect to see in my inbox this morning: British Airways is launching ‘Avios only’ flights where every seat is made available for redemption.

This is different to how Avios reward seats are usually released.

British Airways guarantees four x Club, two x World Traveller Plus (premium economy) and eight x Traveller (economy) seats for Avios redemption on every flight. On popular routes, this means seats are quickly snapped up and you are reliant on BA’s goodwill to release further seats.

In this case, however, British Airways is opening up all seats on the flight for redemption, including business class.

British Airways follows in Qantas’ footsteps

This isn’t a new idea. Since 2019, Qantas has been running what it calls ‘Points Planes’ to celebrate historic events such as the retirement of the Boeing 747 fleet.

On 10th May, for example, Qantas will operate two ‘Points Planes’ between Sydney and Tokyo.

Qantas’ ‘Points Planes’ have been extremely successful, so it makes sense for British Airways to try and replicate this success in its own way.

One thing I think it needs to do is find its own unique term for the program, just as Qantas uses ‘Points Planes’. Avios-only flights just don’t quite run off the tongue in the same way. The current route offering is also a bit odd as you will see.

Where are BA’s first Avios only flights?

The first routes to launch under BA’s Avios-only initiative are short and mid haul flights.

The first Avios-only flight will be to Sharm El Sheikh on the inaugural service from London Gatwick on 3rd November.

This is operated by an A320 with 30 Club Europe (business class seats) and 132 Euro Traveller (economy) seats. All 162 seats are available for Avios redemption.

Whilst there is no dedicated Avios-only flight on the return, British Airways told us that they are increasing the number of reward seats on return flights on 6th, 8th, 10th, 11th, 13th, 15th, 17th and 18th November so you should have additional flexibility and choice when coming home.

(Do note that Sharm is a long flight and the A320 is not exactly spacious, especially once you get beyond Row 12 and the legroom shrinks.)

These flights will be followed by no less than four dedicated Avios-only flights from Heathrow to Geneva in February and March to coincide with the ski season.

The Geneva dates outbound are:

• 10 February 2024
• 17 February 2024
• 24 February 2024
• 2 March 2024

Whilst British Airways operates multiple daily flights to Geneva, this will be on BA728. Return flights (BA729) on 17th February, 24th February, 2nd March and 9th March will also be Avios-only flights.

How to book BA’s Avios-only flights

Booking these Avios-only flights is the same as booking any other Avios redemption with British Airways.

Unfortunately, there is no dedicated Avios-only page instructing you when and where Avios-flights are going so for now you have to manually input the dates above into the Avios booking engine. I was able to find them within a few seconds:

Normally British Airways tells you how many seats are left for Avios redemption. Because it is not doing so here, it means there are more than nine seats available in both business class and economy. In this case, substantially more than nine!

How much do BA’s Avios-only flights cost?

The cost is the same as any other Avios redemption on British Airways.

In this case, the Sharm El Sheikh flight coincides with BA’s off-peak calendar for 2023. You will have a choice from the following prices.

To help you decide which option is best, I have added a NOTIONAL cost based on valuing 1 Avios at 1p.

As you can see, the best value option is the ‘most cash, least Avios’ one, but of course you have the choice.

Euro Traveller (economy) return:

• £1 + 27,500 Avios (£276)
• £9 + 26,000 Avios (£269)
• £25 + 23,500 Avios (£260)
• £35 + 18,500 Avios (£220)
• £91 + 12,500 Avios (£216)
• £121 + 8,500 Avios (£206)

Club Europe (business class) return:

• £1 + 48,500 Avios (£486)
• £9 + 47,000 Avios (£479)
• £35 + 38,500 Avios (£420)
• £50 + 35,500 Avios (£405)
• £95 + 26,500 Avios (£360)
• £141 + 19,500 Avios (£336)

These notional values are competitive with cash fares, which bottom out at £221 in basic economy return in November.

Don’t forget that you Avios redemptions come with additional flexibility over basic economy (including the option to cancel for a full refund, minus £35 per person, up to 24 hours before departure) as well as one checked bag. Overall, these Avios redemptions are better value than booking a cash ticket.

Here is the pricing to Geneva:

Euro Traveller (economy) return:

• £1 + 18,500 Avios
• £9 + 17,000 Avios
• £18 + 14,500 Avios
• £35 + 9,500 Avios
• £65 + 7,400 Avios
• £85 + 5,900 Avios

Club Europe (business class) return:

• £1 + 30,000 Avios
• £9 + 28,500 Avios
• £25 + 23,500 Avios
• £50 + 17,000 Avios
• £85 + 13,000 Avios
• £125 + 10,500 Avios

Conclusion

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. It has clearly been very successful for Qantas – successful enough that BA has decided to copy its oneworld sibling.

I do think that British Airways needs to give these flights better branding, and potentially a dedicated portal on ba.com, as Qantas does. Without a clear and concise name I’m worried that these flights will simply get lost amongst ‘normal’ redemptions.

To be frank, I would also have started with a bigger splash. Why not make one Sydney, Cape Town or Maldives flight available? These are the routes that people struggle to book.

We will keep you up to date with further Avios-only flights as and when they are announced. According to BA, this is just the start.

The flights are now bookable on the British Airways website here. Note that, after the email blast went out to Executive Club members, some of the ski flights are sold out.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (June 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.

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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 13th June, the sign-up bonus on The Platinum Card is doubled to 60,000 Membership Rewards points – and you get £200 to spend at Amex Travel too! Apply here.

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.

EDIT: Applications for this card are temporarily suspended due to IT issues with the British Airways On Business SME loyalty scheme.

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.