What is worth booking in the new British Airways Sale?

British Airways has launched its latest sale.

It is surprisingly good, with prices to North America now broadly down to pre-covid levels. This means sub-£1,300+ Club World fares to New York and more – all direct from London.

It is also offering some good savings on BA Holidays packages which include a Business Class flight – in some cases, the holiday costs little more than buying the flight on its own.

Details of the luxury flight deals are here and the BA Holidays deals are here. You must book by 30th May.

When do I need to travel?

Travel dates for the sale pricing are all over the place, annoyingly. Some routes only have deals for Summer 2023, others only have deals in 2024, and others are inbetween. Most require a Saturday night to get the sale pricing. For full details visit the sale website and scroll down to the T&Cs at the bottom.

All of the flight and holiday deals can be found on the British Airways website. We’ll explain later why booking via BA Holidays can be a better deal.

What are the Club World business class flight deals?

2022 was an expensive year for air fares, so it’s good to see sale prices finally back to levels they were back in 2019. This is potentially bad news for BA, which has been enjoying sky-high prices, but good news for the rest of us.

We recommend using the Low Fare Finder tool on ba.com to see which months the sale fares are available. Minimum stay requirements may apply.

The best Club World fares are to the US and Canada:

• Austin — £1,441
• Boston — £1,364
• Chicago — £1,339
• Cincinnati — £1,570
• Denver — £1,692
• Houston — £1,516
• Las Vegas — £1,954
• LA — £1,816
• Miami — £1,862
• Montreal — £1,347
• Nashville — £1,520
• New Orleans — £1,595
• New York — £1,296
• Philadelphia — £1,389
• Phoenix — £1,804
• Pittsburgh — £1,495
• San Diego — £1,829
• San Francisco — £1,716
• Seattle — £1,410
• Toronto — £1,308
• Washington DC — £1,439

There are slim pickings outside of North America, with just a handful of historically decent fares:

• Buenos Aires — £2,498
• Grenada — £2,099
• Male — £2,697
• Shanghai — £2,323

Get an even better deal with BA Holidays

There are also some good deals over at BA Holidays, assuming you are happy to package a hotel and / or car with your flight.

You can make substantial savings when you book a flight + hotel deal with BA Holidays. For example, in the sale Club World flight prices to Boston start at £1,364 pp. The sample deal below, which includes four nights in a four star hotel, is £1,569 pp. Adding the hotel only costs a couple an extra £100 per night.

Some headline deals include:

• New York: 3 nights room-only at the 4* Hilton Times Square from £579pp departing 8^th January 2024. Includes World Traveller return flights from London Gatwick Airport, 23kg luggage allowance and accommodation.
• Antigua: 7 nights at the 4* Royalton Antigua, An Autograph Collection from £1,399pp departing 4^th September 2023. Includes World Traveller return flights from London Gatwick Airport, 23kg luggage allowance and a free room upgrade from Luxury Junior Suite to Luxury Junior Suite Bay View.
• Boston: 4 nights room-only at the 4* Boston Park Plaza from £1,569pp, departing on 11th January 2024. Includes Club World flights from London Heathrow, two 32kg bags and accommodation.
• Mexico: 7 nights all-inclusive at 4* Allegro Playacar from £2,239pp, departing on 7th November 2023. Includes Club World flights from London Gatwick, two 32kg bags and accommodation.

Here are typical Club Europe deals:

• Morocco: from £739 for seven nights at the 4* Kenzi Club Agdal Medina, travelling in December 2023. Includes Club Europe return flights from London Gatwick Airport, two 32kg bags and accommodation.

• Prague: 3 nights room-only at the 4* Hotel Duo from £319pp, travelling on 19th November 2023. Includes Club Europe flights from London Heathrow, two 32kg bags and accommodation.

You will receive DOUBLE British Airways Executive Club tier points too

One of the most attractive promotions currently running from any travel company is the British Airways Holidays ‘double tier points’ offer.

If you book a ‘flight and hotel’ or ‘flight and car’ package for 5+ nights via British Airways Holidays, for travel completed by 31st December 2023, you will receive double tier points on your flights.

(Yes, this offer is now extended until December 2023. Even better, the extra tier points are now posting punctually according to our readers. You will receive them within 14 days of your flight.)

There are two things to note about the double tier points offer:

• you must book flights which carry a British Airways flight number – codeshare flights with, say, Qatar Airways are acceptable but only if your booking shows a BAXXXX flight number
• whilst your booking must contain at least five nights of hotel or car rental, your overall stay can be longer

In my pricing example above, Marrakech is a 160 tier point route in Club Europe, so you would receive a whopping 320 tier points if you travel in 2023 via the double tier points offer.

Full details of the ‘double tier points’ offer can be found on the British Airways Holidays website here.

Why book with BA Holidays?

The benefits of using BA Holidays versus booking a cash flight and hotel include:

• only pay a deposit now with the balance not due until 5-7 weeks before travel

• 1 bonus Avios for every £1 spent at BA Holidays on top of the usual Avios earned from your flights

• double Avios (3 per £1) on your payment if you use the British Airways Premium Plus American Express card

You can also use Avios now to pay or part-pay at BA Holidays – see our article here.

Conclusion

You can see full details of offers and fares in the sale section of the BA website here. It is also worth using the Low Fare Finder tool on ba.com to track down destinations and fares and which months they’re available.

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 a Barclaycard Avios Mastercard.

Another option is American Express Preferred Rewards Gold which offers double points – 2 per £1 – when you book flight tickets directly with an airline. This card currently has a sign-up bonus of 20,000 Membership Rewards points, worth 20,000 Avios if converted.

The British Airways sale ends on 30th May.

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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.