Sales update: extra Virgin Holidays savings and BA Holidays and flights sale ending

Both Virgin Atlantic and British Airways are bringing their current sales to an end on Tuesday.

Here is news of an extra Virgin Holidays discount for anyone still on the fence about jumping in, and a reminder of the British Airways deals.

Save an extra 5%-10% on Virgin Holidays

Virgin Holidays is offering an extra discount if you book during the final few days of the sale, which ends on Tuesday.

You will receive:

• an extra 5% off departures from 1st June to 31st December

• an extra 10% off departures from 1st January 2024 to 30th June 2024

This applies to flight plus hotel or flight plus car packages booked by Virgin Holidays. The extra discount is already included in the price shown online.

You can find out more on the Virgin Holidays home page here.

The Virgin Atlantic flight sale is also winding up on Tuesday – details of the discounts available are here.

What are the best options in the British Airways sale?

The current British Airways flight sale 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.  As with the Virgin Atlantic sale, you must book by Tuesday 30th May. Travel dates vary by route.

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. 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
• Los Angeles — £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. Savings are better than you think because the airline uses BA Holidays to sneak excess flight inventory into the market at a low price – a price which the traveller never sees because it is packaged.

You will receive DOUBLE British Airways Executive Club tier points

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.

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

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.

Remember that BA flight and holiday sale deals must be booked by Tuesday.

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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.