What are the 2024 British Airways peak and off-peak Avios flight dates?

What are the peak and off-peak calendar dates for redeeming Avios points in 2024? 

Unfortunately British Airways no longer officially publishes its peak and off peak dates for reward flights in advance. Instead, it drops then in day-by-day as tickets come on sale 355 days in advance.

As in previous years, we have been able to get our hands on the official (but unpublished) Avios peak and off-peak calendar for 2024 which we are reproducing in full below.

The 2023 British Airways, Iberia and Aer Lingus peak and off-peak calendars are here. We don’t have 2024 dates for Iberia or Aer Lingus yet.

Remember that flights are not bookable, for cash or Avios, until 355 days before departure.

(I should also remind you that, as we are now in British Summer Time and British Airways releases flights at midnight GMT, that you will need to be online or on the telephone at 1am if you are UK based and want to book 355 days ahead for the 14 ‘guaranteed’ Avios seats per flight.)

There are three things to remember:

This calendar only applies to British Airways. Iberia and Aer Lingus have their own peak and off-peak dates. This is useful because you will often find that when BA is peak during UK half-term school holidays, Iberia (and occasionally Aer Lingus) are running off-peak fares.

The BA calendar applies wherever you book a BA redemption, whether it is on ba.com, iberia.com or avios.com.  Similarly, if you try to book an Iberia redemption on ba.com it will NOT follow the dates below.

All redemptions on partner airlines such as Qantas are charged on a separate chart at peak date rates, 100% of the time. The partner chart does not apply to Qatar Airways redemptions which now have their own pricing.

Peak dates are in red whilst off peak is in white.  Click to enlarge:

The British Airways peak/off-peak chart has become very ‘bitty’ in recent years. For example, the 2021 calendar made virtually all of July and August peak, with June mostly off-peak. For 2024, BA has chosen to break things up: in July and August, for example, every single Tuesday remains off-peak.

As you would expect, peak dates cover all the school breaks (driven by the private school calendar, which has far longer breaks than state schools) as well as the majority of bank holidays.  The only Bank Holiday on an off-peak day is Boxing Day. Even Christmas Day is peak, even though flights are generally very quiet.

We have created an online peak/off-peak calendar for 2024 (it also includes 2023) that you can subscribe to on your mobile device or calendar app. Click here to subscribe.

If you want to learn more about how to spend your Avios most efficiently, read our beginner’s guide to redeeming Avios points here although that article will soon get a full update. You can read more about how the British Airways American Express 2-4-1 companion voucher works in this article.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (October 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.

There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 22nd October 2024, the bonus on American Express Business Platinum is increased to up to 80,000 Membership Rewards points, worth 80,000 Avios. You will receive 8 points per £1 spent for the first three months, on up to £10,000 of spending. Click here to read our full card review. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 22nd October 2024, the bonus on American Express Business Gold is increased to up to 40,000 Membership Rewards points, worth 40,000 Avios. You will receive 4 points per £1 spent for the first three months, on up to £10,000 of spending. The card is FREE for your first year. Click here to read our full card review. Click here to apply.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.