What is worth booking in the new British Airways sale?

….. not much, as it turns out 🙂

British Airways has launched its latest sale.

It is a bit of a damp squib, with a return to higher fares following some very good deals before the summer.

Particularly on transatlantic flights, you won’t find Club World for less than £1,760 compared to the sub-£1,300 fares we saw to New York in the last sale.

Details of the luxury flight deals are here and the BA Holidays deals are here. You must book by 3rd October.

When do I need to travel?

Travel dates for the sale pricing are all over the place, annoyingly. Some routes only have deals for the winter whilst others have availability throughout the year. 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?

After a return to pre-pandemic sale fares pre-summer we are now seeing pricing firm up again. It will be interesting to see if this lasts or if we will see further reductions.

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.

Looking at previous sales in my Excel spreadsheet, none of the North American flights are particularly good deals. New York, for example, is now £1,760 when it was £1,300 in the last sale – a substantial difference.

My spreadsheet is basically a column of red rather than the nice greens we like to see. We are largely looking at 20%-40% increases in sale pricing across the board, although there are a few exceptions. Portland remains decent value at £1,829 – close to its historic lowest sale pricing.

It’s slightly better outside of North America, with a handful of historically decent fares:

• Dubai — £1,597
• Male (Maldives) — £2,396
• New Delhi — £1,996

Cairo and (new route) Sharm El Sheikh are also not awful, although do you really want to be paying £700+ return to sit in Club Europe on an A321? Probably not.

Get a better deal with BA Holidays

There 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 Dubai start at £1,597 pp. The sample deal below, which includes three nights in a four star hotel, is £1,495pp. Adding the hotel actually reduces the cost.

Headline deals include:

• Dubai: 3 nights room-only at the 4* Four Points by Sheraton Bur Dubai from £1,495pp in July 2024. Includes Club World flights.
• Barbados: 8 nights at the 4* Little Good Harbour from £2,469pp in May 2024. Includes Club World flights.

Save even more if you book by 12th September

BA Holidays is offering additional discounts if you book during the early part of the sale.

Book by 12th September and you will receive:

• an extra £300 off when you spend £10,000+ on flight + hotel
• an extra £200 off when you spend £5,000+ on flight + hotel
• an extra £100 off when you spend £2,500+ on flight + hotel or flight + car
• an extra £50 off when you spend £1,250+ on flight + hotel or flight + car
• an extra £25 off when you spend £650+ on flight + car 

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 2024, 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.

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 3rd October although the early bird BA Holidays deals end on 12th September.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (December 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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 14th January 2025, the sign-up bonus on ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is increased to 30,000 Membership Rewards points. This converts into 30,000 Avios. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 14th January 2025, the sign-up bonus on The Platinum Card from American Express is increased to 80,000 Membership Rewards points. This converts into 80,000 Avios! The spend requirement is changed to £10,000 in six months for this offer. Click here to apply.

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.

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