LAST CHANCE: Book flights for the British Airways ‘double Avios’ offer

British Airways is currenly running its first Avios offer since moving to spend-based earning on flights. You will earn double Avios on your next ten newly booked flights until mid January.

The deadline to book is Tuesday 21st November so you may want to bring forward any bookings you were thinking about.

The deadline to travel is 14th January.

As a reminder, you now earn Avios based on how much your ticket costs (including any extras) and not how many miles you fly. The new rates are:

• Blue – 6 Avios per £1
• Bronze – 7 Avios per £1
• Silver – 8 Avios per £1
• Gold and above – 9 Avios per £1

Unfortunately, it is not as simple as it looks. You only earn Avios on the base fare plus any carrier surcharges. Taxes and external surcharges (such as airport fees) are not included, although baggage and seating fees are.

How does the double Avios offer work?

Under this promotion you will be earning double the above earning rates. This means you’ll now earn:

• Blue – 12 Avios per £1
• Bronze – 14 Avios per £1
• Silver – 16 Avios per £1
• Gold – 18 Avios per £1

There is an interesting quirk here. When this offer ran in the past, it only applied to base earning. Your elite status bonus was NOT doubled.

This has now changed, as you can see. 18 Avios per £1 for a Gold member is very attractive.

If you are BA Gold and need to travel to New York JFK in Business Class next week to seal that deal on a fully flexible ticket, you’ll be spending £7,281 plus taxes and charges. This would earn you 131,000 Avios.

A Blue member on a £46 one way flight from Manchester to London will be less excited. This ticket has a base fare of £18.50 and will still only earn 222 Avios after the doubling up.

What’s the small print?

Unfortunately, the offer only applies to new bookings. Any upcoming flights you’ve already booked will earn the usual Avios per £1 spent.

In order to qualify for the offer you need to register in advance. You can register on this page of ba.com.

Once registered, any new bookings made between now and next Tuesday (21st November), for travel by 14th January, will qualify for double Avios.

British Airways says it will award the double Avios within 24-48 hours of your flight, so presumably alongside the standard Avios.

You will earn double Avios on up to 10 flights. Flights are counted as a single leg of a journey as part of a one-way, return or multi-leg trip. For example, London – New York return would count as two flights whilst Edinburgh – London – New York return would count as four.

The ’10 flights’ rule is based on the first 10 segments flown which were booked after registration. It is not based on the first 10 flights you book.

What flights count towards the double Avios offer?

This offer is largely restricted to British Airways flights. You’ll earn double Avios if you’re on a:

• British Airways-operated flight with a BA flight number
• Transatlantic flight with a BA flight number operated by a transatlantic joint venture partner (American Airlines, Iberia, Finnair)
• Any domestic flights in the UK, including those operated by SUN-AIR, Euroflyer or Cityflyer

Unfortunately, codeshare flights with other airlines (including the joint venture partnership with JAL) do not qualify, even if they have a BA flight number.

Any extras you book will also qualify for double Avios, including upgrades, seat reservations and baggage fees.

You can also get double Avios on BA Holidays – on the flights and your spend

Regular HfP readers will know that you earn 1 Avios for every £1 spent at BA Holidays. This is totally separate to the Avios you earn from your flights.

During this promotion, you will receive 2 Avios for every £1 you spend at BA Holidays.

Your flights will ALSO qualify for double Avios. Remember that Avios earned on flights from BA Holidays earn on a distance-based chart and NOT spend-based.

Your holiday must be booked under the same conditions as for the flight-only offer above. You will only receive double Avios if your BA Holidays flights qualify for double Avios under the terms above. Note that your flights MUST depart from the UK.

Your holiday must be booked directly via BA Holidays online or via the contact centre.

Don’t forget you can also earn double tier points on BA Holidays bookings until the end of 2024.

Conclusion

Time is running out to book flights for this offer. If you were planning to book a flight anyway in the next week or so, you may want to do it now.

You need to book by Tuesday 21st November and travel by 14th January to qualify.

Don’t forget to register on the British Airways website here.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (September 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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 26th September 2024, sign up for FREE Barclaycard Avios Mastercard and you will receive a sign-up bonus of 10,000 Avios. This is double the usual bonus! You only need to spend £1,000 within 90 days. Our full review is here. Click here to apply.

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.