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A new ‘Avios only’ flight launches TODAY

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British Airways is launching a new ‘Avios only’ flight at 10am today, Thursday.

If you’re not familiar with these, it is a pair of flights where EVERY seat in EVERY cabin is made available for Avios redemption.

EDIT: This is now live – click here

New Avios only flight launches today

It was trialled with some short haul flights (the August ‘Avios only’ flight to Faro is now being operated by Danish Air Transport!) and expanded to long haul with a Dubai trip over October 2024 half term.

BA is being very tight lipped about the release today. All we could get from them is that it will be a long haul service. We’re not even sure where the news will drop first.

We’ll get an article up as soon as we can after 10am. We will not email the article until Friday so if you are reading this via email I suggest you pop over to the HfP website shortly after 10am.

PS. If you are not a regular Head for Points visitor, why not sign up for our FREE weekly or daily newsletters? They are full of the latest Avios, airline, hotel and credit card points news and will help you travel better. To join our 65,000 free subscribers, click the button below or visit this page of the site to find out more. Thank you.

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2025)

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:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

Get 5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review

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 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

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, and the standard card is FREE. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review

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

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

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.

American Express Business Platinum

50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

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

Category

British Airways American Express

Comments (68)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Trevor says:
    11 Apr11 April 09:57

    If long haul, I’m thinking BKK would make sense given the relaunch in October 2024.

    It’s a route with tough competition and a weak BA product. Avios redemptions are on the pricey side when compared to the competitive prices if paying to get there. But plenty of people who would prefer to fly direct from London (even LGW), are avios rich or could use the route to travel onwards to rest of Asia or Australia/NZ.

  • Thomas says:
    11 Apr11 April 10:03

    Barbados Feb is the Avios Only Flight!

  • louie says:
    11 Apr11 April 10:03

    BGI allegedly

  • Ed E says:
    11 Apr11 April 10:05

    Flights in the fifth release (Barbados and Geneva) are effective from 11 April 2024, until 15 November 2024. After 15 November 2024 any remaining seats may become available to all customers. 15 November 2024 may be brought forward at the discretion of British Airways and Avios Group Limited.

  • Ed E says:
    11 Apr11 April 10:05

    15 February 2025, 13:35 BA155 London Heathrow – Barbados (LHR-BGI)
    22 February 2025, 20:25 BA154 Barbados – London Heathrow (BGI-LHR)
    15 February 2025, 11:05 BA740 London Heathrow – Geneva (LHR-GVA)
    22 February 2025, 12:30 BA727 Geneva – London Heathrow (GVA-LHR)
    22 February 2025, 11:05 BA740 London Heathrow – Geneva (LHR-GVA)
    1 March 2025, 14:45 BA741 Geneva – London Heathrow (GVA-LHR)

    Source: https://britishairways.com/content/executive-club/about-the-club?source=MNVEXC1about_the_executive_club

    • elguiri says:
      11 Apr11 April 10:22

      Have the 15th outbound flights all gone? get no availability returned from trusty BA site…

      • elguiri says:
        11 Apr11 April 10:25

        and now started search again for eco for BGI and it shows availability in bus out but not inbound…good old BA IT

        • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:
          11 Apr11 April 10:41

          How about people start the search which then takes the seat out of inventory then decide not to proceed which then releases the seat back to the search results.

          Not everything is an IT issue.

          • Gordon says:
            11 Apr11 April 11:03

            I thought the seat was only held when you call a CS agent, not online until you have paid for it! Unless that has changed!

          • Rob says:
            11 Apr11 April 11:17

            Not changed. Not yours until you pay.

          • Gordon says:
            11 Apr11 April 11:21

            I thought that was the case, so the comment above, about seats being taken out of the inventory is incorrect!

  • Thegasman says:
    11 Apr11 April 10:14

    Either First has already sold out or it’s a 787-8 for Barbados.

    • e14 says:
      11 Apr11 April 10:18

      Showing as a -10 and they didn’t release the F seats (well it’s not on the press release)

      • john says:
        11 Apr11 April 10:27

        False advertising then if it’s not an “avios only” flight!

        • Rob says:
          11 Apr11 April 10:29

          Plane is a 787-10 says Rhys so it should have F. Will be Club Suite.

          • john says:
            11 Apr11 April 10:38

            You might need to correct the “every cabin” bit now in the articles 🙂

          • john says:
            11 Apr11 April 10:42

            They aren’t selling the F seats for cash either. Maybe they are just holding those until November when they will.

  • WA81741 says:
    11 Apr11 April 10:15

    200,000 Avios and £450 for Business.

  • Trevor says:
    11 Apr11 April 10:34

    I’m getting no availability to Geneva in economy on 15th Feb less than 30 minutes from launch time.

    • Rob says:
      11 Apr11 April 10:40

      Not unreasonable. Small aircraft. Everyone going will have kids as half term, so 3-5 seats per booking.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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