Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Get extra savings in the British Airways sale!

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This article is sponsored by British Airways Holidays

The British Airways sale has just launched and is running until 14th May. For early birds there are additional sale discounts on selected holidays if you book between now and 30th April.

If you had been thinking of making a booking – and remember that the double tier points offer is still running (until 30th June 2025!) – getting in quickly could be worth it.

The additional savings are:

Get extra savings in the BA Holidays Sale!
  • £300 extra discount with a minimum spend of £10,000 per booking (flight + hotel)
  • £200 extra discount with a minimum spend of £5,000 per booking (flight + hotel)
  • £100 extra discount with a minimum spend of £2,500 per booking (flight + hotel or flight + car)
  • £50 extra discount with a minimum spend of £1,250 per booking (flight + hotel or flight + car)
  • £25 extra discount with a minimum spend of £625 per booking (flight + car)

The sale includes both business and economy packages. You can find out more and book here.

Business Class holidays

Here are some examples of sale deals with Club World or Club Europe flights:

  • Malaga – seven nights at the 5* Higueron Hotel Malaga, Curio by Hilton from £1,084pp travelling on selected dates between 1st June and 30th June 2024 inclusive. Includes business class return flights from London Gatwick, accommodation with breakfast, upgrade to a room with sea view if available and free access to the spa. Book by 30th April 2024.
  • Greece – seven nights at the 5* Eagles Palace, Thessaloniki from £1,184pp travelling on selected dates between 1st September and 30th September 2024. Includes business class return flights from London Gatwick and accommodation with breakfast. Book full breakfast and receive a complimentary upgrade to half board on arrival. Book by 30th April 2024.
  • New York – four nights at the 4* Park Central Hotel from £1,749pp travelling on selected dates between 6th January and 6th February 2025. Includes business class return flights from London Heathrow and accommodation. Book by 30th April 2024.
  • Grand Cayman – seven nights at the 4.5* The Westin Grand Cayman Seven Mile Beach Resort from £2,769pp travelling on selected dates between 1st and 30th September 2024. Includes business class return flights from London Heathrow and accommodation. Book by 30th April 2024.

The above all include two checked bags at 32kg per person.

Get extra savings in the BA Holidays Sale!

Economy holidays

Economy holiday deals include:

  • Bangkok – seven nights at the 5* Shangri-La from £1,054pp travelling on selected dates between 1st and 30th November 2024 inclusive. Includes economy return flights from London Gatwick and accommodation with breakfast. Book by 30th April 2024.
  • Kuala-Lumpur – four nights at the 5* Hotel Stripes from £654pp travelling on selected dates between 1st and 30th November 2024. Includes economy return flights from London Heathrow and accommodation with breakfast. Book by 30th April 2024.
  • Marrakech – seven nights at the 5* Nobu Hotel from £1,244pp travelling on selected dates between 1st and 31st July 2024. Includes economy return flights from London Gatwick and accommodation with breakfast. Book by 30th April 2024.
  • Mauritius – seven nights at the 4.5* Preskil Island Resort from £1,369pp. Includes economy return flights from London Gatwick and accommodation with half board. Book by 30th April.

Economy holidays include one checked bag per person at 23kg.

Both the Business and Economy holidays featured above must be booked by 30th April to secure the extra discounts, which are included in the prices quoted above.

You will receive DOUBLE British Airways Executive Club tier points

As we’ve written about before, one of the most attractive benefits for Executive Club members of booking with BA Holidays has been extended until June 2025.

If you book a ‘flight and hotel’ or ‘flight and car’ package for 5+ nights via British Airways Holidays, for travel completed by 30th June 2025, you will receive double tier points on your flights.

This is an exceptional opportunity to earn or retain British Airways Executive Club status. For example, take two Business Class 5+ night breaks to cities earning 80 tier points each way (such as Malta or Athens), and you’d have 640 tier points. This gets you Silver status in Executive Club, getting you benefits such as lounge access and free seat selection when flying BA or a oneworld partner.

(Here’s the maths. Longer European routes earn 80 tier points each way in Club Europe business class – here’s a list compiled by HfP of cities which count. This means 160 tier points return, which is doubled to 320 tier points under this offer. Do two trips and you’d have 640 tier points. The qualifying level for Silver status is 600 tier points.)

Get extra savings in the BA Holidays Sale!

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 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 website here.

We ran this HfP article which covers the small print of the double tier points offer in detail, although the key points are the two listed above.

Why book with BA Holidays?

As well as making a saving on the cost of booking your flight and hotel separately (in some cases, a package may be less than a standalone flight!), there are some other important benefits when you book via BA Holidays:

  • you only need to pay a deposit now with the balance not due until 5-7 weeks before travel – this is a real benefit compared to a ‘flight only’ booking where you need to pay upfront
  • you earn 1 bonus Avios for every £1 spent at BA Holidays – for clarity, this is on top of the usual Avios earned from your flights
  • you earn double Avios (3 per £1) on your payment to BA Holidays if you use a British Airways Premium Plus American Express credit card
  • as we covered above, you can earn double tier points on your flights if you stay for 5+ nights

You can also use Avios now to pay or part-pay at BA Holidays – see our article here. You can part-pay with Avios alongside the extra savings available this weekend.

Remember that BA holiday sale deals must be booked by 30th April to take advantage of the additional discounts.

Comments (42)

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

  • Derek Scott says:

    Whilst the article mentions balances are due 5-7 weeks before departure, my current booking for February next year just wants the balance paid by 4 weeks ahead… even better!

    • yonasl says:

      SH are 4 weeks, LH are 5-7 weeks.

      • Scott says:

        My last long haul, paid in March, was 4 weeks.

        Occasionally, they may allow a weeks grace for gold card holders?

        • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:

          Never heard of a gold grace period of a week

          I got a reminder email on Wednesday giving me until 4pm that day to pay the balance (hadn’t received any earlier one). The balance was actually due the day before.

          BTW that was 4 weeks before travel on ex ARN-ORD trip booked last year.

  • S says:

    Is there an option to use a companion voucher for the flight element if booking flight and hotel together?

    • Alan says:

      No, those are only usable on Avios redemptions, not cash tickets (and BA Holidays only do cash tickets).

    • Jake says:

      Rob, Rhys, Team –

      Is this something you could raise with BA and BA holidays. Even being able to book over the phone a combined avios flight/ hotel / car etc would be great. Isn’t it also a win-win? BA get more of your money and the customer gets a better deal overall than having to book separately?

      Am I missing something – particularly as BA holidays is a growth area for the company?

      • Rob says:

        BA Holidays is where the airline dumps flights it can’t sell at full price for a disguised price. There is also an element of this with the hotel and car. You are not allowed to see the individual component cost at any point. This is what you are missing.

        • Jake says:

          Noted! Thanks.

          Still think BA are missing a trick somehow by not allowing you to use a voucher in some form but that’s just me.

          • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:

            Don’t forget – though it. Isn’t. It be the best value – it’s possible to use avios to discount the price of a BA Holiday.

            Also if you cancel a BA holiday you only get your deposit back if you do it before the balance is due. And that definitely means not getting your avios back and likely the voucher as well.

            So be careful what you wish for.

  • PGR says:

    Is Katie a new writer?

  • Kevin Hart says:

    How come netflights.com are a load cheaper if you go via a Skyscanner search (not direct to Netlights)
    They seem to have BA Promo fares
    I’m looking at saving £1500+ on a business class to LAX with BA

  • Phantomchickenz says:

    Is it just me, or are those discounts a bit on the pathetic side? Anything less than 10% is barely worth them bothering!

    • Blair Waldorf Salad says:

      These discounts barely touch the sides of a glass of Whispering Angel

      • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:

        Those are the extra discounts on top of whatever discount the BA Holiday is also included in the price.

        • Rob says:

          Given current interest rates, even the ability to not pay until 5-7 weeks before travel is worth a 3-4% discount for 2025 trips.

    • JDB says:

      These sales aren’t generally about offering huge discounts which they don’t currently need to offer. It has had the effect of making you look and for some that will be the nudge to book something they were thinking about anyway for fear it will be more expensive after the sale. For others it will encourage them to look for the first time. There is an art to these promotions!

      • Rob says:

        Look at the huge response to the Virgin article yesterday over what is, in reality, a very modest increase in the bonus.

  • Chris W says:

    Did that headline really need an exclamation mark.

  • asp says:

    Rob/team, any news on where the Priority Pass restaurant credit will be at Edinburgh airport? Thanks!

    • Rob says:

      No, it’s weird. Not sure what the delay is because it was mentioned in the initial press release last year and I’ve shared emails with the person implementing it since then. The venue is the one with cow and canine links.

  • EC says:

    If one has booked a holiday with BA already and it is now a lot cheaper, is there any way to claim the difference back?

    • Rob says:

      No, but if you’ve only paid a deposit you can cancel, lose the deposit and rebook.

    • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:

      Though it might just be worth a call to BA Holidays to see what they can do. They can be flexible where flight only can’t be.

      ‘just seen the price of my holiday has gone down … any chance you can change my booking to match that …’

      They can only say no. Plus the change fee might be cheaper than the lost deposit.

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

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