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British Airways offers free rebooking if you are flying on Saturday or Sunday

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Following the power outage at Heathrow today, British Airways is keen to free up capacity this weekend by offering free rebooking.

If you were due to fly this weekend but would be interested in moving to a different date, you can.

The rules are on ba.com here. Please check this page before contacting BA as the guidelines are constantly changing.

British Airways rebooking due to Heathrow fire

In summary:

  • you must be due to travel on Saturday or Sunday
  • your flight must still be shown as operating
  • you can move to any BA flight in the next 14 days, with no restrictions
  • you can move to a BA flight more than 14 days away if the same ticket sub-class is still available for sale – if, for example, you bought a heavily discounted economy ticket you cannot move it to a flight where only fully flexible seats remain
  • you can swap between airports in the same city (eg Heathrow to London City) but you cannot change your departure or arrival city

Note that you cannot ask for a refund if you are flying on Saturday or Sunday – you can only move your travel date.


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

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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.

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

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Capital on Tap Pro Visa

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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.

Comments (18)

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

  • BAC says:

    Intersting to see how the ORC would work with BA Holidays if one rebooks for after 1 April

  • Alan Wheeler says:

    Well I’m in Toulouse and due back on Sunday. I am hoping it still flies. This really only helps those departing who may be able to change.

  • Simon says:

    I’m on 430 tier points and my cancelled flight today was due to get me above 600 for silver. My rebooking options will push me into April. Is BA still offering the discretionary 14 day grace period?
    Whats the best way to work this out?

    • memesweeper says:

      14 day grace was never a written guarantee, but I can’t see why BA would drop it now, especially given your circumstances.

  • Maples says:

    iS tHiS a SiGN oF a dEVaLuATioN???¿¿¿

  • Dc says:

    Yeah but u have to contact them so good luck with getting through!

    • VinZ says:

      Just spoken to them about another change and got through within 5 minutes. Gold line.

  • CaptainPtk says:

    Why on earth wouldn’t work to do it online … trying to get hold on someone over the phone is probably mission impossible.

  • Lady London says:

    “you cannot ask for a refund if you are flying on Saturday or Sunday – you can only move your travel date” Note this is under a variation offered by British Airways to their contract terms and conditions.

    If BA cancels your flight that you’d booked however, on Saturday or Sunday or any other day, your statutory rights kick in and one of the choices you have is to have a refund (this overrides BA’s contract conditions and applies even on a ticket sold as unrefundable). Not that asking for a refund is necessarily the best choice if BA cancels your flight as you will also have the choice to be rerouted either at similar time or a later date of your choice which can be beyond the 14 day restriction BA puts in its contract-leve offer (ypur statutory rights thst kick in when BA cancels a flight for any reason outrank BA’s terms).

    For newbies note that the Heathrow chaos is not the fault of BA so you don’t get any compensation just rights to reroute or refund and duty of care if their chosen rerouting forces extra time en route requiring meals or overnight accomodation extra.

  • AJA says:

    British Airways has been given clearance for eight long-haul flights to depart Heathrow Airport today from 7pm, the airline said in a statement.

    The airport is now “urgently contacting customers to let them know so they can make their way to the airport from 5pm”.

    The only customers who should make their way to Heathrow Airport are those booked onto the following flights:

    BA055 to Johannesburg
    BA057 to Johannesburg
    BA011 to Singapore
    BA259 to Riyadh
    BA045 to Cape Town
    BA059 to Cape Town
    BA015 to Sydney via Singapore
    BA249 to Buenos Aires via Rio de Janeiro

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

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