BA (genuinely) improves the ba.com Avios awards search engine

The good people of Flyertalk spotted something yesterday morning – the ba.com reward search engine has been improved.  Genuinely improved!

Before, if you wanted to book a reward flight, it would only show British Airways flights by default.  If the route was served by a oneworld partner airline such as airberlin, Finnair, Qantas, American etc, all you would see is a little box in the corner saying ‘Click here to check partners’.

Now, all the results appear together. 

It is also quicker to find routes flown only by partners.  Search for Berlin to Abu Dhabi, for example, and it brings up the airberlin service immediately.  Previously, you had to go through a page which said ‘Sorry, BA does not fly this route’ (“yes, I already know that!”) before clicking on ‘Partners’.

It is still not ideal.  Aer Lingus routes, for example, are not bookable online.  It would be helpful if you got a message when searching for an Aer Lingus route telling you this, but you don’t.

You also cannot see partner awards if you click on ‘calendar view’, which shows you which days over a month have reward seats.  You only see BA availability this way.

This is still much, MUCH better than most airlines offer, though.  Miles & More, for example, does not let you book partner awards online.  This is, I presume, an attempt to persuade you to book a Luthansa-family airline because you can’t be bothered to ring up and see what else is there.

So, thumbs up to BA for this one.

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (December 2021)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

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

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up, no annual fee and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending ….. Read our full review

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the UK’s most valuable credit card perk – the 2-4-1 companion voucher Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points, such as:

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & two airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel benefits – for a 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, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios:

Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa

The most generous Avios Visa or Mastercard for a limited company Read our full review

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus:

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios 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.

(Want to earn more Avios?  Click here to visit our home page for our latest articles on earning and spending your Avios points and click here to see how to earn more Avios this month from offers and promotions.)