Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Avios sale – £1 Reward Flight Saver routes launch and are bookable now

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Today sees the launch of one of the most interesting parts of the 2014 Avios ‘sale’!

(Don’t forget, though, that until noon today – Monday – the previous offer is still running.  Until 12pm, you can still book a hotel in Vienna, Dubrovnik, Prague, Copenhagen, Berlin, Budapest, Istanbul and The Algarve for 50% off!  The 50% discount applies whether you pay by Avios or by cash, and you can stay up to 30th September.  Full details are in this article.)

These flights are already bookable – at least for some routes – as at 8am on Monday!  Until noon on Wednesday, the taxes on Reward Flight Saver tickets will be dropped from £35 to just £1.

sale2

The following routes are included:

Amsterdam

Barcelona

Dublin

Jersey

Lisbon

Madrid

Nice

Rome

You will need to fly between 31 January and 31 May.

Only economy seats are available.

One way flights are available for 4,500 Avios plus 50p.

It works OK with UK connections as well, so a one-way Manchester-Heathrow-Amsterdam is still just 4,500 Avios plus 50p.

Remember that avios.com has greater reward availability than ba.com for economy short-haul flights.  (I think avios.com can access G availability, if these things mean anything to you!)  You should therefore look via avios.com and not ba.com, and use ‘Combine My Avios’ to move your points across.

ba.com should only be used for open-jaws (if allowed) or stopovers (if allowed in London on regional departures) which avios.com cannot handle.  The only exception to this is for BA Executive Club Gold card holders, who get additional economy seats made available to them and will therefore be better off looking at ba.com.

Remember, though, that you can only book Reward Flight Saver tickets on avios.com if you have ‘earned’ an Avios point in that scheme in the last 12 months.

There is little point opening an avios.com account today (with the intent to make a transfer of Avios from ba.com) because you will not be able to book Reward Flight Saver tickets. Unless, that is, you spend £31 to buy 1,000 Avios in avios.com to activate the account – although this may make sense if you want to make a number of bookings and can see availability at avios.com which is not at ba.com.

The avios.com flight booking page is here.

If you need to cancel, the standard £25 fee should not apply as long as you cancel online.  You will only lose your £1.  All your Avios points will be returned.


How to earn Avios points from UK credit cards

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 BA Amex American Express card

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 BA Premium Plus American Express Amex credit card

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:

Nectar American Express

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

American Express Platinum card Amex

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 card

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.)

Comments (173)

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

  • Mark says:

    Hi raffles, is Rome no longer on the list?

  • BERbound says:

    I wonder if it is going to be possible to use Jersey as your starting point to Gatwick and then fly somewhere else in Band 1 thats not in the destination list for 4500 avios and £1? Certainly just now it lets you buy a ticket for JER-LGW-AMS for 4500 avios and £17.50….

    • squills says:

      I’m casually watching to see if our destination is glitchily included as well (not in the current list) but not remotely hopeful 😉

    • BERbound says:

      Just checked :

      Short answer , No – but you can certainly buy a JER-LGW (then a unlimited stopover , well up untill the 31st May) and then a LGW-AMS for 4500 avios and 50p total , this way you could have a weekend in jersey then a month or two later a weekend in Amsterdam , or anywhere else included in the sale ). Bear in mind you would have to pay for a positioning flight to or from Jersey.

  • Sid says:

    Raffles – any idea if I can call BA to reprice a previously booked ticket?

  • BERbound says:

    Sale now live on the BA website

  • Howard says:

    Will there be a separate link for this booking? or do we go through normal booking routine on BA site to get the £1 routes?

    Thanks

  • Paul says:

    Is it possible to book via the Avios site for friends/family like you can via BAEC? ie for people not in your household account that you have added to your BAEC list of friends and family? Been planning an anniversary surprise to Rome for my parents and flights I want are currently available via BAEC but wanted the fall back of Avios.com if the BAEC ones go.

    • Paul says:

      Oh dear, just booked it and only when it got to the ‘congrats you’ve booked page’, did I notice Ive intelligently selected LHR one way and back in to LGW….. What a numpty…

  • Howard says:

    just tried to destinations for April and its at the normal £35

  • Howard says:

    I mean two destinations.

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.