Free First Class upgrade on Heathrow Express for BA Executive Club members

British Airways and Heathrow Express have joined up to offer a FREE upgrade to First Class if you book a Heathrow Express ticket before August 31st.  You can travel at any time until the end of November.

This offer is ONLY available if you book via the dedicated Heathrow Express / British Airways website.  The good news is that you will also receive a handful of Avios points with your purchase.

The discount only shows if you click through from ba.com (Heathrow Express does this quite often these days with special offers).  You need to visit this page on ba.com and then click the link to go to the Heathrow Express site.

The (minor) downside is that the upgrade is not genuinely free.  You can currently save 12% on a Heathrow Express ticket by using the special Mastercard offer I outlined here.

This means that the upgrade is costing you the 12% differential in ticket price between the BA site and the Mastercard site, albeit this is offset by the 100 Avios earned.

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.)