Book TODAY for Good Friday 2016 Avios flight redemptions

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The experienced Avios collector will already have today marked in their diary. For the rest of you, you should know that today is 355 days until Good Friday 2016 (Friday 25th March).

Why is this important? Because, at midnight last night, British Airways made Avios redemption seats for Good Friday 2016 available.

If you want to lock in an Easter break for next year – and pay the current, cheaper Avios rates – you should book ASAP.

Don’t make any rash decisions. It will cost you £35 per person if you later choose to cancel your flights so booking something completely at random could prove expensive.

You can only book your outbound Good Friday flight today. You would need to book your return flight later when it becomes available. This incurs added risk, of course, since if you cannot book the return flight for some reason (perhaps someone beats you to the seats) you may have to cancel the outbound and pay the cancellation fee.

If you want to use a British Airways Premium Plus American Express 2-4-1 voucher, that is not a problem. You can book a one-way outbound and then ring BA to add the inbound when it becomes available. You will be charged the £35 per person change fee (and possibly a telephone booking fee) but the alternative is to risk losing the outbound seats.

Have a wander over to ba.com and see what you can find.

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:

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.)

Category

British Airways and Avios

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

Andrew says:

6 Apr6 April 11:39

Yes I had thought the same – Raffles I thought that the advice here was to book a same day return, and then change this when availability for correct dates opens….. Is the advice now to book 1 way and then call up?
- Rob says:
  
  6 Apr6 April 13:27
  
  The call centre is now switched on as to how to turn a one-way 241 into a return so it doesn’t seem to matter.
  - Liz says:
    
    6 Apr6 April 16:13
    
    Does this method apply when phoning Avios to use the Lloyds upgrade voucher – I want to book in Sept for Sept 2016. If I book the outbound flight using the upgrade voucher will Avios adjust the taxes etc if I phone back 3 weeks later to book a return flight?
  - Andrew says:
    
    6 Apr6 April 18:19
    
    Great, thanks
  - Melvin says:
    
    7 Apr7 April 14:06
    
    OK I’m confused.
    
    Can I make a one way (outbound) redemption via ba.com on the day the flight is available and then make another one way (inbound) redemption via ba.com a week or so later or can this only be performed by calling the service centre?
    - Rob says:
      
      7 Apr7 April 16:42
      
      You can obviously book 2 one ways and keep them separate, unless it is a 241. However, BA often charges more in surcharges on 2 x one way than for a return do it may be cheaper to merge into one ticket.
- vonnie says:
  
  6 Apr6 April 18:52
  
  Do i have enough time to hit the 10k limit and get my 2-4-1 before deadline day? How long does it take to get the voucher?
  - Rob says:
    
    6 Apr6 April 19:23
    
    Usually 48-72 hours after the transaction clears with Amex. This means, effectively, 7 days from the day you make the purchase, given that it takes 3-4 days for the transaction to appear on your Amex account.
    - vonnie says:
      
      8 Apr8 April 08:25
      
      Thanks Rob,should just have enough time! Now to find a place to go…
What to Do Before 2 Devaluations, Where You Want a Selfie, and Deals to Leverage - View from the Wing says:

6 Apr6 April 15:05

[…] for Points reminds you to book now if using British Airways Avios for long haul premium cabin awards in advance of the April 28 […]
Jason says:

6 Apr6 April 15:35

OT, does anyone know if flying to Dubai via Doha, whether you have to collect your bags at Doha ( staying overnight at the airport hotel) whilst in transit or will the bags be checked through to Dubai?
kevino says:

6 Apr6 April 17:36

The point about adding a return later on 241 had never occurred to me

Doing it that way, does the return have to be the same route, or could I book LHR to DFW, and then return to LHR from ATL say?
- Rob says:
  
  6 Apr6 April 19:24
  
  The open jaw rule is this: if you want to fly A-B and C-A, the distance between B-C must be shorter than A-B or C-A. Apart from that, anything goes.
- Jimmy says:
  
  6 Apr6 April 20:07
  
  You can fly back from a different airport.
  
  Quoting from https://headforpoints.com/2014/03/14/british-airways-avios-open-jaw-redemption-bookings/
  
  Since 2011, the open jaw rules have been relaxed. This is how it works. The geographic distance between your original landing airport and your new departure airport must be SHORTER than either of the two flights.
opal says:

7 Apr7 April 10:00

slightly OT: Is anyone able to book (or at least look up) a redemption flight on Iberia? I’ve been trying for a week now and no luck at all…
Marc says:

7 Apr7 April 13:10

OT. I have a 2-4-1 voucher that expires 28th September 2015, however I want to use it on 4th October 2015. Am i able to book outbound flights from Manchester on the 28th September & then have a ‘stopover’ in London for a week until the date that I actually want to fly?
- Rob says:
  
  7 Apr7 April 13:15
  
  Not any more, this was stopped around 2010
Anthony says:

7 Apr7 April 15:03

I don’t think this is covered above in the comments (apologies if so!). I have booked the outward leg of my BA/Amex 2-4-1 voucher to get the Good Friday departure next year. The return leg is planned for April 2016 and so the return dates will not come up on the BA system until May (after the new Avios rules come into play). Should I be booking any return leg before those rules come into force (and maybe get charged the fee) and then change them again (incurring another fee) to preserve the lower Avios miles needed? Or can I just book the return leg in the new Avios system and keep the old miles needed? Hope that makes sense!
- Rob says:
  
  7 Apr7 April 16:40
  
  Good question. The return will definitely be priced at new rate. I would book before the 28th and move the date, assuming £70 of fee is cheaper than the extra Avios.
Waribai says:

7 Apr7 April 20:57

Just a quick one. I know the 241 rules state that journeys must start in the UK but I distinctly remember using one last year online for my wife and child on a one way from TYO-LHR. Was the software awry at the time?
- Polly says:
  
  8 Apr8 April 00:03
  
  That’s interesting, we all presume it must start in the UK on a BA metal. I wanted to use ours starting in dub for HNL but didn’t think it would work.