New British Airways Club World (£1,500) and First sale – travel until September 2016

British Airways launched its Autumn premium cabin sale yesterday. Flights are bookable until 12th November.

What is interesting about the sale is that you can book until September 2016 on many routes – a substantially larger window than usual.  The absolute latest date is 15th October 2016 for Tampa, Orlando and Lima.

It is important to note that there are black-out days on many routes – see the terms and conditions on the offer page.  These are generally based on specific days of the week being blocked off rather than continual periods of time.

Full sale details can be found on ba.com here.

The key question, of course, is “are the prices any good?”.

In some cases, the answer is definitely “yes”.

It isn’t often you find Club World fares at £1,500 from London, but this price is available for:

• Boston
• Calgary
• Chicago
• Miami
• Montreal
• New York
• Philadelphia (£1,353)
• Toronto
• Vancouver
• Washington
• Cancun
• Kingston (£1,291)
• Punta Cana (£1,290)
• San Jose Costa Rica
• Abu Dhabi
• Amman (£1,320)
• Bahrain
• Beirut (£1,229)
• Cairo (£1,351)
• Dubai
• Lagos
• Tel Aviv (£1,125 – but First is better value at £1,187)
• Bangalore
• Chennai
• Mumbai
• New Delhi

Other routes are also available – albeit for more than £1,500 – with South Africa being the major destination to be excluded completely.  First Class is generally available for an additional £1,000 return.

Before you book, you should try two additional things which may make your trip even cheaper:

Price the same route starting in Dublin.  It will occasionally be cheaper, although you need to factor in the cost of getting to Dublin and back.  Shanghai, for example, is just €1,200 (£866) over Christmas and New Year.

Try using the ‘flight and hotel’ or ‘flight and car’ option on ba.com.  If you don’t need a hotel, only get a quote for a hotel or car for one night and pick the cheapest one possible.  Due to the way BA prices these products, it can work out cheaper than just booking a flight.  You are under no obligation to pick up the car or stay in the hotel – your return flight won’t be cancelled!

One other benefit of booking a ‘flight and hotel’ or ‘flight and car’ package is that you don’t need to pay for your trip now.  You can pay a small deposit, from £150, and settle the balance nearer to your travel date.

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.)