Bits: BA long-haul cancellations for 2018, 13200 Avios with an Economist subscription

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News in brief:

British Airways long-haul cancellations for 2018

Earlier this week we covered the new British Airways long-haul services from London Gatwick to Toronto and Las Vegas. These flights are currently wide-open for Avios redemptions if you want to book.

I was wondering where the aircraft were coming from, and now we have a partial answer. BA has announced the following cancellations for next Summer. You may already be booked on one of these services – if so, give BA a call now. Don’t wait for them to contact you because the best rebooking options may already be gone.

Oakland (from Gatwick) – Tuesday flight cancelled from 27th March

Orlando (from Gatwick) – Friday flight BA2039 cancelled from 4th May

Kingston (from Gatwick) – Sunday flight cancelled from 6th May

Las Vegas (from Heathrow) – Friday flight BA271 cancelled from 6th April

13,200 Avios for an Economist subscription

Iberia Plus and The Economist have brought back their special offer for taking out a subscription.

As you can see at this link, you can earn 13,200 Avios in Iberia Plus if you take out a 1-year digital and print subscription to The Economist. The cost is £179. This works out at 1.35p per Avios.

Alternatively, you can earn 10,200 Avios with a £145 print-only or digital-only subscription. This works out at 1.4p per point.

This offer is particularly attractive if you are self-employed or run a company. Whilst I am not a tax expert and you should obviously take your own advice if necessary, it would be hard to argue that The Economist magazine is not an acceptable tax-deductible purchase for most business people.

The price charged seems to be in line with the price charged via other channels so you are not over-paying.

You will need an Iberia Plus account to take part. Once the Avios points arrive – and as long as your Iberia account is over 90 days old – you can convert them to British Airways or avios.com via the ‘Combine my Avios’ function online.

The Economist changed the rules of this promotion two years ago after a large number of people took out a subscription and then cancelled it for a partial refund a few weeks later. Your subscription is now non-refundable. However, £179 for 13,200 Avios plus a full year of The Economist in print and online is certainly not a bad deal.

If you have any friends in the United States who may enjoy The Economist in print (you could access the digital version yourself), there is still a deal to be had. The cost is $190 (£142) for 13,200 Avios.

Note also that the DIGITAL ONLY version for US residents is $152 (£117) and you get 10,200 Avios for yourself.

Some people have had trouble getting their Avios to post from this offer in the past, so take screenshots and be prepared to send a few grumpy emails back and forth.

The offer runs until 31st October 2017.

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, Iberia and Iberia Plus

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

Cassandra says:

2 Sep2 September 06:42

Sadly, the US $ price you quote is more than double the readily available price online for paper&website.
AndyR says:

2 Sep2 September 07:37

What happens if your flight is an Avios redemption? Can u only be booked on to another flight if there is availability?
- avidsaver says:
  
  2 Sep2 September 08:11
  
  From my experience earlier this year “availability” is not a consideration. I had a redemption CW to Vegas flight cancelled. BA had re-booked us on to a later flight which did not fit in with our plans. I called and asked to be moved to a flight a day earlier with no problem.
  - AndyR says:
    
    2 Sep2 September 08:25
    
    Thanks for your reply, helps to know for when we call.
- Rob says:
  
  2 Sep2 September 10:16
  
  No, they put you wherever you want.
- HRflyer says:
  
  3 Sep3 September 21:41
  
  I was called by BA, no issues to move me to another flight and was given options, avios redemption and companion vouchers x2 in club.. kudos to BA for calling me and sorting this out,
HP says:

2 Sep2 September 08:16

Having had to send about 10 threatening emails and had to wait until today to receive my Economist avios from April I have to warn folk that it is not a particularly easy ride!

Are the flight cancellations above, the final flights or the actual ones cancelled? e.g. I am currently booked on the Vegas to Heathrow on Friday 6th April which leaves at 9.30pm. So I will either be on the last return or not have a plane turning up! Do you know which before I call?
- avidsaver says:
  
  2 Sep2 September 08:19
  
  Its the earlier one. My friends were on the earlier one in May and have now been moved to the 9.30pm. So you’re safe!
  - HP says:
    
    2 Sep2 September 08:25
    
    Great – thanks!
- AndyR says:
  
  2 Sep2 September 08:31
  
  Were there 2 flights per day on a Friday to LAS? There is no 21:30pm flight for sale anymore?
  - HP says:
    
    2 Sep2 September 08:36
    
    There were definitely 2 flights on the return from Vegas where there used to be a 17:10 and a 21:30.
    - AndyR says:
      
      2 Sep2 September 08:40
      
      Ah ok cool. So I guess 2 in other direction and 1 has been cancelled leaving 1 still running.
      
      It would help if the flight numbers had been listed in the article.
      - Rob says:
        
        2 Sep2 September 10:15
        
        Forgot their were 2 to Vegas. I did list Orlando where I knew there were two.
    - HP says:
      
      2 Sep2 September 08:42
      
      Looks like it is the BA0270 / 0271 flights to Vegas that are cancelled…
a270 says:

2 Sep2 September 08:27

OT: Do Alan Boswell accept American Express? Can’t see the info clearly on their website. Will still be going for the cheapest quote but out of those would be favouring one who accepts Amex as need to hit my Platinum spend target soon.
- HP says:
  
  2 Sep2 September 08:49
  
  They don’t take Amex.
  - a270 says:
    
    2 Sep2 September 10:13
    
    Thanks for replying
  - Polly says:
    
    2 Sep2 September 15:36
    
    Do you know if they will issue a PayPal invoice. My garage did that for me recently for parts. It worked really,well. I have street on,ask,everyone if they will issue one to me.. worth try. I am trying Boswell in a couple of weeks so,will ask.
William Avery says:

2 Sep2 September 09:10

Fantastic re. Economist deal. They keep on sending me reminders but just need to wait for the start of September clearly.
Ian says:

2 Sep2 September 09:14

How much do you think we could get back as self employed?
- mark2 says:
  
  2 Sep2 September 10:08
  
  It will reduce your taxable profit, so the amount paid at your marginal tax rate.
- Rob says:
  
  2 Sep2 September 10:14
  
  100% cost deduction – although, admittedly, if you’re a plumber it may be less justifiable than, say, an IT contractor.
  - Ian says:
    
    2 Sep2 September 15:09
    
    Thanks. It will be justifiable in my business. Just trying to see if it is worth it to splash 179 for those avios 🙂
  - John says:
    
    2 Sep2 September 19:40
    
    Curious – do HfP have many readers who are plumbers?
    - the real harry1 says:
      
      2 Sep2 September 19:46
      
      Don’t ask me where the the stopcock is 🙂
      - the real harry1 says:
        
        2 Sep2 September 19:51
        
        I believe Genghis does a bit of plumbing – the depths of 20 Amex cards a year
      - Gavin says:
        
        2 Sep2 September 20:00
        
        Mike drop…
      - the real harry1 says:
        
        2 Sep2 September 20:08
        
        well he knows there’s nothing personal involved lol 🙂
        
        shame to screw it up for the other 30,000 of us, though
    - Alan says:
      
      3 Sep3 September 01:35
      
      Probably would be higher income than many of us!
      - AlexT says:
        
        3 Sep3 September 08:57
        
        Moonstruck-style 🙂
    - RussellH says:
      
      3 Sep3 September 21:14
      
      I did quite a bit of my own plumbing when much younger, poorer and more flexible. I am talking about last century, and well before the first launch of paprer Airmiles…
Stephan says:

2 Sep2 September 10:07

OT if you are close to your 241 companion voucher and see some reward flights with low availability is it worth buying a fully refundable ticket to hit the target and get your 241? And then get the refund once you’ve actually breached the threshold.
- Rob says:
  
  2 Sep2 September 10:12
  
  Yes, works fine
  - Stephan says:
    
    3 Sep3 September 11:06
    
    Cool thanks. Will book a flexible BA ticket.
- Alan says:
  
  2 Sep2 September 10:20
  
  You could do this, but I’d only refund it once you’d had a chance to make more spend that would keep you over the limit.
mark2 says:

2 Sep2 September 10:10

Great to get the Avios again. I have subscribed to Economist for about 20 years despite their increasingly left tilt.
- Barras says:
  
  2 Sep2 September 10:17
  
  Very true, I always used to like the Economist for being one of the more objective, apolitical takes on world goings on. They certainly seem to have decided the new online ‘Independent’ have the right trajectory in mind and are following suit from the ‘logical’ centre to an increasingly overt leftist ideal…. I don’t have a problem with that intrinsically but at least be up front about it with your potential readers rather than claiming impartiality!
  - the real harry1 says:
    
    2 Sep2 September 18:24
    
    yep they p’d me off as well – i was a loyal economist subscriber for 15 yrs or so, got fed up with the thin European edn so took a holiday
    
    got a few 12 for £1 deals and realised I was only reading half the copy, scanning then junking the rest
    
    The Economist needs a new editorial team
    - Genghis says:
      
      2 Sep2 September 21:51
      
      I used to be on almost constant 12 for £1 subs. Not bad, £4 for the year. Now it’s 12 for £12 which I’m currently on which isn’t too bad. An economist sub should therefore be valued perhaps at £52 so the avios here cost 0.96p ea.