Free champagne on British Airways this Christmas if you sit in 25D

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British Airways has fully embraced the Christmas spirit this year. Not content with giving 2,000 Avios to everyone travelling between 22nd and 27th December, it is also now giving out free champagne.

Everyone sat in seat 25D (geddit?) on a short-haul flight between 22nd and 27th December will be offered a free glass of champagne. The offer will be extended to everyone travelling with the person in 25D.

To guarantee your champagne, you want to be sitting in 25D on the outbound flight from Heathrow or Gatwick. Staff have been given leeway not to offer it on the return flight if the Club Europe champagne supply – from where the champagne will come – is running low.

If you’re really lucky, you will get a ‘From me to you’ card as well, signed by the crew.

There is also an opportunity to get lounge access at Heathrow and Gatwick. One customer per hour, plus travelling companions, seated in 25D will be offered free lounge access. It isn’t clear how this will be arranged, especially if you are not checking in any luggage at a desk. However, your odds of getting this if you are sitting in 25D are pretty good, especially at Gatwick which has fewer short-haul departures.

Is it worth moving down to 25D for a free glass of champagne? Potentially yes. However, pick your aircraft:

The A319-100 does not even have a 25D, only a 25ABC, as it is the last row. If you are on one of these, forget about it.

On an A320-200 there are 28 rows, so you are close to the loos but not right at them. The queue probably won’t snake back to your seat. Probably OK.

An A321-200 is your best bet, as with 35 rows you are nowhere near the back.

I don’t think the offer is running out of London City. Even if it was, the Embraer 170 fleet does not have a row 25. The newer Embraer 190 fleet does, but it is the very last row and you are next to the loo. Give it a miss.

You can check out all of BA’s short-haul seat maps on this page of ba.com.

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.

john says:

20 Dec20 December 18:37

It IS correct I wouldn’t be whinging if another airline did this but another airline wouldn’t fail to deliver even LCC service whilst charging a premium price AND would offer some form of backup / service recovery when things go wrong.
Of course with a pitch of 29″ there’s hardly room to gulp down anything and on the basis of experience the lucky customer will receive their complimentary glass about an hour before they’re able to order any food / drink… wonder what reaction would be if OJ or another alternative was requested or they try to order food at the same time.
Stinks of low cost marketing and think BloominAwful should sort out basics of service delivery before engaging in such gimmicks.
Chris says:

20 Dec20 December 21:23

This is truly odd and cheap. Many in 25D will have caught-on in advance. Everyone around feeling discriminated and having missed out. Hassle and awkwardness for the crew. Is this really all the new customer experience director is allowed to spend on a promotion?
- the real harry1 says:
  
  20 Dec20 December 21:26
  
  yes he only has £1.25 budget per flight, sad but true
  - Chris says:
    
    20 Dec20 December 21:39
    
    and too think that the whole cabin (100+) could have enjoyed a free alcoholic beverage without this fanfare! The promotion in those days would have been Santa Claus trekking down the aisle to present a jeroboam! Now that is worth some PR.
- Potato says:
  
  21 Dec21 December 02:11
  
  It is a great way to get that sweet seat reservation money. What is the going rate for 25D on short-haul? 10£/€? The bottle comes out of the CE stock. In other words a poor sob on the flight back to London won’t be able to drink as much. Conclusion: You milk an additional 10£ out of a passenger (provided status pax don’t take the seat first) but have 0£ more cost.
Nick says:

21 Dec21 December 20:00

Having just bagged the first class lounge access for 25D (Premium Economy on our plane), it was a nice unexpected prelude to a 30 hour trip to New Zealand.

It’s called a competition. People complaining may as well be complaining that they didn’t win the lottery when they bought a ticket.
- Rob says:
  
  21 Dec21 December 23:26
  
  You got Galleries First? Well done.
  - the real harry1 says:
    
    22 Dec22 December 07:29
    
    seeing as most people won’t ever hear about this promotion (he says, not knowing if one of the papers has picked up on it) – another HFP exclusive comes good! 🙂
Frenske says:

22 Dec22 December 10:54

Thanks for the info. Sitting in First Galleries sipping champagne.
- Rob says:
  
  22 Dec22 December 11:07
  
  Another one! That makes you the 3rd HFP reader so far to win the lounge access – possibly more, if they didn’t tell us.
Dominic says:

23 Dec23 December 11:19

Thanks for the tip Rob Allocated my seat to 25D but couldn’t get boarding pass even from self service kiosk for short flight from LHR to Dublin and when it was issued at the desk It read Pls invite to First WIng which was fabulous, so much better than the usual overcrowded galleries lounges Bubbles on tap – just help yourself and amazing selection of spirits – who knew there was a Pogues whiskey < yes by Shane McGowan) Fresh cooked to order breakfast was amazing Thank you again and Merry Christmas. PS sadly the champers on the flight came a little late so I took it off with me !!!
Gary says:

24 Dec24 December 12:12

Just been upgraded to First Lounge access on my return flight to Aberdeen, already being a Silver cardholder, having changed to sit in 25D. Odd the app didn’t let me check in and on heading to Club check in desks it elicited a number of phone calls and mentioning of “I’ve a 25D”. Nice touch and champagne always tastes better when it’s unexpected!
- the real harry1 says:
  
  24 Dec24 December 15:19
  
  nice one
absoluy says:

26 Dec26 December 15:34

Sat in 25D on LHR to DUB on 24/12, my boarding pass did show an invite to the first wing (which I had already as OWE – I only realised this was tied into a promotion when I went on FlyerTalk to figure out why it had this new text on my BP) but no champagne offered on the flight. It’s probably a good thing they’re not publicizing this promotion given how inconsistently it seems to be applied!
- the real harry1 says:
  
  26 Dec26 December 16:05
  
  for non-status, invite to first lounge is – like – 25x or 50x better than getting a glass of Champers at your seat stuck near the loos & queues 🙂