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

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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

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The Platinum Card from American Express

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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:

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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:

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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.

AH says:

20 Dec20 December 08:09

…. I would not be surprised if 25D is an extra leg room/exit seat that requires a substantial payment to book!
- the real harry1 says:
  
  20 Dec20 December 08:16
  
  heh heh don’t think so
  
  it’d take more than a glass of champagne for me to sit that near the toilets 🙂
  
  imagine what the queue is going to be when BA cut the number of economy loos to 1 – coming soon in Europe
  - the real harry1 says:
    
    20 Dec20 December 18:31
    
    OK here’s the strategy – already used this (instructions to kids) so I know it works
    
    you get seats up by 7, 8, 9, 10 etc
    
    you take off, wait a few minutes, the seatbelt sign goes off – action stations, time to hit the CE loos before they put up the curtains
    
    any objections from the trolley dollies (it won’t happen if you’re quick enough), just say ‘I’m bursting’ or speak a foreigh language ‘ooh la la je ne comprends pas!’ – and grab that CE loo, lock the door, do your stuff 🙂
- John says:
  
  20 Dec20 December 09:33
  
  It is on the A380 isn’t it?
  - Alex W says:
    
    20 Dec20 December 18:22
    
    Free champers is on short haul only, A380 is long haul.
Flyingscots says:

20 Dec20 December 08:11

Aaah. 25th December! Took a minute. Nice gesture BA.
shd says:

20 Dec20 December 08:13

Re: the 2000 “Christmas” Avios, I booked on the 15 Dec for travel on the 24 Dec, no Avios yet.

Any idea when the next sweep will be done?
- Nick says:
  
  20 Dec20 December 08:33
  
  Should be the 20th according to the T&C, but give it a couple of days to hit your account. The first was only for bookings made before the 13th.
- Richard says:
  
  20 Dec20 December 08:36
  
  Same here. Flying on the 21st and no points 🙁
  - Richard says:
    
    20 Dec20 December 08:38
    
    Oops should have read it was from 22nd!
  - Jordan D says:
    
    20 Dec20 December 08:56
    
    The worst is if your flight is from 21st into 22nd … still nothing for you!
Sandra says:

20 Dec20 December 08:45

Sat?
- Prins Polo says:
  
  20 Dec20 December 08:57
  
  +1
  - the real harry1 says:
    
    20 Dec20 December 11:34
    
    isn’t that unconventional/ grim North grammar? 🙂
    - Genghis says:
      
      20 Dec20 December 11:54
      
      wae’aye man
Sussex Bantam says:

20 Dec20 December 08:51

I’m sorry – I try to stay away from the anti-BA rants on here – but one free glass of champagne per flight hardly qualifies as “getting into the Christmas spirit” and isn’t worthy of a whole HfP article !
- Andrew says:
  
  20 Dec20 December 09:42
  
  It’s a bit of fun.
  
  But, even if I end up on seat 25D on my domestic Northbound trip this Christmas, I will pass as I will be picking up a hire car at Edinburgh.
  
  The Scottish drink-drive breathalyser limit is 22mg, means that an average bloke could be limited to just under a pint of beer or a large glass of wine, and average lassie to half a pint of beer or a small glass of wine. My licence is more important to me than some fizzy wine.
ankomonkey says:

20 Dec20 December 09:40

Just moved myself to 25D for a flight on 27/12. Why not?!
- ankomonkey says:
  
  20 Dec20 December 09:42
  
  Also convenient to be near the toilet as my 6 year old son always makes good use of them.
- Judy says:
  
  20 Dec20 December 09:42
  
  Let us know if you get a glass or not. Enjoy.
Nick M says:

20 Dec20 December 10:06

Saw that last night and checked a random date… 95k/night for up to 2 adults/2 children. If I clear out my MR and pool them with my HH I’ll nearly have enough for 4 nights… Can anyone lend me another 380k to make it a 10 night stay?
- TripRep says:
  
  20 Dec20 December 12:34
  
  4 nights or 5 nights for the price of 4?
  
  See if you can work an arbitrage with Rob, he must have the potential to be a HH millionaire! 😀
  - Rob says:
    
    20 Dec20 December 13:10
    
    My balance is 37k at the moment! Seems too risky to do a big Amex transfer – who wants to be stuck with 750k Hilton? (Says a man with 750k IHG across the family and over 750k Marriott ….)
Carl says:

20 Dec20 December 10:07

Knowing BA’s service this will presumably result in my wife and I getting no champagne on our Club Europe flight back home for Christmas.