Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

British Airways Europe flash sale – one way flights from £23

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British Airways has launched a short flash sale on many of its European routes.  The headline prices are as low as you will ever see, with headline fares from £23 each way.

You don’t have long:

The Heathrow sale is now over – you had to book by midnight on Sunday for travel by 18th March

Gatwick is stilll on – Gatwick departures must be booked by midnight on Tuesday for travel by 18th March

BA Holidays packages must be booked by midnight on Tuesday

British Airways European flash sale

From Gatwick, ba.com states that:

Destinations included in the sale are Malaga, Alicante, Barcelona, Naples, Salzburg, Tenerife, Verona, Venice, Rome, Genoa, Bari, Pisa, Valencia, Glasgow, Bordeaux, Nice, Cagliari, Catania, Malta, Turin, Paphos, Dubrovnik, Faro, Funchal, Lanzarote, Palma, Mahon and Gibraltar.

The Low Fare Finder tool (click here) is your best friend, as usual.  This shows the lowest prices that BA is offering on every route over the next year.

Despite the cheapness of these fares you will still receive at least 125 Avios and 5 tier points each way.

I can see (and these are just the sub-£30 routes):

  • Alicante £25
  • Barcelona £23
  • Basel £29
  • Bilbao £29
  • Bordeaux £28
  • Inverness £28
  • Luxembourg £22
  • Malaga £25
  • Malta £28
  • Naples £24
  • Palma £27
  • Pisa £29
  • Salzburg £28
  • Tallinn £26
  • Valencia £28
  • Verona £23

Before booking, check out BA Holidays here – click on ‘City Breaks’ – and see if that offers an even better deal when you add a hotel or car.

To maximise your miles when paying, your best bet is the British Airways American Express Premium Plus card which earns double Avios (3 per £1) when you book at ba.com or via BA Holidays.  You do not get double Avios if you book with the free British Airways American Express card.  Another option is American Express Preferred Rewards Gold which offers double points – 2 per £1 – when you book flight tickets directly with an airline.


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:

Nectar American Express

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

American Express Platinum card Amex

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 card

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.)

Comments (70)

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

  • Jody says:

    O/T. We have a reward night booking (Hilton credit card free night deal) at the Waldorf Astoria in Rome. Is there any benefit in me trying to get a status match with Hilton (I’m currently Platinum Elite with IHG)?

    • Mr(s) Entitled says:

      Free breakfast now for Gold and above.

      Exec lounge access if you are Diamond irrespective of the room booked.

      I am there in April. Looking forward to it.

      • Elaine says:

        No access to the Imperial lounge in the WA in Rome even as a Diamond unless you pay for an upgrade. Specifically excluded in the T&Cs. You might get lucky but they don’t have to give access there.

    • Leo says:

      Achieving 4 stays (Gold) in 90 days for one breakfast seems like hard work in my book – okay if already have those stays booked obviously. 8 stays needed for Diamond. However you do get status for those 90 days, not clear if Hilton matching IHG Platinum to HH Gold or Diamond these days – whether you keep it depends on the amount of stays so could be worth it. Also not sure if you can go for a status match again in the future after having done it before – am yet to try; there might be a more lucrative prospect than one breakfast in the future….

      • Adam says:

        Yep, HH Diamond being matched using IHG Platinum as i git this onky three weeks ago.

    • Rob says:

      Free brekky as Gold.

    • Genghis says:

      Is Hilton Gold from Amex Plat / spending £10k on your HH card an option?

      • Rob says:

        The Hilton match is guaranteed to succeed, might as well do that. It only lasts 90 days so time it right.

  • Scott says:

    Interesting. Unsure would be referring someone for the cash back so not sure of their intentions.

  • Roger I* says:

    On topic.

    LHR-Zurich ‘sale’ Jan-May lowest £66. OTOH normal June-Dec lowest £66. Er …

    No LGW-ZRH these days.

  • Lindsay says:

    got LHR-LUX for £44 rtn for a weekend day trip in march. best thing is its out of T3 so CX F or QF lounge

    • Doug M says:

      Which actually became £42.70 in my case. It feels like stealing.

      • Andy says:

        Also done this for May, added on a return connection from Leeds to make LBA-LHR-LUX rtn for £97.

    • RIccatti says:

      Someone spotted that (or systems) and removed LUX from the sale.

  • The streets says:

    Yes 18000

  • ee says:

    There are some decent priced LCY flights as well, especially later in the year. NCE to LCY prime Sunday evening for £42 when booked as the return of an outward LHR-NCE fare (outward £33).

    • Lady London says:

      You can OJ these but the BA website won’t do it. Multi city forces ripoff. I got told on the phone BA can’t do it on phone either. Respectable OTA did no problem. Too bad British Airways you’ll have to pay the OTA for this. Too bad I don’t care.

    • e14 says:

      I can see the LCY return legs pricing at £39-42 but can only see Gatters for the outbound price – maybe this was when LHR was in the sale …

      • ee says:

        Yes, was last night for LHR at £33. Works well for us as we like the F lounge before the 9pm departure, and returning back to LCY is great because we live in Essex so just a quick change from the DLR at Stratford gets us home. 2+2 and no BoB on the LCY flights are a bonus (plus I was able to nab the mid plane exit rows!)

  • Braiden says:

    Booked my parents on BA J from Vienna to LHR T3. They are non EU. How do they get fast track passes? Crew or at check-in?

  • Canuck says:

    Not bad! Thanks for the heads up. Just booked family of 4 one-way LGW to GIB for £134. Usually pay that per person on BA.

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