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The British Airways repainted BOAC Boeing 747 aircraft takes off

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BA’s repainted BOAC Boeing 747 has taken off.

British Airways 747 in BOAC livery

British Airways launched its first repainted aircraft yesterday, one of a handful of classic liveries that will be applied to selected planes this year as part of BA’s 100th birthday celebrations.

British Airways 747 in BOAC livery

It uses the livery of the British Overseas Airways Corporation.  This is one of two airlines that merged in 1974 to create the current British Airways.  This livery was used between 1964 and 1974.

British Airways 747 in BOAC livery

I have slotted photos from the launch yesterday throughout this article.  The plane will retain the paintwork until it is retired in 2023.  Its first flight will be BA117 to New York today.

British Airways 747 in BOAC livery

And, it has to be said, it looks good.  Given the improvements in painting technology in the last 50 years, I am sure that the livery never looked as impressive when it was originally used.  Click on any image to enlarge.

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.)

Category

British Airways and Avios

Comments (161)

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

  • rj24 says:
    19 Feb19 February 08:47

    Having had the BA amex for 4 years now and only recently (sorry!) upgrades to the paid card, I find it very annoying that I am never targeted for the decent offers like Emirates. I have spoken to amex before and they have told me that I get the same offers as all customers. I know that’s not true, but the person I spoke to insisted there was no targeting!

    • tartan says:
      19 Feb19 February 08:53

      The offers you receive will depend on your spending profile. When I first got my Platinum it took a good month or so before the decent offers started appearing, even though I had them on my BA Premium Plus. I suspect the airline offers are more likely to appear if you have bought flights on your card – but that’s just conjecture!

    • CV3V says:
      19 Feb19 February 09:28

      I dont think BA would be very happy about Amex putting an offer on ‘their’ card for another airline.

      • Evan says:
        19 Feb19 February 09:44

        Exactly! Same reason you never get Hilton offers on an SPG card! Who’d have thunk it….

    • Olly says:
      19 Feb19 February 09:56

      I’ve not got many offers on my card and the ones I do get, the majority are of those I’ve never used but keep coming back. I’ve not got the Hilton one that was just mentioned and presume it’s because I use them a fair bit anyway.

  • Memesweeper says:
    19 Feb19 February 08:52

    I think the plane looks gorgeous. Swap the ‘BOAC’ for ‘BA’ and you’d have a pretty decent look for the retro fashions of today. Love it.

    • Rob says:
      19 Feb19 February 09:40

      It does look good. Need to give BA credit for this one. They don’t always bodge it up 🙂

  • Sam says:
    19 Feb19 February 09:09

    OT – is Standard Premier worth a £40 upgrade on the Eurostar to Brussels?

    • N says:
      19 Feb19 February 09:26

      An OK light meal (Inc drinks) + better seating.

      Is that worth £40 to you?

      • Rob says:
        19 Feb19 February 09:30

        Key point – if booking early enough you will be able to book a solo seat in SP instead of having a stranger crammed in next to you in Standard. Best £40 you’ll spend all day in my opinion.

        • Sam says:
          19 Feb19 February 09:37

          I’m travelling with my wife (for better or worse) so the solo seat thing isn’t an issue. I will research the menu.

          Is the difference in seat comfort significant – she’s heavily pregnant so I feel like I shouldn’t baulk at £40, but only if it’s a noticeable difference.

          • Rob says:
            19 Feb19 February 09:41

            Seating is 2-1 vs 2-2 so you can do the maths.

            If you get an old train then you get the huge padded seats. The new trains have slimline seats which are nearer to a BA short haul seat.

            Food in SP is generally terrible (see an old review of mine which led to a complaint from Raymond Blanc because Eurostar sort-of-implies he does it whereas he only does ‘proper’ Premier) but at least you get some.

        • Genghis says:
          19 Feb19 February 09:40

          You can get the single seats opposite each other. I’d spend the £40 for the seat comfort. The food isn’t anything special in SP.

        • Sam says:
          19 Feb19 February 09:45

          Thanks, think I will go for it, then.

    • Sam says:
      19 Feb19 February 19:51

      Change of equipment meant we ended up sitting apart (me in front of her, facing away) after upgrading to standard premier.

      Not ideal but presumably not a leg to stand on, as far as a complaint goes?

  • Alex says:
    19 Feb19 February 09:25

    Not sure why others are so excited about this new/old look (maybe just being nostalgic), but to me it looks very average.

  • MDA says:
    19 Feb19 February 09:30

    Platinum and Gold members get 100 off, would have thought platinum members would receive a bigger saving

    Having used the Amex travel offer, not sure if I will be able to use up the Emirates offer by end of March. Is there any idea if Amex will return with the Emirates offer?

    • Dominic says:
      19 Feb19 February 10:10

      Offers come around relatively regularly. It’ll come back at some point. Hilton offer seems to appear a few times a year.

  • Sam says:
    19 Feb19 February 09:44

    Thanks, think I will go for it, then.

  • Matt says:
    19 Feb19 February 09:47

    OT in case it’s a useful warning for anyone:

    I’ve been charged a cash advance fee and interest by Tandem for a Transferwise transaction through Curve. I have made several cash withdrawals from ATMs through Curve and haven’t been charged anything (yet).

    • Pierre says:
      19 Feb19 February 10:04

      Same here for a Transferwise transaction through Curve linked to virgin card. I’d be interested to know if this is also happening with Curve linked to the IHG card, but looks like it will be more widespread now…

      • Rob says:
        19 Feb19 February 10:26

        What was the fee charged by Virgin Atlantic?

        And what MCC appeared on the transaction?

      • Matt says:
        19 Feb19 February 12:47

        I agree that’s the case. It seems odd to me that Curve are charging cash advance fee on Transferwise but not cash withdrawals though. Not sure contacting their Cs is going to help me though!

      • Zana711 says:
        19 Feb19 February 13:42

        Matt, it’s not Curve that’s charging you, it’s Tandem charging you a cash advance fee when it sees a transaction going through with Transferwise’s MCC. Curve’s dynamic MCC means that Tandem can see what the underlying transaction is. So if you’re going to contact customer service, contact Tandem instead, not Curve.

  • Rob says:
    19 Feb19 February 10:02

    o/t

    Currently using Curve to pay AMEX through a VA Card.

    My card keeps getting blocked for large transactions..

    On the phone they said they charge a fee for paying American Express.. but it is going through Curve and most people said they don’t actually charge a cash advance fee.

    The MCC is listed below for the transactions..

    Merchant category code (MCC): FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS-MERCHANDISE AND SERVICES

    If they do infact charge I have a hefty fee hitting me soon lol!

    Can anyone shed any light on this?

    Rob

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