Here is the full British Airways and Iberia peak and off peak Avios calendar for 2020 flights

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What are the peak and off-peak dates for redeeming Avios points in 2020?

British Airways still hasn’t officially released the peak and off peak dates for reward flights in 2020 but we now have some clarity on what the calendar will look like next year.

EDIT: If you are planning further ahead, the 2021 Avios peak and off-peak calendar is in this HfP article – click.

We have managed to get our hands on what we believe is the full 2020 timetable via BA contacts. We have turned this into a neat little table, below, which gives a better overview of the entire year’s peak and off peak availability.

British Airways normally releases the calendar in June, and some people have been speculating that the lack of an announcement might mean that it is moving to revenue-based redemptions next year. Now that we have the calendar, however, we can be fairly confident that redemptions will remain on a peak and off peak basis for 2020.

There are two things to remember:

This calendar only applies to BA. We have added the Iberia dates at the bottom. Iberia and Aer Lingus have their own peak and off-peak dates, which can often be helpful. October half-term is off-peak for Iberia, for example, so New York in Business Class from Madrid is 68,000 Avios vs 120,000 Avios for a peak-date BA flight from London.

The BA calendar applies wherever you book a BA redemption, whether it is on ba.com, iberia.com or avios.com. Similarly, if you try to book an Iberia redemption on ba.com it will NOT follow the dates below.

All redemptions on partner airlines such as Qatar Airways are charged at peak rates, 100% of the time

Note that peak dates are in yellow whilst off peak is in white. Click to enlarge:

Don’t ask why Tuesday 11th and Tuesday 18th August are off-peak! It is also isn’t clear why Wednesday 15th April (Easter Wednesday) is a solo off-peak day. This is not an error – you can check yourself on ba.com as 15th April is already bookable.

As you would expect, peak dates cover all the school breaks as well as the majority of bank holidays. The only bank holiday weekend during an off-peak time is the first May bank holiday, which was moved from its usual Monday slot to Friday 8th May to coincide with VE Day. It is still possible that BA flips this to a peak date!

As a reminder, here is the peak and off-peak Avios pricing chart for British Airways flights:

The zones relate to the distance flown:

Zone 1: 1 – 650 miles
Zone 2: 651 – 1,150 miles
Zone 3: 1,151 – 2,000 miles
Zone 4: 2,001 – 3,000 miles
Zone 5: 3,001 – 4,000 miles
Zone 6: 4,001 – 5,500 miles
Zone 7: 5,501 – 6,500 miles
Zone 8: 6,501 – 7,000 miles
Zone 9: 7,000+ miles

Iberia Avios peak and off-peak dates for 2020

For comparison, here are the Iberia dates for next year, with peak dates in red:

…. and here is the Avios redemption pricing for Iberia, which applies whether you book at ba.com or iberia.com:

and

This chart is NOT the same as the British Airways chart. The charts are nearly the same, but not quite.

Let’s take New York as an example. Both British Airways and Iberia price New York as a Zone 5 redemption. However:

British Airways charges 100,000 Avios off-peak and 120,000 Avios peak for a Club World flight to New York

Iberia, as you can see above, charges 68,000 Avios off-peak and 100,000 Avios peak for a Business Class flight to New York

There are not many destinations which are served by both BA and Iberia, of course, so the opportunities for arbitrage are limited. You also need to factor in the cost and time of getting to Madrid, although if you live outside London it is not massively more complex than changing planes at Heathrow.

If you want to learn more about how to redeem Avios points via Iberia Plus, to save a fortune on taxes and charges, take a look at this article in our ‘Avios Redemption University’ series.

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: