REGISTER NOW: Earn double Avios on British Airways flights and at BA Holidays

It’s back!  British Airways has launched a new ‘double Avios’ offer for the Summer and Autumn.

This has the potential to be very lucrative if you can work it around your travel plans.

This offer has also been extended to BA Holidays if your BA account is registered in the UK or US.  Not only will you get double Avios on BA flights booked as part of a BA Holidays package, but the bonus Avios you earn for using BA Holidays are doubled to 2 Avios per £1.

The sign up page for the offer is here.  You MUST register before making any bookings.

The offer is simple on the face of it:

Registration is required via this page of ba.com 

The offer is open to all BAEC members globally for flight bookings

The offer is open to BAEC members in the UK and USA for BA Holidays bookings

You earn double base Avios, excluding cabin and status bonuses, on your next 10 qualifying BA flights (a return trip = 2 flights)

You must book your flights between today and 31st August

Existing bookings prior to registration do not count 

You must fly before 31st December 2020

The offer is also valid on American Airlines, Iberia and Finnair flights when travelling between Europe and North America on a BA flight number.  Don’t be fooled by the statement at the top of the registration page that AA, Iberia and Finnair flights to North Ameria count – the terms and conditions say they do not, unless there is a BA flight number on your boarding pass.

British Airways flights booked as part of a BA Holidays package WILL count.  You also get an extra bonus for booking via BA Holiday which I discuss later on.

The offer is also valid on Comair-operated BA services in Southern Africa, although Comair is not currently flying.

Apart from the transatlantic exceptions above, no other BA codeshare or franchise flight will count.  You won’t get double Avios on, for example, a Bangkok Airways, Vistara, Aer Lingus, Qatar Airways or Vueling flight with a BA flight number.

Note that double Avios are awarded on the first ten qualifying flights that you fly after registering and booking. The order you book them makes no difference.  If you book 15 flights, you will get double Avios on the first 10 you fly and not the first 10 you booked.

Here’s a snag though ….

You only get double Avios on your first 10 segments. 

If you have a number of long-haul flights coming up before the end of the year, you don’t want to use up your 10 flight allowance too quickly.  This means, bizarrely, you may want to consider moving some short-haul flights away from British Airways.  This will preserve your 10 flight ‘double Avios’ allowance for long-haul flights which will be far more lucrative.

And an extra bonus when you book with BA Holidays

Regular readers of Head for Points will know that we are big fans of booking your flights via BA Holidays if you can, adding in a hotel or car rental.

The main reason for this is that a ‘flight and hotel’ or ‘flight and car’ package is often cheaper than booking a flight on its own, especially in Club World.

There are two other good reasons to book with BA Holidays:

you only need to pay a deposit at the time of booking, with the balance only due a few weeks before travel

you receive an extra bonus of 1 Avios per £1 spent on top of the Avios you receive from your flights and from your credit card spend if you use a BA Amex

The only downside is that flights booked via BA Holidays do not qualify for On Business points in the BA small business loyalty programme.

During this promotion, you get two extra bonuses for booking via BA Holidays at ba.com or via the BA call centre:

your flights will earn double Avios, as long as they meet the definition of ‘qualifying flights’ and originate in the UK

the extra Avios you receive for booking with BA Holidays is doubled from 1 Avios per £1 to 2 Avios per £1

The same rules apply as with the main promotion – you must register before booking, you must book before 31st August and you must travel by 31st December 2020.

Don’t forget to register before you book

You can register for double Avios here.  I would do it now, even if you don’t have any immediate plans to book and travel, just in case you forget.

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 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 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.)