How to save on regular British Airways short-haul trips with Flight Pass

It’s been 18 months since we looked at British Airways Flight Pass. I thought it was worth checking it out again for the benefit of newer readers and those for whom it wasn’t relevant last time.

Flight Pass allows you to buy route passes for economy travel on flights from Heathrow, Gatwick and City.

It managed on behalf of British Airways via a company called OptionTown –  details are on their website here.  You cannot buy Flight Pass directly from British Airways.

It is virtually impossible to give a clear ‘yes’ or ‘no’ statement about whether Flight Pass is a good deal.  There are a huge number of pricing permutations based on:

• how many people would share your pass, up to six
• how many tickets you want to pre-pay
• what expiry date you are willing to accept and
• how close to the date of travel you want to book

You can buy a pass for one route or for an entire country.

Flight Pass is ONLY available for Euro Traveller (economy) flights.

The key with Flight Pass is that you are GUARANTEED a seat on the flight you want if cash seats are still available, irrespective of the cash cost at the time you book.  However, as the cheapest Flight Pass variants require 30 to 90 days advance booking, this is less attractive than you may think.

Let’s look at two examples for the Heathrow to Newcastle route.

At one extreme, you can buy 12 one-way flights between Heathrow and Newcastle for £821, so £68 each.  This includes taxes.  You must book all the flights within 3 months AND you must book for travel 90 days in advance.  The only person who can use the Flight Pass is the original purchaser.

Taking another example, 12 one-way tickets, shared between two people with 12 months to use them up and booked at least 30 days in advance will cost you £893, so £74 per seat.  If you insist on being able to book 4 hours before departure – instead of 30 days – the price shoots up to £165 per seat each-way.

Note that you can only book return flights with Flight Pass which means that it is less flexible than you may think – you may be able to book your outbound with just four hours notice but you need to lock in the return at the same time (changeable for a fee – although the comments below confirm that the ‘four hours’ tickets can be changed at short notice for free).

You can buy a Flight Pass for a child over two years, but there is no discount.

You have last seat availability.   If there are still seats for sale, irrespective of the price, you can book them – as long as you are inside the booking window of your Flight Pass.  There are no blackout dates or minimum stays.  British Airways also lets you pay in instalments so you do not have to find the full cost upfront.

Given the huge number of pricing options, it is impossible to say if this offers decent savings or not but I know many frequent air commuters use it.

PS.  Amazingly, Flight Pass can make a huge saving on just ONE family trip.  Let’s assume you want to go skiing over February half-term.  Four economy flights to Salzburg, Saturday to Saturday (which is what most ski hotels insist on) will cost you over £3,000 for your family:

However, you could have bought a Flight Pass for 12 return flights, shared between four people and booked 60 days in advance, for £1,517:

Even if you ended up throwing away the other 8 return flights on your Flight Pass, you have halved the cost of your ski flights.  If you wanted to do this now, however, you’d need to book a 30-day notice pass at a higher price because your Flight Pass would not start until 7th January.

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.)