The 2021 British Airways peak and off-peak Avios flight dates

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What are the peak and off-peak calendar dates for redeeming Avios points in 2021?

British Airways still hasn’t officially released the peak and off peak dates for reward flights for all of 2021 – except for the dates which are already bookable – but we now have some clarity on what the calendar will look like next year.

If you want the Iberia or Aer Lingus peak Avios dates for 2021, look in this article.

If you are looking for 2022 peak and off-peak British Airways Avios dates, click here.

A British Airways employee supplied us with the dates. It matches what is currently available for booking and so appears reliable. 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.

Remember that flights are not bookable, for cash or Avios, until 355 days before departure.

(I should also remind you that, as we are now in British Summer Time and British Airways releases flights at midnight GMT, you need to be online or on the telephone at 1am if you are UK based.)

There are two things to remember:

This calendar only applies to BA. Iberia and Aer Lingus have their own peak and off-peak dates, although we do not have their 2021 calendars yet. This is useful because you will often find that when BA is peak during UK half-term school holidays, Iberia (and occasionally Aer Lingus) are running off-peak fares.

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 on a separate chart at peak date rates, 100% of the time

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

No, we’re not sure why Thursday, 15th April is off-peak either! Every year there are some odd off peak dates nestled in the midst of entire peak weeks – take a look at August, for example.

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, 1st-3rd May.

We have created an online peak/off-peak calendar that you can subscribe to on your mobile device or calendar app. It currently shows peak dates for the remainder of 2020 and all of 2021 and should automatically sync to any updates. Click here to subscribe.

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

British Airways one-way Avios reward flight prices (plus taxes, fees and charges)
Zone	Distance	Economy		Premium Economy		Business Class		First Class
Zone	Distance	Offpeak	Peak	Offpeak	Peak	Offpeak	Peak	Offpeak	Peak
1	1—650 miles	4,750	5,250	–	–	8,500	9,750	–	–
2	651—1,150 miles	7,250	8,250	–	–	13,500	15,750	–	–
3	1,150—2,000 miles	9,250	10,750	–	–	17,750	20,750	–	–
4	2,001—3,000 miles	10,000	12,500	20,000	25,000	31,250	37,500	42,500	50,000
5	3,001—4,000 miles	13,000	20,000	26,000	40,000	50,000	60,000	68,000	80,000
6	4,001—5,500 miles	16,250	25,000	32,500	50,000	62,500	75,000	85,000	100,000
7	5,501—6,500 miles	19,500	30,000	39,000	60,000	75,000	90,000	102,000	120,000
8	6,501—7,000 miles	22,750	35,000	45,500	70,000	87,500	105,000	119,000	140,000
9	7,001+ miles	32,500	50,000	65,000	100,000	125,000	150,000	170,000	200,000

This Head for Points article lists all British Airways destinations together with the Avios needed to fly there. Ignore the short-haul routes which do not reflect the current ‘£1 taxes’ trial.

If you want to learn more about how to spend your Avios most efficiently, read our beginner’s guide to redeeming Avios points here. You can read more about how the British Airways companion voucher works in this article.

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: