Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

The 2022 British Airways peak and off-peak Avios flight dates

Links on Head for Points may pay us an affiliate commission. A list of partners is here.

What are the peak and off-peak calendar dates for redeeming Avios points in 2022? 

British Airways still hasn’t officially released the peak and off peak dates for reward flights for all of 2022 – 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 2022, look in this article. The 2021 British Airways peak and off-peak calendar is here.

Avios peak and off-peak timetable

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 will soon be in British Summer Time and British Airways releases flights at midnight GMT, that you will 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. 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:

British Airways peak off peak Avios redemption calendar 2022

Compared to previous years, BA’s peak and off peak calendar for 2022 is a lot more ‘bitty’. For example, the 2021 calendar makes virtually all of July and August peak, with June mostly off-peak. For 2022, BA has chosen to break things up and focus more on making long weekends peak.

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, 30th April – 2nd May.

We have created an online peak/off-peak calendar for 2022 that you can subscribe to on your mobile device or calendar app. Click here to subscribe. You can subscribe to the 2021 calendar here.

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
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:

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.)