BA Holidays doubles down – now with free lounge access and Fast Track plus double tier points

There was a lot of interest amongst Head for Points readers on Wednesday about the new BA Holidays offer of double Executive Club tier points.

You can read the full article here and find the details on ba.com here, but to summarise you will earn double tier points on BA Holidays bookings completed by 30th September. You could earn Executive Club Silver status with just one trip to Europe if you book it correctly.

The only snags are:

• at least two people must travel
• you must stay at least five nights
• you must book a hotel or car hire for every night of your stay

If you can work around these restrictions, it is well worth a look if you are seeking British Airways elite status.

BA Holidays has now doubled down

A new element has now been added to the offer.

If you spend £1,500 per person or more, and are travelling for 5+ nights from Heathrow, you will receive priority check-in, Fast Track security, priority boarding (from 21st June) and access to the Galleries Club lounges at Heathrow.

If you are already booked into Business Class, either Club Europe or Club World, BA has thought about you too. As long as you spend £2,500 per person or more, you will be upgraded to the Galleries First lounge and can use The First Wing to check in.

Existing bookings qualify so don’t rush out and claim free cancellation on your existing booking in order to rebook. It isn’t necessary.

Your outbound flight must be on or before 30th September.

Conclusion

Taken together, the offers of double tier points, lounge access, fast track security and priority boarding do make BA Holidays an attractive proposition this Summer.

If I had to criticise anything about this new offer, it is the £2,500 minimum spend required to get into Galleries First and use The First Wing. We’re not talking about Luthansa’s First Class Terminal here – it isn’t such an improvement over the standard Galleries Club lounge that you need to impose a £2,500 threshold.

In any event, at certain times of day BA is sending everyone to Galleries First anyway, since the passenger numbers don’t justify opening two lounges.

You can find out more on BA Holidays here. The dedicated home page for the ‘double tier points’ offer, which includes all the small print you need to study, is here.

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.)