Update: One or more card offers in this post are no longer available. Check our Hot Deals for the latest offers.
British Airways is opening up 50,000 Business Class award seats going into the new year. This means you can have almost guaranteed Business Class award availability on boatloads of British Airways flights between December 16, 2018, and March 31, 2019. This promotion ends on December 2, 2018, so if you want to take advantage of it you’ll need to act fast.
While the deal only specifically states these seats are available for British Airways Executive Club members, it looks like they can also be booked with partner airline miles like American Airlines.
And British Airways is a 1:1 transfer partner with Chase Ultimate Rewards and American Express Membership Rewards. So you’ve got lots of options for booking these flights, but the fees you’ll pay can be outrageous.
50,000 British Airways Long-Haul Business Class Award Seats Made Available
End date: December 2, 2018
Travel Dates: December 16, 2018 to March 31, 2019
Important terms & restrictions:
- While availability lasts
- Book through British Airways or their partners (American Airlines, and oneworld partners like Cathay Pacific)
- Only valid on Business Class seats
- Taxes and fees must be paid cash at the time of booking (these fees can get expensive)
Promotion link: 50,000 New Business Class Award Seats on British Airways
Good deal or not: This IS NOT any sort of special deal as far as pricing goes. The real key of this offer is availability. So this can be a great deal if you wanted to use award points and were not able to because of limited availability, because now you can on select routes to/from London Gatwick and London Heathrow airports. And there are available award seats for an entire family in Business Class on many of these routes.
British Airways is known for their very high fees and surcharges on award tickets. Surcharges on a Business Class ticket will usually exceed $500+ round-trip and can easily hit $1,200+! If you can get away with only booking a one-way flight, the fees can be cheaper coming from London to the US. But for most flights this isn’t going to be a good deal.
You can use British Airways Avios points to upgrade one class of service (i.e. from Premium Economy to Business Class). The cost of the upgrade is the difference in award price between the seats. For most flights between the US and London an upgrade to Business Class would cost you 30,000 points (plus the fees associated with the higher fare class). But you’ll have to pay for an upgrade eligible cash fare for the Premium Economy ticket which is usually not worth it in my opinion.
You can also check out our guide to using British Airways Avios points (or our guide on using American Airlines miles) if you need a hand booking these awards.
But for folks looking to take a long-haul flight who have Avios points to use, this availability is great news. If you don’t have enough points, you can transfer points directly to British Airways from Chase Ultimate Rewards or American Express Membership Rewards. This deal ends December 2, 2018, and availability is only while supplies last, so you’ll want to act fast.
If you’re looking to stock up on transferable points so you can be ready for the next deal, check out the Ink Business Preferred℠ Credit Card or the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card to earn Chase Ultimate Rewards points. And you can earn AMEX Membership Rewards points with cards like The Business Platinum® Card from American Express and The Platinum Card® from American Express.
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Hat tip: God Save the Points
For example I see LHR-SFO on the BA 747 on 30 December for 57,500 Aadvantage miles + $549. The fuel surcharges on these business-class seats are just ridiculous.