Book British Airways business class from £129 return in the Christmas sale

If you’ve been on ba.com in the last couple of days, you may have seen the ads for “The Luxury Seat Sale” and thought … blah … another BA sale, nothing special.

This time, though, you’d be wrong.

There are some really, really good fares available at the moment, especially for European business class. Some of the prices are ludicrous. You can book BA business class to Amsterdam, for example, for less than easyJet on some days.

And easyJet, last time I looked, didn’t include lounges with free food and drink, free meals on board, free luggage, a guaranteed empty middle seat next to you and all the on-board champagne you can drink. (Plus at least 1,500 Avios and 80 tier points).

In general (and there are exclusions), here are the rules:

• Book by midnight on Tuesday 13 November
• Fly out and back between 14 December and 4 January

The easiest way to see what routes are available is to use the BA low-fare finder. Make sure ‘Return fares’ is ticked, as well as ‘Business / Club’ for class.

Here are what I can see as the lowest return fares:

• Amsterdam £139
• Bordeaux £189
• Brussels £199
• Chambery £172
• Dubrovnik £129
• Frankfurt £181
• Geneva £149
• Genoa £159
• Jersey £129
• Rotterdam £195
• Venice £169
• Verona £160
• Zagreb £159
• Zurich £176

These prices are return, in Club Europe (business class), including all taxes. Some of these destinations are from Gatwick only, some Heathrow only. Where the flight goes from both (eg Amsterdam) the cheap fare above is probably from Gatwick.

How about booking yourself a nice little post-Christmas, pre-New Year break whilst you’re off work? Other European destinations are available – I only listed those below £200.

There are some good long-haul deals to be had as well:

• Dubai £999
• Amman / Beirut £599
• Tel Aviv £661
• Doha / Bahrain / Muscat / Abu Dhabi £1099
• India (various) £1199
• Seoul £777 !!
• New York £1247

The Seoul price is not a misprint. It is a special deal to celebrate the launch of this new route. It may be your only chance to do a long-haul return flight to Asia in Club World for £777 – and you’d get about £300-worth of Avios back as well!

Seoul has slightly different booking details. The deadline is November 16th, and your outbound flight must be between December 3rd and December 13th, returning whenever you want. Even if you don’t want to go to Seoul, you may be able to pick up connecting flights elsewhere in Asia cheaply.

There are also special deals on BA Holidays available. It is worth checking these before you book flights, as you may be able to get a hotel included for a very modest extra sum.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2025)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

Get 5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large 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, and the standard card is FREE. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review

There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

American Express Business Platinum

50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year 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.