How many Avios seats are there on each British Airways flight?
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Have you been struggling to find Avios seats for redemptions or upgrades? Even though there are cash tickets for sale on the same flight?
In this article I want to explain how, and how you can beat the system.
There are only a limited number of seats made available for Avios redemptions on each British Airways flight.
The good news is that – unlike virtually all other airlines – British Airways guarantees that there will be four Club (business class) seats, two premium economy as well as eight economy seats available to book with Avios on every BA flight. That is fourteen guaranteed seats in total.
These seats are made available as soon as seats are available for sale. This means at midnight 355 days before departure.
There are NO guaranteed seats in First Class although these are usually made available at some point.
These seats are reserved exclusively for Avios tickets and cannot be booked with cash.
In addition to the fourteen guaranteed Avios seats that British Airways provides on each of its flights, you will also often find it adding additional seats at other times in the months leading up to the departure. These will NOT be bookable 355 days in advance but will appear at random during the year.
In general, you do NOT need to book 355 days in advance – I never have! It is only necessary on the most popular routes, which as Sydney, Cape Town and the Maldives. Read this article for the best way to ensure you get the seats you want with Avios on a British Airways flight.
There are ways of opening up more seats for Avios redemptions, however. If you are a British Airways Executive Club Gold status holder, you can force open any seat that is available to book for cash using Gold Priority Reward. Whilst this is an expensive way of doing it – you will be charged double the normal Avios fare – it does mean you can book onto any flight that is still selling tickets.
(This article is part of our ‘BA Q&A’ series which explains how British Airways Club works. You can see all of our ‘BA Q&A’ articles here. )
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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.
