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British Airways selling long haul Economy seats at £100 each way for its 100th birthday

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If you were wondering why Virgin Atlantic brought back its £1 ‘Golden Tickets’ game on Monday (see this article), it seems to be a spoiler for a new British Airways offer.

As part of its 100th birthday celebrations, British Airways will be selling 100 long-haul Economy seats each day for £200 return, ie £100 each way.

Different routes will be offered each day between Monday and Thursday at noon.

There will be two different destinations each day, to include the USA, Africa and South America over the course of the week.

Tickets will be made available at noon exactly.  ba.com will collapse at around 12.00:05 ….

Destinations will be listed on this special page of ba.com.

On Monday the destinations were New York and Cape Town.  On Tuesday it was Abu Dhabi and Boston.  On Wednesday it was Pittsburgh and Rio.

Travel dates have varied by destination so it is impossible to predict what will be offered on Thursday.  The window is generally about four weeks.

These tickets have booked into ‘M’ class in general but this is not guaranteed.  This means that you can upgrade them later to World Traveller Plus if Avios reward seats open up.  Do note, however, that this will trigger the higher rate of Air Passenger Duty plus additional BA surcharges so it won’t be cheap.

As an Avios earning opportunity, this is surprisingly good.  A BA Blue member would earn 6,020 Avios and 80 tier points return from the Cape Town offer.  A BA Gold would have earned a whopping 18,060 Avios return plus 80 tier points for their £200 outlay – and they got to visit Cape Town.  Although 2 x 12-hour overnight flights in Economy is not exactly an easy way of earning cheap Avios ….

The promo page for BA’s 100th birthday sale offer is here.


How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

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 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 card

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.

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.

Comments (308)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Ryanfozzie says:

    So I managed to get a weekend return for £180 after using 2000 Avios for a weekend in March (after I got the approval from the wife). Now the question, do I use 26,000 Avios and approx £280 to upgrade both ways to WTP (there is the availability), and maybe hope for an op-up, or just accept the £180 return and keep this trip as cheap as possible?

    • Rob says:

      I’d do the return leg, I think, as the op-up is more useful, assuming it is an overnight flight. Outbound it depends how Avios and cash-rich you are, because suddenly you’re looking at a £480 + 26,000 WTP ticket to New York which isn’t very cheap at all.

  • Jana Bajunov says:

    I could not see any promotional flights used Google Chrome
    It was producing errors for 45 minutes and then it was stated that seats are sold out for today.
    Really upsetting.

    • Crafty says:

      I think you need to detach your emotions from this a little… it’s a promotion.

  • Mike Stokes says:

    Its closed now! BA sold the one seat that they put up on each sector !!

  • @mkcol says:

    I just refreshed the page.

  • stevenhp1987 says:

    Managed to get myself 2x return tickets to Cape Town for a weekend away (leaving Thursday evening, leaving Sunday evening)!

    • Rob says:

      Well done! I have done such a weekend break, in business admittedly, and it works fine due to the minimal time difference.

  • Rob says:

    They were on the promo page itself, which changed at noon (and then changed back when they were sold).

  • Jtz says:

    OT but no bits today and slightly confused on what to do.
    My dad who I referred from plat has 3000 HMRC due, he does not have curve yet and does not really understand all this miles business, he needs to pay half of that by Jan, and is within his ‘spend 2000’ Amex gold threshold.
    I have plat and have about 500 left to reach spend and cancel but I’m delaying because did some references that are being done for a house move…they say they will do a credit check and don’t want to affect that…
    I have curve, the free one
    My dad’s probably going to say no to billhop, or any card that has a fee( he’s actually going to say no to any more cards)
    I don’t mind referring myself to spg, but again that would be Amex and not sure how long it will take to come I’m not too keep on the ihg card for the fee either, and that the free night is available at the end of the card year.

    Options please…
    Really hate to see a big spend go without warning points.

    Thanks a lot

    • Leo says:

      Are you asking how you can pay HMRC and get points? You have to use Curve linked to a Visa or MasterCard currently. You can only use Amex if you are on the Beta trial I believe. Realistically you have to have had Curve and used it for a while before you can put any sizeable payment through to HMRC. At least that was my experience. I think you’ve left it a bit too late to pay your January tax bill and benefit from points. Sorry.

    • John says:

      If you have Curve then just pay it for him and he can bank transfer you

      • Leo says:

        Yeah but you can’t link curve to Amex yet can you- and he’s not mentioned having another suitable card…aside from not wanting to get the IHG Black.

        • Jtz says:

          Nope, no other cards, if I did get another, doubt it would be here in time, so far is billhop the only way?

          Thanks all

  • Optimus Prime says:

    OT – Curve will allow Black card users to keep existing card for free with original T&C’s but no Amex free top-up allowance.

    • Optimus Prime says:

      Also if you upgrade to Metal to try out the benefits you won’t be able to downgrade to free original Black.

    • Genghis says:

      I’m pleased they saw their ways under some pressure from the Curve Community. Paying a one off fee and then getting the benefits revoked would never bode well

      • Axel says:

        It’s also quite telling how this comment doesn’t raise any reaction from the keyboard warriors on hfp.

        Curve seems so last year. Shame it’s lost it’s way and is reduced to offering the same insurance packages weve all got on our hsbc, nationwide, high street this, high street that accounts.

      • Grant says:

        This is good as I was pretty pissed when I read here than I’d be asked to pay a monthly fee just five months after I’d paid a ‘one-off’ £50 fee.

        I don’t understand the significance of the Amex point though. Will I be able to use Curve to pay with Amex in those places that don’t take it, up to a certain monthly limit?

        Also, is this info all coming through the Beta users? I’m following Curve on twitter and regularly check the website / blog but don’t see any of it.

        • Grant says:

          Sorry – I am seeing the stuff in Curve Community now and understand things better

    • Alan says:

      Yep, was great they listened to the (very strong!) feedback.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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