Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

The first British Airways Boeing 777-300ER with First Suite has arrived

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

British Airways took delivery of the first of four new Boeing 777-300ER aircraft yesterday.

It touched down at Heathrow in the morning after a flight from the Boeing factory in Everett.

The new aircraft will feature an improved – but not radically different – First Suite seat.

British Airways First Suite doors

For the first time, First Class seats will have a door. This puts the First Class cabin on a par with Business Class, as these aircraft are arriving with the new Club Suite seat as standard.

We don’t have any photographs of the new First Suite – the best we have is this illustration from the crew manual. Hopefully we can get our hands on some over the next few days.

Your chances of flying the new seat are not great. There is no news on it being retrofitted to older aircraft and a totally new First Class seat is believed to be planned for the 777X deliveries due from 2022.


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 (41)

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

  • Goldmember says:

    They’ve already got 777-300ER’s in the fleet. These new fleet arrivals are historical orders that were ordered some time ago and happen to feature the new revised First cabin and Club suites.

  • Tariq says:

    Note that not all Co-Op stores are in the list provided in the Amex Offer – so check before trying to use!

  • Jpa says:

    It is only the national coops that are on the list. The regional ones are not. However it is not always easy to tell the difference. In East Anglia it is the East of England ones that don’t count. We have a mixture of both around where I live.

    • RussellH says:

      The Amex small print says “Co-op Food”.
      The shops on the list would seem to be Cooperative Group Ltd. shops. Co-op Food appears to be a brand within the group.
      None of the Scotmid shops in the north of England are on the list, and there are only a very few shops in the offer in Edinburgh, which always seemed to be the Scotmid heartland.
      Equally, very few places on the list in the Midcounties Coop area.

  • Mark says:

    Coop offer doesn’t even show on my app.

    • Julian says:

      No Co-Op Stores and only Co-Op Will Writing Services offer on my Amex Preferred Rewards Gold Card.

  • IslandDweller says:

    I’ve got the will writing offer but not the general offer….

    • Iain says:

      Same on my BAPP. Not been impressed with recent offers of BAPP – seems other cards are getting better and more useful offers. Hmmm.

      • flyforfun says:

        Same. Lots of hotel chains I wouldn’t consider. The Toryograph offer. I wish there was a button to press to reject them so we wouldn’t be faced with them continuously.

    • Tilly says:

      Ditto on both my cards. The £5 back on £15 spend would actually be a useful offer.

  • Nick says:

    I mean, come on…
    BA has had B777-300ERs for a decade, so how can this be the ‘first’…?
    It’s the first of the four new ones, absolutely, but the headline is completely misleading!

  • Rob says:

    Amex funds Shop Small, Co-Op will fund this.

    • Alex Sm says:

      Presumably funded from astronomic charges they impose on retailers in the first place

  • Sam G says:

    I tried to pay my council tax with my amex in a couple of co-op and despite “game” staff we couldn’t get such a large payment to go to paypoint. May be regional. But no question of Amex acceptance for it!

    • Ghosty says:

      I think paypoint is limited to £200 each transaction

      • Steve in Croydon says:

        I’ve never had a problem paying for my TV licence at a Co-op PP.
        Paying for Council Tax would mean a paying-in book and a monthly visit to do it. Each month would be over the £200 limit, if that is correct. Shame, a useful source of AX spend (£2,500 PA).

      • Genghis says:

        But you just ring up the transactions, ie 3 x £200 = £600 paid.

      • Secret Squirrel says:

        its more than £200 a day.

        • Secret Squirrel says:

          I mean per transaction, ive done £500 recently in one go, i think that might be the limit.

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

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.