British Airways is offering a two day sale on business class fares to London from select cities. Fares start at just $2015 round trip (but I’ll show you how to pay much less). Bookings must be made by October 16, 2015 (11:59 p.m. ET). Travel is valid November 16, 2015 through August 31, 2016 (with all travel completed by August 31, 2016) from select U.S. gateways to London on British Airways or American Airlines operated services, only.
How to find the fares
Go to: this BA web page to search for low fares. Note the dates of travel that work for you. Then…
Save $400 and maybe 10% more
UPDATE: The AARP discount appears to work beyond March 31 2016 despite the terms stated on the AARP website!
If your outbound travel begins by March 31, 2016, you can save $400 by joining AARP and clicking through from their website. If your flight concludes by December 31, you may also qualify for 10% off (update: you have to pick either the 10% off or the Avios discount. I would go for the Avios discount unless you don’t have enough Avios or transferable points).
For details, please see: How to save big on international British Airways, AA, and Iberia flights.
Use Avios for an additional discount
British Airways always offers an option to save a bit by spending Avios points, but it’s usually a bad deal. However, until October 19th, they’re running a promotion from/to select cities. During this promo, Avios are worth 2.5 times their normal value when used this way! Details can be found here.
US cities included in this Avios promotion include: Chicago, Dallas – Forth Worth, Houston, JFK, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Newark, Philadelphia International, San Francisco International, and Washington.
Here’s a real fare I found by stacking the AARP discount and the Avios discount:
25,000 mile bonus!
Don’t forget about this AA/BA promo that should stack with the above deals if you fly by January 31 2016!
- To earn AA miles: Fly to Europe and earn up to 125,000 bonus miles
- To earn BA miles: Earn up to 125,000 bonus Avios
Make sure to register! Miles earned on this flight will more than make up for the Avios spent to save money.
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[…] Like many peeps, I got in on the fantastic British Airways business class fares to Europe. […]
[…] After that, readers found one deal after another that was even better. At 2:41 pm, MilesMath commented: […]
does the additional avios pts discount work for spain, lax-bcn/mad-lax? i only see that option if i choose lhr.
@jack,
Yes – I have done it. Make sure you’re selecting all BA metal though.
i realized avios option wasn’t coming up for multi-city fares. i was looking for lax-bcn mad-lax. if i searched for roundtrip single destination, i do see avios option.
Anyone else having issues with the AARP site? I click verify membership and a pop up opens but then just reloads the same page. I have a paid membership so I’m hoping this is just a glitch.
I’ve had problems since last night, and have never been able to click through to the payment screen using AARP discount or not, and multiple browsers. BA doesn’t appear to have a web support desk, and their phone assistance is not helpful (sales or customer relations). If I want these fares, I think I’ll have to book on aa.com, minus the AARP discount and the part-Avios option.
As far as I can tell, I believe that all of the deals for much less than $850 + 30K have dried up. Still, $850 + 30K is a great deal for international business class, especially since the flights will earn redeemable miles and elite qualifying miles.
Darn! I missed out! Thanks for the quick reply though, FrequentMiler!
Is there something weird with the site? When I search, for example, NYC to Barcelona for “7 nights” it displays $1,522 for several months. When I click into those months I don’t see any combination of prices that add up to $1,522. Instead the cheapest for each leg is around $900 something so the total ends up coming out to around $1,921 and change. Minus the $400 for AARP and minus $767~ for using 30,000 BA points and the total drops to $754 out of pocket cost, which isn’t that bad but I’m seeing everyone get on the “$300-$400” out of pocket cost train and I understand I’m supposed to be searching for the “under $2,000” round trip flights which the website is showing me as available but when I click into the months it just doesn’t show it…am I missing something? I have the same issue with NYC to LHR – the initial prices they show me as available for so and so month doesn’t match the prices available on the next screen when I select the flights.
Fantastic deal!! Thanks for the tip!
Booked (yesterday) DFW-MAD-DFW for Thanksgiving and Spring Break for $531+60,000 Avios (2 people) and another PHL-MAD-PHL for Summer for the same price as well… 6 Business class tickets for $1,593 and 180,000 Avios and I should earn at least half of the miles back…
Is the price u got excluding taxes? Taxes im showing adds another $1200 or so. Found flight but out of pocket is 3k for 2
So I can’t see how you getting $450 at checkout. From ORD-LON 1/8 to 1/15 found $661 outbound $951 inbound ($1612) but I think that is with the AARP discount. When I go to the next page it lets me deduct $767 for the 30k avios but I dont see an additional $400 AARP discount. Am I looking at something incorrectly. I do see the breakdown of Fare $438 but taxes $1173.55. Is that what your talking about when you say got a fare for less than $450
[…] Frequent Miler reports this deal should stack with British Airways transatlantic bonus promotion. You can earn 25,000 bonus British Airways Avios points for a round-trip Business Class flight (up to 125,000 points total) until January 31, 2016. But you have to register. […]
Jessica,
The transferred between Amex and BA is almost instantaneous.
Any idea how long it takes for Amex points to transfer?
Ok, spent a bunch of hours searching. Pretty sure there is no unicorn.
Thanks. I know this was a major time sop this afternoon. But, heck, I’m taking my wife to Rome in biz class for a couple hundred bucks, so it was worth it. Wish I had had more Avios as I would have booked a summer Europe trip (same price, you just didn’t get 25,000 Avios back), but it’s hard to do these crazy deals perfectly.
Anyone know if it’s possible to book this out of CLT or am I going to have to position? Trying to use Avios to lower price
I tried a bunch CLT, but I don’t think the avios redemption works for that. Only works for: Chicago,
Dallas, Houston, New York (JFK and EWR), Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Washington, DC.
[…] $450 to $850 deal! BA two day sale on round trip business class fares. Here’s how to pay as little… […]
7:10PM tonight.. July 2016 JFK-BCN-JFK $356 pp American metal
Remembered I had 40K orphaned Iberia Avios that came in handy for the backward transfer to BA Avios. Offset the sting of the AMEX MR –> BA Avios recent deval.
Did they just pull the cheapo summer biz class airfares to BCN? I was looking at a couple of them earlier today — trying to figure out how I could get my hands on more Avios points — and something like PHL-BCN was pricing at about $1000 before the Avios discount. Now it’s more like $1500.
@iaphx I just booked 25 minutes ago.. Pick the JFK-BCN direct on AA metal.. I purchased the first 4 revenue seats. Undesirable old 777 v1 angle-flats, might be looking to swap up but just wanted to quickly grab what I could find. I found space, signed up for the AARP and website account, transferred Iberia and MRs, then booked (the space was still there).. I chose to sacrifice quite a few MRs at poor transfer rates to preserve scarce URs
The JFK-BCN flights are now all pricing at 950+ each way..
Right — it seems like sometime in the past hour the cheapo summer BCN flights went “poof.”
I tried a bunch of different AA nonstops from PHL for next summer and didn’t see anything comparable.
But maybe there’s some cheapo city pair that’s still out there for summer. 🙂
Please let us know if you find the unicorn!
It seems like the AARP discount fluctuates in functioning. I lost LON earlier when it failed, then tried to book BCN (it was working) and got a system error. Now it’s not working again – shows “discounted” but price is same as nonAARP.
I just used 2 browsers to search BCN flights: one with the AARP discount and one without. The AARP code was taking off the $400 — but the fares are much higher than they were this afternoon. I thought this one might have had more legs than your typical mistake airfare, but I guess BA wasn’t happy selling lots of biz class seats at these ultra-low prices.
How far East of Europe it can be booked? (On mobile now, can’t check.) Poland? Further East?
I think the cheapest option going east for highest mileage run is to HEL. It is also cheap, around $1600 before AARP.
I was also able to price LAX-ORD-MEX-MAD-TFS-MAD-LHR-LAX for about $1500 before the AARP and avios discounts.
Deal still active at 6:36PM EST. Just booked BWI-JFK-BCN return in June 2016 for 30k Avios + $271.49 total. Fantastic deal!
Looks like BCN is dead now. 🙁
Didn’t see your post before posting below. Yes, I checked PHL-BCN and JFK-BCN, and both are now $500 more than earlier today. 7:34 PM EDT
Anyone else having problems signing up for AARP? server for signup down….rest of aarp working
It was up and down for me. I finally got registered but the AARP discount isn’t applying for me at least with December bookings.
Anyone have tips on getting the AARP pricing to work correctly when routing beyond London? I tried ORD-LHR-BCN round trip. When I go directly to BA it prices at $1516. When I go through AARP it prices at $6500
I think I figured it out. My return had an airport change BCN-LGW then LHR-ORD. When I put it into multi-city search as separate flights, it priced correctly. Not that I’d actually want to have a layover like that, but at least it priced right!
Booked SFO-LHR-MAD;BCN-LHR-SFO for Aug ’16 for $336 per person (including AARP and 30k avios). Great deal! Thanks for posting it. 🙂
Does it have to be through BA with AVOS or can if be through AA with their miles. I just booked a flight from JFK-London Heathrow-Lisbon for 50k pp (4) in business.. June 2017 travel..payed $2200 in taxes, ect. Can I be reimbursed? Will this apply to me?
Yes, you have to go through BA and use Avios to get this deal. Sorry
The $468 option seems to be gone across the board. Could it be a mistake fare? However, without AARP discount, the lowest fare on BA calender shows $1611 (not including AARP dc). But even by clocking through AARP, it remains at that. For the same dates, without AARP it prices out to be $1811. Seems to be more of a website problem than a mistake fare.
Some people are speculating that the ~$1600 was something of an error from the advertised $2015 (gimmick) sale prices, and should have been $400 higher originally, now it’s fixed. This makes sense, though not sure if it’s correct.
Thank you very much! I’ve been thinking about it all day and playing with different options, decided to go for it! Whole family to London! May not have gotten the best deal, but a smashing deal for business class.
….aaaand its gone
Still there, my example starts working in late November and after. Check you dates.
You’re right. Sorry for the misrepresentation. I was talking about over christmas. Did book mine though. 30k+$468
Are you sure the discount is applying? None of my examples work anymore, the $400 AARP discount won’t apply, the rest of it will.
Is the implication that it will work thru the multi city tool but not direct?
I am not sure. It just prices out to be $400 more (weird). But I have clicked through multiple times and it does say “discounted”..but still prices out to be more. Sucks I’ll have to cancel my tickets because I need to change dates. Wish I could price it out again but it seems its gone for over christmas.
[…] to replicate this? I HIGHLY suggest heading over to Frequent Miler’s Quick Deal where he lays it all out including the relevant […]
@ AmeriKop45: Just use AARP and the multicity search on BA.com
One more question — AARP $400 discount is per ticket, or per booking/AARP membership? VERY tempted to book my husband, daughter and myself if we each get $400 off!
Per ticket. You’ll save $400 per person!
Yes, you can dump the LHR extra fees by leaving from other cities. Just booked 2 people:
LAX – LHR
BCN-JFK
JFK-LAX
$565.98 plus 60,000 avios
🙂
Wow, I didn’t know that you can get the full Avios discount even when returning from another city!
How did you do this?
There are crazy good deals if you don’t return from London. Sub $300 roundtrip biz class on AA flights to the Continent, using the AARP/Avios discounts!
I cancelled London and rebooked. I’m not paying no stinkin’ biz class carbon tax. Especially for winter travel. 🙂
Do the Double EQPs count towards the 25k AA Exec. Plat. status match challenge for Sep-Dec this year? The wife and I both have this and if we could make Exec. Plat with 8 SWs while traveling in business class I just might do it.
No, my understanding is that only the core 1.5 EQPs will count for the challenge
Nice deal! Got two direct business class (unfortunately looks to be angle-flat right now) on AA JFK to BCN for 60K Avios and $714.
$714 altogether? That’s amazing
Yes. Looks like you can bring down the cost by avoiding London fees and taxes by booking AA flights to other European destinations.
What would be the cancellation policy on 30k avios plus 456$ ticket?
Cancel by end of day tomorrow for free (they’ll credit back the Avios). I already did this once.
I’m finding $446 out of DFW for 3-4 days, but if you want status on AA does it make a difference if you fly AA or BA?
It doesn’t matter which you fly as long as you put in your AA frequent flyer number.
Does the AARP discount only work if you book the entire roundtrip in the same cabin? I’m pricing spring break out of Houston and there is a terrific price on business class outbound, but not so much on the return flight. If I booked business outbound and economy inbound, would the AARP discount work in any way?
I haven’t tried it, but yes I think you would save $200 on the business outbound and much less on the coach return.
Thank you for the deal just booked two trips before the end of the year to solidify my Explt for next year. I might book two more for next year trips.
Does it matter whether you fly AA or BA metal?
No, you’ll get the same discounts and earn the same number of miles. If you want to earn AA miles and status, put in your AA number when you book
Scratch that! I just re-booked for less than $450!
How!?!?? lol. tell tell tell…. I think I am going to book another trip for kids too…
How are you getting ORD down to $446? I tried a few dates and I’m still $200 higher.
I’m seeing 450-452 from ORD and JFK
7 nights seems to be $200 lower than any stay less than 7 nights. That’s the sweet spot. At least for what I’m looking at.
Look for flights that price at about $1600 round trip. Then:
subtract $400 with AARP discount
subtract $764 with the use of 30K Avios
.
Length of trip is definitely a factor. I booked a one day turnaround.
Booked! Thanks. I thought I needed a fare lower than $1600 to get to $450. Apparently not. 🙂
I’ve seen some commentary about folks having difficulty signing up for AARP, but my sign up went smoothly. I did have to set up an online AARP account to get your $400 coupon link to work.
BTW, what’s the deal with seat assignments on BA in biz class? Are they not free? WTF?
Oh, I pasted your $400 AARP link onto a topcashback link I first opened. Just got confirmation of the flat $13 cashback. Certainly worth the fifteen seconds that took!
It was free for me to select seats.
Nice! Good to know about using TopCashBack for that!
I booked an AA operated flight outbound and BA on the return (I figured I’d sample each product). I could get AA seat assignments for free, but BA wants $121 per person for my Club World seat. Is this for real?
How do you use topcashback?
I just booked round trip from Chicago for $649 (+ 30K Avios)!
As Milesabound wrote, above, the actual prices are often less than $2015
Ohh. So tempting.
I’m booked for AA coach flights R/T PIT to AMS in early December to mileage run for the AA status challenge and tag along Hubby’s business trip. I found PHL-ORD-LHR, then LHR-PHL for $650 + 30,000 Avios. So, that’s 8176 miles.
If I book with my AAdvantage number, I’ll get the EQPs, yes? Do I have to do anything to get the double EQPs? 16,352 EQPs would put me awfully close to Exec Platinum. If so, it would be worth the cancellation fee.
I’m already registered for the “Fly to Europe” promo, so I’d get another 25,000 AA miles.
I’m sure I could get cheap miles flights PIT – PHL and AMS-LHR.
Yes, you’ll get the EQPs if you put in your AA number. Double EQPs are automatic for business class flights this year: https://www.aa.com/i18n/AAdvantage/newsOffers/more-eqps.jsp
Where in the booking process is the 30k avios deal applied? When I click through, the highest pay with avios option I see is to save $30.
Correction, the highest I see is $150 off for 15,000 avios.
It’s only available from the cities I listed above:
US cities included in this Avios promotion include: Chicago, Dallas – Forth Worth, Houston, JFK, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Newark, Philadelphia International, San Francisco International, and Washington.
That’s it, thanks!
Fantastic deal!!! Just booked IAD-LHR RT on A380 in Jan for $646 plus 30k Avios and will earn those back and more on the trip (either that or AA, just need to decide which one)
What date you booked, I can’t find to replicate the same price?
Jan 8th departure… to replicate the deal use the link given at top of post to find dates showing $2011 available. Actual fare turns out cheaper. From what I recall it required Fri or Sat night departure. Then access via AARP page to reduce by $400 and then use the pay with Avios to get another $756 or so off. Came to $646 and change
I just rechecked you must depart Thursday, Friday or Saturday. Other than it appears to be completely wide open from IAD
Very tempting/Subscribe.
Does this qualify for double elite qualifying points promotion running on AA? How much EQM or EQP do we earn? say for example JFK to LHR direct flight?
Yes. Use gcmap.com to find the flight distances. JFK-LHR-JFK is 6903 miles so you can expect to earn 13806 EQPs if you fly this year. I don’t know if the double EQP offer will return next year, so then you would earn 1.5X = 10,355 EQPs
Just want to double check, it seems It only qualify for AA marked flight.
If I book from BA promotion website, it all marked BA flight, then does it still qualify?? Please clarify! thanks for your information!
the title is slightly deceiving… miles are a form of payment too.
But you’ll earn more than the miles spent so the total cost is accurate I believe