BIG NEWS: British Airways Holidays will launch new 6 Avios per £1 earn rate

Let’s face it. One of the best perks on the British Airways American Express Premium Plus card was the 3 Avios per £1 rate for spend with British Airways. This was annoyingly scrapped earlier this month for a 1.25 Avios earn rate. We know how many of you were disappointed by this.

But, in exciting news, and straight from BA Holidays themselves, we can tell you that from 24 November, members of the BA Club will be able to collect 6 Avios for every £1 spent on BA Holidays packages. This is a huge upgrade from the current 1 Avios per £1 rate on a British Airways Holidays booking.

There is another big difference from the current way of earning.

At the moment, every customer on a BA Holidays booking collects Avios on the flight element of the package only. But only the lead passenger collects 1 bonus Avios for every £1 spent on the whole booking.

Under the new system, the Avios are calculated on the full booking value, then divided equally between everyone travelling on the booking. Each traveller will collect their own share. You are then free to pool them into a Household Account if you wish.

How many Avios could you earn?

BA has shared a worked example for two people on a Crete package costing £1,886 per person.

	Lead booker	Second traveller	Total
Current system	5,462 Avios	1,690 Avios	7,152 Avios
New system from 24 November	11,316 Avios	11,316 Avios	22,632 Avios

That is more than three times as many Avios for the same holiday, and the second traveller sees the biggest jump.

If you use our Avios Calculator, you'll see that the 11,000 Avios each traveller earns is enough for a one-way off-peak economy Reward Flight to Paris, Berlin, Geneva etc, meaning your holiday may legitimately pay for the next one.

This is also a real boon for solo travellers. Using the example above (minus the second traveller’s flight, obviously), a solo traveller would currently earn around 5,000 Avios. Under the new system, they’d earn nearer 21,000.

Thanks to the single supplement, they'll pay the same price for the room as a couple, but they won't have to split the Avios with anyone else in the booking, meaning they will hoard all the goods.

Yes, every package will vary, but we believe the "average" solo traveller booking a package holiday should earn 3-5x more Avios than under the current regime.

The main losers of this new system will be people who book a flight+car hire who have status. As the cost of the flight made up the biggest proportion towards the total bill, and with the amount of Avios they earn on flights multiplying higher with their status, they may in fact earn fewer Avios with this change.

Can families pool their Avios?

Yes. Club members can set up a free Household Account for up to seven people, including children, to pool Avios into one shared balance. You can read our guide about household accounts here.

Tier points are still earned individually, so those will not be pooled. The earn rate remains 1 Tier Point per £1 spent on a BA Holidays booking.

Is 6 Avios per £1 good value?

Here is our honest take. On paper, 6 Avios per £1 is a very strong earn rate, and it is double the 3 Avios per £1 that the Premium Plus card used to give on BA Holidays spending. And because it isn’t tied to a premium credit card, it’s a boost for everyone, so we approve.

Just one more thing before you get too giddy. Remember that package prices are not always the cheapest way to book a trip, so always compare the cost against booking flights and hotels separately before you chase the Avios.

When does the new Avios earn rate start?

24 November 2026. If you are planning a package holiday and have some flexibility on when you book, it could be worth waiting until then if you want to reap the benefits of this new rate.

The bottom line

After the disappointment of watching BA cut the Avios rate on the Premium Plus card, this is a welcome bit of good news.

A simple 6 Avios per £1 on the full package price could turn one holiday into a big head start on the next.

Helena

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