Can you book Avios flights earlier than 355 days? With Qatar, Finnair and Iberia, yes
355 days in advance is BA's booking window, but this isn't an Avios rule.
Seven airlines now use Avios (being BA, Qatar, Iberia, Aer Lingus, Finnair, Loganair, and Vueling), but each opens bookings on its own schedule, with a few opening earlier than BA's window.
This isn't a trick for getting BA seats early. BA opens at 355 days, and that's that. It's that Qatar, Finnair and Iberia start selling their own seats before BA's window even opens.
Here's what you need to know.
The booking windows
British Airways - 355 days
The one everyone knows. BA guarantees four Club World seats, two World Traveller Plus and eight World Traveller on every flight when the schedule opens. No guarantee in First. Seats release at midnight GMT (1am BST) for booking through the British Airways website.
Qatar Airways - up to 361 days
Book direct with Qatar by using a Privilege Club account, and you're able to book Qatar flights roughly a week ahead of when they're on sale on the BA website. There's a second reason to go direct. Once the standard "Saver" seats are gone, Qatar can still sell you the seat as a double-Avios "Flexi" award, but BA won't show those at all. It just reports no availability. So a flight that looks fully booked on BA may still be bookable through Qatar, for double the points. (We explain Flexi awards in full here.)
Finnair - 360 days
Five days longer than BA, with guaranteed minimums on its own flights: two business, two premium economy and four economy long-haul. Finnair does zonal pricing, and also no peak or off-peak calendar, so Christmas Eve costs the same as a Tuesday in March. You can compare Avios pricing using our Avios Calculator.
Iberia - 360 days
Also five days longer. Book through Iberia by moving your Avios to Iberia Club.
Iberia runs its own peak and off-peak calendar that doesn't match BA's, so the same date can cost fewer Avios compared to BA if you're willing to travel on Iberia. Best for Spain and Latin America via Madrid.
Aer Lingus - 355 days
Same window as BA, but they're less generous with reward seats overall. Departing from Dublin can be worth it, as there's no UK Air Passenger Duty, lower taxes, and US immigration pre-clearance.
Loganair - released by season
No rolling daily window here as Loganair loads its schedule in one go for the whole summer or winter season.
So with Loganair you're watching for the schedule to drop, not counting down 355 days. Every flight costs a flat 6,500 Avios one-way, any route (Inter-Orkney excepted), any date, no peak or off-peak. Book on Loganair's own site.
That's six, leaving just Vueling. There's no early-window edge worth chasing, as Avios can only be used to discount a flight in the same way you'd expect if you chose to part-pay with Avios on a BA flight.
Moving your Avios across
Try to book through BA and you won't see Qatar's 361st day or Finnair's 360th, as it caps everyone at 355. The only way to reach those seats is to book on the airline's own site, and that means having Avios in that airline's own account.
Transferring Avios is free, and instant, and you can move them back and forth as often as you like with no loss of value.
To move Avios from your BA account to Qatar for example:
Open a Qatar Airways Privilege Club account if you don't already have one.
Go to the Transfer Avios page
Pick British Airways as the account you're moving from, and Qatar as the one you're moving to. Sign in to each and clear the 2FA prompts.
Enter the amount, with it moving to your Privilege Club account straight away.
Book with Qatar using the Avios now sitting there.
The first transfer links the two accounts permanently, so next time your balances just show up and you skip the linking. This is the same process for Finnair or Iberia.
Two things to know before you start.
Your details have to match. First name, surname and email need to be the same on both accounts, and your date of birth too if it's on file. A mismatch is the usual reason a link won't go through.
Qatar can only connect through BA. You can move Iberia to Aer Lingus, or Loganair to Vueling, in a single step. But anything involving Qatar has to go via British Airways. To get Qatar Avios into Iberia, you move them Qatar to BA, then BA to Iberia.
The practical bit
Only flying BA? 355 days is your window and you're in the scrum from the first second. But not every route needs the midnight scramble. We've covered which BA routes sell out the moment the window opens, and which you can book in your own time.
Flying Qatar, Finnair or Iberia? First work out which one is cheapest for your route, which is what our Avios Calculator is for. Then move your Avios into that account a day or two before the window opens, and book on their site.
If your plans fall through, move the Avios straight back. It's free and instant, so there's no risk in trying.
Sam
Points Well Made is a passion project from Sam and Helena. If you've enjoyed this and want to help us keep the lights on, please consider buying us a Ko-fi or subscribing monthly. You can also find us on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok for more of the same. Thanks for reading.
Comments