How to save up to 50% Avios during school holidays

If you have to abide by school holidays, you already know the problem. You are locked into the same travel windows as everyone else, and the Avios price reflects it. BA treats every school holiday as peak.

There are two ways around it though, depending on which school holiday you are trying to escape.

Half terms: fly Aer Lingus or Iberia

BA, Iberia, and Aer Lingus all use Avios and all run peak and off-peak pricing, but their calendars are not the same.

Aer Lingus keeps it simple with peak pricing covering Christmas, Easter, and the summer, but UK school half-terms are considered off-peak.

Iberia's calendar follows the Spanish school year, which also leaves UK half-terms as off-peak.

Here's an example during February half term on Aer Lingus where the saving is significant. One-way to New York in economy on BA costs 33,000 Avios per person. Fly Aer Lingus via Dublin instead, you'll add on a short hop over the Irish Sea of 4,000 Avios, but the transatlantic leg is only 13,000 Avios. In total, you'll be paying 17,000 Avios per person each way, versus BA's 33,000.

For a family of four return, that is 136,000 Avios versus 264,000 on BA, a saving of 128,000 Avios, or roughly 50%.

I'm going to give you a couple of benefits of flying Aer Lingus. First, Aer Lingus fly to over a dozen regional airports in the UK, making them a great option for anyone who doesn't live in the south east. Second, Dublin has US Preclearance facilities, meaning you can skip passport control when you land in the US as a domestic passenger.

Not to neglect Iberia, here's an example during half term to Buenos Aires. BA charges 49,500 Avios per person each way in economy to Buenos Aires at peak. Routing via Madrid on Iberia, you'll pay 6,500 Avios for the flight from the UK, plus 24,000 Avios off-peak for the long-haul leg down to Buenos Aires. That's 30,500 Avios per person each way, compared to 49,500 on BA.

For a family of four return, that works out at 244,000 Avios versus 396,000 on BA, a saving of 152,000 Avios, or almost 40%.

Remember as well that you can use your Companion Voucher on Aer Lingus and Iberia as well as BA (you can read our Companion Voucher guide here).

I'll link the respective calendars below. Peak dates are shaded on both.

You can find the Aer Lingus 2026 peak/off-peak calendar here.

For Iberia, click the link here, and under "Plan your booking in advance", you'll see a hyperlink for "in our calendars".

If you would like to compare those to the British Airways calendar, you can find that here.

You can find the Aer Lingus pricing here, and for Iberia's pricing click here, and look for "See usage table".

Christmas, Easter and summer: fly Finnair

For the main school holidays, this is where Finnair comes in.

Finnair does not use peak and off-peak pricing at all. The Avios cost is identical whether you fly in August or February. In economy the advantage is modest as Finnair's per-segment pricing via Helsinki means it does not reliably beat BA peak in economy. But in business class, across a sample of 16 long-haul routes on the Finnair network, we found savings averaging around 28% versus BA at peak, reaching as high as 39% on routes like Singapore.

Tokyo is a clear example. From London, BA charges 121,000 Avios per person each way in business class at peak. Finnair charges only 80,500 Avios. If you are travelling as a couple travelling return in business, that is 484,000 Avios on BA versus 322,000 on Finnair: a saving of 162,000 Avios, thanks to Finnair's flat pricing model.

Long-haul, Finnair flies via Helsinki to Tokyo, Osaka, Bangkok, Singapore, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Seoul, Delhi, Dubai, Doha, New York, Chicago, Dallas, Miami, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Toronto. The routing via Helsinki adds time, but on the right route in premium cabins during peak season, the savings are substantial.

You can compare Avios pricing by using our British Airways Avios calculator, and our Finnair Avios calculator.

Let's sum it up

There isn't a perfect overlap in route maps as there are some destinations, like the Maldives, Cape Town etc, that are only served by BA. But on the flip side, there are some destinations only flown by other Avios airlines, such as Indianapolis by Aer Lingus, Bogota by Iberia, and Osaka by Finnair. So do plan ahead.

But if you're looking to save some Avios during the school holidays, remember:

Half terms: check Aer Lingus or Iberia.

Christmas, Easter, and summer: check Finnair.

Sam

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