Without a huge amount of fanfare, British Airways (BA) launched a Winter sale in the days leading up to Christmas.
This sale seems to be more focused on flights as opposed to recent sales which have seen a heavy emphasis on BA Holiday (i.e. Flight+Hotel & Flight+Car) offers.
There are sale fares available in all classes, with some especially good deals on short-haul Club Europe routes. BA is also offering an additional discount of up to £100 off holidays bookings made before 9th January 2018.
Incidentally, Virgin Atlantic is also running a sale at the moment which I will look at in detail next week.
World Traveller (Economy) and World Traveller Plus (Premium Economy) offers
Here are some of the standout headline prices available in both Economy and Premium Economy that I located using the Low Fare Finder tool on ba.com.
Economy:
- Abu Dhabi from £319
- Barbados from £461
- Beijing from £439
- Boston from £308
- Chicago from £396
- Dubai from £312
- Fort Lauderdale from £384
- Los Angeles from £416
- Marrakech from £97
- Miami from £419
- Mumbai from £407
- Oakland from £368
- Philadelphia from £361
- Toronto from £355
Premium Economy:
- Abu Dhabi from £569
- Beijing from £746
- Boston from £751
- Chicago from £757
- Los Angeles from £773
- Muscat from £509
- New Orleans from £771
- New York from £743
- Oakland from £644
- Shanghai from £788
Excellent Club Europe fares
There is some particularly attractive Club Europe pricing available in this sale. Now, some would argue that Club Europe struggles in terms of offering a genuine short-haul business class product. Nevertheless, it’s hard to argue with lounge access, additional baggage allowance, champagne etc as well as 80 tier points for well under £200 return!
- Alicante from £180 return
- Amsterdam from £180 return
- Barcelona from £160 return
- Berlin from £224 return
- Bilbao from £198 return
- Bordeaux from £136 return
- Dublin from £196 return
- Dubrovnik from £226 return
- Dusseldorf from £218 return
- Faro from £200 return
- Geneva from £156 return
- Innsbruck from £178 return
- Lyon from £170 return
- Malaga from £180 return
Business class (Club World) deals
- Abu Dhabi from £1249
- Boston from £1366
- Barbados from £1488
- Dubai from £1499
- Kingston from £1193
- Los Angeles from £1866
- Miami from £1748
- Muscat from £1099
- Nashville from £1318
- New York from £1389
- Seattle from £1789
- St Lucia from £1523
- Tampa from £1558
- Tel Aviv from £1327
- Washington from £1318
Upgrade to First Class for £200 each way
BA has brought back their special First Class offer during this sale. This allows you upgrade to First Class for a fixed £200 each way.
Having a quick look at various destinations, it really does seem as simple as described.
Here are some examples:
- Atlanta from £2119
- Boston from £1789
- Nashville from £1722
- New York from £1792
- Philadelphia from £1789
- Toronto from £1810
This fixed-price system is useful as it allows you to decide which flights are worth the upgrade.
You may decide that there isn’t much difference between Club World and First for an overnight flight where you’ll likely be asleep in a lie-flat bed either way. A lengthy day flight on the other hand, might allow you a better opportunity to make the most of a First experience.
It is just a shame that this offer is limited to North American destinations.
BA Holiday offers
The benefits of BA Holiday deals can be two-fold. Firstly, this can be a good way to pick up an excellent deal on your flights and hotels that would have been far more expensive to book separately.
Secondly, it is worth remembering that BA Holidays only require full payment 5 weeks before your flight with just a small deposit required at time of booking. This may appeal if you don’t fancy paying off your October half-term holiday in January!
You can find further details of BA Holiday sale pricing here
Save an extra £100 on holidays
- £25 extra discount – on Flight + Car holidays to any destination for bookings with a minimum spend of £600.
- £50 extra discount – on flight + hotel/car holidays to any destination for bookings with a minimum spend of £1,250 per booking.
- £100 extra discount – on flight + hotel/car holidays to any destination for bookings with a minimum spend of £2,500 per booking.
Offer ends Tuesday 9th January 2018
Full T&C’s for this offer can be found on this page.
How to book
Head over to the dedicated sale page on ba.com to view all of the available deals.
Alternatively, as mentioned above, the easiest place to start is probably the Low Fare Finder Tool on ba.com. This allows you to easily view the cheapest fares across a number of months in different cabins.
Bear in mind though that these prices are only updated every 24 hours, therefore the price you see on Low Fare Finder Tool may not fully reflect availability or price shifts.
Full sale T&C’s can be found at the bottom of this page.
Sale ends 30th January 2018
Verdict
For me, the real highlights of this sale in terms of flights are in long-haul Economy (and certain Premium Economy deals) and short-haul Club Europe. If you were looking for a Club World bargain, however, prices appear slightly higher on the whole than the last couple of sales.
For long-haul business class deals, I would hold off until after we know what the Qatar Airways January sale looks like. In recent years, this has been very good indeed and given that the BA sale runs until the 30th, you lose nothing by adopting a wait-and-see approach.
I am definitely tempted by some of the sub-£180 Club Europe deals and the ‘Upgrade to First for £200’ offer also produces some very decent First Class fares. You can’t really go wrong either with a £300 return in Economy to the likes of Boston and Dubai.