Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.
British Airways just announced a huge bonus points promotion for fall travel, for those based in the US and Canada. Registration link.
Update: AA has a similar promo EUR11 (registration).
"Register, book and complete travel now through December 31, 2011, to earn 25,000 bonus Avios for your first qualifying, full-fare, transatlantic round-trip, 35,000 for your second, and 45,000 for your third and every additional round-trip after that. There is really no end to the points you can earn. For example, fly five times and earn a total of 195,000 bonus Avios. Fly 10 times and earn a total of 420,000 bonus Avios. To help you earn the most bonus Avios possible before the end of the year, this generous offer is also available on qualifying, transatlantic, round-trip flights on American Airlines or Iberia. Simply register now and remember to include your Executive Club number when you book."
The biggest catch with this promo is that the cheapest fares don't apply, however I priced out a bunch of "cheap" World Traveller Plus (Premium Economy fares) and all of them were T class, which is eligible for this promotion. When pricing out fares on Britishairways.com you need to click on the flight number and a pop-up window will give details of the flight including booking class. Make sure it's one of the below before purchasing.
Another disappointing aspect of this promo is that existing bookings don't count towards the promo. The good news is that most full-fare tickets allow relatively cheap cancellations, so if your fare allows - just cancel and rebook. Who knows - the price may have even gone down!
Overall, this is obviously a no brainer if you have premium transatlantic travel coming up and have the option of choosing British Airways. Even though their frequent flyer program is changing on November 16, 2011 and they refuse to give us the details, I still value 25,000 BA miles at least at $375.
Plus - you can upgrade from World Traveller Plus to Club World (business class) for only 25,000 miles roundtrip, so you will earn at least that many miles in bonuses, so essentially this promotion is like buying business class for the price of World Traveller plus (granted you need to make sure upgrade space exists). Most JFK-London World Traveller Plus fares were around $1,800 total roundtrip, so before you buy an expensive regular coach fare, check out World Traveller Plus to make sure it's not the same price or even cheaper.
If you don't have any BA miles and want to do the upgrade trick, you can always transfer in American Express Membership Rewards points (from Platinum and Premier Rewards Gold cards for example) or Chase Ultimate Rewards points (Sapphire Preferred, Ink Bold and Amazon Visa) to BA at instant 1:1 ratios (and sometimes more if there's a transfer bonus).
|  | | TERMS AND CONDITIONS |  |
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| 1. | To be eligible, you must be a current British Airways Executive Club member locally enrolled
and residing in the United States or Canada and register for this promotion sufficiently in
advance of outbound travel; if you are not a current member, you must join and register sufficiently in advance of outbound travel. British Airways ("BA") reserves the right to verify the eligibility of members. |
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| 2. | Member must purchase and fly on a full-fare, transatlantic round-trip ticket for travel beginning and ending in North America for flights that are operated and/or marketed by American Airlines,
British Airways or Iberia Airlines in the following booking classes: First (booking classes F, A), Business Class (booking classes J, C, D, R, I), World Traveller Plus Premium Economy (booking classes W, E, T) and Economy (booking classes Y, B, H). Flights operated by British Airways subsidiary OpenSkies do not qualify for this promotion. | | 3. | To participate in this promotion, members must (i) register for the promotion at ba.com/multiplier, and (ii) after registering, book and take qualifying, round-trip transatlantic flights by December 31, 2011. Qualifying flights will only count towards the promotion if the flights have been booked between September 19 and December 31, 2011, are flown no less than 24 hours after registering for the promotion, and the reservation includes the BA Executive Club membership number. Existing bookings made prior to the promotional booking period do not qualify. | | 4. | Member will earn the following bonus on qualifying, round-trip transatlantic flights taken during the promotional period:
- 25,000 bonus Avios points/BA Miles for first round-trip purchased and flown as an Executive Club member in a qualifying full-fare
- 35,000 bonus Avios points/BA Miles for second round-trip purchased and flown as an Executive Club member in a qualifying full-fare
- 45,000 bonus Avios points/BA Miles for third (and each additional) round-trip purchased and flown as an Executive Club member in a qualifying full-fare | | 5. | Bonus will be awarded to the account of the travelling Executive Club member within four (4) to six (6) weeks after the qualifying round-trip, transatlantic travel has been posted to the member's account. To ensure that qualifying flights are tracked, member must provide their Executive Club membership number at time of booking and again at check-in. | | 6. | The following are not qualifying flights and this promotion cannot be used in conjunction with any offer, promotion, or deal, including: (i) redemption bookings; (ii) travel agent or airline industry discounted fares, Consolidator or Wholesale fares, child/infant fares or senior citizen fares, whether or not booked in one of the qualifying booking classes; (iii) bookings made with vouchers or coupons (e.g. shareholder’s discount coupon); (iv) tickets upgraded from any class. | | 7. | Member must pay all applicable surcharges (including airline surcharges), government fees and taxes. | | 8. | British Airways reserves the right to cancel or amend the terms and conditions of this offer, without notice, at anytime. | | 9. | Full terms and conditions of the Executive Club apply. | | 10. | Other significant restrictions apply. |
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