When does British Airways release Avios Reward seats? (and how many)

With a lot of airlines there often seems to be no rhyme or reason to when Reward seats are released and that can be frustrating.

It’s true to say that sometimes we can find patterns that often hold true (some airlines release a handful of award seats early and then don’t release many more until a few weeks before departure, for example) but in a lot of cases there’s absolutely no way of knowing when (or if) Reward seats will be released, like with American Airlines for example.

With British Airways things are a little different.

One good thing to come out of the crushing British Airways devaluations of 2015 (I can’t believe it has already been over a decade!) was a promise that British Airways made.

The guarantee

BA’s 2015 promise said that going forward, the airline would guarantee that it would release a minimum number of Avios Reward seats on all British Airways operated flights offered for sale.

Since then, those guaranteed minimums have been increased, and as things stand today, on every British Airways operated flight to and from London Heathrow and London Gatwick the airline guarantees at least:

• Four seats in Business Class (Club Europe and Club World)
• Two seats in Premium Economy (World Traveller Plus)
• Eight seats in Economy Class (Euro Traveller and World Traveller)

That’s 14 guaranteed Avios Reward seats on a long haul flight. Short haul flights don’t have a Premium Economy cabin, so they get 12 Avios Reward seats.

There are two exceptions worth knowing about.

1. First Class Avios Reward seats do appear, but British Airways has never committed to releasing any.
2. Flights out of London City Airport are only guaranteed two Business Class seats rather than four and just 2 Economy Class seats instead of 8.

Link to the British Airways Rewards Flights page

When the seats are released

As part of the 2015 guarantee, the airline also confirmed that these seats would be released 355 days before departure.

More specifically, these Reward seats are released at 1:00am (UK time) when the UK is on British Summer Time (between the last Sunday in March and the last Sunday in October) and at midnight (UK time) the rest of the year when the UK is on Greenwich Mean Time.

It’s worth keeping in mind that the 355 day window applies to the outbound flight only. If you need to book a return flight (and a lot of people will), you’ll need to come back and book that when availability for your return date opens up (again, 355 days ahead of time).

Here, for example, is a screenshot I took yesterday which shows reward flight availability on the London – Rome route for 10 July 2027 (355 days out):

[IMAGE TO BE INSERTED]

As you should be able to see, there are 4 Business Class seats and 8 Economy Class seats available on every flight.

In my experience, British Airways has always been good at releasing these awards as soon as the clock strikes midnight (or 1am), but I’m told that this isn’t always the case and that, sometimes, there’s a delay before the Reward seats appear online, so it may be prudent to call BA just to be extra sure (make sure you call an office in a part of the world where it’s still business hours).

Sometimes, calling in is better than booking online

If you’re chasing seats on a route where the 355 day release is genuinely competitive (e.g. Sydney, Cape Town, the Maldives, or anywhere Europan with a snowy mountain in the middle of February), booking online is probably not going to be the best way forward.

The Avios Reward seats will appear on the BA website on the dot, but selecting a flight online doesn’t take it out of anyone else’s reach until you have paid for it. That takes time and time is your enemy here.

You see, a call centre agent putting the same Reward on hold will remove it from sale (even if there’s someone online part way through booking that very Reward flight), so by the time you’ve confirmed the passenger details and your payment information, the seat you thought you had will probably be gone and all you’ll get is an error message.

Obviously, if you plan to call in, you’ll need to call a center that’s actually open around midnight/01:00 UK, so the UK center is no good to you.

It doesn’t stop at 355 days

While BA is committed to releasing these seats on every flight, it doesn’t mean that this is all you can expect the airline to release, or that the airline only releases Reward seats 355 days out.

BA can (and will) release more Avios Reward seats whenever its booking algorithms indicate that flight loads are looking light (this can happen at any point during the year).

If Avios Reward seats aren’t available on the flights you’re looking for it means that the ones released 355 days out have been snapped up, but you should check back regularly to see if the airline has released any more or, better still, use the Avios app to receive alerts if seats open up on a route you’re watching.

BA Gold members get more

British Airways Club Gold members can often see additional Reward seats in Economy Class over and above the guaranteed eight, at standard pricing. This isn’t published as a specific number and appears to vary by route and by how the flight is selling (this is probably the most valuable benefit that I no longer have access to since I jumped from the BA Club to Finnair Plus).

Gold members also have access to Gold Priority Rewards, which let you convert any seat that’s still available for cash into a Reward seat. The catch is that it costs double the standard Avios amount, it has to be booked by phone rather than online, and you need to do it at least 30 days before departure.

A note on partner airlines

None of the above applies to Avios bookings on other airlines. British Airways has no say over when its partners choose to release award space, and the guarantee covers British Airways operated flights only.

There is, however, a little good news for Avios users when it comes to how British Airways Reward flights work alongside some partner programs.

British Airways releases its Reward seats 355 days out, but a number of the airlines whose members can also book those seats don’t open their own booking windows until a few weeks later.

American Airlines flyers, for example, can’t use AAdvantage miles to book British Airways Reward flights until 331 days out, and that hands Avios users a 24 day head start on the same seats.

Bottom line

British Airways guarantees 14 Avios Reward seats on every long-haul flight it operates (four Business Class, two Premium Economy and eight Economy Class) and 12 Avios Reward seats on most of its short-haul flights, and those seats go on sale 355 days before departure at midnight UK time, or 1:00am when the UK is on British Summer Time.

For the vast majority of routes you don’t need to be sitting up at midnight to get what you want, because most routes aren’t that competitive and the Reward seats don’t sell out particularly quickly.

For the handful of routes where demand and competition for Avios Reward seats can be brutal, however, the 355 day release point is realistically your only shot at getting an Avios booking (especially if you’re hoping to book a premium cabin), and calling rather than booking online could increase your chances.