More non-London routes for spending Avios

I have been running a few articles to show people how they can travel from the regions via Avios, using BA partner airlines.

I have already looked at routes on Vueling here and here.

Sun-Air of Scandinavia is a low profile BA franchise airline running flights in Scandinavia.

Sun-Air runs two routes from the UK regions into Scandinavia.

From Manchester, it flies to Billund in Denmark up to three time per day. 

It also flies from Manchester to Aarhus and Gothenburg. This is one flight with a stop in Gothenburg on the way.

All 3 routes are available as Reward Flight Savers for 9,000 Avios plus £30. You can also fly from London, with a plane change in Manchester, for the same amount (although BA has its own LHR-GOT service anyway).

I have also been taking a look at Finnair‘s route network. Outside London, Manchester is the only UK airport they serve. The service is good, though, with 2 flights a day in each direction to Helsinki for much of the week.

Unfortunately it is difficult to book MAN-HEL on ba.com using Avios because the website automatically defaults to MAN-LHR-HEL unless there are no BA options available – and BA does have seats almost every day! However, a quick telephone call to BAEC should allow you to get this booked.

It is 15,000 Avios for a return Economy ticket and – whilst this is a BA codeshare flight (BA6003/4, BA6007/8) – I don’t think you can use Reward Flight Saver here to reduce the taxes, which are £73 according to ba.com.

Helsinki is a lovely city to visit in its own right, but it is also a short ferry trip to Tallinn in Estonia which is also recommended.

This is not the end of this series on non-London redemption options …. more to come.

---

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2024)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.