New Avios redemption option to Florence with Vueling

Vueling is an airline you may not have heard of.  It is a semi-low-cost carrier partly owned by Iberia (and bookable on the Iberia site) operating across Europe.

British Airways, as we know, does not operate any flights from outside London.  However, Vueling runs a few routes from Cardiff (Alicante, Barcelona, Majorca, Malaga) and Edinburgh (Barcelona).  Click through to read my earlier post.

Vueling flights can be booked on Avios, and at the Reward Flight Saver rate.   However, they can only be booked via Iberia Plus. You will need to transfer BAEC or avios.com Avios into Iberia Plus to book these seats, and you need to be an Iberia Plus member for 90 days before you can transfer into Iberia Plus.

From March 31st, Vueling is opening a new base in Florence.  One of the flights will be a daily route to London Heathrow, which will be the first time that the two airports have been linked.

(Meridiana operates a flight from Gatwick to Florence.  This is a BA codeshare, but cannot be booked with Avios.)

The outbound flight on most days leave Heathrow at 16.35, arriving in Florence at 19.35.  The return leaves Florence at 14.15, arriving into Heathrow at 15.40.

Fares seem to be around €200 return, so if you can secure a Reward Flight Saver seat (€35 of taxes) via Iberia Plus then you will get a good deal.

For completeness, the other routes flown direct from London by Vueling are:

• A Coruna
• Barcelona
• Bilbao
• Galicia
• Majorca

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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.