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British Airways to launch a new route to Gran Canaria

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British Airways has just announced plans to fly to Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands from October 26th. This is obviously an interesting new Avios redemption option.

They are, to put it mildly, not exactly risking the company on this one. The service will initially run just once a week, on Saturday. The outbound will leave Heathrow at 10.10am with the return departing at 3.20pm.

British Airways A320

At the time of writing, Avios redemption availability does not appear to have been loaded into the booking system, with the only options I can see routing via Madrid or Barcelona. 

The airport code for Gran Canaria is LPA, to save you time when fiddling with ba.com ….


How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

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:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

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

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review

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.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review

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.

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

Huge 30,000 points bonus until 12th May 2024 Read our full review

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.

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

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.

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points sign-up bonus and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

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

Comments (13)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Eshaq Choudhury says:

    I also see BA fly to Lanzarote and Tenerife but how do I book these with Avios as they do not appear on the avios map.

    • Rob says:

      Don’t use the Avios map, its rubbish. Use the normal reward booking system using the airport name.

      • Eshaq Choudhury says:

        There appears to be no reward for LPA, ACE or TFS anytime but ideally I’d like it during school holidays. How far ahead do they get released?

        • Rob says:

          Usually some seats open up when the seats first come up for sale – 355 days before departure – with further seats being dripped in if sales are low. School holidays will always be difficult, though, because if BA can easily sell those seats it will.

  • richie says:

    will this route be under the reward flight saver thing. ie just £40 in taxes pp

  • Sir Stamford says:

    I wouldn’t normally associate ACE or TFS as a tier run route for 160 points given that the cheapest CE is £488 and £489 respectively.

    If someone needs 160 tier points, I would suggest JEY-LGW-AMS-LGW-JEY for about £270.

    Sir Stamford

    • richie says:

      dont forget the cost of getting to jersey . (starting from £70)

      • Sir Stamford says:

        Not if you are based in JEY or need to be there to anyway to meet your bank manager!

        Even if you factor in the cost of a return flight in economy to JEY, it is about £340 for 180 tier points or £1.89 per TP which isn’t bad.

        Sir Stamford

        • richie says:

          im looking at paying £420 next month for a hand baggage only return to jersey-£70 and a business jer-gat lhr-brussles-lhr gat-jer (£350) giving me £180 tier points and lots of opportunity for duty free.

  • GlennM says:

    Dear all,

    For info, all the new BA Exec club offers have just been released on their website. All cash and discount deals, but no Avios.

    Regards, Glenn

    • Sir Stamford says:

      Offers such as the Tesco Clubcard 1,000 conversion bonus and extra Avios when you purchase 24,000 Avios are still shown on the BAEC offers page. The latter offer has just been added, if I am not mistaken. You may need to change the “sort by” setting from “Recently added” to “All” in order to view them.

      Sir Stamford

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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