Where can I fly from UK regional airports with Avios?

In this article I want to look at where you can fly from UK regional airports (so excluding Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and London City) with Avios.

When British Airways sold its regional operations to Flybe many years ago, it became an airline with NO flights which do not begin or end in London.  This situation has been reversed slightly in recent years as a few weekend routes were added from Southampton and Edinburgh, but to all intents and purposes there is no substantive route network outside London.

Luckily, there are still some Avios options available.  Let’s take a look.

How can I redeem these flights?

Unfortunately it’s not hugely straightforward:

• all of the flights below, except for Vueling, can be booked on ba.com via the standard Avios booking portal

• for Aer Lingus short haul flights (not the Manchester long haul services) you will find that the taxes and charges are lower if you open an Aer Lingus AerClub account, move your Avios across via ‘Combine My Avios’ and book via aerlingus.com

• for Vueling flights, you need to open an Aer Lingus AerClub or Vueling Club account, move your Avios across via ‘Combine My Avios’ and book via vueling.com – but this is rarely worthwhile, as it is a straight ‘get money off a cash ticket by using Avios’ deal at a poor rate

Which regional flights can be booked using Avios?

Here is a full list of ALL flights from UK regional airports which can be booked using Avios and which do not touch London.  Long-haul flights are in bold print.

Some services are seasonal.

Aberdeen

• Aer Lingus to Dublin

Belfast City

• Aer Lingus to Birmingham, Cardiff, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Exeter, Glasgow, Isle of Man, Leeds Bradford, Manchester, Newcastle, Newquay and Southampton

Birmingham

• Qatar Airways to Doha
• Aer Lingus to Dublin, Belfast City
• Vueling to Barcelona

Bristol

• Aer Lingus to Dublin, Cork

Cardiff

• Aer Lingus to Belfast City
• Vueling to Alicante, Malaga

East Midlands

• Aer Lingus to Belfast City

Edinburgh

• Qatar Airways to Doha
• JetBlue to New York JFK *
• Aer Lingus to Dublin, Belfast City
• BA Cityflyer weekend routes to Palma, Florence, San Sebastian, Olbia (Summer only)
• Finnair to Helsinki
• Iberia to Madrid
• Vueling to Barcelona

Exeter

• Aer Lingus to Dublin, Belfast City

Glasgow

• Aer Lingus to Dublin, Belfast City

Isle of Man

• Aer Lingus to Dublin, Belfast City

Leeds Bradford

• Aer Lingus to Dublin, Belfast City

Liverpool

• Aer Lingus to Dublin

Manchester

• Aer Lingus to Barbados, New York, Orlando
• Cathay Pacific to Hong Kong
• Qatar Airways to Doha
• Royal Jordanian to Amman
• Aer Lingus to Dublin, Belfast City
• British Airways (SUN-AIR) to Billund, Gothenburg (via Billund)
• Finnair to Helsinki
• Iberia Express to Madrid
• Royal Air Maroc to Casablanca, Marrakech
• Vueling to Barcelona

Newcastle

• Aer Lingus to Dublin, Belfast City

Newquay

• Aer Lingus to Dublin, Belfast City

Southampton

• Aer Lingus to Dublin, Belfast City
• BA Cityflyer – Summer 2024 to Bergerac, Faro, Malaga, Palma, Winter 2024 TBC

*to redeem on JetBlue, you need to transfer your Avios to a Qatar Airways Privilege Club account and book from there. This article explains how. Flights will run from May to September 2024.

If you think we’ve missed anything, please let us know in the comments. We put this list together manually so something could easily have slipped through.

(This article is part of our ‘BA Q&A’ series which explains how British Airways Executive Club works.  You can see all of our ‘BA Q&A’ articles here. )

(Head for Points is the UK’s biggest frequent flyer website with 2.5 million monthly page views.  Want to learn more about earning and spending Avios?  Click here to read our latest news stories and click here to join the mailing list for our weekly or daily email newsletters.)

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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.