Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

British Airways launches Greek tourist routes from London City

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

In a slightly left field move, British Airways has announced the launch of two new ‘Summer sun’ routes from London City Airport.

From June 29th until September 6th, British Airways will be offering:

four flights per week to Mykonos

two flights per week to Santorini

BA CityFlyer E190

As these are City routes, they will be operated by BA CityFlyer using its fleet of Embraer planes.  I’m not sure how comfortable these will be for a four hour flight, to be honest.

The existing services from Heathrow to Mykonos and Santorini appear to be continuing.

Cash and redemption seats are already available at ba.com although I could not find any Club Europe availability, only Euro Traveller.

That said, as there is no lounge at London City, the legroom is the same in all seats and there is no ’empty middle seat’ benefit (Embraer seating is 2×2) you don’t miss much if you are down the back.


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 (18)

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

  • Danksy says:

    They were just about bareable for the hop to AMS !

  • Adam says:

    No availability JMK-LON August ;(

  • andystock says:

    That pic is not an Embraer! The leg room is better than the airbus fleet with the new seating and the seats are wider than the airbus fleet. CE is a waste of time from City and coming into city your exit from both the front and back.

    • ADS says:

      By using a pic of a nasty old BAe146 – Raffles could be accused to trying to put people off flying these routes !!

  • Richard says:

    I found the Embraers very comfortable and indeed more so than other short haul types BA operate. Agree that CE not worth it on this route.

  • Neil says:

    I’ve given up with CE anyway – the enhanced legroom was the final straw for me – so these new LCY routes look ideal.

  • Ralph says:

    How much comfort do we need for what is essentially a short haul flight? We flew to Santorini on Easyjet earlier in the year, packed our own sarnies, popped some movies on the tablet and we were there before we knew it. We did pay for exit row seats such have great leg room, the seats don’t recline (all carriers on short haul routes should be forced to eliminate seat recline) and oc the purchase of these seats gets you speedy boarding too. More interesting for me is the availability of rsf.

  • Rich says:

    I wonder how much luggage will get left behind on hot summer days?
    Agreed that the smaller 170EMBs are tight, but the larger aircraft have the best Y product in the BA fleet’ with comfortable 2+2 seating and 34″ pitch. There is little benefit to flying club tho.

  • Chris says:

    I’ve done 3hrs on the Embraer with BA from Edinburgh on a Barrhead Travel charter and they are fine and can cope with a full hold of luggage coming off the short runway at Edinburgh so it shouldn’t a problem from LCY.

    After the mainline changes they are without a doubt the best Y seating in the BA

    • Rich says:

      Edinburgh airport’s runway is nearly twice as long as LCY.
      (8,000 ft / 4’900 ft)

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

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.