Bizarre new British Airways route launched: Glasgow to Salzburg

To be fair, this is not as bizarre as the Edinburgh to Ibiza service launched by British Airways last year.  It is close, though.

From December 12th, British Airways is launching a Saturday-only service from Glasgow to Salzburg.

The timings are decent, leaving Glasgow at 12.40 and leaving Salzburg for the return at 15.50.

The justification for the service is to “utilise time within the Gatwick short-haul schedule” and the flights will be staffed with Gatwick-based crew.

It will be a two cabin service.

Avios flights have already been loaded into ba.com – initially they are offering the bare minimum of four seats per flight in Eurotraveller and two seats per flight in Club Europe.  These clearly will not last long, at one flight per week, so move quickly if you are keen.  Additional seats may open up later if demand is low.

If you live in London, remember that new weekend services to Salzburg will be running between December and March from Heathrow.  This is in addition to the well established Gatwick service.

Whilst a small town, there are numerous hotel redemption options.  I have stayed at the Sheraton by the park which is one of the better ones in the chain.  There is a Crowne Plaza a few seconds away.  The old town contains the luxury Starwood option of the Goldener Hirsch and a Radisson Blu bookable with Club Carlson points.  Unfortunately the InterContinental resort in nearby Berchtesgaden is now a Kempinski, although it is still worth a look if paying cash.  There are no Hilton options.

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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.

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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.