New British Airways leisure routes launched for Summer 2014

British Airways announced a number of new leisure routes last week for Summer 2014.

What is fascinating about this selection is that they are mainly leisure routes. BA has spent a lot of time in recent years moving leisure routes over to Gatwick, and moving semi-leisure routes like Prague over to Heathrow Terminal 3 instead of Terminal 5. This appears to be an attempt to utilise aircraft at weekends which are not required for core business routes.

The new routes are Heathrow to Oporto, Mykonos and Santorini.

Oporto (home of a snazzy new InterContinental if you have a lot of IHG points) starts on March 30th with the other two starting over 3rd/4th May.

There will be only two flights per week on each route so you may end up flying one leg on another airline or being very inflexible over when you travel.

Full Avios availability for these routes does not yet seem to have been loaded, looking at a few tests I tried.

BA is also launching Heathrow services to Malaga and Faro. These routes are already served from Gatwick / City. Among routes with service increases, the stand-out is Palma, which goes from two to five flights per week.

It is not yet clear where all of the slots for these services will come from. So far, the only announcement is that Heathrow to Agadir and Alicante will cease at the end of March 2014. This only frees up five slots per week, though, so there must be more to come.

One interesting bit of long-haul news is that a NINTH daily Heathrow to JFK service is being launched. This is replacing one of the American Airlines services. I get a feeling that – since AA only has a limited number of 777’s with the new flat bed seating in business class – they are doing this in order to be able to claim that all AA / BA services to New York will have a flat bed.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2025)

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 Mastercard

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

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

Get 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

30,000 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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large 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, and the standard card is FREE. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review

There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business

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

50,000 points when you sign-up 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.