British Airways launches Riga with airBaltic and Hamburg with SUN-AIR

British Airways has announced a new codeshare agreement, this time with airBaltic.

It only covers one route, from London Gatwick to Riga in Latvia.  I had a good trip to Riga a few years ago, and it is worth a visit if you have exhausted the usual Eastern European bucket list.

Tickets are now on sale at ba.com for travel from September 23rd.

Whilst you will be able to earn Avios and tier points flying on this route – if booked under the BA flight code – it seems unlikely that redemptions will be available.

(Even if Avios redemptions were available, you would not be able to use Reward Flight Saver so you would be liable for the full tax of £70 – £90 per person.)

As always with codeshare flights, you should double-check the price on the airBaltic website before booking.  You would lose your Avios but the price may be lower over there, depending on how successful each airline has been in selling their respective ticket allocation.

SUN-AIR to launch Hamburg flights

In a separate bit of route news, BA franchisee SUN-AIR of Scandinavia is launching a Hamburg service from London City Airport.

Unlike the official British Airways services from City, this will use a small Dornier 328 turboprop aircraft.  Running only from Monday to Friday, there will a morning and evening flight in both directions.

The first flights will depart on 27th October.  This service is available for Avios redemptions and it is available as a Reward Flight Saver.  It looks as if two seats per flight have been allocated for redemptions

SUN-AIR also runs London City to Billund (for Legoland!), Manchester to Billund and Manchester to Gothenburg, all as franchised BA services.  These are bookable at ba.com just like standard BA flights.