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More UK-Spain summer sun routes launched by Iberia

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I have written before about the new Iberia services which are starting from Manchester (September) and Edinburgh (March).

These will offer a direct route to Madrid, bookable with Avios points, and an easy option for connecting to an Iberia long-haul Avios redemption.

This all seemed a bit too sensible for Iberia’s route planning department, though.  With Iberia now back in profit, anything goes!

At least, that is what is seems like.  I can’t think of any other reason for the launch of London Luton to Vigo.

The route will be operated by Air Nostrum / Iberia Regional on Thursdays and Sundays between 15 July and 27 September.

Seats are now available for Avios redemptions at ba.com.  It is 15,000 Avios + £30 in Economy (no Reward Flight Saver on Iberia but taxes out of Luton are low anyway) and 30,000 Avios + £43 in Business.

If you are thinking of booking for cash, look at iberia.com and Air Nostrum as prices and baggage allowances can sometimes vary.

More logical are two new Summer routes launched by Iberia Express.  The only surprising thing here is that they are being flown from Heathrow – and Terminal 5 at that – where we are always led to believe that British Airways is struggling to find slots.

The new routes are:

Heathrow to Tenerife North (3 flights per week from 29 March)

Heathrow to Las Palmas / Gran Canaria (4 flights per week from 30 March)

The tax is not great, unfortunately.  Las Palmas is 20,000 Avios + £114 return in Economy or 40,000 Avios + £64 in Business.  I have no idea why Business is £50 cheaper, I think ba.com is treating the surcharges incorrectly.  The pricing for Tenerife is the same.

In Economy, you are better off booking via iberia.com and using Combine My Avios to send your points across.  Las Palmas in 20,000 Avios + £59 in Economy, for example, saving you £55 per person.  Business Class, on the other hand, has taxes of £80 which is more than ba.com wants.


How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (December 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

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There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

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

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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.

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Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

Comments (25)

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

  • Reason says:

    The reason why they are starting the LTN-VGO service is beacuse the Vigo council is heavily subsidising Iberia regional (Air Nostrum) to operate from VGO. The local newspapers quote 3.55 million euros for 3 years of operations (flights from VGO to other airports, not just LTN). As subsidies to airlines are illegal by EU laws, they do it by signing a “tourism promotion agreement”, where Air Nostrum is supposed to advertise Vigo and Vigo gets the flights.

    • David says:

      The other thing to note, is that not only is Luton airport cheaper (and easier to get slots at), AENA also now have a key stake in the airport. (ignore the historic references to 10%, much bigger now).

      Almost all airports offer (quite legally) discounts on landing fees for new routes for the first season. I’ve no knowledge of AENAs policies, but in the past airport operators have been known to offer larger discounts if your flights happen to use their airports at both ends (i.e. they agree to only profit once, etc).

      No knowledge of whether that is happening here, but it is interesting that AENA now have a key stake in Luton.

  • Gabe says:

    can you book through iberia plus and the change your loyalty card to BA to get lounge access and that?

    • David says:

      Yes, although you can also book from BAEC, searching for a redemption from “London (all)” will find the flights – as they don’t have Luton configured.

      • Gabe says:

        How do you change it I booked it through IBeria but cannot seem to find how to change from my IB number to BA number.

        • Fly says:

          Try looking for your booking using the Finnair website.
          It worked for me in the past, BA, Iberia and Finnair share the booking systems but neither BA or Iberia allow changes to the FF number.

  • More routes says:

    Iberia Express just announced today a daily LHR-PMI flight from 1st April.
    Also today Vueling announced a 4x per week MAN-BCN route from 19th June.
    Lots of new UK-Spain routes bookable with avios 🙂

  • Manuel says:

    Vigo is my hometown ald known for its Football team Celta de Vigo that play in Spanish First Division ( Premier League). It is 200 km from Porto, 75 km of Santiago de Compostela ( very known Catholic Pilgrims place ).

    Galice is not well known outside Spain, but in Spain it is considered the green lung of Spain and has the best White Whine ( Albariño) of the world. Every 1st Sunday of August and week therefore the Wineparty is a cultural thing and good party. Also the best Seafood and mussles come from Galice. A mussel-platform was the start of “LA Vuelta” Spanish equivalent of Tour debFrance.

    Very special thing. We are descendants of CELTS and the bag pipe is our national instrument. Many links are between us and Irish people.

    I hope to helped you a little bit with this unknown Gem 🙂

    Also Gallegos like me we love to party. A local supermarket made a lot of videos called : Vivir Como Gallego! Check YouTube.

  • Gordon says:

    Iberia has just announced a 25% avios sale. Buy your ticket by 26/2 for travel between 29/3 and 15/7.

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

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