British Airways launches new service to Lima!
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If your holiday plans for 2016 are not yet firm, British Airways has thrown you a curve ball with the potential to use your Avios points to head down to ….. Lima! A trip to the Inca Trail and Machu Picchu might be on the cards.
From May 4th, you will be able to fly from Gatwick to Peru. This will be the only direct service available between the two countries.
Operated by a three class Boeing 777 (so no First Class option), the service will operate three times a week – Wednesday, Friday and Sunday – in Summer and twice a week in Winter.
Cash tickets are already available on ba.com although they had not loaded Avios availability when I checked yesterday.
As is usual with new routes, you can expect very good redemption availability whilst the route beds down.
Iberia also flies to Lima and, of course, Iberia Avios redemptions in Business – when booked on iberia.com – usually save you around £300-£400 per person in tax. If you are not using an American Express 2-4-1 voucher, you may still prefer to book from Madrid. To avoid UK long haul Air Passenger Duty, you would need to buy or redeem a separate ticket to Spain.
Remember that British Airways is also launching Costa Rica as a new route next May – details in this article.
How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (January 2021)
As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios from UK credit cards. Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!
There are two official British Airways American Express cards:

British Airways American Express
5,000 Avios for signing up, no annual fee and a companion voucher for spending £20,000 Read our full review

British Airways American Express Premium Plus
25,000 Avios and the UK’s most valuable credit card perk – the 2-4-1 companion voucher Read our full review
You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points, such as:

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold
Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & two airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express
30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel benefits – for a fee 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.
If you have a small business, we especially recommend Capital On Cap’s Visa card which comes with a generous bonus worth 10,500 Avios:

Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa
The most generous Avios Visa or Mastercard for a limited company Read our full review
(Want to earn more Avios? Click here to visit our home page for our latest articles on earning and spending your Avios points and click here to see how to earn more Avios this month from offers and promotions.)
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