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British Airways launches New York to Gatwick – wide open for Avios redemptions

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It has been seven years since British Airways threw in the towel in its attempt to persuade the business travellers of the South East to head to Gatwick and on to New York.

The decision, announced yesterday, to bring back the service seems a little odd.  This is especially true when you consider that, unlike seven years ago, BA will be up against low-cost competition in the form of the Norwegian Gatwick to New York service.

The new service launches on 1st May and will operate daily.

It will depart Gatwick at 4.40pm, landing at 7.30pm.  The return flight will leave JFK at 10pm, arriving at 10am.

It will use a three-class Boeing 777 aircraft, so First Class will not be available.

As always with a new route, you should find Avios redemption availability wide open.  Two Club World seats are available every day, as well as four economy seats.  If you were looking for New York flights for next Summer but had found no availability, now is the day to book.  Take a look now at ba.com.

Where are the aircraft coming from?

It is time to check your existing bookings if you have a long-haul flight booked from Gatwick after 1st May 2016.

Las Vegas is cancelled entirely.  Vegas will now be flown only from Heathrow.

In addition, according to reports, Antigua is cut by one flight per week.  Orlando is also losing one service per week.  Kingston and Tobago will be rescheduled to different days of the week – I hope your hotel booking was refundable ….

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

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:

Barclaycard Avios Plus 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 card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

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

25,000 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.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a 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, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

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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.

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

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

40,000 points sign-up bonus 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.

Category

British Airways and Avios

Comments (19)

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

  • Frankie says:
    22 Oct22 October 06:34

    Re: the Vegas flights. Are they keeping BA2277 and moving it to Heathrow with BA275 so there are two a day from Heathrow? Either way probably good news for Virgin as BA2277 went at the same time as VS43 from Gatwick so VS will once again be the only airline to LAS from LGW and at 11am is much better for a decent Vegas arrival time than BA275.

    • Mark says:
      22 Oct22 October 08:27

      Almost. Flights from Heathrow are increasing to 10 per week operated by 747s. The additional flight is BA271/270 from memory – not sure which days off the top of my head.

      I would imagine anyone planning to fly from Gatwick will be transferred onto one of the Heathrow flights.

  • JQ says:
    22 Oct22 October 06:54

    CX may be launching LGW-HKG.

  • Mark says:
    22 Oct22 October 08:32

    For anyone who is impacted by the changes to Florida or the Caribbean, I’d insist on being rerouted via Miami (or one if the other islands if a connection is possible) where dates are not flexible.

    Miami is an AA hub – just ensure you have plenty of time to clear immigration!

    • Naf says:
      22 Oct22 October 09:01

      Immigration in Miami has entered a new era now with self service passport control, the infamous 2 hour lines are down to just about 5 minutes. Just had this as a surprise on our recent arrival.

      • Mark says:
        22 Oct22 October 09:42

        That’s good to hear. Flying through there next Thursday.

      • Doreen says:
        22 Oct22 October 12:08

        And how was Customs – I have been avoiding MIA for a very long time after being stuck in a Customs queue where everything was being scanned.

        • Kaz says:
          23 Oct23 October 05:31

          Hi Doreen,

          We came through there a couple of days ago and it was a breeze – my eight year old son thought it was great fun! As Naf has said only took 5-10 mins tops and you can complete as a family and go through the one machine.

  • Jon says:
    22 Oct22 October 09:13

    I have avios booked flights to Las Vegas for 5 of us next July. They are still showing in MMB and the BA website is still selling LGW flights on the same day. When should I expect to be notified?

    • Jon says:
      22 Oct22 October 15:00

      I’ve now had an email through confirming cancellation and rebooking on Heathrow flight. A bit of a result really as we were flying out of LGW to LAS and back into LHR from San Diego as there was no avios availability from LHR going out. No need for taxis now.

  • Jim says:
    22 Oct22 October 12:33

    The reduction in services to MCO comes as a surprise, especially as the flights are still showing as bookable for next summer. A reduction in the winter season I can understand.

  • Ade says:
    22 Oct22 October 14:27

    Looking at alternatives for Orlando on the Virgin website. When I select London to Orlando the options of using miles or miles and money are greyed out. Allegedly it’s not available on this route. Has anyone else experienced this?

  • HayMow says:
    23 Oct23 October 12:03

    Do you know how many Premium Economy seats per flight tend to be released for redemptions? (vs. the 2 Club World & 4 economy) . thx

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

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