British Airways launches new ‘Visit California’ campaign in run up to San Jose launch

British Airways announced a new route yesterday – to Tehran.  I will cover this later in the week, but for most people the highlights of the expanded BA route network in 2016 will be Lima, Costa Rica and, from 4th May, San Jose in California.

San Jose will utilise one of the new Boeing 787-9 aircraft which means that it will be a four class service, including the latest version of the British Airways First Class seat.

Operating daily, this is, fundamentally, the ‘silicon valley’ flight.  Expect it to be full of Google and Apple employees shuttling back and forth.  Amazingly, it is the first direct flight from anywhere in Europe to San Jose.

If you are looking for Avios availability to California or Nevada, it is another option to add to the existing choices of Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Phoenix or Las Vegas.

‘Visit California’ promotion now on

Until 14th February, British Airways is running a special California promotion with discounts on flights and holidays to Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego.  Details can be found on this special BA webpage.

As part of this promotion, Head for Points will be running three extra articles over the next week to highlight interesting new tourist opportunities in the area.  These articles are on top of the usual three HfP stories each day and are being underwritten by British Airways (but written by us) as it wanted to support the site.  I hope you find them interesting.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (December 2023)

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:

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

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 9th January 2024, you will receive 30,000 Membership Rewards points (convertible to 30,000 Avios) with American Express Preferred Rewards Gold. You receive 25,000 points if you spend £3,000 in three months and a further 5,000 points if you hold the card for 15 months. You can apply here.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 9th January 2024, you will receive a huge 100,000 Membership Rewards points (convertible to 100,000 Avios) with The Platinum Card. You receive 75,000 points if you spend £10,000 in six months and a further 25,000 points if you hold the card for 15 months. You can apply here.

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.

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.

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.

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