‘Part Pay With Avios’ now available on Flybe – at a poor rate

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• Bryan says:

  25 Oct25 October 06:03

  I quite liked Flybe when I was living in Newcastle for a few months as they had a lot of routes out of there. Now Gatwick is my local airport and they only fly to Newquay so I haven’t flown with them for a while.

• @mkcol says:

  25 Oct25 October 06:09

  I’m astounded the UK has 40 airports.

  • Bryan says:

    25 Oct25 October 06:49

    And that doesn’t even include Heathrow

  • John says:

    25 Oct25 October 07:04

    The US has 19000 airports, although only 5000 are for public use.

    • Andrew H says:

      25 Oct25 October 09:27

      The UK has 64 airports (possibly a few more actually). You have to add in all the Scottish island airports, of which there are many! All of them operate scheduled passenger services.

• Alex W says:

  25 Oct25 October 07:12

  Why do Avios keep insulting us with these poor Part Pay rates? I thought we were on to a good thing last year with BA trying out up to 1.5p per Avios – what happened to that?!

  • Brian says:

    25 Oct25 October 07:21

    Uh…because they want a better deal for themselves rather than us, perhaps???

    • Alex W says:

      25 Oct25 October 14:13

      Well it’s making me want to take my business elsewhere to a program with more valuable LOYALTY points.

      • Callum says:

        26 Oct26 October 01:33

        Do it then… If you’re staying out of loyalty and not because it’s the best scheme for you then you’re the problem, not them!

• Jason Hindle says:

  25 Oct25 October 07:45

  I’ve found FlyBe’s partnerships with AF and KLM to be something of a PITA. These are two airlines that allow a passenger to bring a full sized carry on plus laptop on board. You can forget that with the little FlyBe aircraft and their tiny overhead bins (though KLM claim to honour the weight limit for passengers flying FlyBe on a KLM code).

  • mark2 says:

    25 Oct25 October 10:36

    In my opinion the PITA is the passengers bringing very heavy bags into the cabin.
    How long before someone is seriously injured?

    • Jason Hindle says:

      25 Oct25 October 12:11

      If you want a real PITA, try turning up somewhere hot without a change or two of clothes and no time or prospect to buy new. As far as I’m concerned, once was often enough. A laptop bag plus carry on with essentials hardly counts as heavy. Travelling well is all about taking care of the details.

      • Alan says:

        26 Oct26 October 09:49

        Do they not offer to put your carry on bags into the hold at the plane steps and return immediately upon landing? This is how BMI do it with their small luggage lockers and it seems like a good system to me. Surprised other airlines with small lockers don’t also do it.

        • Keith says:

          26 Oct26 October 14:06

          KLM do this on their Cityflier flights too, but you don’t get them back when you get off – they put them in with the hold luggage, and you have to collect from the baggage carousel. Completely defeats the object of travelling HBO to save time, and I watched my case with carefully packed breakables bounce down the belt at LHR! I avoid any KLM Cityflier flights now.

        • Alan says:

          26 Oct26 October 15:05

          Ah, yes that would kind of defeat the object. With BMI they return the items to you at the aircraft steps upon reaching the stand.

• Nick says:

  25 Oct25 October 08:15

  Compare Flybe average age fleet versus ba as well. I have no issues at all
  with Flybe or their baggage or their polite staff plus a free chocolate when you leave the aircraft is a v simple nice touch. Plus the fact they fly from my local airport 15 mins away to visit family is an absolute bonus. Long may they continue in my experience

• Ian says:

  25 Oct25 October 08:25

  Sadly we still have a very poor domestic airline system.

  I am in the south west. If I am flying out of Heathrow my only practical choice is to drive there as there are no flights that go there from say the Bristol area or anywhere else for that matter.

  Even if I could use flybe as a connection then the cost to take the same luggage as I am allowed on BA or AA is expensive. I believe even adding a heavy case or a second one is not cheap.

  I would love to fly around the UK, but the options are just limited. Was it flybe that put on a temporary service from Cardiff to London for 6 weeks due to roadworks and have ended up keeping it as it is so popular? I am sure that the demand is there. Would much rather fly than use our poor motorway system. But I am not going to get ripped off.

  • BrianDT says:

    25 Oct25 October 08:44

    Bristol to Heathrow, by plane ? You really think so ?

    • mark2 says:

      25 Oct25 October 10:38

      There used to be (maybe still are) flights from Bristol to Exeter. Considering how far the airport is from Bristol you could probably drive to Exeter in the time it took to get from Central Bristol to the plane through security etc.

      • RussellH says:

        25 Oct25 October 13:33

        Flying from Bristol to Exeter sounds completely bonkers. Equally, Bristol to Heathrow.

        The train takes less than 1 hr from Bristol Temple Meads to Exeter St Davids and the service is at least hourly. Plus far more leg room, no security checks and less air pollution.

        For most of the (currently) UK there is no need for domestic flights. London to Inverness or Aberdeen perhaps, but for shorter distances it makes no sense at all to me.

        • Anon says:

          25 Oct25 October 19:46

          “For most of the (currently) UK there is no need for domestic flights”

          Do you mean the UK or GB?

          Sure a few folks from NI might disagree.

          What about London from GLA or Edinburgh?

          What about the inhabitants of Scottish Islands?

        • RussellH says:

          26 Oct26 October 16:28

          Yes, I did forget about NI, London to NI is probably more valid than ABZ or INV to LON.

          I deliberately left out Hebridean, Orkney and Shetland flights because the discussion was in terms of inter-city flying.

          London to EDI and GLA no. I lived in Dunblane, half way between EDI and GLA for twenty years, while the rest of the family lived under the LHR flightpath. In that time I did take one flight; EDI-LHR on Airmiles (long before Avios) because the trains were stowed out and very expensive. Even then, taking everything into consideration, the train was only probably 30 mins slower than flying, as well as being a much pleasanter experience (apart from the free afternoon tea with clotted cream and scones that BA provided in those days!).

          If the powers that be get their fingers out and get HS2 built to Edinburgh and Glasgow there would be no need to think of expanding airports

    • Ian says:

      25 Oct25 October 11:34

      Why not? The point is the UK domestic network is very poor.

      • Callum says:

        26 Oct26 October 01:39

        As it should be given our high standard of ground transport (yes, both the train and coach networks are at a high standard on a global level – even if they don’t meet your own!).

        While I reject the climate change argument for airport expansion on the whole, short unnecessary flights like the previously mentioned Bristol to Exeter really shouldn’t exist.

  • Nate1309 says:

    25 Oct25 October 14:41

    I miss the Cardiff to Newquay flight. 40 min flight, versus 3 1/2hr drive or 5 hr train (and then drive 15 miles). Was a cool service, was just a stop on the MAN-NQY flight, didn’t have to get off if not your destination.

• Alan Hunt says:

  25 Oct25 October 08:40

  Flybe used to fly regularly from Southampton to Guernsey and we were frequent users of Avios Avios redemptions to get good value, taxes only flights for 9,000 each. When Blue Islands started operating flights in competition, Flybe eventually cut their daily flights since in our experience Blue Islands were better value and infinitely better service. Fast forward to this year when Blue Islands announced franchise to Flybe and suddenly the service standards to the Channel Islands dropped dramatically (though not the prices). We now only have direct Flybe flights with the same frequency as before Blue Islands operated. I used the option of part pay for a five tickets from Southampton to Guernsey booked last week. It was not a bargain as Rob says, but since Flybe seem to have NO full Avios redemptions for any date between Southampton and Guernsey in the next six months (I spent ages checking every possible date!) I assume that this will be the only option on this route in future….. 🙁

• Dave says:

  25 Oct25 October 09:11

  LCY – DUS – 8,000 Avios and £35 on BA.

  On Flybe , 9,000 Avios and £79.85

  • James A says:

    25 Oct25 October 16:04

    Try the same calculation from anywhere other than London

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