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British Airways adds new weekend flights from Birmingham and Bristol

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No sooner has British Airways confirmed their new weekend services to Europe from Manchester (see here) than BA has announced routes from Birmingham and Bristol this summer.

It is a long time – 10 years for Birmingham – since the BA logo was last seen at a check-in counter at either of these airports.

As with the Manchester service, these flights will use one of the Embraer 190 aircraft which are usually based at London City Airport but which sit idle over the weekend whilst City is closed.

Both airports are gaining the same routes – Ibiza, Malaga, Palma and, a surprise fourth choice, Florence.

All flights operate once a week.  The operating dates are 20th May – 30th September 2017 for Ibiza / Palma and 20th May – 28th October for Florence / Malaga.

Here’s the timetable:

Birmingham – Florence

  • Outbound 19.20 – 22.40 Saturday
  • Inbound 17.10 – 18.35 Saturday

Birmingham – Ibiza

  • Outbound 22.10 – 01.45 + 1 Saturday
  • Inbound 19.50 – 21.25 Saturday

Birmingham – Malaga

  • Outbound 23.05 – 02.55 + 1 Saturday
  • Inbound 20.25 – 22.20 Saturday

Birmingham – Palma

  • Outbound 23.00 – 02.30 + 1 Saturday
  • Inbound 20.40 – 22.15 Saturday

Bristol – Florence

  • Outbound 13.10 – 16.25 Saturday
  • Inbound 11.05 – 12.25 Saturday

Bristol – Ibiza

  • Outbound 15.25 – 18.50 Saturday
  • Inbound 13.10 – 14.40 Saturday

Bristol – Malaga

  • Outbound 16.00 – 19.40 Saturday
  • Inbound 13.30 – 15.15 Saturday

Bristol – Palma

  • Outbound 16.30 – 19.55 Saturday
  • Inbound 14.15 – 15.45 Saturday

These times don’t match up between inbound and outbound flights because the aircraft are switching between Birmingham and Bristol rotations.  The flight which lands in Palma from Bristol at 19.55, for example, returns at 20.40 but heads to Birmingham.

These will be two class flights so Club Europe is an option.  That said, the Embraer aircraft used are 2 x 2 seating throughout so the only difference will be lounge access and a free meal.

The flights are available for booking at ba.com.  As a minimum, you will have 2 x Club Europe and 4 x Eurotraveller seats available for Avios redemption.

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Category

British Airways and Avios

Comments (59)

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

  • PGW says:
    10 Feb10 February 07:52

    I booked BHX-FLR yesterday 1 way for £65. There was good award avaiability but at that orice it made no sense. Only downside is the late arrival which more ir less eliminates a useful weekend away trip.

  • Mike says:
    10 Feb10 February 08:04

    Flight times could be better tho. First day of your holiday gone by the time you get to your hotel. Still, at least it’s some good news for Bristol / Birmingham

  • Smid says:
    10 Feb10 February 08:28

    Really great back to backs for all those tp runners based Florence, Ibiza, Malaga and Palma!

  • the real harry1 says:
    10 Feb10 February 08:46

    O/T
    Get double Tesco Clubcard points
    Every time you spend £25 or more on fuel at Esso until the 25th April you’ll get a voucher for double points on your next fill at participating Esso branded service stations. Remember to hold on to your till receipt voucher to collect the extra points. Esso branded service stations not participating in this promotion are 1) those with a Tesco shop and 2) those that do not participate in the Tesco Clubcard scheme.

    • Brian says:
      10 Feb10 February 09:37

      Good spot. The way I see it, if you value a CC point at 2p, then you essentially get 1p off per litre at Esso, so this will make it 2p off per litre. Possibly not worth making a special journey, especially if you can get fuel for cheaper elsewhere, but a decent deal if you buy at Esso anyway – definitely worth filling up £25 rather than £20!

      • The Original Nick says:
        10 Feb10 February 19:32

        It really does depend on where you buy your fuel from. All counties are different so if you live on a border of two different then you need to be keeping an eye on it all. Or, if you travel for a living then it’ll be completely different.

    • Rob says:
      10 Feb10 February 09:47

      Onto this, will be on SP tomorrow.

  • Simon says:
    10 Feb10 February 10:33

    OT – anyone knows why some LHR MAD flights in the summer as being done on a 777?
    Im flying on the 720 flight on the 30th June
    Also if I pay for a seat .. it looks like it is a first class configuration

  • RussellH says:
    10 Feb10 February 10:35

    Completely O/T

    But I have not seen it mentioned here before:

    Rob did do a piece about Avios and cash now being pretty much any combination you like.

    Checked my Miles & More a/c last night and they are doing the same – it did not seem to be great value though!

    • Rob says:
      10 Feb10 February 10:39

      Yes, they kicked this off a couple of weeks ago. As you say, not great value – and as M&M miles are trickier to get in the UK, I doubt many readers would want to blow them like this.

      • Fenny says:
        10 Feb10 February 13:06

        I’ve got 500 about to expire, so it may be the only way of getting any value from them at all.

        • Alan says:
          19 Feb19 February 16:01

          Hmm looks like you need to have a minimum balance of 7,000 miles to make use of this? Annoying if so, I’ve got just over 2k miles and this would have been a nice way to make use of them!

  • ADS says:
    10 Feb10 February 13:23

    it’s interesting that whilst the Manchester flights are using a single aircraft from Thursday to Sunday – these flights are all on Saturday, and it looks like they are using four aircraft:

    Aircraft #1
    FLR-BRS Sat 11:05 – 12:25
    BRS-FLR Sat 13:10 – 16:25
    FLR-BHX Sat 17:10 – 18:35
    BHX-FLR Sat 19:20 – 22:40

    Aircraft #2
    IBZ-BRS Sat 13:10 – 14:40
    BRS-IBZ Sat 15:25 – 18:50
    IBZ-BHX Sat 19:50 – 21:25
    BHX – IBZ Sat 22:10 – 01:45

    Aircraft #3
    AGP-BRS Sat 13:30 – 15:15
    BRS-AGP Sat 16:00 – 19:40
    AGP-BHX Sat 20:25 – 22:00
    BHX-AGP Sat 23:05 – 02:55

    Aircraft #4
    PMI-BRS Sat 14:15 – 15:45
    BRS-PMI Sat 16:30 – 19:55
    PMI-BHX Sat 20:40 – 22:15
    BHX-PMI Sat 23:00 – 02:30

    I wonder how much of BA’s calculation is that they can make more money on these flights compared to flogging them out on charter routes, and how much was to get people in different parts of the UK flying BA, so that they will travel to London and fly BA again / more often ?!

  • rams1981 says:
    10 Feb10 February 14:05

    OT Hilton points. Is there often value for them compared to cash price other than booking 5 nights for the price of 4?

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