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Bits: British Airways drops Kos flights, good BA luxury European deals, upstairs on a BA 747

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News in brief:

British Airways drop Kos flights

British Airways has decided to cancel the Kos route next year.  This is unfortunate, because tickets have been on sale for 5 months ….

The service was due to run between 5th May and 29th September 2018.

Cash passengers will be offered a re-route via Vienna, changing onto the Austrian Airlines service to Kos.  There is also an option to fly to Athens and then change to an Aegean service.  In both cases, business class passengers will be downgraded to economy for the second leg as they are ‘one class’ flights.

Note that Vienna is an 80 tier points route and Athens – like Kos – is a 160 tier points route.  If you have booked in Club Europe then it is easier to go via Athens if you want to be sure of your tier points.  BA should ‘make you square’ if you go via Vienna but it is likely to require a few emails back and forth.

Avios passengers will not be re-routed.  Your Avios will be refunded and you will have to make other arrangements at your own cost.

Passengers who are on a codeshare and not travelling on BA-issued tickets (ie a ticket number which does not start 125-) will also not be re-routed and will have to claim a refund from the airline with which they booked.

British Airways launches short haul Club Europe holidays sale

If you are planning a short break over the Winter, BA Holidays has launched a ‘Club Europe holidays’ short break promotion.

The special deals are listed here on ba.com.

These offer excellent value for money compared to the cost of booking flights on their own.  You will also get at least 80 tier points each – more for longer routes – which makes this a cheap way to help your plans to earn or retain your British Airways Executive Club status.

This article lists the BA Club Europe routes which earn 160 tier points return.

You need to:

book by midnight on Monday 23rd October

travel between 1st November 2017 and 18th March 2018

These are the headline prices being promoted by British Airways Holidays, although there is no guarantee this price will be available on the dates you want.  All hotels are four or five star.

  • Bilbao business class flights + 3 nights hotel £272 pp
  • Paris business class flights + 3 nights hotel £284 pp
  • Amsterdam business class flights + 3 nights hotel £286 pp
  • Istanbul business class flights + 3 nights hotel £299 pp
  • Athens business class flights + 3 nights hotel £420 pp
  • Palermo business class flights + 7 nights hotel from £308 pp
  • Larnaca business class flights + 7 nights hotel from £585 pp
  • All inclusive Malaga business class flights + 7 nights hotel from £421 pp
  • Palermo business class flights + 7 nights hotel £308 pp
  • Malaga business class flights + 7 nights hotel £370 pp
  • Mallorca (Palma) business class flights + 7 nights hotel £374 pp
  • Larnaca business class flights + 7 nights hotel £585 pp
  • Krakow business class flights + 3 nights hotel £311 pp
  • Berlin business class flights + 3 nights hotel £340 pp
  • Prague business class flights + 3 nights hotel £345 pp
  • Vienna business class flights + 3 nights hotel £353 pp
  • Budapest business class flights + 3 nights hotel £383 pp

Take a look at BA Holidays here for more details.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2025)

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

Get 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

30,000 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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large 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, and the standard card is FREE. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review

There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business

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

50,000 points when you sign-up 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 (125)

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

  • Bill says:
    21 Oct21 October 12:07

    Can anyone recommend 2 good seats for a couple in UD? I’ve got 241 CW return for LHR – LAS Sept 2018 and looking to snag UD seats. Heard things about climbing over each other to get to the toilets and staring into strangers eyes at takeoff.
    Looking to upgrade the outbound to F but my dates aren’t showing availability yet.

    • Alan says:
      21 Oct21 October 12:10

      If you’re a couple then you’ll be looking at each other unless you pick different rows! It’s almost 2-2 on UD. Window seats have to step over aisle to get out but not 64A/K or the emergency exit row so lots of options – rare that I need out anyway, slept for 6.5h coming back from MSY last weekend, all I had was a bottle of water!

    • Genghis says:
      21 Oct21 October 12:11

      I like 62AB and JK for direct aisle access. We’re in 64JK (also direct aisle access but next to toilet) though on our next 744 flight.

      • Bill says:
        21 Oct21 October 13:00

        We just did LHR to MIA WTP 15AB right by the toilets. Turned out to be some of best seats. Probably cos there was nobody behind us and I don’t feel guilty every time I reclined the seat.

    • BP says:
      21 Oct21 October 12:33

      Just remember that the LAS flights leave from T3, so no access to the CCR if you fly F. I’ve also got 241 CW flights for September 2018 to LAS but decided F isn’t worth the extra avios without CCR access.

      • Alan says:
        21 Oct21 October 12:37

        Although on the upside you get the CX lounge in T3 instead 😀

      • Bill says:
        21 Oct21 October 12:56

        Yeah I’ve came to terms with that last week when I was reading up on lounges lol. I think the Cathy pacific will do just fine (looking forward to those noodles) It’s our first CW and potentially first F with BA. Did do Upper Class with Virgin from Newark to LHR 6 years ago and that was really good.

        Signed up for the alerts for 1st availability but no dice yet.

        • Andrew says:
          21 Oct21 October 16:30

          I’ve used the cx lounge and they are very good especially since they have recently been refurbished. Food cooked to order, good bar, nice views and when I’ve used them, fairly empty and spacious. I far cry from the club lounge at T5

        • Adrian says:
          21 Oct21 October 18:46

          There will also be a nice new Qantas lounge to try.

        • Crispbag says:
          21 Oct21 October 18:49

          No noodles in first CX, you’ll need to skip next door to business CX for those.

  • Genghis says:
    21 Oct21 October 12:18

    OT. Visited the Postal Museum and rode the Mail Rail train this morning that Rob wrote about a while back. It was a really good exhibition and rather interactive which I like. Highly recommended.

    • Alan says:
      21 Oct21 October 12:32

      Ah excellent, I thought it sounded decent so will definitely put it on my list of things to do next time I’m in London!

  • simon says:
    21 Oct21 October 12:54

    Having never experienced a city break what do folks recommend as a great place to start?

    I love food and sightseeing

    • Andrew-A says:
      21 Oct21 October 13:19

      That is a really difficult one to answer as everyone has different ideas of what they look for in a weekend break. My favourite one has to be Rome but, depending on where you live, look at flights from your local airport. Over the past two years I have been to Krakow & Prague off season with Easyjet and they have been really good flights, hotels and value. Next Feb it’s 5 nights in Berlin. Living near Edinburgh there is no point in me travelling via London for a weekend away.

    • Rob says:
      21 Oct21 October 13:21

      Paris, Prague, Amsterdam, Kraków, Seville, Lisbon, Stockholm, Berlin, Barcelona … really depends on how long you have.

      Never got on with Dublin, Brussels, Budapest, Madrid, Frankfurt ….

    • Leo says:
      21 Oct21 October 14:38

      Really subjective. I’d start with Lisbon.

    • Tilly says:
      21 Oct21 October 14:40

      My favourites are Rome, Athens, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Madrid, Prague and Budapest.

    • Delbert says:
      21 Oct21 October 16:23

      My wife and I are regulars to Amsterdam. A nice short Club Europe flight from LHR to AMS. Prefer LHR as T5 Sofitel is far superior to the LGW Sofitel. We go there so often that we ended up purchasing Privium membership to avoid the queues as occasionally it can get ridiculously busy at AMS. I can also highly recommend booking an apartment rather than a hotel. Only two weeks until our next long weekend in AMS and three weeks until we fly to SE Asia on the excellent EVA Air. Roll on the holidays.

      • Kiran says:
        21 Oct21 October 20:11

        We’re regulars to Amsterdam too. We usually stay in the Park Plaza at Vondel Park (loveley park walk into the centre) but are interested in the apartment angle – do you have any links or just go with Airbnb?

        • Delbert says:
          22 Oct22 October 09:41

          Hi Kiran. We always book through booking dot com, but book up as early as possible for a greater choice of accommodation.

    • Barry cutters says:
      21 Oct21 October 17:41

      We are in Budapest this weekend, did Munich last weekend . It’s all fun , everywhere is different – I really enjoy Barcelona in the summer and krakow/Warsaw/Prague/all Germany in the winter months. But all of these destinations can be good anytime . Depends what you want ? Is it history or culture or just food and beer….

      • pauldb says:
        21 Oct21 October 20:13

        Just one nuance: we like to take holidays that combine a city with some beach/mountain/scenery so for a pure city break would pick somewhere that we are unlikely to tick off on a longer holiday.
        We’ve covered Munich, Paris, Rome, Lisbon, Milan on our holidays for example; but Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Stockholm are more standalone.
        Cities are also less weather dependant. Barcelona is great in January.

    • Drav says:
      21 Oct21 October 23:28

      Purely from a culinary perspective then without a doubt I would say:
      Barcelona, copenhagen, san sebastian, Bologna/modena and amsterdam but only if you also incorporate zwolle and rotterdam

      if you didn’t live in London, then London of course
      oh and i haven’t forgotten Paris… just isnt on the same level as the others

    • Alan says:
      21 Oct21 October 23:37

      Related question (don’t mean to hijack but seemed to fit!) – have got 24h in Frankfurt in Jan (was only option for EDI-FRA-SIN and at least avoid UK longhaul premium APD!). Anyone have any suggestions of where to visit? Gave been to Frankfurt recently and Mainz a couple of years ago – anywhere else nearby that might be good for a daytrip on the train?

      • Yan says:
        21 Oct21 October 23:56

        Heidelberg or Koblenz are both within <1.5hr train from FRA

        • Alan says:
          22 Oct22 October 00:59

          Thanks, have been to Heidelberg (last Easter, very pleasant), Koblenz looks like it could be a good shout though, will investigate further!

  • Optimus Prime says:
    21 Oct21 October 13:03

    OT – Does anyone know if it’s possible to use Lyft/Uber in the USA with a UK SIM card? Haven’t had problems with Uber in EU but haven’t tried USA yet.

    Do the promotional codes work if your first ride is in USA?

    Thanks in advance.

    • Alan says:
      21 Oct21 October 13:04

      No issue using Uber in USA – I’ve got free roaming via Three and when drivers called me they did it via a local number at their end so worked fine. Sign-up promo should be OK too if it’s a new account.

      • Optimus Prime says:
        21 Oct21 October 13:19

        Thanks Alan. I’ll get a new number so I’ll give a shot to the promo code.

        I have a Uber gift card balance but I think Genghis couldn’t use in Brussels the one he converted from Tesco. Or is this a different scenario?

        • Alan says:
          21 Oct21 October 13:22

          You can only use them in the same denomination – so I’ve used Uber USA sign-up bonuses in the US (on a spare SIM), but your UK credit won’t work – it’ll automatically bill to your payment card instead.

        • Optimus Prime says:
          21 Oct21 October 15:19

          Noted, thanks!

        • Genghis says:
          21 Oct21 October 15:30

          As Alan notes, the Tesco credit denominated in GBP can only be used in the UK.

    • Rob says:
      21 Oct21 October 13:18

      A £ code won’t work, needs to be in same denomination as the bill.

    • Bill says:
      21 Oct21 October 14:27

      Used both in Miami last month with no problems.
      Top tip. Opt for Uber pool or Lyft Lift, tends to work out cheaper and they rarely pick up others. Also they come to you. In London if you pool you have to walk to the designated pick up point.

  • Trent says:
    21 Oct21 October 15:50

    I’ve never sat on the main deck in Business Class on any 747 flight I have ever been on. Always the upper deck – absolutely agree, it is the place to be!

  • Scott says:
    21 Oct21 October 15:55

    Re: ” it is a unique experience with such a small cabin” – looks like five rows of four? Which is the same small capacity as AA’s A330 (formerly US Airway’s Envoy Suite) used on some transatlantic routes.

  • Wivus says:
    21 Oct21 October 15:58

    When you book a BA City break with one of the reward hotels I presume no points from them but do you get status benefits?

    • Rob says:
      21 Oct21 October 17:31

      No – sometimes you get lucky, but unless it is a Marriott Rewards property then you should assume no.

  • the real harry1 says:
    21 Oct21 October 17:10

    hmm – not letting me add my avios.com a/c, throwing me out with username/ password combo

    might try another browser, on Firefox now

    • Tilly says:
      21 Oct21 October 18:30

      +1

    • Tilly says:
      22 Oct22 October 10:40

      Did you manage to access your avios account from Bud?

      Still get an internal server error message.

    • the real harry1 says:
      22 Oct22 October 15:51

      no – Raffles will run this (no doubt) – he mixes in the fintech start-up arena – if only via old mates and office space lol

      I take the absence of article as evidence of ‘not ready yet’

      • Rob says:
        22 Oct22 October 20:00

        Met the Bud team about 6 months ago. A trip down to WeWork Moorgate is a rite of passage these days if you want to do anything with Avios 🙂

        It is a very interesting business. One company in this space will become a multi-billion pound company, probably killing off a few smaller financial comparison sites at the same time, and it may be them. It all boils down to how happy the public is letting independent companies have access to all – literally all – their financial data, in and out.

        It appeared on avios.com a couple of weeks ago and was pulled very quickly because the product didn’t work. Looks like it still doesn’t work.

        Rather like Bink last year, we are looking at doing a big competition with them (sign up to enter) so we are going to try to hold off writing about it until then as readers would end up unable to enter.

    • the real harry1 says:
      22 Oct22 October 20:49

      I wish the Bud team well – certainly customer service seems polite & on the ball

      how are they going to earn any money?

      • Rob says:
        23 Oct23 October 05:28

        They see all your savings and all your spending. Not hard.

        Stay at a Holiday Inn and pay on your debit card? They will email you suggesting you get an IHG credit card. Got a special savings rate ending? They will email you and offer – with one click – to open a new account for you at another bank and move your money for you.

    • Tilly says:
      22 Oct22 October 21:35

      Oh dear. At least it’s not just me. I certainly won’t give them access to any of my bank account details.

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