Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Four regional British Airways weekend flights which offer 160 tier points

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I ran this article last year which focuses on British Airways Club Europe routes from London which earn 160 tier points return.

If you are chasing Bronze, Silver or Gold status in British Airways Executive Club, it is worth looking at this list.  Some of the 160 tier point routes are very good value (a lot are ‘leisure’ routes flown from Gatwick and do not attract premium pricing) and most offer you a pleasant long weekend away.

In the current British Airways short haul sale, for example, Catania in Sicily is £215 in May, June and July.   That is excellent value for 160 tier points and a few days in Italy.  My list of BA short haul sale deals is here.

BA CityFlyer E190

The point of this article is to highlight four interesting deals on the British Airways ‘regional weekend’ services which also offer 160 tier points.

You should remember that tier points are pretty much the only reason to book Club Europe on these flights.  The ‘regional weekend’ services are flown on Embraer 190 aircraft with 2 x 2 seating.  This means that Club Europe has no seating benefit over Euro Traveller.  You will get lounge access and Fast Track security.

If you chasing tier points, however, they are worth a look.  Some destinations from the regions earn 160 tier points whilst the same flights from London only earn 80 tier points.

Here is my article showing all of the Summer 2018 weekend BA services from Birmingham, Bristol and Manchester.  There are also services from Edinburgh.

These services generally start in late May and run until either the end of September or end of October depending on route.

These are the flights you may want to consider for a tier point run:

Manchester to Malaga (160 tier points, but only 80 tier points for London to Malaga and Bristol to Malaga)

Birmingham to Malaga (160 tier points, but only 80 tier points for London to Malaga and Bristol to Malaga)

Edinburgh to Palma (160 tier points, but only 80 tier points for London to Palma and Manchester to Palama)

Manchester to Mykonos (160 tier points from London and Manchester due to length)

If you want to do something similar from London, the 160 tier point routes from Heathrow and Gatwick are listed here.


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.

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.

Comments (23)

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

  • Andrew says:

    £208.39 for a BHX-AGP return is pretty good for 160 tier points. Shame the flights are only weekly and at horrendous times! 01:45 Sunday arrival into Birmingham on the way home anyone?

    • AspirationalFlyer says:

      Agreed! I’ve just booked BHX-AGP-LGW for around £220 return – good value for 120 tier points and approx 4500 avios. I could have booked a slightly cheaper return journey, but I thought it better to stump up the extra £20 and return home at a civilised time. It’s a false economy if I end up getting an expense taxi home from Gatwick – or any other airport for that matter!

  • Czechoslovakia says:

    LH/LX/OS manage to keep the seat next to you free on 2+2 layout, even alternating A and C, D and F by row so you can recline without guilt. BA need to sort their act out on this. Booked LX for PRG-LCY for this reason despite new direct BA offering. Was £150 cheaper on LX too…

  • Sam G says:

    These can make an interesting TP run from London – e.g. I was looking at LHR-MAD-AGP-MAN-LHR prices up very well on a £ per TP basis – need an overnight in Spain

  • Chang says:

    What pricing do you get for this? Intrigued…

  • Nick says:

    OT – anyone got any experience of Titan airways? Just looking at a BA package in biz on an A320 but operated by Titan. I have read around but can’t see if there’s any biz class cabin on the A320? Is it just lounge access and on board the same as BA?

  • Joe says:

    I noticed that on the dates that the Heathrow/Mykonos fare is £508 instead of £545 (or more) it’s non-direct; you connect via Manchester both ways (an extra 40 TP per leg). So the tier points from London would actually be 260 for £508. 4th-11th August, LHR>JMK, is a good example. Unfortunately you’re flying to JMK and back on an Embraer though.

  • Dale says:

    Don’t see any deals that would make EDI-PMI attractive, cheapest CW seems to be about £500!

  • Lewis says:

    Slightly ot
    Am I right in thinking when you book a holiday with BA you get bonus avois? I more than the flights?

    If so how does this show up on the statement? Think am missing it

    • Chris R says:

      You do get bonus Avios, but I believe they don’t appear till some time after the holiday has been taken. There should be details on MMB.

    • MrHandBaggageOnly says:

      You do, but it is now only 1 Avios per £1 (used to be 2 to £1). Takes a while to show, usually about a month after you have returned. I have had to chase in the past. Should show on your EC account as ‘Miscellaneous – British Airways Holidays’.

      • Stu N says:

        They will show up eventually, if they don’t after 4-6 weeks give BA Holidays a call and they will chase up for you. IIRC you can only do this by phone, the “contact us” doesn’t have an option for this.

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

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