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An update on how you can redeem Avios points on Flybe

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I was chatting with the Avios team about Flybe redemptions and a couple of things came up which were news to me and so may also be news to you.

I don’t think any of it was meant to be secret but there had been no real effort to communicate it widely.

Here’s the first thing:  there are now Avios seats made available on ALL Flybe flights.  This mirrors the guaranteed availability offered by British Airways in Economy on its own services.

Redeeming Avios on Flybe

Secondly, there is no longer any difference in availability between what it shown on avios.com and what is shown on ba.com.  This was not always the case in the past.

Thirdly, to clarify what we wrote last week, ba.com will tell you that you do not get a checked baggage allowance on a Flybe redemption.  This is not true – even though your e-ticket will also tell you that you do not get a free suitcase.  At the airport it should be visible to the check-in staff that you do actually have a 1 x 23kg baggage allowance.  The call centre staff have been reminded of this anomaly and should no longer be giving incorrect advice to anyone who calls to enquire.

Flybe redemptions are not always good value because of the taxes and charges, but their pricing can be high on some of the niche routes and – adding in the free suitcase – it may work out OK.

You can take a look at the Flybe route network here.  Details of their Avios partnership are here.

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2024)

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

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

25,000 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 – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a 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, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

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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.

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

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

40,000 points sign-up bonus 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 (163)

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

  • Mike says:
    17 May17 May 07:52

    Just enter SOU in the box, ignore the options in the dropdown and hit search. When you get to the search results page it will clearly show ‘Southampton’…

    • the real harry1 says:
      17 May17 May 09:13

      This works fine, I just pulled up SOU-MAN on Flybe, 9000 Avios + £57 return

  • Mr. Patterson says:
    17 May17 May 07:52

    Terribly confusing about the baggage allowance.

  • TripRep says:
    17 May17 May 07:53

    FlyBE

    Inverness to Jersey. 2nd June

    Cash £71 via Flybe

    Avios 4500 + £25 via BA app.

    Both including hand luggage.

    So your getting ~1p per Avios (ignoring any minor amount of Avios earnt from the cash fare)

    • TripRep says:
      17 May17 May 07:56

      So when will the Avios systems be updated to include checked bag, here’s the text for the FlyBE flight from the BA app…

      “Inverness to Jersey – Saturday 02 Jun 2018

      Checked baggage per passenger

      Hand baggage only fare. No checked baggage allowance.

      For flights on British Airways, there are restrictions on what you can pack, how heavy your bags can be and on the dimensions of your bags. You may be charged for any overweight or extra bags.”

    • TripRep says:
      17 May17 May 08:02

      Out of interest it’s an extra £30 on top of the cash fare for a checked bag on that example above, so potentially good value Avios redemption if your taking extra luggage.

      • fivebobbill says:
        17 May17 May 09:48

        Depending on circumstances, Avios can certainly save you a few bob when flying Flybe, especially when living in Northern Ireland.
        I’m taking a cruise out of Southampton on 15th June, and as Flybe are the only airline who do the direct Belfast – Southampton route the fares seem to get racked up every time there’s a cruise ship leaving port. As it’s a cruise you also need extra luggage of course which makes it even worse.
        Flybe are looking for £184 rtn for their “Get More” fare on my dates (includes 23k hold luggage). compared to 9,000 Avios and £59. That’s a saving of £125pp, or 1.4p per Avios. Not a bad return if you have the Avios, and you can do a lot better than that as sometimes these flights can be closer to £300!
        On the down side, I reckon the £250 saving for the two of us should get us about 6 martinis… 🙁

        • fivebobbill says:
          17 May17 May 10:19

          Yeah I have noticed, sometimes their Avios pricing seems to be all over the place, although I think with LCY you do get hammered on fees.
          Anyway, just pointing out, don’t write Flybe off altogether, deals to be had on occasion…

  • Ian says:
    17 May17 May 07:59

    Interesting, thanks Rob. We were looking at going to Guernsey around now but the cost of Flybe flights (we’re quite flexible on time and date) just from Southampton was nearly £300 return for the two of us. I need to look at this again if we can get an avios redemption.

  • Kraken says:
    17 May17 May 08:04

    OT: Virgin First Class ANA redemption to Tokyo
    Has anyone booked this recently and how much tax did you have to pay? Was quoted around £330 and was expecting slightly less.
    Thanks

    • Lumma says:
      17 May17 May 08:27

      Taxes on ITA matrix are £329.61 return. £200.91 outbound and £128.70 back

  • Ian says:
    17 May17 May 08:27

    On the subject of deep cleaning long-haul aircraft I had the pleasure of coming back from TLV in First on a redemption this week. A nice comfortable old 777 but, as it had been so many years since I last travelled First, this was to me the “new” First cabin yet it looked quite old and tired. I’m not one of these pax who complains about their good fortune but I couldn’t help noticing the relentless drop in standards, e.g. menu says dish is served with asparagus but it arrives with some tough old green beans. At least the (mixed fleet) cabin crew member was professional enough to just give a wry smile when I mentioned the Spaniard’s constant cost-cutting.

  • Bill says:
    17 May17 May 08:37

    Regarding Avios.com redemptions on Flybe, I’ve tried a few dates for MAN-IOM and LPL-IOM (both operated by Stobart for Flybe) and I cannot find any availability

  • Tilly71 says:
    17 May17 May 08:38

    Flybe: anyone offer advise on how find availability on BAEC from Southampton. The search box doesn’t find Southampton as a departure airport?

    • Mikeact says:
      17 May17 May 09:07

      I’m in the same boat…..i called Avios.com and after a lot of faffing around was able to get a couple of seats for the end of September. Asking about luggage, also created a lot of nonsense, so I’ll see what happens at Southampton. I shall be armed with as much data as possible re ‘free’ luggage.

    • bsuije says:
      17 May17 May 09:36

      Ditto.

      Avios search on BA would not accept Exeter as a destination. Avios.com does, but came up with 18k Avios + £170 in taxes for 2 people (return)… I wasn’t expecting the taxes to be so high tbh (I have been spoiled with RFS, I suppose).

      • the real harry1 says:
        17 May17 May 10:54

        As above, just type EXT into the box and leave it there, then do your search – found flights no problem though poor availability it seems

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