Aer Lingus moves into London City Airport – so goodbye CityJet

In a surprise move, Aer Lingus has announced that it is launching a Dublin service from London City.

Even more surprising is how they are doing it.  Aer Lingus is taking over the six daily flights currently operated by CityJet.  CityJet will continue to operate the service but it will now be done on a contract basis for Aer Lingus.

British Airways will, at least for now, continue with its own London City to Dublin service.

The change takes place on 28th October.  If you are currently booked with CityJet to travel from London City to Dublin from that date, your existing ticket will be cancelled and you will be offered a refund or a seat on a replacement Aer Lingus service.  Flight times may differ.  You will earn Avios in AerClub on this replacement ticket.

From an Avios point of view, this is a positive move with additional redemption options.  However, if British Airways ends up pulling out of the route, it will be an overall negative as taxes are higher on Aer Lingus redemptions.

You can find out more, including about how Aer Lingus will deal with existing bookings, on their website here.

PS.  This change means the end of CityJet as an airline brand.  All of its routes are now flown under contract and its future will be as “a provider of capacity to customer airlines throughout Europe”.  You can find out more on the CityJet website here.

---

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (October 2022)

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:

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points.

EDIT: Until 25th October 2022, there is an exceptionally generous sign-up bonus on The Platinum Card. You will receive 60,000 Membership Rewards points – double the usual amount – and £200 to spend at Amex Travel. You need to spend £6,000 within six months to earn the bonus.

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 10,000 Avios.

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.

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.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.