British Airways launches new route to Charleston, South Carolina – bookable now with Avios

British Airways announced (yet another) new US route last night – Charleston, South Carolina.

It may prove a sound choice.  There are currently no flights, at all, between Europe and Charleston with most passengers flying to Atlanta.

This will change from 4th April when BA’s new service starts.  It is being broken in gradually with just two flights per week.  At present the service is only due to run for the Summer and will end on 24th October when the Winter timetable begins.

Charleston has been voted ‘best small US city’ by readers of Conde Nast Traveller and Travel + Leisure magazine for the past eight years so it must have something going for it.

The flight will operate from Heathrow Terminal 5.

It will be flown with a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner which means that it will be a three-class service.  (You will only find First Class on the longer – in both length and flight range – 787-9 version.)  By coincidence, Boeing is currently building the Boeing 787-10 in Charleston with twelve of them earmarked for delivery to BA between 2020 and 2023.

The flights will run on Thursdays and Sundays.  Flights will leave Heathrow at 5.20pm, arriving into Charleston at 9.20pm.  The return flight will depart Charleston at 10.50pm, arriving into London at 11.50am the following day.

Charleston takes the number of US destinations served by British Airways to a whopping 29, including the recently announced Pittsburgh service which also launches in April.

Tickets were due to be available from this morning at ba.com.  The guaranteed two Club World and four World Traveller seats will be available.  Whilst more seats are likely to come up as the months go by, as there are only two flights per week I suggest you move quickly if you want to guarantee an Avios redemption for Summer 2019.

---

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (December 2023)

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. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 9th January 2024, you will receive 30,000 Membership Rewards points (convertible to 30,000 Avios) with American Express Preferred Rewards Gold. You receive 25,000 points if you spend £3,000 in three months and a further 5,000 points if you hold the card for 15 months. You can apply here.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 9th January 2024, you will receive a huge 100,000 Membership Rewards points (convertible to 100,000 Avios) with The Platinum Card. You receive 75,000 points if you spend £10,000 in six months and a further 25,000 points if you hold the card for 15 months. You can apply here.

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.

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.