Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

New British Airways route to Mykonos launched with decent Avios availability

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

British Airways has announced a new service from London Stansted to Mykonos.

This will use an Embraer E190 aircraft which serves London City Airport during the week.  This means it is a weekend-only service:

  • Departs Stansted 10.05, arrives Mykonos 15.50 (Sunday)
  • Departs Mykonos 16.35, arrives Stansted 18.35 (Saturday)

It will operate from 19th May to 29th September.

British Airways A320

There was still decent Avios availability when I checked yesterday.  Remember that:

  • these flights are 2×2 seating so there is no ’empty middle seat’ in Club Europe
  • you still get free drinks and a snack in Economy / Euro Traveller

If you are a BA Gold card holder, remember that you cannot book this service using a ‘double Avios’ Gold Priority Reward – explained here – because it is operated by BA CityFlyer.

The trade-off is the cancellation of London Stansted to Nice this Summer.  If you are booked on this service you will be moved to another British Airways flight from another airport.

British Airways drops London City to Paris Orly

British Airways has announced the suspension of its flights from London City to Paris Orly.

Flights will end on 1st June, with BA stating that they were not commercially viable.

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (September 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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 26th September 2024, sign up for FREE Barclaycard Avios Mastercard and you will receive a sign-up bonus of 10,000 Avios. This is double the usual bonus! You only need to spend £1,000 within 90 days. Our full review is here. Click here to apply.

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

10,000 Avios (to 26th September) 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 – 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 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, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

10,000 points bonus – plus an extra 500 points for our readers 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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 22nd October 2024, the bonus on American Express Business Platinum is increased to up to 80,000 Membership Rewards points, worth 80,000 Avios. You will receive 8 points per £1 spent for the first three months, on up to £10,000 of spending. Click here to read our full card review. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 22nd October 2024, the bonus on American Express Business Gold is increased to up to 40,000 Membership Rewards points, worth 40,000 Avios. You will receive 4 points per £1 spent for the first three months, on up to £10,000 of spending. The card is FREE for your first year. Click here to read our full card review. Click here to apply.

American Express Business Platinum

Up to 80,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

Get up to 40,000 points as a sign-up offer 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 (63)

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

  • Craig says:
    24 Feb24 February 11:01

    OT: looks like my travel plans for next year will clash with the refurbishment of the IC Hong Kong. Any recommendations for an alternative? Thanks.

    • TGLoyalty says:
      24 Feb24 February 11:43

      Hotel Icon is very good. Not a chain hotel though.

    • Jake Mc says:
      24 Feb24 February 11:45

      Entirely depends on price. Ritz, 4S or Mandarin Or are all of a good standard from what I have heard. The peninsular is good if you want something more ‘traditional’. Haven’t stayed but have had dinner.

      I have stayed at the Cordis twice – its in kowloon – but the club rooms offer a great lounge for a v.decent rate. Nice rooftop swimming pool and above a metro station so really easy to get around.

      Depending on what you want to do, I would stay here and save the money for other experiences.

      • G Flyer says:
        24 Feb24 February 14:25

        I loved the Cordis too. Fab rooms, great service and nice attention to detail. A small touch, but I still remember it: the maid untangled and tidied up the lead of my iPhone charger with a stylish Cordis branded piece of velcro!

    • Sapiens says:
      24 Feb24 February 16:43

      Grand hyatt has the best outdoor pool in HK. Highly recommend staying there.

    • Craig says:
      25 Feb25 February 09:53

      Thanks all.

  • Matt says:
    24 Feb24 February 11:08

    I want to book Gatwick to Charles de Gaulle via BA but operated by Vueling, so I can take advantage of the BA lounge. The BA website will let me do this up to the end of March but not beyond. I’ve seen this before when the schedule changes from winter/summer and vice versa. Can anyone hazard a guess when BA will load the flights?

    • marcw says:
      24 Feb24 February 12:11

      In general, Vueling code share flights for the next season are loaded quite late on BA & IB.IB flights operated by VY are already loaded on IB systems for the summer season.. no idea when VY summer flights will be available on BA systems

  • Michael says:
    24 Feb24 February 12:10

    OT: how long does it take for points from my SPG amex to turn up in my marriot bonvoy account?

    • Simon says:
      24 Feb24 February 12:44

      6 days before monthly statement date

      • Michael says:
        24 Feb24 February 12:55

        Ok. Mine have recently gone and not turned up in my bonvoy account yet. My first month having the card so i’m not sure how it works.

        • Anna says:
          24 Feb24 February 14:29

          Have you checked Amex haven’t made you a new Marriott account – apparently this is known to happen even if you have given them the correct account number?. I am also in my first month of having the SPG card so waiting to see how it works out.

        • Mark2 says:
          24 Feb24 February 17:12

          What Simon says is true, but that is when they leave Amex. They take a further few days to appear on your Marriott account.

  • Michael says:
    24 Feb24 February 12:14

    *FANTASTIC* news that Loganair has saved the DERRY to London route, the only direct service linking London to the northwest of Ireland!
    I’ve been using the route for years (as it was operated by Ryanair before Flybmi).
    It’s always been very reasonably priced if you book in advance and the Flybmi service felt like flying with a boutique airline. Haven’t flown Loganair before but looking forward to giving them a go.

    • Bob says:
      24 Feb24 February 13:03

      I do not know if Loganair has already announced wich type of aircraft it will fly.
      But ironically you may fly on an ex-flybmi aircraft on that route.
      I read Loganair had already planned to take two aircraft from flybmi.
      And it was a decision taken before the closing of flybmi.

  • Zoe says:
    24 Feb24 February 18:12

    OT before my husband upgrades his gold amex chargecard to platinum am I right in thinking he should cancel my supp card as we can then add again later for more points?

    • thehornets says:
      24 Feb24 February 18:27

      I would, but you may find that they issue a supplementary plat anyway, even if you had cancelled the gold supp prior to the upgrade.

    • TGLoyalty says:
      24 Feb24 February 18:51

      Likely you will get a supp anyway.

      An extra gold supp still triggers the 5k

    • Munch says:
      24 Feb24 February 19:50

      I cancelled but still received the supplementary. After speaking to chat I explained and they added the 5k manually.

  • Mark says:
    24 Feb24 February 23:15

    Managed to book 6 seats out to Mykonos from stansted and 4 back again (will have to sort the other two later) over may half term! Thanks for the heads up Rob.

  • zappomatic says:
    27 Feb27 February 23:33

    Regarding CityFlyer catering, on the JMK route it’s not merely a snack ie. crisps, popcorn or biscuits. Breakfast gets the same bacon roll/cheese and tomato panini/fruit and yogurt as given out on domestics, then after 9.30am it’s a cold meal consisting of a bread roll and butter, salad with chicken/pulled pork/smoked salmon/poached salmon depending on rotation, cheese and biscuits and a chocolate cake.

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

New to Head for Points?

Welcome!  We’re the UK’s most-read source of business travel, Avios, frequent flyer and hotel loyalty news. Let us improve how you travel. Got any questions? Ask them in our forums.

SPECIAL OFFER: Get 10,000 Avios with the free Barclaycard until 26th September 2024!

NEW: Sign-up bonuses boosted to 3,000 and 18,000 points

Latest Forum Posts

Get 40,000 bonus points (worth 40,000 Avios) and £300 dining credit with The Platinum Card

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

See a whole year of reward seat availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

Get £10 when you spend £150 on your free Currensea card

Booking a luxury hotel?

Our luxury hotel booking service offers you GUARANTEED extra benefits over booking direct. Works with Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz Carlton, St Regis and more. We've booked £1.7 million of rooms to date. Click for details.

SME? GET POINTS WORTH 10,500 AVIOS WITH CAPITAL ON TAP

Get 20,000 bonus points (converts to 20,000 Avios) with 'first year free' American Express Gold

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.

Got it!