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Air Malta adds a 2nd London Gatwick flight for Winter 2019

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Whilst not part of any major airline alliance, and no longer an Avios partner, the continued popularity of Malta means that I wanted to flag a new Air Malta service.

From the start of the Winter timetable on 27th October, Air Malta is adding a second daily service from London Gatwick.

The two existing daily services from London Heathrow remain, taking the number of daily flights from London to four.

Tickets for the new service are very cheap for the first few days – inbound, for example, you can fly one way from Malta to Gatwick for £22.80 in Economy between the 28th and 31st October as well as much of November.

British Airways has its own ‘five flights per week’ Malta service from Gatwick, of course, which – at 160 tier points for a Club Europe – will admittedly be your preferred choice if you are chasing British Airways Executive Club status.

You can check out all BA routes which earn 160 tier points return in Club Europe in this article.  Because many are from Gatwick, like Malta, they can be surprisingly cheap out of season.


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.

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

Huge 30,000 points bonus until 12th May 2024 Read our full review

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.

Comments (75)

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

  • krys_k says:

    OT please. Do points post after the first leg of a Qatar flight or does the return need to be completed before that happens? Thanks (btw Qsuite is an amazing hard product. Soft product is great too. Would take it over BA F).

    • krys_k says:

      Sorry, Should have been clearer – post to BAEC. Much thanks

    • Rob says:

      After first leg. Only Flybe had that weird rule AFAIK.

    • marcw says:

      Yes, usually Avios/TP are credited the following tuesday/wednesday after the flight.

  • Harvey says:

    OT.
    Do virgin cc do a hard check if you ask for a credit limit increase?

  • r* says:

    I have a flight arriving in Madrid with Iberia that will land at around 1830, would I have enough time to get to a BA flight from MAD-LHR at 2050? Would prefer to not have to stay the night at Madrid and that seem to be the last flight to LHR.

    Also would I better making the MAD-LHR booking with avios via Iberia site or BA site in terms of if the flight was missed due to the IB flight being delayed?

    Looks like the points and fees are the same, but if a better option turns up cancelling with a BA booking would like a 50p/£1 fee?

    • marcw says:

      I’d go for it -if flight is on time, you have good time if you land in T4, a little bit less in T4S, but still doable. However, I’d book it with IbPlus. The reason? You can change your Avios bookig up to 1 hr before scheduled departure, for just 25 EUR (to cancel an Avios booking it has to be 24 h before…) – I believe BAEC Avios booking are also flexible, but neet to be changed 24 h before departure, IBPLUS gives you even more flexibility (I’ve done it a few months ago, when I have a BA flight at 7 am. It was 7 pm the day before, I checked whether there are Avios seat at a later flight. Bingo, a quick call and 25 EUR and I changed my flight, even though I already had checked in on-line with a mobile boarding pass).

  • Graeme says:

    Last time I was in the CCR they thought I was Tom Kerridge. We had no idea why we had one or two members of staff always standing by me, grinning and waiting to top up every drink, until one quietly said to me “I love your recipes”….. then I remembered that a friend said I looked like him. I don’t remember much of the flight to KL!

    • TGLoyalty says:

      What a story to tell in the future lol

      wonder if you made the celeb spotting thread on flyertalk.

  • Big Jim says:

    Does anyone know why the BA Lgw-Mla flights are all at different times during the week? Every day its a totally different time..im sure theres a perfectly good explanation..but i cant put my finger on it..lol

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

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