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British Airways launches flights to Antalya

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British Airways has announced a new holiday route for Summer 2020 – Antalya in Turkey.

The route will operate from London Gatwick.  There will be up to six flights per week – frequency increases as we get into the Summer – with the first flight departing on 30th April.  It is scheduled to run until 29th October although there is always the possibility that it will become a year-round route if successful.

British Airways already runs a Summer-only service to Dalaman from Gatwick and, of course, there are daily flights to Istanbul from Heathrow.

Tickets are bookable now, for both cash and Avios.  A standard redemption is 17,000 Avios off-peak / 20,000 peak + £35 in Euro Traveller and 34,000 Avios off-peak / 40,000 peak + £50 in Club Europe.  Under the current variable pricing trial, you can choose to pay as little as £1 in tax by using more Avios, although this option is not available if using a British Airways American Express 2-4-1 voucher.

To maximise your miles when paying, your best bet is the British Airways American Express Premium Plus card which earns double Avios (3 per £1) when you book at ba.com or via BA Holidays.  You do not get double Avios if you book with the free British Airways American Express card. 

Another option is American Express Preferred Rewards Gold which offers double points – 2 per £1 – when you book flight tickets directly with an airline.

I don’t know anything about Antalya, although British Airways says:

“Antalya is often described as the gateway to the Turquoise Coast with some of the most stunning landscapes in Turkey.  The beaches and crystal-clear Mediterranean Sea are perfect for sunbathing, swimming and water sports.  As well as the rolling landscapes and beaches, the region has two-thousand years of history with a range of spectacular temples and Greco-Roman ruins close by, as well as a bustling food and cultural scene.”

The hotel scene looks a bit desperate, to be honest.  The best option appears to be the four star Crowne Plaza – website here – which is handy for anyone with IHG Rewards Club status or with IHG points to redeem.

PS.  BA giveth and BA taketh away.  This announcement came in parallel with the dropping of Summer services from Gatwick to Gibraltar and Limoges.  The Heathrow service to Gibraltar will continue.

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:

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

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

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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

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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.

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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.

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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 (234)

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

  • Sam says:
    10 Oct10 October 08:06

    OT – any particular sweet spots for redeeming with Bonvoy in Paris?

    Also OT – months ago I asked on here about flying with a baby. Got a lot of good advice (mostly reassurance) which really helped when we flew a few weeks ago, so thanks to all who helped.

  • BJ says:
    10 Oct10 October 08:16

    O/T Nectar: 1000 bonus points on LNER back for some but with £5 minimum spend. Still works if points redeemed at 1p value offers. There is also 500/1000 points for spending £25/£50 at argos so a 20% rebate if redeemed at 1p. Not sure if argos sell Sainsburys giftcards, if so then it could be worth 10% off petrol.

    • John says:
      10 Oct10 October 08:48

      Sainsburys gift cards don’t work in their petrol stations

      • BJ says:
        10 Oct10 October 09:47

        Since when? Never had a problem but a few months since I had cause to use them.

        • the_real_a says:
          10 Oct10 October 13:40

          @BJ – its true, gift cards no longer work at fuel stations. T&C`s have been updated and heard the same from Customer Service after staff refused my card. This was before Christmas so not sure how many months it has been since you tried. No idea is the till rejects it however as couldn’t get that far!

          • BJ says:
            10 Oct10 October 14:53

            Thanks to both you and John then. I used to buy them sometimes to hit spend targets more quickly so I’ll know not to fall into that trap going forward.

      • luckyjim says:
        10 Oct10 October 10:19

        Gift cards and most fintech cards don’t work when you pay at the pump. Try paying in the kiosk if you have an issue.

        • BJ says:
          10 Oct10 October 10:56

          Should add I only ever paid in kiosk. I try not play any games that let companies cut staff but it’s hard at times.

    • Andrew says:
      10 Oct10 October 09:08

      Also 5% with Halifax and BoS on LNER online bookings at the moment.

      • BJ says:
        10 Oct10 October 10:57

        Ages since I had anything useful with Halifax. Hopefully get something better with my new Club Lloyd’s account.

    • Charlieface says:
      10 Oct10 October 14:34

      I got Morrisons 10% on Halifax. Started immediately after the Coop offer…

  • Mikeact says:
    10 Oct10 October 08:18

    When does BA’s Summer season start and end…does it tie in with Peak Period dates…depends on the route…..it varies ?

    • Shoestring says:
      10 Oct10 October 08:24

      varies with route I think – I was checking on the Antalya route yesterday and it had a few gaps esp May half term

      speculation that BA will also offer more of the busiest ex-Thomas Cook holiday routes this coming summer so watch this space, get in quick with Avios or £64 each way cash even in peak summer (which is what you could have done with the Antalya route yesterday!)

    • Rhys says:
      10 Oct10 October 08:47

      ‘Summer schedule’ in airline lingo is end of March until end of October. It is set by one of the regulators, I believe.
      Peak/offpeak is set by BA.

    • marcw says:
      10 Oct10 October 09:41

      Start is last sunday in march. End, last saturday in october. It’s standard IATA regulation.

    • pauldb says:
      10 Oct10 October 10:00

      Theer are the official start end dates (I think airlines get different slots for W & S). But I presume BA leave capacity on the ski routes for Easter, hence why some summer routes have delayed starts.

      Somewhat a shame as I would fancy going to Antalya at Easter. There’s a massive theme park if not everyday is beach temperature. And not many better SH options that time of year.

  • TripRep says:
    10 Oct10 October 08:23

    OT: to delight LL….

    XR aiming to shut down LCY for 3 days, clearly aiming at the 1%

    https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/extinction-rebellion-protest-live-updates-and-travel-information-as-activists-prepare-to-shutdown-a4258076.html

    • Shoestring says:
      10 Oct10 October 08:27

      catastrophic effects on the environment (of flying)?

      all the carbon emissions of all the world’s planes currently make up 2% of the annual total, let’s keep things in proportion

      • TripRep says:
        10 Oct10 October 08:41

        Harry, I posted more as an advisory to expect delays.

        I wonder how an EU261/2004 claim would fly if disrupted enough…

        I wonder if they’ll have their diesel generator with them today…

        • BJ says:
          10 Oct10 October 08:47

          It’ll ho under civil unrest so no EU261 I guess.

          • Martin says:
            10 Oct10 October 13:13

            BA Exec Club call centre reps have authorization to switch flights from LCY today onto alternative routes, on request and without change fees. I just swapped LCY-EDI this evening for LHR-EDI with no hassle (travelling on an inexpensive non-flexible ticket). Super-helpful person on the end of the phone too.

      • Callum says:
        10 Oct10 October 08:56

        2% of a huge number of course being a huge number. Though some studies estimate the total effect is more like 5% (the location of the emissions and the contrails they leave behind also being significant).

        Some people also care about equality, and a passenger’s share of a single return flight from LCY will produce more CO2 than many people produce in an entire year.

        If you don’t particularly care about climate change (or if you do but disagree with civil disobedience as a tactic) then that’s completely fine, but I do object to statistics being used misleadingly!

        • TripRep says:
          10 Oct10 October 09:22

          It’s not often I quote Farage …

          Olivia Colman PR stunts for XR and BA in the last year…

          https://mobile.twitter.com/nigel_farage/status/1181288302730780672

          Gotta love celebs 🙂

        • Riccatti says:
          10 Oct10 October 09:41

          But what is the end goal? To close down all airports and commercial aviation?

          • Callum says:
            10 Oct10 October 10:39

            I despise arguments like this. You apparently care enough to comment on the topic, but you flat out refuse to do even the tiniest piece of research. Why? I’m genuinely curious.

            The goal of XR is INCREDIBLY easy to find. They demand that the government be honest on the dangers of climate change, that we commit to net zero emissions and create citizen assemblies to come up with ecological regulations.

            So to answer your question, no that does not mean shut down all airports and stop all flights. BA’s domestic network plans to achieve that standard in just three months time – it’s really not hard…

          • Shoestring says:
            10 Oct10 October 10:45

            main goal of XR?

            ‘Government must act now to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero by 2025’

            it’s ludicrously unrealistic – OK, 2050 might be too ‘lazy’ an aim but 2025 is hopeless & never going to happen – and as a stated aim makes XR look like nutters

          • Callum says:
            10 Oct10 October 10:55

            Can you give a logical reason why being too ambitious makes you a nutter?

            To me, the logical method of achieving a goal as best as you can is to aim as high as you can. What benefit would there be to aim lower, when the end result would be at best identical?

        • RussellH says:
          10 Oct10 October 09:57

          Apart from the location of the emissions being far more dangerous, there is also the fact that air travel is growing very rapidly.
          This 2% figure has been trotted out for several years now – it must surely be more than that by now, especially as emissions from other sources are dropping, as renewables and other non-carbon or low-carbon sources come on line.

      • memesweeper says:
        10 Oct10 October 09:02

        Only about 2% of the worlds population fly each year, so that is a massive hit to CO2 from a small number of people.

        • Shoestring says:
          10 Oct10 October 09:34

          and how many mouths are those 2% feeding with their ‘whole life societal economic contribution’? probably 20% of the world’s population

          • Callum says:
            10 Oct10 October 10:47

            Can you provide a scrap of evidence to prove that rather absurd claim? Progressive tax systems don’t seem to make much sense if you think keeping the rich richer benefits the poor.

          • Lady London says:
            10 Oct10 October 20:49

            +1
            I love the idealism of those committed to this cause and the young and passionate, but frequent flyers are frequently flying for business roles with long chains of positive effects of productivity, achievement and efficiency.

            However the kind of inane posing on various trendy topics such as this now is getting very Turing and I’m losing respect for The Grauniad overall.

      • Riccatti says:
        10 Oct10 October 09:39

        Cargo planes, military planes. Cargo on regular commercial flights that adds to load and emissions.

        It is extremely single-minded to focus on one thing, eg, carbon emissions.

        If planes stop flying today, think of consequences: delayed critical cargo, delayed/no medications, food shortages, no deliveries for hard to reach parts of the planet/Africa. That is, what would be a proportion of people that suffer/die today from a halt to flying.

        • Callum says:
          10 Oct10 October 10:49

          Well yes, most special interest groups do indeed focus on the special interest that they were founded to encourage… Is this really news to you?

          Given no one has asked for all flights to stop immediately, I’m struggling to see what your point is?

          • BJ says:
            10 Oct10 October 11:36

            As you stated earlier throwing around a few selective stats is unhelpful because the issue is hugely complex. Hearts and minds are being won over on a whole range of environmental issues and that is good. Whether the results that changing mindsets drive go far enough and quick enough is another question all together and requires political solutions, but it is nevertheless good that we are moving in the right direction. Direct Action in conjunction with science, technology and policy can and do come together to yield positive results; acid rain was a good example, progress in pest control another. It is happening now with global warming and climate change. Whether we agree with their methods or not, groups like XR are ultimately having a positive effect by heightening awareness and concern, which in turn drives policy responses forward. However, these policy responses somehow need to strike a balance in reconciling the needs for people to live their lives as they choose and protecting the environment as best they can. It must be remembered too though that today’s solutions often become tomorrows problems, for example plastics were once perceived as very beneficial to the environment!

          • Cat says:
            10 Oct10 October 13:04

            100% agree BJ. I don’t agree with all their methods, but I’m glad people are stepping up. After the apathy and inaction of the last few decades over environmental issues, it’s high time things start to change. XR and GT finally seem to be starting to shake policy makers out of their torpor.

        • ken says:
          10 Oct10 October 11:17

          is this a bit like “think of the starving Africans” if we stop flying.

          Absurd argument, if that’s what your relying on to fly to Magaluf or New York for the weekend.

    • Paul Pogba says:
      10 Oct10 October 14:41

      Why don’t they put their efforts into getting the Greens into Downing Street? Either this is a democracy or we submit to middle class mob rule.

      • Callum says:
        10 Oct10 October 19:55

        Why didn’t black people in America commit to getting people into power? Why didn’t the suffragettes commit to getting people into power? Because they couldn’t.

        Their idea of mob rule doesn’t look too different to the current state of democracy in the UK, where a government elected by a very low number of people (15%? Or a third if you want to restrict it to only the eligible voters who turn out) can wield absolute power.

        Though given that their demands are for a civilian assembly to decide what to do, not XR itself, that argument doesn’t hold much weight anyway.

    • Charlieface says:
      10 Oct10 October 14:48

      I guess I always take these things with a pinch of salt. The world is not going to come to an end but we must do something about the current pollution.
      One of the problems is that these issues are never clear cut and have trade-offs. If you reduce greenhouse gases to 0, you will probably cause major economic damage, but equally climate change itself can cause major damage as well. Same with road speeds: if you reduce speeds to 20 to save lives, you cause congestion and more air pollution. If you ban Euro4 minivans, you cause problems for poor families with a lot of kids.
      Personally I’m much more bothered about localised air pollution than generalised greenhouse gases. I think they affect people much more.
      In my area buses make far more NOx and partics than cars do, they’re old and not to Euro6 standard. According to a BBC article recently, 2 people sharing a car cause on average less CO2 and NOx than someone on a bus, so I have no sympathy.

      • Lady London says:
        11 Oct11 October 11:38

        +1. The Swiss have had buses that emit mostly water for about 30 years now. I cannot understand, with the spiralling we have seen on public transport fares in London, why London did not choose these non-polluting buses on any of the 2 or 3 rounds of bus replacements we’ve seen in that time.

        • Rhys says:
          11 Oct11 October 12:54

          Do you mean the electric buses that hang on to overhead wires? Apart from that they don’t pollute I’ve always thought it was a bit of a botched solution….

          • Rob says:
            11 Oct11 October 17:59

            Electric-powered stuff is only environmentally friendly if the underlying electricity is generated in an environmentally friendly way. The UK is still weaning itself off coal.

            Take paper recycling.

            UK paper goes to Wales to be recycled, in a process which uses a lot of electricity which, in the UK, partially comes from coal in the Winter. If you DON’T recycle your paper, trees in Finland – farmed on a 100% sustainable basis (eg you cut down 2% of a forest every year if trees take 50 years to grow) – are cut down and made into paper using 100% hydro electricity. Which is actually better? I’m not taking sides, but eco stuff is never this simple, in the same way that we couldn’t feed the world if everyone ate organic food and ate fully free range meat.

  • Benylin says:
    10 Oct10 October 08:29

    OT: Looking to go Beirut on Avios redemption economy. How long do you recommend, people say 2N3D. Any girl recommendations, cash pay, not expensive.

    • John says:
      10 Oct10 October 08:53

      ??? Regarding cash, bring US dollars and avoid Lebanese pounds as they might devalue.

    • Doug M says:
      10 Oct10 October 09:15

      Can’t decide what to make of recommending an inexpensive cash only girl.

    • Alex M says:
      10 Oct10 October 10:07

      If you need inexpensive cash only girl- why Beirut?! Why not Glasgow?

    • Graeme says:
      10 Oct10 October 10:16

      Had three nights there in June and absolutely loved it. We technically had four nights as we got into our room at 4am and slept for a couple of hours, so three full days. There’s a lot to see outside Beirut – Jeita Grotto, Baalbek, Anjar, Byblos, Harissa – and an awful lot more that I didn’t see…..

      I’m generally a 2D/3N weekend person, but I’d consider more if you can. Utilise the happy hours wherever you can.

  • r* says:
    10 Oct10 October 08:46

    Does anyone know what refund/insurance claim or cancellation options are available for a non cancellable hilton points booking that might be missed due to train cancellations because of typhoon?

    Emailed hilton and they said they cant do anything with points cancellations due to security reasons.

    If the trains get cancelled and i cant use the room, is there any options to claim on insurance or amex plat insurance as its weather related? If so how would that work as the points were bought specifically for the booking, but theres no direct cash involved to claim for etc?

    I cant find an email address for hilton tokyo to try and cancel direct, assuming they even would what with it being noncancellable.

  • Zara says:
    10 Oct10 October 08:48

    We go to antalya twice a year because it’s great all inclusive for the kids. There aren’t many points hotels that are amazing. We normally stay at the Barut hotels which seem to fare very well on tripadvisor.

  • Jonathan says:
    10 Oct10 October 08:57

    I think BA’s iPhone app (I don’t know about Android or tablet computer apps) is one of the few airlines that lets you search for cheapest fares easily, although it does have some draw backs, mainly not being able to change the starting base city (very easily), and only showing the prices for hand luggage only fares, at first glance, it would be good if they showed the total fare price if you wanted checked luggage.

    If other oneworld airlines had this feature on their apps, it would make hunting for things like 560 tier points routes a lot easier!

    • Renaud says:
      10 Oct10 October 10:05

      OT: about checked luggage fare, does anyone know how to book luggage for some but not all of the passengers? Say 2 passengers out of 4 having checked luggage, on the same booking? On the website it seems to be all or nothing.

      • Jovanna says:
        10 Oct10 October 11:52

        If you’re making the initial booking then you’ll have to select HBO for everyone and complete the booking then go back until MMB and add the luggage allowance to those that need it.

        It might be better to call BA and have them assist.

        If you’ve already made the booking then you can add it in MMB to those specific passengers requiring it.

        • Shoestring says:
          10 Oct10 October 12:13

          would be a bit cheaper to buy 2x HBO + 2x Economy Plus (separate bookings), depending on route saves from £18 to quite a lot more vs adding the checked baggage later

          • Anna says:
            10 Oct10 October 12:57

            We often mix and match. Generally we travel as a family of 3 or 4 but often need one or two checked bags.

          • Renaud says:
            10 Oct10 October 14:07

            Thanks, will check about the price. Ideally we’d keep everyone under the same booking, but could reconsider if there are significant savings.

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