Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

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.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (July 2025)

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

Get 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 Card

30,000 Avios and the famous annual Companion Voucher voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express Credit Card

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 Credit Card

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

50,000 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 points worth 0.8 Avios per £1 on the FREE standard card and 1 Avios per £1 on the Pro card. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

Capital on Tap Visa

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Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review

There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business Card

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.

The American Express Business Platinum Card

50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

The American Express Business Gold Card

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.

Category

British Airways and Avios

Comments (226)

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

  • Anon says:
    10 Oct10 October 09:45

    OT: has anyone tried cash withdrawals using Curve linked to HSBC World Elite? Is there a fee or not?

  • xcalx says:
    10 Oct10 October 09:46

    OT Re flexplus travel insurance.
    Quite a bit of discussion last week re new terms from Nov 1st for pre existing conditions. I just received a letter offering me the renewal at £132.50. Last years premium was £115.20. This is for COPD (3 inhalers) I will stick with them.

  • MrHandBaggageOnly says:
    10 Oct10 October 10:08

    Antalya is a fantastic location for anyone who wants a week or two of sun, sea and good resorts. The airport is decent as well. I haven’t been for a few years but would love to go back, our neighbours were there this year and loved it. Friendly people and great food too.

    It’s good move by BA in my book, as I imagine the gap left by Thomas Cook here is rather large.

  • youngtraveller says:
    10 Oct10 October 10:10

    As kids, these day would say that was ‘savage’! But having used the app on the ipad before from what I remember it was the same one as the iphone so it wasn’t created for the iPad and I think it ruined the experience.

  • Russ says:
    10 Oct10 October 10:31

    4hrs 20 min in a a319 is a long time…..

  • Aston100 says:
    10 Oct10 October 10:43

    The Antalya Crowne Plaza markets itself as five star.
    It is certainly superior to some of the 4 star CP properties in the UK anyway, but the definition of 5 star isn’t the same between those two countries.

    As others have pointed out, the luxury resorts are not inside the city, but anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour transfer.

    It is an amazingly good value for money destination, especially if you can tear yourself away from the all inclusive resorts and go out and about exploring.

    The airport however is horrid. The staff are cold and humourless and don’t know how to react if a situation that isn’t scripted arises.
    For instances, their brains cannot comprehend how to deal with someone on crutches trying to go through the metal detector. They make that person put their crutches through the xray machine and then expect them to walk unaided through the metal detector!

  • New Card says:
    10 Oct10 October 10:59

    OT – My Lloyds card has been converted to the new Mastercard. I recall that the letter I received said I could still earn an Avios Upgrade Voucher this year if I spent £7k by a certain date. How do you know if you have earned one of these? Do they still send the letter out by post telling you like they used to?

    • Anna says:
      10 Oct10 October 13:07

      I’ve never had a letter about the voucher (apart from the “bonus” one I got in February!), I keep a running total of my spend and I’ll be calling BAEC this year to check that it’s appeared in my account.

    • Mark2 says:
      10 Oct10 October 13:18

      WE have received emails.

    • ADS says:
      11 Oct11 October 11:35

      i called up Lloyds a few days ago to ask if I’d hit the £7k target – the very pleasant person who answered had to go through my statements and manually tot up the total spend (excluding refunds / fees) …

      apparently the voucher will be triggered once the statement is produced after you’ve hit the target … so if you hit the target at the start of a statement month, you have to wait almost a month before getting official confirmation

  • Liam says:
    10 Oct10 October 11:06

    OT — I booked a non-refundable room at the Hilton Belfast for one night later this month but will now not be travelling there. If I check in online or through the app, rather than in person, what are the chances I will at least get the points from this booking, even though I won’t actually be there?

    • Lee says:
      10 Oct10 October 11:14

      slim

    • berneslai says:
      10 Oct10 October 11:23

      It’s worth a try but I’ve only ever been sucessful once and I’ve had to cancel lots of non-refundable hotel rooms at the last minute over the last 3 years. Expect nothing and you won’t be disappointed.

      • Liam says:
        10 Oct10 October 11:34

        Fair enough, kind of as I thought. Is there any penalty for a no-show (without specifically letting them know) beyond the loss of the money you’ve paid for the room?

    • Ben says:
      10 Oct10 October 11:44

      Call the hotel reservations team and ask nicely if they will cancel and refund. They have the discretion to do so, and sometimes I’ve found that they are happy to have the room back.

      • Liam says:
        10 Oct10 October 12:36

        Funny how this never really crossed my mind! I just rang up and successfully cancelled. They hadn’t actually taken the payment from my card yet so were able to able to cancel the booking with no issue and at no charge.

        • Nathan says:
          10 Oct10 October 16:32

          This may still work. If Belfast is as chocca as it used to be when I had a contract there then the hotel may well be happy to have a room back and take the additional margin from the rack rate. Good luck!

    • Jovanna says:
      10 Oct10 October 11:48

      I’m sure the points and stay will not post.

      I checked in online a couple of weeks ago. I selected my room etc. I said I would be arriving after 10:00 pm. That’s the latest that you can select. When I got there after midnight, I think the hotel had cancelled my visit. There was a bit of a kerfuffle at reception. I had to pull out my app and show that I’d booked a room and checked in. They also wanted to see a credit card as a form of ID. I’m HH Diamond, so all of that was a bit unusual.

      I didn’t receive an email after I’d checked out, which is unusual these days, so I checked the app the following day. I’d not received any points. The stay was showing as a cancelled reservation. I called the hotel and they processed the stay manually.

      • Lady London says:
        10 Oct10 October 13:55

        Him. For a moment there, as there were all these things that said your hotel stay did not exist, I had been hoping the hotel would not have asked you for the payment either.

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