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British Airways launches six new Heathrow ‘summer sun’ routes – Avios flights bookable now

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British Airways has announced six new ‘Summer sun’ routes from Heathrow, including Pristina and Podgorica.

These routes are all available for booking now, with the guaranteed six Avios seats per flight available.

Some of these are brand new whilst others are re-instatements of previously cancelled routes.  They all offer you additional options for your 2020 holiday.

British Airways A320

The most intriguing, and somewhere that I have never been, is Kosovo.  British Airways will operate Saturday-only flights to Pristina from 4th July to 29th August.

This is obviously a low-risk way of testing the market, with only around 1500 seats in each direction over the season.  I got an error message when trying to book this at 12pm but it should appear soon.

BA is also entering Montenegro, although not to the more obvious holiday option of Tivat.  Instead, there will be a weekly flight to Podgorica.  The operating dates are identical to Pristina.

Heathrow will also see flights to Perugia in Italy.  Services will run on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays from 2nd July to 31st August.

Turkey is also seeing expansion.  British Airways already flies to Dalaman from London Gatwick but is adding an additional Heathrow service too.

Bodrum is also back on the BA map.

Both routes will be Saturday-only, operating between 23rd May and 24th October.  Remember that British Airways is also launching Antalya from Gatwick from mid April.

Turning to Greece, there will be a new service between Heathrow and Rhodes.  This will operate on Saturdays between 4th July and 29th August.  The existing service between Gatwick and Rhodes, pictured below, will remain.

Corfu is also gaining an additional two flights per week from Gatwick on Fridays and Sundays between 1st May and 23rd October.  Domes of Corfu is pictured above.

Frequency increases have also been announced on 16 routes including Larnaca, Brindisi, Nice, Ibiza, Tenerife, Split, Olbia, Kefalonia and Preveza.  Unfortunately we were not given a full list.  If you previously tried and failed to find Avios space on these routes for the Summer you may want to check again.

Seats should be bookable on all these routes, for cash or Avios, at ba.com.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 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

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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 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, and the standard card is FREE. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review

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

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

50,000 points when you sign-up 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.

Category

British Airways and Avios

Comments (44)

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

  • Anna says:
    12 Dec12 December 16:59

    If you purchase currency directly with a credit card it’s usually treated as a cash withdrawal and attracts some horrendous daily interest charge. I purchased US $ from a travel agent earlier this year but Curve was declined, can’t recall what the underlying card was (either HH visa or Lloyds MC at that time). IHG is unlikely to let you go over the £200 daily limit in any case.

    On my trip to Vienna this week I withdrew £200 worth of euros on Curve linked to HH visa and another £200 which I had loaded from Revolut from IHG. I think this is the limit both those will allow per calendar month but I may be mistaken. I don’t seem to have been charged any fees so far and the exchange rate was good. Revolut allows you to load up in £ then convert to foreign currency so that may well be the way forward for me, using it as a debit card abroad.

  • dan says:
    12 Dec12 December 17:00

    O/T Just got an email from Virgin credit cards saying they are capping monthly mileage at your credit limit. Annoying if they don’t give you a realistic credit limit to begin with.

    • Liam says:
      12 Dec12 December 17:32

      Interesting and a little worrying. I haven’t had the email (yet). Do they say when this change will take effect, and do you have the free or the paid Virgin card?

      • dan says:
        12 Dec12 December 21:08

        We are writing to advise you of a change we are making to the Virgin Atlantic Reward and Reward+ Credit Card Terms and Conditions. The change is shown below and will apply from the 7th of January 2020.

        The miles you can earn each month will be capped based on spending an equivalent of your credit limit each month. For example, if your credit limit is £5,000 the first £5,000 of spending in the statement cycle will be eligible for miles. If you make multiple payments and spend more than £5,000 in the month, the spending eligible for miles will be capped at £5,000.

        There are no changes to the earn rate on spending associated with the Reward card which is 0.75 Flying Club miles, or the Reward+ card which is 1.5 Flying Club miles, for every pound (£1) spend on card purchases.

        There are no other changes to the benefits associated with the Reward and Reward+ cards.

        Thank you for spending with the Virgin Atlantic Credit Card.

  • Phillip says:
    12 Dec12 December 17:45

    BA used to fly to Pristina until 2012 and it was a very busy route! They suspended it due to issues with the airport operator becoming greedy, apparently!

  • Hardpack says:
    12 Dec12 December 18:26

    I flew on LGW pristina a couple of times. The place maybe has changed but pristina itself might be lacking but the surrounding areas are beautiful. Podgorica again is nothing special but Montenegro is I think one of the most beautiful countries in Europe. Like a warm Switzerland. Budva Svetii Stefan and of course Kotor should be on anyone’s bucket list. Belgrade went off the ba map a few years ago but again, great atmosphere there, I hope it comes back

  • Journeying John says:
    12 Dec12 December 21:00

    Why would anyone pay BA over the odds for their appalling cramped, under provisioned, no IFE, dodgy wifi (sometimes) Non responsive customer services “servive”
    The likes of Easyjet and Wizz deliver a better quality of service for less

    • Jake says:
      12 Dec12 December 21:32

      1. Heathrow is more accessible than Gatwick for many and almost certainly more so than Luton or Stansted
      2. Terminal 5 is nicer than any other competitor terminal and easier to use (generally with fewer queues and less crowding)
      2. Some wifi is better than none
      3. Collect Avios
      4. Spend Avios
      5. Collect Tier Points
      6. Potentially free lounge access for some
      7. Opportunity to upgrade to CE with good food and drink
      8. No carrier to these destinations has IFE so point is moot
      9. All of the carriers have the same seats (give or take) an inch
      10. Book a package with BA holidays (free baggage & ATOL protection)
      11. Better buy on board menu
      12. Potentially better flight times
      13. More flights to certain destinations better for IROPS
      14. Ability to offset flight carbon emissions

      I realise BA isn’t perfect but I think there are some good reasons why someone might choose BA. I don’t see Wizz or Eazyjet as a shining light compared to BA.

      • Oh! Matron! says:
        13 Dec13 December 08:55

        I agree with everything, with the exception of T5: It’s souless. T2 for the win 🙂

    • Frenske says:
      13 Dec13 December 22:18

      I don’t give a toss about who I fly with as long it is direct, inexpensive and airport is nearby.

  • Ayearinmx says:
    12 Dec12 December 22:12

    Not calling you wrong, but are you sure that is Bodrum and not Oludeniz?

    • Rob says:
      12 Dec12 December 22:14

      BA gave us that picture!

    • Dawn says:
      13 Dec13 December 06:23

      Yes it’s Oludeniz. I have an apartment in Sarigerme, just 15 minutes from Dalaman so nice to see another flight down there. Heathrow is closer for me and I prefer that to Gatwick anyway. Plus I need to do the couple of flights to get to my status level and the Avios and TP are helpful.

  • Lady London says:
    12 Dec12 December 23:29

    OT someone was hoping for a hotel deal in Canada for February a few days ago. Fairmont have just launched 30% off for a solid list of hotels in North America including Canada. Valid for bookings covering all 2020. need to book by end of February 2020 – book by 6th January gets you free breakfasts thrown in.

    As Fairmont is now owned by Accor their usual conditions on promotions including unchangeability will probably apply, and the sites we don’t talk much about on here could also be worth a look at the time of booking.

  • L Allen says:
    13 Dec13 December 09:51

    More importantly, how many TP’s does one earn on the new routes 😀

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