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British Airways launches flights to Portland, Oregon – with lots of Avios availability

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The rumours we had heard floating around this week were true.  British Airways has just announced that it is launching direct flights to Portland, Oregon in 2020.

The service will start on 1st June 2020, and is set to operate all year round. Here is the timetable:

BA299 departs Heathrow at 15:05, arrives in Portland at 16:55

BA298 departs Portland at 18:45 and arrives in London at 12:10 the following day

During the summer season (from 29th March 2020 until 25th October 2020) the flight will operate Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. During the winter season this will reduce to four weekly flights on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. It will depart from Heathrow Terminal 5.

The service will use a 787-8 aircraft, which British Airways often uses to open new US routes. It is BA’s smallest long haul aircraft with Club, World Traveller Plus and World Traveller.

By the time you read this flights should be bookable for cash or Avios on the BA website here, with the guaranteed two Club World seats per flight.  As this is a new route availability should be wide open – if you were planning a trip to the US west coast next Summer but had failed to get the dates you wanted, this might be your best opportunity!

Unlike some of BA’s other recent route launches to the US it faces some direct competition. Delta Air Lines already operates a flight between Portland and London during the summer season, as well as to Amsterdam all year round.

If you are looking to take a trip to the US next Summer I would seriously consider flying to Portland.  It is a fantastic base to start from and with wide-open availability – at least for the next few hours – you will have your choice of travel dates.

You can book on ba.com here.

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.

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

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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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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 (97)

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

  • Alice says:
    18 Dec18 December 22:19

    O/T does anyone know if BA have entirely dropped their LCY (or for that matter are they planning to swap instead to departing from any LON with services to start in spring 2020) to Granada (GRX) route?

    Me and 6 great friends had booked to go over the moved bank holiday in May to make the most of the dates and had our accommodation in Granada booked but yesterday I had a ‘flights cancelled’ email.

    I’d really rather not wait too long with the cheapest viable alternative (Easyjet to Malaga) as my instinct is that plenty of people will sit down to book their holiday flights as soon as the Xmas chaos is over and we can’t afford for the prices to jump if we will now have to fly to AGP and get a minibus rather than direct to GRX.

    Any info/suggestions very gratefully received!

    • Nick says:
      18 Dec18 December 22:49

      You don’t need to worry about easyJet, if BA cancel your flight they will rebook you. They’ll offer something but if you don’t like it you can ask to change to something you prefer. Main two options are accept an alternative airport nearby (Malaga?) or fly via Madrid. I’d definitely pick the latter – it’s a really easy connection, usually very short, and if you get yourself on one of the widebodies LHRMAD it can be a very pleasant experience.

  • Tom says:
    18 Dec18 December 22:30

    Shame business is the old rubbish seating…….

  • dicksbitd says:
    19 Dec19 December 00:41

    There appears to be no world traveller plus availability for redemptions in June-Sep, yet there is Club. Bit irritating as I wanted to use an Amex companion voucher + GUF.

    • The Original David says:
      19 Dec19 December 10:45

      The BA default is 2 x CW and 4 x WT. If you wait a bit, they’ll probably release some F and WTP at some point, but perhaps not on the dates you want!

      • QueenOfTheSky says:
        22 Dec22 December 00:30

        No F available on the 787-8 I’m afraid! Just CW, WT+ and WT. But a very nice aircraft all the same.

  • Paul says:
    19 Dec19 December 06:27

    Perhaps worth mentioning the zero sales tax too 🙂

    • Lady London says:
      19 Dec19 December 17:24

      If you have shopping to do, do not wait till Saturday. That’s when all of Washington State ,(Northern part of Portland conurbation to all the way up to and beyond Seattle) comes to Oregon to do their shopping at 10% less and it’s very busy. You will be able to move around much easier and see more and do more on a weekday.

      I quite like Beaverton for a good range of mid-range and slightly lower shops. Malls have different characters eg Tanasbourne aims to be more quirky, Washington Square slightly more upmarket with a Tesla shop etc. If you want to stay in the centre there are some good brand shops like Bose.

      You are spoiled for choice for hotels I’d like to stay in like several Kimptons, or The Nines in the main square (intersting food trucks, transport hub, and a very helpful tourist office) and lots of excellent brand shops that are hard to find in Europe in walking distance.

  • Gavin says:
    19 Dec19 December 06:32

    The dream of the 90s is alive in Portland.

    I enjoyed Crater Lake which was very cold and still had snow around it in June. Portland was a very quirky city which simultaneously had an interesting Rose Garden and hipster central eg Voodoo Donuts, craft breweries everywhere.

  • Defcon5 says:
    19 Dec19 December 07:25

    It’s also possible to fly direct to Portland with Delta in the summer season, has been for a few years now. You can use your Virgin Flying Club Miles to redeem.

  • Andrew says:
    19 Dec19 December 07:55

    At £1399 return in Club World, you’re much better off just paying a cash ticket and reducing by Avios, rather than redeeming. The surcharges are so high that it makes it crazy to do anything else – plus you’ll earn a load of Avios back and 280 tier points.

    • Kathryn says:
      19 Dec19 December 14:01

      Agreed! I’ve been on the look out for a decent club world fare to Vancouver. Have bitten the bullet on this & will hire a car to drive up. 320TPs because I’ve got a stop in Dallas on the way out.

  • The other Kevin says:
    19 Dec19 December 08:03

    For us propeller-heads don’t forget about the “Spruce Goose” that’s in a museum not from Portland.
    Went to see it many years ago when it was in LA but would love to see it again.

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

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