Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

What are the British Airways weekend leisure flights from London City Airport?

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Last week we published a list of all British Airways CityFlyer routes from the UK regions – ie Manchester, Glasgow and Edinburgh, plus Stansted.

This article has a list of all of CityFlyer’s leisure weekend destinations from London City Airport this summer.  We’ve also included weekday flights to cities which are primarily leisure-focused (Florence is in, Frankfurt is not!).

We decided to publish it after a couple of reader requests.  We accept that it is a bit of a niche one – the main people who will find this article useful are those who live or work near Canary Wharf and who find getting to Heathrow or Gatwick to be more of a pain.

During the week, BA CityFlyer flies from London City Airport to key business destinations in Europe.  At weekends it offers a range of leisure destinations to maximise the use of its aircraft.

BA Embraer E190

As a reminder, CityFlyer has a fleet of Embraer aircraft with 2-2 seating in Club Europe and Euro Traveller. Unlike the mainline British Airways fleet, you get a free drink and snack service regardless of what class you book.  This is because of the logistical issues involved in running a buy on-board service given the space and crew constraints on these small aircraft.

Of course, it’s not all good news flying from London City. There is no British Airways lounge, there is no fast track security and priority boarding has little value when 75% of the passengers have BA status.

As a subsidiary of British Airways, you can earn and burn Avios and tier points on CityFlyer flights just as you would on any other BA flight.

Below is the full list of CityFlyer leisure routes operated this summer from London City.

We have flagged in brackets those routes which earn 160 British Airways Executive Club tier points if you fly Club Europe and are therefore worth a look if you are chasing British Airways status.

Bergerac: Thursday – Monday
Faro: Thursday-Monday
Florence: daily
Ibiza: daily
Malaga: daily
Menorca: Friday and Monday
Mykonos: daily in July and August, Friday – Monday in May, June and September (160 tier points)
Nice: Daily
Palma: daily
Prague: Friday, Sunday, Monday
Quimper: Thursday, Saturday, Sunday
Rome: Thursday-Monday
San Sebastian: Friday, Monday (starts 10th July)
Santorini: Friday and Tuesday (160 tier points)
Skiathos: Friday and Monday (160 tier points)
Split: Thursday, Friday, Monday
Venice: Friday, Saturday, Monday

You can book on the BA website.  The start and end dates for the season vary by route.

PS.  If you missed it, take a look at our recent article on the top 10 reasons to apply for the British Airways Premium Plus American Express card.


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 (24)

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

  • Reeferman says:

    Malaga is only a daily flight between 30th Mar and 2nd Nov. Otherwise:
    Nov and Dec is Thu/Fri/Sun
    Jan/Feb/Mar is only Thu/Sun

  • Ricatti says:

    I liked departing LCY for it’s fast DLR through security.

    Over 8 years or so (wow) the airport became busy beyond imaginable. Things are running over capacity and to find a seat one needs to go into a restaurant.

  • Eddie Hughes says:

    Hey, Rob, London City is not too niche. For those of us living in North London, it’s far easier to get to rather than Heathrow where you either have to head over to Paddington first for the Express or have to spend 3 days on the Piccadilly line while it snakes its way through central London!

  • the_real_a says:

    I also find LCY very convenient arriving by train into london at KC. The tube/DLR is fairly straightforward and very cheap. Last time i was able to get from Yorkshire to LCY for about £13 (!) using the plentiful promo fares.

  • Jtz says:

    Thanks for this, this is perfect for us as it’s only 10 mins away, and every hour counts when we need a weekend break but the OH wants to be back on a sunday

  • Gary says:

    Anyone know when the LCY Santorini summer route starts or where to find the details? I’ve looked over the website and tried booking on various dates (Fri/Tues) but can’t seem to find anything bookable – although I’ve seen references on the site to that it exists…
    Ta

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

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