Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

British Airways suspends all flights from London City Airport

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

British Airways has announced that it is suspending all flights from London City Airport from Monday 23rd March.

The suspension is initially set to run until Saturday 4th April although you would imagine that there is a high chance of this being extended.

British Airways suspends all flights from London City

Passengers will be transferred onto flights from London Heathrow or London Gatwick, or can claim a refund.  As we discussed yesterday, anyone who chooses to cancel is being ‘encouraged’ to take a credit voucher rather than the cash to which they are entitled.

This is a serious blow for the staff of BA CityFlyer, which is run as a separate business inside British Airways.

The pilots and crew are only trained to operate the Embraer aircraft and will have no choice but to be grounded during this period.

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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

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.

Category

British Airways and Avios

Comments (79)

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

  • Vinz says:
    20 Mar20 March 11:44

    I’m quite sure the suspension is already extended… my husband was meant to fly from LCY on 9th April and his flight was cancelled days ago.

  • rams1981 says:
    20 Mar20 March 12:03

    OT Amex SPG. Was credited with 10,000 points for the error for posting 2 points instead of 3 for some transactions following my complaint. Solid result.

  • 1nfrequent says:
    20 Mar20 March 12:14

    O/T but does anyone know what the situation is if you booked a hotel using a Tandem credit card? Presumably if it’s been cancelled because you didn’t want to pay for the new account structure, then you can’t get a refund and have to take credit but was wondering if anyone else had run up against this?

    1F

    • bill says:
      20 Mar20 March 12:45

      tandem credit cards will still accept refunds. you have to phone tandem to get them to return the monies to you

  • Aston100 says:
    20 Mar20 March 12:52

    O?T:
    Was just checking my corporate travel insurance policy T&Cs.
    Spotted this under exclusions “any losses arising from an epidemic or pandemic as categorised as such by any Government and/or the World Health Organisation”
    Rang them and they confirmed that anything relating to a pandemic isn’t covered.

    Is my (corporate) travel insurance policy in the minority here, or is this kind of exclusion normal?
    If it’s normal, I think a lot of people are going to have a shock if they think they can make a claim against (for example) accommodation booked separately to a (cancelled) flight – especially if the accommodation is still operating (but you cannot get there).

    • Anna says:
      20 Mar20 March 13:53

      Seems to be a fairly common exclusion from what people have put on here, depends on the policy.

  • Travel Strong says:
    20 Mar20 March 14:23

    Is virgin flying club down for everyone? Could not log in last night or today via app or website.

  • Nick_C says:
    20 Mar20 March 19:14

    Buy JL GCs at Morissons instead. More FC Miles than Waitrose, Amex offers, and Morrisons points.

  • Tim says:
    20 Mar20 March 19:35

    Hi Rob et al,
    just have travel voucher come through it took exactly a week, just for your info,
    Cheers Tim

  • Wally1976 says:
    20 Mar20 March 20:43

    OT – apologies if this has been mentioned elsewhere – has anyone else had a letter from NSandI asking them to verify the source of their funds for their Direct Saver account? Mine deposits are all Curve related so I will be unable to provide the evidence they are asking for. On the plus side they haven’t suspended access to the account at the current time so I can get my money out ASAP. It was nice while it lasted!

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

New to Head for Points?

Welcome!  We’re the UK’s most-read source of business travel, Avios, frequent flyer and hotel loyalty news. Let us improve how you travel. Got any questions? Ask them in our forums.

Latest Forum Posts

Get 40,000 bonus points (worth 40,000 Avios) and £300 dining credit with The Platinum Card

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

See a whole year of reward seat availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

Get £10 when you spend £150 on your free Currensea card

Booking a luxury hotel?

Our luxury hotel booking service offers you GUARANTEED extra benefits over booking direct. Works with Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz Carlton, St Regis and more. We've booked £1.7 million of rooms to date. Click for details.

SME? SPECIAL OFFER TO 12TH MAY EARN POINTS WORTH 30,000 AVIOS WITH CAPITAL ON TAP

Get 20,000 bonus points, four airport lounge passes and your first year free with American Express Gold

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.

Got it!