Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

easyJet sells its Stansted slot portfolio to Ryanair

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As we covered in the Summer, easyJet has decided to withdraw from Stansted airport in favour of continued growth at London Gatwick.

There will still be some services to the airport but these will be operated by aircraft and crew based elsewhere.

easyJet has confirmed that Ryanair has purchased 312 of its weekly slots at the airport. As each flight requires two slots, this equates to 22 new Ryanair services per day.

Ryanair will not have paid a huge amount for the slots, as Stansted is not full. It could have let easyJet surrender the slots and then take its chances with a request to pick them up, but paying cash guarantees that the better timed ones do not go elsewhere.

Based on adding together 2019 numbers, Ryanair will now carry 84% of all passengers from Stansted. This is a little inflated, however, as not all easyJet traffic will cease. Jet2 will now become the second largest operator at the airport.

It looks like US airline JetBlue will also be arriving at Stansted soon. More on this tomorrow.


best credit card to use when buying flights

How to maximise your miles when paying for flights (February 2025)

Some UK credit cards offer special bonuses when used for buying flights. If you spend a lot on airline tickets, using one of these cards could sharply increase the credit card points you earn.

Booking flights on any airline?

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold earns double points (2 Membership Rewards points per £1) when used to buy flights directly from an airline website.

The card comes with a sign-up bonus of 20,000 Membership Rewards points. These would convert to 20,000 Avios or various other airline or hotel programmes. The standard earning rate is 1 point per £1.

You can apply here.

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

Buying flights on British Airways?

The British Airways Premium Plus American Express card earns double Avios (3 Avios per £1) when used at ba.com.

The card comes with a sign-up bonus of 30,000 Avios. The standard earning rate is 1.5 Avios per £1.

You do not earn bonus Avios if you pay for BA flights on the free British Airways American Express card or either of the Barclaycard Avios Mastercards.

You can apply here.

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

Buying flights on Virgin Atlantic?

Both the free Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard and the annual fee Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard earn double Virgin Points when used at fly.virgin.com.

This means 1.5 Virgin Points per £1 on the free card and 3 Virgin Points per £1 on the paid card.

There is a sign-up bonus of 3,000 Virgin Points on the free card and 18,000 Virgin Points on the paid card.

You can apply for either of the cards here.

Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard

3,000 bonus points, no fee and 1 point for every £1 you spend Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

18,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review

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