Where can I fly from Leeds Bradford airport with Avios points?
Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission. See here for all partner links.
In this article I want to look at where you can fly from Leeds Bradford airport using Avios points.
This article only looks at non-stop flights. If you are prepared to change in Heathrow, you can redeem for literally any British Airways flight or a flight operated by one of the other airlines which let you redeem Avios.
EDIT, 2022: This article was originally written before the pandemic. Many of the services listed below are not currently running, but flight schedules are very fluid. You will need to do your own research into what routes are operating now, which have a scheduled restart date and which may never return.
There are few direct flights you can book with Avios if you’re not in London
When British Airways sold its regional operations to Flybe a few years ago, it became an airline with NO flights which do not begin or end in London. This situation has been reversed slightly in recent years as a few weekend routes were added from Manchester and Edinburgh, but to all intents and purposes there is no substantive route network outside London.
Luckily, there are still some good value options available if you live outside London. I will list the Leeds Bradford options below as well as all other regional options.
How can I redeem these flights?
Nothing is ever simple when it comes to redeeming Avios, but I think the caveats below show that the level of confusion has now got beyond silly. For the airlines listed below:
Aer Lingus can be booked online at avios.com but taxes may be lower if you ring up British Airways Executive Club and book from your BA account. For additional confusion, avios.com has different availability to ba.com.
Qatar Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair and American Airlines should only be booked at ba.com – you can book them via iberia.com but they are not refundable so this should be avoided
Vueling can only be booked at vueling.com and iberia.com – bookings via vueling.com are revenue-based (more expensive flights need more points) whilst bookings via iberia.com are priced off the standard Avios redemption chart
Iberia and Iberia Express can be booked across all platforms but there is better availability via iberia.com
Remember that short-haul redemptions are NOT covered by Reward Flight Saver unless operated by a British Airways franchise such as SUN-AIR. These flights will often be a very poor use of Avios points because the taxes represent a very high percentage of the fare.
Where can I fly on Avios from Leeds Bradford airport?
You have a grand total of ONE possible flight, ignoring the British Airways flight to London.
The only direct flight from Leeds Bradford which takes you outside the UK is the Aer Lingus flight to Dublin.
What other regional flights can be booked using Avios?
Here is a full list of ALL flights from UK regional airports which can be booked using Avios and which take you outside the UK. Long-haul flights are in bold print.
Aberdeen
Aer Lingus to Dublin
Belfast City
Aer Lingus to Faro, Malaga
Birmingham
Qatar Airways to Doha
Aer Lingus to Dublin, Cork, Shannon
Vueling to Barcelona
Iberia Express to Madrid
Bristol
Aer Lingus to Dublin, Cork
Cardiff
Qatar to Doha
Vueling to Alicante, Majorca, Malaga
Edinburgh
Qatar Airways to Doha
American Airlines to Philadelphia (Summer only)
Aer Lingus to Dublin, Cork, Shannon
Iberia Express to Madrid
Vueling to Barcelona
Finnair to Helsinki
BA CityFlyer weekend routes to Dublin, Palma, Florence (Summer only)
Glasgow
Aer Lingus to Dublin, Cork
Manchester
American Airlines to Philadelphia
Cathay Pacific to Hong Kong
Qatar Airways to Doha
Aer Lingus to Dublin, Cork
British Airways (SUN-AIR) to Billund
BA CityFlyer weekend routes to Alicante, Ibiza, Malaga, Palma, Nice, Mykonos, Florence (Summer only), Salzburg, Chambery (Winter only)
Finnair to Helsinki
Iberia Express to Madrid
Vueling to Barcelona
Newcastle
Aer Lingus to Dublin
Newquay
Aer Lingus to Dublin
It is also worth remembering that most of the British Airways partners in the oneworld alliance fly to other European capitals. Instead of flying from a regional airport to London to pick up a Cathay Pacific redemption flight to Hong Kong, for example, why not fly to Amsterdam instead and connect there? You may also find better availability out of Europe.
PS. If you are flying from Leeds Bradford, you can find out about their three new airport lounges on this page of their website.
(This article is part of our ‘BA Q&A’ series which explains how British Airways Executive Club works. You can see all of our ‘BA Q&A’ articles here. )
(Head for Points is the UK’s biggest frequent flyer website with 2.4 million monthly page views. Want to learn more about earning and spending Avios? Click here to read our latest news stories and click here to join the mailing list for our weekly or daily email newsletters.)