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British Airways adds four new European routes for Summer

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British Airways has announced four new European routes this morning. All are bookable now with Avios, so if you want to take advantage of the guaranteed Avios availability you may want to jump in.

The choice of destinations is a little eclectic, and gives the impression that BA wants to put some pressure on Wizz Air. There is also a distinct focus on the ‘visiting friends and family’ market rather than the holiday market, although there are definitely good weekend break opporunities here.

The new routes are:

  • Wroclaw, Poland
  • Gdansk, Poland
  • Riga, Latvia
  • Cluj-Napoca, Romania

All flights will operate from Heathrow, potentially from Terminal 3.

The frequencies are:

  • Wroclaw – twice per week (Thu, Sun) from 1st July
  • Gdansk – three times per week (Wed, Fri, Sun) from 2nd July
  • Riga – three times per week (Wed, Fri, Sun) from 2nd July
  • Cluj-Napoca – three times per week (Wed, Fri, Sun) from 2nd July

All appear to be 40 tier point routes, one way, in Club Europe so are unlikely to work as cheap tier point runs. Although personally I’d rather pay more per tier point and visit places I actually want to see ….

To quote BA:

“Wroclaw is known for its beautiful architecture and array of stunning bridges and islands that cross the Odra River.

Gdansk, on the Baltic Sea, offers fine museums, a dominating church building and a beautiful old city.

Riga, the largest of all three Baltic capital cities, houses a UNESCO World Heritage site, and is known for its Art Nouveau style buildings.

Cluj-Napoca, or simply Cluj, is Romania’s second largest city and often described as a cultural hub.

British Airways last operated flights to Riga in 2007, and flew briefly to Gdansk between 1999 and the early-2000s. The airline has never served the other two airports.”

And Perugia is definitely starting this year …..

British Airways announced flights to Perugia in Umbria for Summer 2020. For obvious reasons, the route never launched.

It is now happening for Summer 2021, hopefully, with the first flight on 28th June.

To maximise your miles when paying, your best bet is the British Airways American Express Premium Plus card which earns double Avios (3 per £1) when you book at ba.com or via BA Holidays. 

You do not get double Avios if you book with the free British Airways American Express card, the free Barclaycard Avios Mastercard or the Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard.

Another option is American Express Preferred Rewards Gold which offers double points – 2 per £1 – when you book flight tickets directly with an airline.

Tickets are bookable now over at ba.com.

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Category

British Airways and Avios

Comments (49)

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

  • Denis says:
    27 Apr27 April 11:58

    Great news! Riga’s Old Town is fascinating!

  • Crackers says:
    27 Apr27 April 12:03

    Will any of these be 160 tier point routes?

    • Crackers says:
      27 Apr27 April 12:07

      Just to answer my own question, BA’s TP calculator is listing them all as 80 TPs return assuming that’s accurate…

  • ChrisW says:
    27 Apr27 April 12:05

    Riga is lovely. Quiet, pretty and very affordable. I slightly preferred it to Tallinn because there were far less tourists.

    I don’t know how BA are going to compete with Wizz on Polish routes. Wizz can always beat them on price and I would have thought the VFR in Poland market would be fairly price sensitive.

    • Sandgrounder says:
      27 Apr27 April 12:34

      I’ve got a place in Riga, it’s great in the summer. Not been for a little while now though!

    • Daniel says:
      27 Apr27 April 13:31

      I rather preferred Tallinn when I visited – I found Riga to be a little too tourist-heavy. As a comment on the others, Gdansk is also lovely for a short weekend, as is Cluj (salt mines are worth a visit).

      • Michael Jennings says:
        27 Apr27 April 15:27

        I’ve been to all four places multiple times. They are all really nice (and very inexpensive) places for a short break. This is a good choice of destinations.

  • James says:
    27 Apr27 April 12:10

    Do these accrue 80 or 40 TPs each way?

    • Babyg says:
      27 Apr27 April 12:32

      Crackerssays:
      27 April 12:07
      Just to answer my own question, BA’s TP calculator is listing them all as 80 TPs return assuming that’s accurate…

      • Karl says:
        27 Apr27 April 12:53

        Initially thought Cluj might be 160 but it’s a couple of hundred miles closer than Bucharest

  • SammyJ says:
    27 Apr27 April 12:34

    All 4 routes that I can proudly say have been operating for ages at Doncaster!

    • Lord Doncaster says:
      27 Apr27 April 16:37

      Most definitely! If only Señor Slasher Cruz Now was still at BA I could hint to him about expanding to Doncaster Sheffield Robin Hood Airport 😂

  • Joe says:
    27 Apr27 April 12:37

    Riga and Gdansk both lovely. Cluj is good for a weekend – if anyone goes, check out “Club Janis”. I fondly recall the £1 entry fee to include all you can drink beer before 11pm…..

    Never been to Wroclaw.

    Problem for us is that it’s hard to compete with £9 each way on Wizz Air from Luton for all of these. Yes – I know re comfort/experience, but LTN is so much more convenient than LHR for us, and given Wizz ultra low prices, it’s hard to justify a trip to LHR!

    • Tony says:
      27 Apr27 April 18:28

      You must have the patience of a saint if you can stomach Luton on a regular basis. Never in all my days have I experienced such a horrific, badly planned and shoddily run enterprise. Am pretty much equidistant between LHR, BHX and LTN. I’d rather drive to Gatwick or East Midlands than contemplate Luton.

      • Matt says:
        28 Apr28 April 07:20

        Have you been since the multi million pound refurb? Certainly nowhere near as bad as it was a few years ago. For convenience we would choose LTN over any other airport.

  • Dave says:
    27 Apr27 April 12:39

    I wish British Airways would have more international flights from other parts of Britain.

    • Lord Doncaster says:
      27 Apr27 April 16:39

      Doncaster certainly needs a BA presence. Leeds-Bradford’s loss is our gain 😁😏

  • kitten says:
    27 Apr27 April 12:44

    Is this just BA grabbing peak holiday money off the holiday-oriented airlines by just creaming off the top of their business for July and August only? Like BA has done from LCY for summer peak only in past 2 years before Covid?

    • sigma421 says:
      27 Apr27 April 12:56

      I would guess that it’s more a bet that visiting friends and relatives (VFR) traffic will be one of the first things to return and that these are routes they can fill this summer – especially if people seem to be pushing their holidays out to the autumn.

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

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