Bookable now: British Airways adds additional European flights for June, July and August

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• Leslie Blake says:

  11 May11 May 10:16

  Do we need a test to leave the UK to go to a green list country ie Gibraltar. Lots of conflicting advice. Thanks

  • Rob says:

    11 May11 May 10:45

    It is up to Gibraltar and whatever rules are in place on 17th May.

    You don’t need a test in general to leave the UK unless your destination requires it.

    • Paul says:

      11 May11 May 15:34

      It might be up to Gibraltar but as there is no longer a border with Spain. The border is now when you arrive in Gib. Therefore the Spanish may have something to say about it.
      Its all well pretending you have a colony but its part of Schengen, so unless the rest of Europe opens up it could get sticky.

      • David says:

        11 May11 May 16:57

        Paul – Gibraltar has NOT joined Schengen yet. There is an agreement in principle to negotiate a treaty with the EU about this. Indeed, the Gibraltar Chief Minister was in Madrid just a couple of days ago continuing discussions with Spain, and EU officials, etc.

        As things stand they remain exactly as before. The Gibraltar-Spain border remains open (i.e. it is possible to cross), but remains controlled. Given that Gibraltar was not part of schengen, passports continue to be shown as before brexit it. And given that gibraltar was never part of the EU VAT area, it remains a customs border as before.
        All that has changed following Brexit is that, given Gibraltar is no longer part of the EU, certain food products (e.g. meats, etc) cannot be brought in from Gibraltar to Spain, as they are no longer moving within the EU (they were always crossing the VAT border, but they were inside the area where EU standards could be guaranteed to be applied. Now strictly speaking Spain can’t accept such certification as we are a third country.

        Also, the Gibraltar border has ALWAYS been when you land in Gibraltar. Given that Gibraltar has no domestic flights with itself, and Gibraltar has never been part of the UK Common Travel area, etc.
        You have always needed to show your passport – and entry is up to the Gibraltar authorities.

        Gibraltar has also always been immigrationally distinct from the UK. People who need a visa for UK, need a separate one from Gibraltar for Gibraltar, etc.
        And entry is entirely a constitutional matter for the Government of Gibraltar.

        Furthermore, the agreement to negotiate a Schengen treaty makes clear that entry is matter up to Gibraltar. Additionally there is provision for granting people rights to be in Gibraltar, but not elsewhere in schenge – if they are not admitted to wider schengen.
        And keep in mind there are individuals in such situations already in Schengen countries – with rights to be in a specific one of them, but not all others.

        Just because border controls are removed, does not mean all persons have a right to move to all schengen countries.

        Finally, please don’t use the C word. Gibraltar is not legally described as a colony – it also does not descriptively describe how Gibraltar came to be British 300+ years ago, or the origin of the people of Gibraltar (they are NOT a deposited population of colonists), and it does not describe the legal and constitutional setup today.

        • Anna says:

          11 May11 May 17:12

          Excellent post. Why would anyone need to “pretend” to have a colony? Gibraltar is a British Overseas Territory – and voted overwhelmingly to remain so when given the option.

      • Lord Doncaster says:

        12 May12 May 17:06

        Paul seems rather ill-informed and sour… probably one of those moaning about blue passports…

    • David says:

      11 May11 May 17:06

      gov.uk sadly has had some statements saying you need this.
      Gibraltar policy is that you don’t.

  • Travel Strong says:

    11 May11 May 12:23

    Gibraltar First Minister has categorically said ‘No’ to that in TV interviews and has also said they will be welcoming british tourists from the 17th May. *However*, the current Gibraltar entry rules still do not allow tourists, yet. Expect a sudden change to that in the next few days, as they will make clear the new Gibraltar entry rules.

  • Track says:

    11 May11 May 13:55

    Again, “Green List” does not mean an invitation / possibility to visit.

    Have to check entry and testing requirements for the destination country. Mind the eligibility, if you are not the resident/citizen/family member.

  • Jake Taylor says:

    11 May11 May 15:41

    Trust me, you will have no issues coming into Gibraltar from the UK (or indeed Spain), whenever you are able to.

• Vasco says:

  11 May11 May 10:54

  There’s extra flights to Portugal loaded too, 14 a week now up from 9.

  • Vasco says:

    11 May11 May 10:54

    That was to Lisbon, idk about other airports but I imagine there’s more too

• Lady London says:

  11 May11 May 12:20

  I genuinely wish BA well for these new routes and flights and very much would hope it’s the beginning of being back to a sustainable revenue stream for BA.

  • Babyg says:

    11 May11 May 13:06

    Indeed and agreed, i wish virgin could have made little red/flybe work… would be nice to have other options.

• Ammar says:

  11 May11 May 14:58

  Sorry – but which is the best value for money option – I cannot seem to figure it out for RFS:
  1) 41250 Avios + £ 1.50
  2) 39000 Avios + £ 13.50
  3) 36000 Avios + £ 30.00
  4) 27750 Avios + £ 52.50
  5) 18750 Avios + £ 136.50
  6) 12750 Avios + £ 181.50

  • Genghis says:

    11 May11 May 15:03

    What do you value your avios at?

    • Ammar says:

      11 May11 May 15:15

      1p. So i think 4) is the right option for me, as the others dont value my avios at that value – is my math right?

      • David says:

        11 May11 May 17:04

        If you value at 1p:

        1) 41250 Avios + £ 1.50 = £414.00
        2) 39000 Avios + £ 13.50 = £403.50
        3) 36000 Avios + £ 30.00 = £390.00
        4) 27750 Avios + £ 52.50 = £330.00
        5) 18750 Avios + £ 136.50 = £324.00
        6) 12750 Avios + £ 181.50 = £309.00

        In terms of total cost, option 6 then surely.
        But of course, that means you are using fewer Avios, and they could devalue, don’t accrue interest, etc.

        entirely up to you.

        • Ammar says:

          11 May11 May 17:11

          Thanks David & Genghis for the thoughts. I think Option 4 is where i feel value is for me as want to get the best value for money without parting with my avios too cheaply as they have an underlying value of atleast 0.8 p

        • Genghis says:

          11 May11 May 17:14

          I put 0.8p recently as Nectar floor as I had used HSBC points before this to get Amazon vouchers for even less.

        • Howard says:

          11 May11 May 18:18

          That’s the best option if you are happy to pay up to 1p per avios.

          If my maths is correct, the marginal cost of buying avios by going from 4 to 6 is 0.86p (you are left with an extra 15k avios but £129 less cash) so it’s a bad deal if you value them at 0.8p.

          It’s important to look at marginal cost of going from one option to another rather than the overall cost per avios (e.g going from 4 to 5 you are paying 0.933 pence per avios)

        • C says:

          11 May11 May 20:55

          Many of us would pick #4, in most cases. But YMMV.

        • David S says:

          12 May12 May 18:55

          Offer them £83.25 and 27,750 Avios; if they accept, you’ll break even!

• Chris Heyes says:

  11 May11 May 20:18

  The main problem with valuing them at 0.8p is because you are paying more for food at Sainsburys compared to say Lidl or even Tesco/Morrisons possibly others as well, unless you “do” spend at Sainsburys the 0.8p is a totally false fig
  I’ve been to Salisbury’s 3 times and done 2 online shops as a comparison
  The 2 online shops I ordered exactly the same at Tesco as Sainsburys
  Tesco first, 2weeks later Sainsburys, then again Tesco, Sainsburys
  Every time My Tesco order was under £100 my Sainsburys order was over £120
  that was for the exact same order each fortnight
  The last Sainsburys order was £129,
  probably if you shop at Waitrose Sainsburys may be better value ?

  • Genghis says:

    11 May11 May 20:48

    Stuff at Argos costs the same as elsewhere. Petrol similar price.

  • Patrick Cold says:

    11 May11 May 20:54

    I have done similar trials and the cost/quality of Sainsbury`s completely negates any ongoing interest I might have had in accruing nectar points once the Insurance/Credit Card offers are exhausted.

  • TGLoyalty says:

    11 May11 May 22:17

    You e done an identical branded shop in both supermarkets and tesco was 20% cheaper?

    • Chris Heyes says:

      12 May12 May 07:06

      TGLoyalty Identical shop both Supermarkets what I would normally buy mainly meat as that’s what I would normally buy, to freeze so was easy to compare
      Tesco’s meat/steaks ect was two for £7 or two for £6
      Sainsburys meat/steaks was £4.75 or above “EACH” Both times
      so was a fair comparison, Dettol was £1 more in Sainsburys £4.50 v £3.50
      All four orders was exactly the same, each time

• John says:

  12 May12 May 06:27

  This is extremely irresponsible of BA and will bring deadly strains of the virus into the U.K. Profits before lives.

  • Simon says:

    12 May12 May 07:20

    Oh please….

  • James says:

    12 May12 May 17:15

    What deadly strains are you talking about? There are NO deadly strains. There are no variants of concern.

    All Covid-19 variants are treated perfectly well by the existing vaccines (though Sinovac seems a bit weak.)

  • Alex Sm says:

    14 May14 May 12:47

    It’s a global pandemic anyway and no country is immune, so it’s useless to think in the categories of sealing individual countries from the world

• TimM says:

  12 May12 May 06:43

  What does BA know about (currently amber) Greece, including the mainland, that has not been announced by the Government?

  • TimM says:

    12 May12 May 06:54

    …and also (currently red) Turkey?

    • Michael C says:

      12 May12 May 07:23

      I was wondering that – maybe it was a “put on some flights to us, and we’ll give you the football final”?!

  • Rob says:

    12 May12 May 09:36

    Nothing, but they think they are good at second-guessing.

• Iain says:

  15 May15 May 08:32

  Looks like as fast as BA are loading new flight in, they are pulling down existing ones. Just has cancellations through on Sat / Wed LHR-CHQ flights in early June. I guess it’s just the way it’s going to be this year!

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