BA adds London City / Southampton to Salzburg – bookable with Avios for February half term

British Airways has added new routes from London City Airport and Southampton to Salzburg this morning.

If you were looking at a ski holiday this Winter, you may want to check it out.

Importantly, and slightly amazingly, Avios seats are (as at 11am) available for the key February half term weekend. You would normally expect to pay £500 return in Economy for Sat to Sat flights over this period.

The London City service launches on 10th December with flights on Friday and Saturday. It will drop to ‘Saturday only’ from 19th March.

The Southampton service launches on 11th December with flights every Saturday.

Flights on both routes will end on 16th April.

As you’d expect with BA CityFlyer, these will be Embraer E90 services with two-class cabins. Seating is 2×2 throughout the aircraft.

Here are Avios seats over February half-term from City as at 11am – the Business Class seats were still there at 6.30pm:

and

…. although these won’t last long.

Here is Southampton over half term – this screenshot was taken at 11am but the Business Class seats were still there at 6.30pm:

Austria is now imposing extra restrictions on anyone who received their 2nd covid vaccination more than 270 days ago, which could be an issue for those who were vaccinated in the first wave. The rules are likely to change before the ski season however.

If you have small children who want to learn to ski, my family and I recommend this place near Salzburg where we have been a number of times.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (December 2023)

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:

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 9th January 2024, you will receive 30,000 Membership Rewards points (convertible to 30,000 Avios) with American Express Preferred Rewards Gold. You receive 25,000 points if you spend £3,000 in three months and a further 5,000 points if you hold the card for 15 months. You can apply here.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 9th January 2024, you will receive a huge 100,000 Membership Rewards points (convertible to 100,000 Avios) with The Platinum Card. You receive 75,000 points if you spend £10,000 in six months and a further 25,000 points if you hold the card for 15 months. You can apply here.

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.

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.

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.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.