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British Airways adds new A380 routes to the US and Canada with good Avios availability

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British Airways has been tweaking its A380 North America schedule for 2022. This has led to my Easter flight to San Francisco being swapped to a Boeing 777, but on the upside it is showing as Club Suite.

The following routes have seen the A380 added to their schedule:

  • Boston
  • Chicago
  • Dallas Fort Worth
  • Vancouver
  • Washington
British Airways BA A380 Heathrow

The start dates for A380 operation are:

  • 27th March – Washington (one daily flight)
  • 15th May – Boston (one daily flight)
  • 1st June – Chicago
  • 1st June – Vancouver
  • 1st July – Dallas

The existing A380 service to Miami will be continuing.

As I mentioned earlier, it isn’t all good news for A380 fans. The A380 will be removed from the Los Angeles route to allow these new flights to begin, and the start date for San Francisco services on the A380 has been pushed back to 1st May.

Outside the US, A380 service to Singapore will end on 8th May. Johannesburg will be returning to A380 operation from 17th April for a couple of weeks, and then again from 1st August.

Boston on Avios

There is good Avios availability on many routes

Whilst First Class is virtually non-existent, there is a LOT of Club World reward availability on these routes due to the A380 moving across.

Here – courtesy of SeatSpy – are days with at least two Club World seats to Boston, pictured above, between April and November. Outbound flights are on the left, inbound flights are on the right.

Boston with Avios

Yes, every single day has at least two Business Class seats.

There is plenty available outside this period too.

Of course, in Business Class, you will be getting Club World which is not as good as Club Suite by a long way, but you will get to experience the A380. Remember to get an Upper Deck seat if you can. Our comprehensive guide to the new British Airways Club Suite seat is here.

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2024)

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:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

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Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

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

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

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British Airways American Express

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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.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

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The Platinum Card from American Express

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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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

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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.

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

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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.

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points sign-up bonus and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

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

Category

British Airways and Avios

Comments (45)

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

  • Andrew J says:
    16 Dec16 December 06:04

    Just a point of clarification – Club Suite is Club World – it’s not a different product, just an updated seat of that product – so the last para should probably read *old* Club World.

  • Supersub says:
    16 Dec16 December 06:58

    Our A380 fllights to/from Singapore in April have been cancelled.

    • Mark says:
      16 Dec16 December 09:59

      I doubt Singapore will see A380 services any time soon. Our cancellation in February resulted from a reduction to a 4x weekly service using 787-9s, so the short-term demand predictions are clearly a long way short of needing them. Given Polly’s experiences I think it will take considerable easing of COVID testing rules, restrictions and policy to attract people back in kind of numbers that will take demand back to anywhere close where it was.

  • Phillip says:
    16 Dec16 December 07:17

    My A380 flight to SFO in September has also been changed to a 777. Interestingly, ba.com is struggling to deal with the seat map for that. It wasn’t loading initially and I had to contact the Executive Club to change seats. As currently shown, there is no FIRST but the map does not match the 777-200 seat map without FIRST.

    • Thegasman says:
      16 Dec16 December 09:10

      They sometimes use planes with a First cabin but don’t sell First.

      • Mark says:
        16 Dec16 December 09:50

        That seems to be case more often now. My guess is it will drop back down as more A350s are delivered and the 777 refits complete, and that the designation of more services as being 3 class without First is a bit ahead of where they are with availability of 3 class aircraft. In the meantime whilst Club World travellers may be lucky enough to get a First seat, it is often the case that the First cabin is left empty where it isn’t needed.

    • Rob says:
      16 Dec16 December 09:13

      If you can’t see a seat map, BA put you in First (declassified). Please don’t tell me you moved yourself into Club!

      Basically Row 1-4 is now First sold as Club with same food.

      • Chris says:
        16 Dec16 December 19:42

        Thanks for this tip, Rob! My A380 flight to SFO next April was swapped to 777 and I was frustrated that I couldn’t see the seat map for my booking on the BA website. Looking at SeatGuru, exactly as you say, 4E and 4F are in the First cabin. Looking forward to that, although I’m sure something else will change before then.

      • Phillip says:
        17 Dec17 December 06:25

        Thanks Rob – no, firmly stayed at the front, row 1. I won’t get too excited though because I have had this a number of times before where I had seats allocated in declassified FIRST (often done on the Toronto route) but then when it came to online check in, they would clear all passengers out of FIRST and then you were left with whatever rubbish seats were available in Club. When I pretended ignorance and asked why my seats were change I simply got a “it’s First class and you’re travelling in Club”! On the flight itself, the crew were having a whale of a time with their friends in First! The light were off from boarding and no one was allowed in!

  • Yuff says:
    16 Dec16 December 07:18

    We had the same yesterday, back from Dubai at Easter, A380 changed to 777 and club suite…..every cloud…..😃

  • Kieran McCorry says:
    16 Dec16 December 07:18

    With regard to the equipment swaps on the SFO route even after 1 April… was booked in CW for July in the A380 and this was swapped to a 777 last weekend; upside of course is Club Suites on the 777!

  • Anna T says:
    16 Dec16 December 07:30

    My summer 2022 flights Gatwick to Las Vegas been swapped to Heathrow. Downside is flight lands 5 hours later but upside is it’s showing as a club suite now!

  • Neal says:
    16 Dec16 December 08:13

    Interesting. DFW starts on 1st July yet we are booked on one for 17/04. I’ll wait for yet another cancellation or type change then

  • To dare is to do says:
    16 Dec16 December 08:36

    My brother is deeply unimpressed his CS seat swapped out to old style on 380 to Vancouver. Spent £400 on seat fees! Told him he was mad at the time.

    • Mark says:
      16 Dec16 December 09:24

      He should be able to get a refund on the seat fees though in those circumstances. That said if he wants decent seats (as Rob suggests I’d go for upper deck window seats) there is probably more sense in paying for them than there was with CS.

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

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