Vueling expands sharply at London Gatwick, adding five new Spanish routes

Vueling, a sister airline of British Airways and Iberia inside the IAG stable, has announced a sharp expansion of operations at London Gatwick for Summer 2022.

Whilst not publicly stated, we can assume that this will use some of the spare slots at the airport which British Airways does not require. BA has already leased some Gatwick slots to easyJet on a temporary basis.

Vueling will base three aircraft at Gatwick. This is the first time that Vueling has used Gatwick as a base – all of its previous routes involved aircraft from other bases flying into Gatwick and then returning home.

The new aircraft will be used to launch five new routes, all to Spain:

• Granada
• La Coruna
• Malaga
• Menorca
• Seville

The existing seven Vueling routes from London Gatwick will continue, served by aircraft based at other Vueling bases:

• Barcelona
• Bilbao
• Paris
• Pisa
• Rome
• Santiago
• Valencia

The new routes will start from 1st April. Frequencies vary – see vueling.com for details.

Do you get British Airways status benefits on Vueling?

As Vueling is not a member of the oneworld alliance, British Airways Executive Club members do not receive any status benefits on Vueling.

There is one exception when flying from London Gatwick, once Vueling and British Airways are both back in the South Terminal.

If your Vueling flight is a BA codeshare, and you book it via the British Airways website with a BA flight number on your ticket, a British Airways Executive Club Gold member can use the Gatwick lounges. No guests are allowed.

A BA Gold does not get lounge access at Gatwick if they booked on the Vueling or Iberia websites and their Vueling flight ticket does not show a BA flight number.

A BA Silver member does not, in any circumstances, get lounge access at Gatwick when flying Vueling.

Earning and redeeming Avios on Vueling

The options for earning and spending Avios are very confusing even by HfP standards, so heaven knows how members of the public are meant to cope.

To put it simply:

• You earn Avios on Vueling flights based on your ticket price – unless you buy it at iberia.com as a codeshare, in which case you earn based on the distance flown

• You cannot earn Avios in a British Airways Executive Club account. You need a Vueling Club (or Aer Lingus AerClub) account starting 3081, or an Iberia Plus account. Once your points have credited, you can move them into British Airways via ‘Combine My Avios’ which we explain here.

• You can redeem Avios on Vueling purely on a ‘money off’ basis – unless you redeem via Iberia Plus, in which case you pay a fixed amount plus taxes based on the trip distance. 

There is a long HfP article which explains in detail how to earn and spend Avios on Vueling. Since that article was published, the earning rate on ‘Basic’ fares has been cut from three to two Avios per €1 spent.

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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:

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.

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.

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.

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.