Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

British Airways launches flights to Aruba and Georgetown

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

British Airways has been filing its schedules for 2023 this week, and as part of that it has launched a number of new routes.

Ski flights from Gatwick (click to read) have relaunched, as have a number of new flights from Gatwick and Heathrow to the Caribbean (click to read). Both had wide open Avios availability, although going by the comments on both articles a lot of that has been snapped up by readers.

British Airways will also add two more Caribbean routes from Gatwick: Aruba and Georgetown, Guyana. As these are new flights Avios availability should be wide open, with four seats in Club, two in World Traveller Plus (premium economy) and eight in World Traveller (economy) available.

London Gatwick – Aruba

The new Aruba flights will operate from Gatwick. There will be two flights per week on Thursday and Sunday, starting from the last week of March.

The flight leaves London at 10:00, arriving in Aruba at 16:30 by way of Antigua, where it has a brief 1-hour stop.

On the return, flights will depart Aruba at 18:30 and arrive in Gatwick at 10:15 the following morning, again via a quick 1-hour stopover in Antigua.

London Gatwick – Georgetown (Guyana)

The Georgetown flights will operate as a one-stop service via St Lucia.

There will be two flights per week on Monday and Thursday, starting in the last week of March.

The outbound service departs Gatwick at 11:35 and arrives in Georgetown at 18:05. The stop-over is scheduled for an hour.

On the return, the flight departs Georgetown at 19:50 and lands at Gatwick at 11:45 the following morning, again via St Lucia.


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

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

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

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review

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

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review

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.

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

Huge 30,000 points bonus until 12th May 2024 Read our full review

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

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

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

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

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

Comments (38)

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

  • Maria J says:

    Good morning! Thank you very much for the warning. Managed to get flights to Aruba. Very happy 🙂

  • Graeme says:

    We have been to Aruba several times. Basically Vegas on the beach for the yanks. Hotel prices, like everywhere now, are eye watering. Would recommend Bucuti or Manchebo on Eagle beach, avoid the hotel strip of Palm Beach. Beautiful turquoise waters but all of the Caribbean has that. Again for us Scots, can connect outbound from GLA but trek into London on the return, not ideal!

  • Dave says:

    Curious that BA thinks that Guyana has moved from South America (where it actually is) to the Caribbean. If BA does not know where Guyana is located, how can it fly there?

    • Callum says:

      The terms Caribbean and South America are not mutually exclusive. Numerous places – including Guyana – are considered to be in both…

      In fact, the main English-speaking Caribbean governmental organisation – CARICOM – is headquartered in Guyana…

    • Brian78 says:

      “If BA does not know where Guyana is located, how can it fly there?”

      Because presumably the pilots do know where it is

    • blenz101 says:

      Are you worried about them flying back to Heathrow which is on the British Isles, in the North Sea and also in Europe?

    • VerdantBacon says:

      Despite what you might think, the British are no longer in charge of deciding where Guyana is

  • callum says:

    The Virgin conversion offers specifically states (three times) that you will not get the bonus if you have auto-converted before – regardless of whether you have had a previous bonus or not.

  • barry cutters says:

    Guyana seems a bit strange for me .

    Is there really enough demand for this . Been looking this morning at what’s to see/do – looks lovely but I’m just not sure there’s enough there.

    • Catalan says:

      Guyana, being a former British colony (British Guyana) will have enough VFR UK based traffic for a twice weekly service, in addition to eco-tourism and offshore oil business.

    • yorkieflyer says:

      Pity not Belize

      • Barry cutters says:

        Belize Is ok but once you’ve dived there again not a lot going for it.
        No beaches either!!

        • yorkieflyer says:

          Oh didn’t know there weren’t any beaches! Read guff saying how marvellous it was!

  • heb999 says:

    Will BA have rights to fly between Guyana and St. Lucia? I would like to go to Guyana for a week and then come back to St. Lucia and relax on a beach for another week.

    • Nick says:

      They will have rights for that if it’s on one ticket – stopovers are ok in almost all circumstances here. If booking the legs separately they need a different level of traffic rights… I don’t know if they do though.

  • Jim says:

    Agreed! Plus it’s super difficult to get taxis in Santorini so you might find yourself stuck there if you want to have a few drinks in the evening, even if you have a car for exploring during the day

    • yorkieflyer says:

      Yes, this and pretty much the same applies to any of the newer resorts, all built on the wrong side of the island

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

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.