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BOOK NOW: The new British Airways US route is …. Cincinnati

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Last week we engaged in a bit of speculation about a new British Airways route to the United States. We knew it was coming but we didn’t know where.

Because, let’s be honest, the existing 26 routes to the United States aren’t nearly enough ….

The route has now been announced – Cincinnati, in Ohio, although the airport itself sits just over the state line in Kentucky.

(I know we put our money on Kansas City. However, I have heard rumours that there is actually a 2nd new British Airways route to the United States launching next Summer, and this could still be it. All of the reasons we gave for launching Kansas City remain valid.)

This will be the only direct flight between the UK and all of Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana.

When will Cincinnati launch?

The new British Airways service to Cincinnati will launch on 5th June 2023.

It will operate five days per week, with a Boeing 787 currently scheduled. This is a three class aircraft without First Class.

It will use Terminal 5 at Heathrow.

Outbound flights will leave on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday in the late afternoon, returning late evening local time.

The Tuesday flight will be dropped for Winter 2023, from November.

Avios seats are wide open

As you’d expect, since tickets only went on sale a few hours ago, Avios seats are wide open.

The full 14 seats (eight in Economy, two in Premium Economy and four in Club World) are available for every flight.

This is one way of getting US flights for next Summer for the exact dates you want, although you should check out connections first.

British Airways to launch flights to Cincinnati

What can you do in Cincinnati?

According to British Airways:

Affectionately nicknamed Cincy or the Queen City, the area is home to world-class museums, more than 50 breweries, the USA’s largest Oktoberfest, three major sports teams spanning American football, basketball and football, and the Krohn Conservatory, an Art Deco greenhouse featuring 3,500 plant species from all over the world.

It’s renowned for its Cincinnati Chili, handmade ice cream and beer, whilst acting as a gateway to Northern Kentucky and the famed Bourbon Trail, a playground for bourbon-lovers. In addition, Kentucky is also synonymous with gorgeous rolling hills and bluegrass music.

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Category

British Airways and Avios

Comments (77)

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

  • S13SFC says:
    17 Nov17 November 07:00

    Personally, I’m delighted as I’ve wanted to go and ride the bourbon routes in Kentucky but it’s always been a pain to get to.

  • Peter says:
    17 Nov17 November 07:12

    ….. So we are not going to Kansas anymore 🤔😜

  • Richard says:
    17 Nov17 November 08:04

    Any idea about the route to Bangkok I thought they would be putting that on again soon

    • Rob says:
      17 Nov17 November 08:09

      Unlikely. No high paying business travellers, current fuel prices and issues with avoiding Russian airspace mean running backpackers around for £500 makes no sense.

      • Lady London says:
        17 Nov17 November 09:44

        …So other than that, Bangkok is a great route for BA, right? 🙂

        I also would not pin any hopes on Calgary returning anytime soon for those that have wondered, BA’s commitment to that seemed inconsistent and on that route I suspect too hard to make money consistently for them in a wide enough period year after year?

        • Rob says:
          17 Nov17 November 10:31

          Calgary has a huge oil market and (having relatives there) I know that when oil prices are good, the money quickly trickles down to the locals who also have the cash to fly to Europe. You’ve also got the business travel on top. What BA doesn’t have is the feed from the smaller towns around Calgary that Air Canada and WestJet can tap into.

          • VSCXFAN says:
            17 Nov17 November 11:52

            ..and it’s easy/cheap to fly from Kelowna or Kamloops to Vancouver and choose from Air Canada, WestJet and Air Transat.

          • Rand says:
            17 Nov17 November 13:38

            … but what Air Canada and Westjet don’t have is the feed on this side of the pond

          • Boi says:
            17 Nov17 November 14:53

            nice to see our new home Kelowna being mentioned on hfp 🙂

            But we hate westjet (we call it worstjet), terrible delays!

          • AndyGWP says:
            17 Nov17 November 15:05

            Visited Kelowna in summer for 3 nights – loved it! Very jealous @Boi (the wine could probably take credit for a lot of the enjoyment though 🤣)

          • Boi says:
            18 Nov18 November 02:37

            @Andy Kelowna is buzzing during the summer! So much so the kids don’t want to go anywhere. Infact they also refused a trip to Orlando for Xmas- so maybe they just don’t want to go anywhere 🤔😅

    • Rhys says:
      17 Nov17 November 09:04

      No, and unlikely to be coming back in the near term. No announcements have been made.

    • Stuart says:
      17 Nov17 November 09:21

      Although these other European airlines (AF, OS, AY, KL, LH and LX) have direct BKK flights from their home cities, are they all satisfied with just flying £500 fares backpackers? Just give up on BA heading eastwards. I took LHR-BKK return BA cattle-class once in 2019 (last minute trip so could not get my usual AF-KL flights) in the back of an old 772; worst seat, food, IFE, cabin crew I have ever experienced. At least we have TG and BR for direct LHR-BKK.

      • AJA says:
        17 Nov17 November 09:58

        I suspect the poor quality aircraft BA put on the route contributed to the lack of high spending business class travellers. As did suspending First Class on the route. I mean who wants to pay £4k to fly in a crappy plane with poor facilities?

        I also suspect that it’s more to do with Qatar Airways owning 25% of BA as somehow they seem to be able to continue to fly to far more destinations in Asia and Australia. BA is content to follow its master and force us to fly on Qatar via a 2am stop over in the desert. But of course we all want to do that because loads of Tier Points, after all it’s only 40 short of Silver! 🙂

        No regard for choice for consumers as the route apparently loses BA money but of course we can all pay large sums to fly directly from LHR on Star Alliance instead.

        • Rob says:
          17 Nov17 November 10:28

          Thai has little choice though, does it?! It can’t abandon flying to Europe because of Russian airspace restrictions and – as Thailand simply isn’t a big business market – the airline doesn’t get anyone paying £10,000 return on any route, from anywhere. Different game for BA.

  • Sue says:
    17 Nov17 November 08:13

    Another major high-spending market for a route to Kentucky is the Thoroughbred Racing industry. The annual Kentucky Derby, Bluegrass breeding studs and horses changing hands for millions at the Sales. Not to mention Kentucky breeders wanting to travel to Newmarket, Royal Ascot etc etc. And they won’t be travelling Economy…….

  • Simon says:
    17 Nov17 November 09:31

    Am old enough to remember the Delta hub here (and to have spent plenty of time at it). Since Delta dehubbed they’ve had loads of spare capacity so I suspect the airport have made it worth BA’s while. And then as others have said there’s cargo, etc.

  • David says:
    17 Nov17 November 09:59

    I like this route, as I really enjoyed my visit to the area and both Louisville and Indianapolis are both less than two hours away. Gives me another reasonable option for road tripping down to Atlanta and back.

    Interesting to see another Ohio city being added along with Aer Lingus going to Cleveland. After being pretty much a voided area for so long, along with BA’s existing newish route to Pittsburgh, Ohio has suddenly become very easy to get to.

    • Andrew. says:
      17 Nov17 November 10:25

      As someone who prefers to use public transport, Cincinatti seems to be a terrible place to get away from – even by US standards.

      Service bus every 30 minutes to the City Centre which is great. Once you get there though the Amtrak service is at an ungodly hour and the Greyhound bus station has moved from a Downtown plot to what looks like an abandoned plot on an industrial estate. No Megabus service either.

      • John says:
        17 Nov17 November 10:54

        Aren’t planes public transport too

      • Tom says:
        17 Nov17 November 13:11

        Andrew, the airport bus to downtown Cincy works pretty well. and once there you can walk most places and take the streetcar to Over-The-Rhine.

      • David says:
        17 Nov17 November 15:33

        The Megabus service does seem to be a victim of the cutbacks. I remember catching it from Cincinnati to Indianapolis a few years ago now.

  • Chris says:
    18 Nov18 November 22:50

    Haven’t been there for well over ten years, but I remember it being probably my favourite mid-size airport in the US. I don’t remember *why* I liked it so much, but I do remember that I did. Hopefully it’s still as good as it was!

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