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British Airways increases Chicago flights

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British Airways has added an extra flight to Chicago next summer, taking the total number of daily flights to three.

The new flight slots in nicely between the existing 11:05 and 15:35 departures:

  • BA299 departs Heathrow at 13:10 and arrives in Chicago at 15:50
  • BA298 departes Chicago at 19:10 and arrives in London at 09:00 the following morning
The St Regis Chicago

Flights start on 11th May and run until the end of BA’s current booking window. Assuming it is a seasonal addition, I would expect it to operate until sometime in September or October.

This is a real capacity increase with an additional 787-10 being added to the existing 777 and 787-10 services. The 787-10 comes with eight First Class seats and is fitted with Club Suite.

The flight is currently wide-open for Avios redemptions, with the full four Club, two World Traveller Plus and eight World Traveller seats open on most days. An off-peak business class redemption costs 160,000 Avios plus £350 return if you take the ‘most Avios, least cash’ option.

You can book on the BA website here.


How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (September 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

10,000 Avios (to 26th September) 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

30,000 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 great travel benefits – for a large 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

10,000 points bonus – plus an extra 500 points for our readers Read our full review

There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business

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 (23)

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

  • Joe says:

    I don’t think chicago is too much of a capacity increase as previously the evening flight was an a380. They might be doing more J, and this route previously had the 747 extra high j on it.

    I used to be based in Chicago as ba silver and definitely enjoyed that flagship loung travelling all over the US. I often worked from there from around 9am until whenever my flight was, great food and runway views.

  • Track says:

    BA “taxes and fees” on one-way flight from the US have reached ridiculous levels.

    Close to 100,000k Avios and 800 GBP…

  • Richard M says:

    All aboard the Picadilly Line then, a fate worse than death….

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

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