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Route news: BA drops 8 short-hauls, Aer Lingus adds to Barbados, Air Canada starts Mumbai

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Some route news worth sharing:

British Airways seems to have dropped eight short haul routes

It seems that British Airways will be dropping eight short haul routes for the summer 2024 season.

The following flights no longer seem to be on sale from April 2024:

  • London Heathrow to Nuremberg
  • London Heathrow to Bastia (flights now connect in Marseille to Air Corsica)
  • London City to Jersey (image below)
  • London City to Quimper
  • Southampton to Alicante
  • Southampton to Dublin (Aer Lingus Regional now flies this route)
  • Southampton to Edinburgh (Loganair now flies this route as a BA codeshare)
  • Southampton to Limoges

If you are booked on any of these services, double-check if BA is still selling tickets for your dates.

Hat-tip to @tofly_totravel on X.

British Airways drops London City to Jersey flights

Aer Lingus extends Manchester to Barbados

Aer Lingus appears to be happy with the performance of its direct Manchester to Barbados route, which is currently in its second year.

The airline has just announced that the season has been extended from April 2024 until 31st May. The route will then hibernate until the autumn.

You can read our review of the Manchester to Barbados Aer Lingus flight, which uses an A330, here.

The service operates three times per week. You can check timings and book on the Aer Lingus website here.

In other Aer Lingus news ….

The service from Dublin to Hartford in Connecticut has also been extended. The current season will now run until 5th January 2024 (it was due to end last week) and the summer 2024 season will now begin two weeks early. The first flight will be on 13th March 2024 instead of the planned 30th March, albeit there will only be three flights per week instead of seven during this fortnight.

Fly from London to Mumbai with Air Canada!

Air Canada has restarted flights to Mumbai

We originally mentioned this back in June, but as flights started this week it is worth a reminder that Air Canada is now flying from London Heathrow to Mumbai.

For the past few decades, Air Canada has been operating direct flights between Toronto and Mumbai using the Boeing 777-200LR. This will no longer be the case. Air Canada has now reverted to the indirect service via London that it operated until 1991.

Instead of the Boeing 777-200LR it will fly a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner:

  • AC856 will depart Toronto at 8:30pm and arrive in London at 8:30am the following day, before continuing its journey to Mumbai at 11:10am and landing in Mumbai at 1:35am the following day – two days after departing Canada
  • AC855 will depart Mumbai at 4:25am before arriving in London at 9:20am the same day and continuing its journey at midday to land in Toronto at 2:55pm, the same day as departing Mumbai

The change has probably been driven by the closure of Russian airspace, which will have forced the direct Toronto to Mumbai service to operate with a major diversion.

Flights will only operate for the winter season, until the end of March 2024.

You can check prices on the Air Canada website here.

If you want to learn how to earn Air Canada Aeroplan miles from UK credit cards, take a look at our guide here, although you can redeem miles from any Star Alliance frequent flyer scheme for this service.

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How to earn Star Alliance miles from UK credit cards

How to earn Star Alliance miles from UK credit cards (April 2025)

None of the Star Alliance airlines currently have a UK credit card.

There is, however, still a way to earn Star Alliance miles from a UK credit card. 

The route is via Marriott Bonvoy. Marriott Bonvoy hotel loyalty points convert to over 40 airlines at the rate of 3:1.

The best way to earn Marriott Bonvoy points is via the official Marriott Bonvoy American Express card. It comes with 20,000 points for signing up and 2 points for every £1 you spend. At 2 Bonvoy points per £1, you are earning (at 3:1) 0.66 airline miles per £1 spent on the card.

There is a preferential conversion rate to United Airlines – which is a Star Alliance member – of 2 : 1 if you convert 60,000 Bonvoy points at once.

The Star Alliance members which are Marriott Bonvoy transfer partners are: Aegean, Air Canada, Air China, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana Airlines, Avianca, Copa Airlines, Singapore Airlines, TAP Air Portugal, Thai Airways, Turkish Airlines and United Airlines.

You can apply here.

Marriott Bonvoy American Express

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Category

Aer Lingus and AerClub, British Airways and Avios

Comments (53)

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

  • lumma says:
    31 Oct31 October 06:50

    The Air Canada to Mumbai flight times are awful

    • The real Swiss Tony says:
      31 Oct31 October 07:02

      Not if AC is trying to feed into its other flights from London to Canada, which presumably will be a priority…

    • Dubious says:
      31 Oct31 October 07:03

      That’s what I thought at first as well, but from the perspective of one’s body-clock, it’s probably not so bad:
      If you stay up all night before departing Mumbai, you should be very ready to sleep as soon as the aircraft is airborne giving a nice 8~9 hours of sleep before arriving.

    • JDB says:
      31 Oct31 October 07:31

      The bad thing for passengers travelling all the way from Toronto to Mumbai and vv is that they have to get off and clear security in London unlike many flights with intermediate stops.

      • jjoohhnn says:
        31 Oct31 October 09:17

        Some might find it preferable being able to have a walk around compared to being stuck on the plane whilst they unload/load.

      • The real Swiss Tony says:
        31 Oct31 October 09:28

        Are you sure? I’ve transited through IST and DOH of late and they both required security clearance. Munich maybe not. Frankfurt would be a coin toss but likely yes. Amsterdam yes as well. I think it’s only a minority of airports that would accept the flights are “clean”, that list is always subject to change and presumably AC’s biggest operation in Europe is in London, too.

        Is there transit security in the satellite at T2 or do you have to go back to the main building?

        • JDB says:
          31 Oct31 October 10:24

          You are referring to connecting flights that require further security which is relatively standard. The AC flight is a direct one with a stopover in London which requires security to be cleared in London. Comparables would be BA flights to Sydney or to Buenos Aires which respectively stopover in Singapore where you have to disembark or in Rio/Sao Paulo where you stay on board and no security.

          • The real Swiss Tony says:
            31 Oct31 October 10:31

            Still believe the majority of international indirect flights would require security clearance at the midway point. The rule will be mandated by the regulators of the country where the flight is departing from. Are they confident that the plane is “clean” as the passengers onboard will be mixing with passengers boarding at the intermediate stop. If there’s a risk, it’ll be the security at the intermediate stop that is called into question.

            As with the Munich example, it’s (technically) irrelevant if you change planes or not.

          • Heathrow Flyer says:
            31 Oct31 October 15:10

            When I flew LHR-SIN-SYD on BA last December I had to re-clear security at the gate in Singapore.

          • SamG says:
            31 Oct31 October 15:42

            Singapore you clear security both ways at the gate before reboarding on BA15/16 or QF1/2 (though less painful than this AC flight having to go through connections security with everyone else)

            There aren’t many where you wouldn’t – Singapore – Frankfurt – JFK you shouldn’t clear at Frankfurt usually as from both of those you’re usually considered clean. The Ethiopean USA flights that previously tech stopped at Dublin but have just moved to Rome you don’t disembark so no security there

  • squawk7700 says:
    31 Oct31 October 07:08

    I’ve booked Bastia for next June, MMB hasn’t changed nor have I received an email. Can I expect a rebooking via Marseille or will they just cancel me?

    • Richie says:
      31 Oct31 October 07:22

      Keep an eye on MMB and the price of easyJet and Air Corsica non stop flights from Gatwick and Stansted for your preferred dates.

    • Anthony says:
      31 Oct31 October 07:25

      Same here. Booked for next June using points and companion voucher…will they just cancel me? What will happen to the companion voucher?

  • Greenpen says:
    31 Oct31 October 07:52

    When launched a year or two ago the Southampton flights were to use LCY aeroplanes that would otherwise be ideal over the weekends. What, I wonder, are BA planning to do with these aeroplanes?

    I used the ALC service shortly after if launched and it was popular so the passengers were there.

    • Rob says:
      31 Oct31 October 07:59

      Apparently two aircraft are freed up from Southampton now. Where they end up is unknown.

    • Richie says:
      31 Oct31 October 08:02

      BACF have recently reduced the size of the fleet by not renewing leases.

  • Indy500 says:
    31 Oct31 October 07:58

    After Southampton’s runway extension, I was expecting an expansion of services rather than a contraction. Nothing substantial has been announced and I assume that they got some commitments/expressions of interest before spending the cash?

    • jjoohhnn says:
      31 Oct31 October 09:20

      But that runway extension doesn’t make any difference for these LCY planes that could use the old length fine. They were at Southampton to give the planes something to do rather than paying parking fees since LCY has weekend closures saturday afternoon – sunday morning. Regional BA City Flyer as it were.

      • Rob says:
        31 Oct31 October 10:02

        The runway extension should kill off all of the Cityflyer aircraft.

        Southampton now has a runway that easyJet, Ryanair and Jet2 can land on. Very soon one or all of these carriers will pile in and suck up the BA custom. One flight per week on an Embraer isn’t going to compete with 3-4 per week on a 737, and at lower fares.

        • Richie says:
          31 Oct31 October 10:44

          If CE loads are good for SOU-PMI, SOU-AGP, SOU-FAO and the TUI contract for SOU-PMI is retained, then it may last. I’m sure there are many within SOU’s catchment area who won’t venture onto a bright orange/ yellow aircraft no matter how cheap it is.

          • Martin says:
            31 Oct31 October 13:17

            I would venture onto any colour plane including the purple ones if I could get a cheap flight from Southampton Airport.
            For a 5 minute drive I’d suffer it..

  • Jacqueline says:
    31 Oct31 October 08:07

    Incredibly disappointing that the nearest functioning BA airport for the West Country is Heathrow – a £200 taxi ride. A few flights from Bristol would be half helpful.

    • Jonathan says:
      31 Oct31 October 13:00

      BA is unfortunately very London centred, some other readers joked a little while ago that they should change their name…

      Unfortunately, you’re never going too get the best flight options unless you fly from any airline’s hub

  • mkcol says:
    31 Oct31 October 08:25

    The Toronto – Mumbai flights are still direct, they’re just no longer non stop.

  • Graham D says:
    31 Oct31 October 08:56

    Fuerteventura is also not bookable beyond the end of March, so guess that has been pulled too.

  • Alex G says:
    31 Oct31 October 09:05

    Where is Toronoto?

    • Richie says:
      31 Oct31 October 09:19

      Italy.

    • Rob says:
      31 Oct31 October 10:00

      I blame Rhys for that 🙂 Cut and pasted those two paragraphs from his June article.

      • Jonathan says:
        31 Oct31 October 13:04

        Did your computer’s spelling checker not pick up on Rhys’ error ?

        And how he and his computer never spotted it in the first place either is probably something I’ll never figure out, and can’t be bothered to do so either !

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

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