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British Airways adds Funchal flights for Winter 2024

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I’ve had a few emails from readers enquiring about flights – or more accurately the lack of flights – to Madeira for the Winter 2024 season, starting in late October.

Funchal flights have now been added. They will operate from Gatwick, not Heathrow as is currently the case.

Services start on 27th October and operate daily, except for Tuesday.

British Airways adds Funchal flights for Winter 2024

Timings move around but the departure is always around 9am from London Gatwick, with a return around 2pm from Madeira.

Avios seats are bookable with the usual guaranteed eight in Economy and four in Business available. More may open up over time.

Câmara de Lobos is pictured below.

PS. Comments in our forum suggest that additional flights from London Gatwick and London City for Winter 2024 on existing routes have also opened for booking, so it is worth looking again if what you originally wanted wasn’t available.


How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2025)

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

Get 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

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 – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 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, and the standard card is FREE. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits 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

50,000 points when you sign-up 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 (34)

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

  • TGLoyalty says:

    I believe I read that there were a couple other Hotel Brooklyns in the pipeline perhaps Liverpool and Newcastle. Did they purchase these too?

  • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:

    Friends have stayed at the Manchester one and said they liked it,

    Might give it a try once it moves over to IHG

  • SammyJ says:

    Leicester will hopefully be a good addition to IHG under the category of ‘hotels that are better than a Holiday Inn outside London’!

  • tw33ty says:

    If Kew green have bought the hotels and they were good before they bought them, watch them go downhill.

    • Chrisasaurus says:

      Kew green run a number of very solid Holiday Inns. I’m sure there are some exceptions but they do a decent job. I actually thought they owned the HI already in Leicester which if two would make this their second IHG property in the middle of a traffic island in the city

      • Tom says:

        Yeah, that HI location in Leicester is plain weird.

        I now stay at the new’ish Leicester Novotel close by.

  • Richie says:

    Is the basket ride fun on Madeira?

  • Jose Marques says:

    That’s a shame BA flying from Gatwick instead of Heathrow. It will be BA subsidiary and may not earn avios. Easier to hop on easyjet flight comparing price wise.

    • Richie says:

      You earn TPs and Avios on BAEF flights from Gatwick.

      • Jose Marques says:

        I thought BA EuroFlyer does not earn avios/ tier points. It’s a shame tho, how will be their business class down to Funchal from Gatwick South. Not appealing it’s like taking an easyJet flight tho.

        • Richie says:

          BA.com can confirm that you do earn TPs and Avios on BA Euroflyer flights. It’ll be standard BA business class.

          • Jose Marques says:

            Thanks for the info. It seems the prices from Gatwick Funchal are very high in the house of £900 pounds in November next year compared to the prices previously from Heathrow tho.

  • Britbronco says:

    Jose, BA won’t have loaded the discounted business fares yet, initially it’s always the full price flex fare that goes on sale.

    • Chrisasaurus says:

      I’m pretty sure Jose just wants to tell us he’s not going to Funchal that appears to be the theme…

  • Matarredonda says:

    The things we do to get around airlines crazy pricing.
    Did so.ething similar in the summer and saved myself £300.

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

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