Exclusive: British Airways cancels flights to Beijing
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British Airways appears to be dropping its flights to Beijing.
The flight has been removed from the schedule from 27th October, which is the last day of the summer flying season. The last outbound flight is on the 24th.
British Airways previously operated four weekly flights to the new Beijing Daxing Airport (pronounced ‘dashing’), on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. The route only restarted in June 2023, following a 3-year covid hiatus.
Later on Thursday, British Airways told us in a statement:
“We will be pausing our route to Beijing from 26 October 2024, and we’re contacting any affected customers with rebooking options or to offer them a full refund. We continue to operate daily flights to Shanghai and Hong Kong.”
More info on your rebooking options are below.
At the time, British Airways called it “one of our most important routes”. British Airways was the first international airline to move operations across into the Zaha Hadid-designed Daxing Airport (pictured above) in 2019.
BA is far from alone in scaling down its Chinese operations. A month ago, Virgin Atlantic announced it was pulling out of Shanghai – its only flight to East Asia – whilst Australian airline Qantas has also pulled out of mainland China after suggesting flights were “half full”. When I flew back from Beijing last year, the Club World cabin was sparsely populated.
One of the issues faced by Western airlines is the diversion around Russian airspace, which can add hours to the flight time. This obviously increases costs in terms of fuel but also means crewing and aircraft utilisation also increases. Why bother when you can send the same plane to the US instead, where demand for premium cabins remains sky-high?
It is also well publicised that Chinese tourism has not yet returned en masse post-pandemic. Chinese tourism to the UK has also been disproportionately hit by the removal of VAT reclamation on luxury goods (indeed, all goods) for tourists. Indeed, BA owner IAG had already flagged “weakness in demand from China” in its Q1 2024 earnings call, blaming it for lower unit revenue in Asia Pacific.
China Southern, which continues to fly through Russian airspace, still flies daily to London Heathrow and it appears British Airways will continue to sell these flights on ba.com under the existing joint business agreement. You can earn British Airways Avios and tier points on China Southern services.
BA also continues to fly daily to Shanghai and Hong Kong. According to BA’s own guidance, anyone with a booking on British Airways metal from 28th October can be rebooked onto China Southern or Qatar Airways services for free. BA is also letting you rebook +- 14 days from your original travel dates.
Note that China Southern flights only earn Avios, not tier points, so either choose Qatar or try to retroclaim from BA if that is important. Remember that Qatar Airways would be 560 tier points return in Business.
Although you’d have to accept a stopover, rebooking onto Qatar Airways would likely see you on a Qsuite aircraft for at least one or two sectors. Neither Qatar Airways nor China Southern offer premium economy cabins.
How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (November 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 Mastercard
Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review
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.
SPECIAL OFFER: Until 14th January 2025, the sign-up bonus on ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is increased to 30,000 Membership Rewards points. This converts into 30,000 Avios. Click here to apply.
SPECIAL OFFER: Until 14th January 2025, the sign-up bonus on The Platinum Card from American Express is increased to 80,000 Membership Rewards points. This converts into 80,000 Avios! The spend requirement is changed to £10,000 in six months for this offer. Click here to apply.
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
Huge 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, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.
SPECIAL OFFER: Until 9th December 2024, there are EXCLUSIVE sign-up offers for our readers on the two Capital on Tap small business Visa cards. You can earn 20,000 points on the Business Rewards card and 30,000 points on the new Pro card. Click here to apply.
Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa
20,000 points (ONLY TO 9TH DECEMBER) 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.
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