Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Flight news: Titan aircraft returning for British Airways, Cathay Pacific adds Rome flights

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

News in brief:

Titan Airways aircraft popping up at Gatwick for Euroflyer

There has been surprisingly little talk this year of ‘wet leasing’. For the last few years British Airways has been leasing aircraft, together with crew, to cover short haul routes over the summer peak. We’ve even occasionally seen it on long haul.

There are good wet leases and bad ones. Finnair has been a popular source of wetleased short haul aircraft in the past and I enjoyed the couple of flights I (accidentally) ended up taking with them.

A reader dropped me a note to say that his Tenerife flight from London Gatwick in March is now showing as operated by Titan Airways. Interestingly, he has not yet received any confirmation from BA.

The key things to know about wet leases are:

  • you get your expected Avios and tier points
  • you get the standard BA meal service in Club Europe and the standard snacks in Euro Traveller
  • the crew will not be British Airways employees
  • the aircraft may be in better or worse shape than a British Airways aircraft, although the chance of it having wi-fi is low
  • BA may give you the option of switching your flight to one still operated by BA

Titan is a well regarded operator – it is heavily used by football teams and touring musical groups – and I wouldn’t have any issues flying with them if my flight was swapped.

Titan A321

Cathay Pacific returns to Rome, bookable on Avios

Cathay Pacific has announced its return to Rome as it continues to rebuild its network post-pandemic.

Flights will start on 5th June and will operate for the summer season until the end of October. There will be three flights per week.

This does NOT replace the existing Milan to Hong Kong route, which in fact is being expanded to offer a daily service this summer.

As a British Airways partner in the oneworld airline alliance, Cathay Pacific flights can be booked with Avios via ba.com. You cannot use an American Express or Barclays voucher on Cathay Pacific redemptions, however.

PS. If you are not a regular Head for Points visitor, why not sign up for our FREE weekly or daily newsletters? They are full of the latest Avios, airline, hotel and credit card points news and will help you travel better. To join our 65,000 free subscribers, click the button below or visit this page of the site to find out more. Thank you.

best credit card to use when buying flights

How to maximise your miles when paying for flights (April 2025)

Some UK credit cards offer special bonuses when used for buying flights. If you spend a lot on airline tickets, using one of these cards could sharply increase the credit card points you earn.

Booking flights on any airline?

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold earns double points (2 Membership Rewards points per £1) when used to buy flights directly from an airline website.

The card comes with a sign-up bonus of 20,000 Membership Rewards points. These would convert to 20,000 Avios or various other airline or hotel programmes. The standard earning rate is 1 point per £1.

You can apply here.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. 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

Buying flights on British Airways?

The British Airways Premium Plus American Express card earns double Avios (3 Avios per £1) when used at ba.com.

The card comes with a sign-up bonus of 30,000 Avios. The standard earning rate is 1.5 Avios per £1.

You do not earn bonus Avios if you pay for BA flights on the free British Airways American Express card or either of the Barclaycard Avios Mastercards.

You can apply here.

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

Buying flights on Virgin Atlantic?

Both the free Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard and the annual fee Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard earn double Virgin Points when used at fly.virgin.com.

This means 1.5 Virgin Points per £1 on the free card and 3 Virgin Points per £1 on the paid card.

There is a sign-up bonus of 3,000 Virgin Points on the free card and 18,000 Virgin Points on the paid card.

You can apply for either of the cards here.

Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard

3,000 bonus points, no fee and 1 point for every £1 you spend Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

18,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review

Category

British Airways and Avios, Cathay Pacific and Asia Miles

Comments (30)

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

  • Ed E says:
    14 Jan14 January 06:03

    I’d have an issue if BA swapped my flight for the plane in the image here, that’s was converted to cargo in 2021 and doesn’t have any seats in!

    • Charles Martel says:
      14 Jan14 January 06:36

      That sounds more like Ryanair.

    • Barrel for Scraping says:
      14 Jan14 January 08:33

      It’s the perfect aircraft for Americans. They like pulling the window blinds down even before take off and don’t like European airlines not allowing it so having an aircraft without windows will provide the darkness that Americans crave

  • Matthias says:
    14 Jan14 January 07:14

    On a tangentially related point, I noticed that BA is currently using some long haul LHR aircraft out of LGW, eg on the Antigua route.

    Unlike the LGW based 777s, the LHR ones being used have Club Suite so some people are getting a nice surprise.

    A friend of mine just booked an Antigua return for late Jan / early Feb and the 1-2-1 Club seat configuration is on both his outbound and return seat maps.

    • jjoohhnn says:
      14 Jan14 January 11:46

      This is normal when LGW aircraft are undergoing maintenance – a spare from the LHR fleet will move across to LGW and cover.

  • DaveP says:
    14 Jan14 January 07:25

    My experiences of flying on Titan flights have always been positive – and I wasn’t standing!

  • RC says:
    14 Jan14 January 07:50

    Yet again, BA can’t manage their way out of a paper bag let alone run a schedule with enough planned equipment and crew of their own.
    But apparently we all think BA is a luxury product and we don’t want status accrual or avios anymore.

    • Barrel for Scraping says:
      14 Jan14 January 08:34

      It’s more to do with BA’s suppliers Bowen and Roles Rice not being able to deliver on time.

    • JDB says:
      14 Jan14 January 09:11

      There’s a shortage of aircraft deliveries as identified by @BforS, slots need to be utilised and chartering aircraft addresses this while minimising inconvenience to passengers. That’s good management.

      I think you may be confusing your personal distaste for BA with bad management.

      • RC says:
        15 Jan15 January 10:08

        @JFB. Everything distilled to personal comments from you. Yet again.
        I think you may he confused.
        Supply chain shortages are 3-4 years old now. Yet BA hasn’t planned to take that into account yet again. Which clearly means BA can’t plan. There are well documented crew retention issues at Gatwick too.

  • Richie says:
    14 Jan14 January 08:18

    Titan are seeking E190 pilots https://titan-airways.current-vacancies.com/Jobs/Advert/3720615?cid=2034&t=Embraer-E—-Type-Rated-Pilots could we see them at LCY?

    • jjoohhnn says:
      14 Jan14 January 11:47

      BA don’t have slot sitting issues out of LCY..

      • Richie says:
        14 Jan14 January 12:16

        BACF may have an aircraft problem. E190 G-LCAF seems stuck at Malpensa.

        • Nick says:
          14 Jan14 January 13:02

          Aren’t there still two E90s stored at NWI? BACF is not yet back to pre-covid service so shouldn’t be struggling for aircraft.

          • Richie says:
            14 Jan14 January 16:52

            None are stored at NWI. I’ve just done a fleet check.
            BACF has a quiet period in Nov-Dec and then the ski season takes off, mid March has EAS and NCE services start and then more flights from the end of March.

  • strickers says:
    14 Jan14 January 08:57

    We stayed at a couple of the Cinnamon hotels during our Sri Lanka trip a couple of years ago, Cinnamon Wild was lovely and we wished we’d stayed there longer. Cinnamon Bey was much more basic and I’m not sure we’d go again. The staff were fantastic at both.

    • Chas says:
      14 Jan14 January 21:55

      I’d echo your positive comments. We stayed at the Habarana and Wild Yala properties in 2017, and they were our favourite hotels of the entire trip. Wouldn’t hesitate to stay at another Cinnamon if the opportunity arose.

  • David S says:
    14 Jan14 January 09:29

    What is the underlying issue with BA Aircraft at LGW. I know it’s where BA send them to wither away and die but apart from that, it can’t be engine issues as faced by other airlines as the aircraft are ancient. Is it aircraft out of service or lack of crew or too many new routes and not enough aircraft to service them ?

    • Richie says:
      14 Jan14 January 09:42

      BA Euroflyer has a new MD called Karen Hilton, it’d be good to get an answer from the horses’s mouth. Has she been doing any interviews recently @Rob?

    • Nick says:
      14 Jan14 January 13:06

      Hiring in wet leases is not unusual, particularly as airlines have been scheduling higher utilisation time in recent years. It’s this or risk cancelling flights if anything goes wrong. Feedback is generally good (it wasn’t from Avion Express but is from Titan and Finnair). Did anyone demand answers from easyJet for doing it last summer? They had Titan for the whole season…

  • Zack says:
    14 Jan14 January 12:08

    I flew Titan last summer from LGW and was pleasantly surprised. Crew were friendly and the plane much nicer than BA’s!

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

New to Head for Points?

Welcome!  We’re the UK’s most-read source of business travel, Avios, frequent flyer and hotel loyalty news. Let us improve how you travel. Got any questions? Ask them in our forums.

Get 25,000 Avios with the Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

GET A SIGN-UP BONUS OF 18,000 VIRGIN POINTS!

Latest Forum Posts

Get 80,000 bonus points (worth 80,000 Avios) and £400 of dining credit with The Platinum Card (Offer ends 27th May)

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

See a whole year of reward seat availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

Get up to 10,000 bonus Hilton Honors points

Booking a luxury hotel?

Our luxury hotel booking service offers you GUARANTEED extra benefits over booking direct. Works with Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz Carlton, St Regis and more. We've booked £1.7 million of rooms to date. Click for details.

SME? GET THE ONLY FREE SMALL BUSINESS CREDIT CARD WHICH CAN EARN AVIOS

Get points worth 30,000 Avios with 'first year free' American Express Gold (ends 27th May)

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.

Got it!