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Vueling adds two routes from London Heathrow

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Vueling, IAG’s Barcelona-based low cost carrier, appears to be doing a bit of slot sitting for British Airways this summer.

The airline is launching two routes which it already serves from London Gatwick.

From 30th March, there will be daily flights to Bilbao and Santiago de Compostela. The latter is “one of Spain’s most beautiful and historically rich towns and serves as the final destination of the famous pilgrimage the St James Way.”

Vueling launches two Heathrow routes

Gatwick services will continue alongside these flights.

Flights will presumably operate from Terminal 4, alongside the current flights to Barcelona and Paris Orly.

No lounge is available, except in the independent lounges, even if you have British Airways elite status. A BA Gold can get lounge access on Vueling in some scenarios but only if a BA-run lounge exists, which it doesn’t in Terminal 4.

You can learn how to earn and spend Avios on Vueling flights in this article.


best credit card to use when buying flights

How to maximise your miles when paying for flights (February 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.

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

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

Comments (19)

  • David says:

    As Head for Points has noted previously, earning Avios is not straightforward, tier points are not earned and lounge access is tricky, which is referenced above when flying with Vueling.

    • Barrel for Scraping says:

      You will get (revenue) TP if the flights are booked under a BA code, assuming they are available as codeshares of course.

      • ChrisBCN says:

        OR, in this new tier point world, you can put your IB FF number in at time of booking (via Vueling direct, generally a LOT cheaper than via BA) and earn Iberia tier points plus avíos.

  • Mel says:

    Have you checked Vueling pricing? I’m hearing that it is more expensive to purchase seats via BA than going to Vueling direct?

  • Paul says:

    the famous pilgrimage the St James Way.

    I have never heard The Camino de Santiago referred as the St James Way. It could be referred to as the Way of St James but it is universally known as the Camino.

    Across much of Europe there are way markers and I found one by chance in a small side street in Dortmund.

    For anyone interested there is also a really good film called The Way with Martin Sheen. Sadly Hollywood as usual chose somewhere other than the actual route but an entertaining and thought provoking movie non-the-less

    • Michael Jennings says:

      “The Way of St James” is one particular route of the Camino – the most famous and most popular one starting in St-Jean Pied de Port in the French foothills of the Pyrenees, then across the mountains to Pamplona and to Santiago via an inland route.

  • Stuart says:

    Bring back the T3 BA Bilbao flights!

    • Richie says:

      My first flight to Bilbao was on Go-Fly from Stansted. I wonder what happened to Go-Fly founder and CEO Barbara Cassani.

      • ChrisBCN says:

        According to her LinkedIn, after go-fly she worked on the London Olympics bid, then chairman at Jurys Inns. Nothing since 2010 on either LI or wiki so maybe she retired.

    • Michael Jennings says:

      The Gatwick one would be nice, too. I have a friend there who I visit for a weekend a couple of times a year. At present, there is a Bilbao based vueling flight that leaves Bilbao just after six, and then leaves London back to Bilbao just before eight. There used to be a BA flight that flew the route with a Gatwick based plane doing its last two flights of the day in the opposite direction, so I could get the Vueling flight out and the BA flight back for a longer weekend away.,

    • Kepa says:

      Please I want this too. Hate terminal 5. Love terminal 3. BILBAO T 3 now

  • Lonjams says:

    No IHG bonus points for me. Can’t think of the last time I was passed over for a bonus. Anyone else in the same boat?

  • NorthernLass says:

    I got 100% bonus. I don’t generally buy points of any kind, but as long as my go-to in GCM stays at 70k pn, it’s a no-brainer to buy a few 000!

  • ADS says:

    “Flights will presumably operate from Terminal 4, alongside the current flights to Barcelona and Paris Orly”

    so IAG operate from all four Heathrow terminals – every day’s a school day!

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