I used Avios to fly Loganair from Heathrow to Orkney – how was it?

On 31st March, UK regional carrier Loganair became the seventh airline to adopt Avios as its frequent flyer currency.

You can now earn and spend Avios on Loganair flights, by linking your British Airways Club account to a Loganair Loyalty account.

To show you what you can do with Avios on Loganair, I took a trip from London Heathrow to Orkney’s Kirkwall.

Whilst Loganair doesn’t necessarily have the cachet of the other recent Avios joiners, Finnair and Qatar Airways, it definitely brings something to the party.

A slightly out of date route list is in this HfP article. Key destinations include Aberdeen, Belfast City, Dundee, Edinburgh, Exeter, Glasgow, Inverness, Isle of Man, Kirkwall, London Heathrow, Sumburgh, Manchester, Newcastle, Newquay, Southampton and Stornoway.

If Heathrow is convenient for you, two of the most attractive options are:

• Heathrow to Kirkwall (Orkney)
• Heathrow to Sumburgh (Shetland)

Other Heathrow options are Dundee, Derry and the Isle of Man.

I decided to try out Loganair on the Kirkwall route. This article looks at the flight, whilst Part 2 (click here, also published today) covers the Kirkwall Hotel and a few tourist tips.

HfP funded my trip. Neither Loganair or the Kirkwall Hotel knew that I would be reviewing them.

How many Avios was my flight?

This HfP article explains how to link your British Airways Club and Loganair Loyalty accounts and how to move Avios back and forth.

The key thing to know is that you cannot book Loganair redemptions via ba.com. The only way to book is by moving Avios into a Loganair Loyalty account. All of the other small print is in the article linked above.

A ticket from London Heathrow to Kirkwall, return, is 13,000 Avios + £71 in taxes and charges. This is good value because Loganair is not cheap. A typical return (Friday 4th July to Monday 7th July) is £585 for cash. Even booking well in advance for a September weekend (eg 12th to 15th) you can expect to pay £468 return.

My Loganair flight to Orkney

My journey started in Heathrow Terminal 2. The Orkney flight was scheduled for a civilised 9.45am departure with an arrival time of 1.15pm. Using my Priority Pass I had a quick breakfast in the new No1 Lounge (reviewed here) and then headed to Gate A5 to get a bus, because the Loganair aircraft are too small to fit on the jetties.

My plane would fly first to Dundee, stop there for passenger and crew changes (with passengers remaining on board) and then continue to Kirkwall.

The aircraft is an ATR42 turboprop aircraft with only 14 rows in total and one member of cabin crew. My carry on suitcase was tagged in Heathrow at the gate as the overhead lockers are very small – if you want to keep your hand luggage with you, use smaller and softer hand luggage like a rucksack. As it happened, on this leg my luggage was stored at the rear of the plane instead of in the hold.

Heathrow ground staff tagged my hand baggage with both destinations, Dundee and Kirkwall, with instruction to leave it at the foot of the stairs before boarding.

In order for the airline to know which bags were to be offloaded in Dundee, a baggage handler came onto the aircraft and held up each piece of confiscated hand baggage in turn. We had to raise our hands if it was ours and specify where it should be unloaded.

I crossed my fingers that the very standard looking blue suitcase I identified from halfway down the aircraft was actually mine, as Loganair only has a handful of flights per week from Dundee to Kirkwall. If your bag is taken off by mistake, you’re in trouble! I saw the cabin crew going through all of the baggage stored at the back a second time during the flight, just to be sure.

On my return flight I had to check my luggage into the hold as it exceeded the 6kg weight allowance. The baggage area in Heathrow for domestic flight arrivals operated very fast however.

My plane wasn’t full and I had row six to myself:

The steps are built into the door, allowing passengers to get on and off quickly:

There is no meal served on this flight, unsurprisingly, but cabin crew serve water, coffee and tea with a shortbread biscuit or a caramel bar. The flight to Dundee took just over one hour. The second leg from Dundee to Kirkwall was roughly 50 minutes with a second drink and snack.

(Loganair now accepts American Express, and is so proud of it, it is on their napkins!)

We had a longer than scheduled stop in Dundee as the plane which landed behind us blew a tyre. The fire service had to attend, and Dundee is such a small airport that the ground handlers double up as the fire service. It took a while until they were free to handle the luggage and guide new passengers on board.

The whole flight from London to Kirkwall (and return) was very scenic – one of the most enjoyable aspects of my flight. You pass over the Lake District, Edinburgh, Aberdeen etc and because the ATR42 flies at a lower altitude than a short-haul Airbus or Boeing aircraft the views are amazing. The view below is flying into Orkney.

Orkney greeted us with blue sky and very warm weather. Whilst walking from the plane to the terminal I took this photo. To my relief my small carry-on had also made it to Kirkwall!

Kirkwall Airport is tiny but has a cafe with fresh food (I had my lunch here) and a shop with souvenirs.

The waiting area is relatively large and offers great views on the runway. This is especially interesting as the smaller aircraft which serve Orkney’s outer islands fly in and out.

Here is a Loganair plane taking off to Inverness:

There is a bus every 30 minutes from the airport to Kirkwall Travel Centre.

On my return flight during our expected stop in Dundee, only 10 passengers or so remained on board. The crew probably saw me taking photographs so they offered me a visit to the cockpit. You don’t have to invite me twice and obviously this was very much appreciated!

Coming into Heathrow we had to loop for a long time but the pilots flew our small aircraft nimbly between the storm clouds with minimal turbulence. I really enjoyed that flight!

Conclusion

If you are looking for something different to do with your Avios, I can recommend a trip to Orkney (or indeed Shetland) on Loganair from Heathrow.

These flights are usually very expensive for cash – it can be cheaper to fly to the United States! – so this new opportunity to use points is well worth it.

My flight from London to Orkney and back was more than just a means of transportation. The low flight altitude meant that you got fantastic views – even on my flight back when we had clouds. The relatively small number of passengers made it feel a bit like a group tour, and I chatted and exchanged stories with others on both flights.

Last but not least the pilots and cabin crew were excellent – very friendly, providing plenty of information and sorting out Heathrow’s luggage confusion. Whilst the trip from Heathrow to Kirkwall was still nearly five hours each way due to delays in Dundee, it doesn’t feel anywhere near as long.

To give you ideas for a trip to Orkney, Part 2 of this article – click here – takes a look at the Kirkwall Hotel and gives you a few tourist ideas for a short stay.