Bits: BA adds three new short haul routes, how to check British Airways lounge loads

News in brief:

British Airways adds three new short haul routes

BA announced three new routes to Europe yesterday. Because flights have only just been loaded to ba.com, Avios availability should be wide open, even at peak periods.

The first new route is from Gatwick to Rabat in Morocco, image below.

Rabat becomes BA’s third route to Morocco after Marrakech and Agadir (Casablanca is handled by oneworld partner Royal Air Maroc). Flights will start on 5th November and operate every Wednesday and Saturday.

Gatwick will also see the launch of flights to Graz in Austria.

There are currently no flights from any London airport on any airline to Graz, so BA is filling a gap. It becomes the fourth Austrian route after Vienna, Salzburg and Innsbruck.

The route will operate on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 21st November.

Finally, London City Airport will see the launch of flights to Madrid.

There will be 11 flights per week, taking the total number of BA services across all airports to 44 per week. This excludes the multiple Iberia flights.

Flights will begin on 1st December.

All three routes will operate year-round. These are not ‘winter only’ services.

Check how busy the British Airways Heathrow lounges are

Back in 2022, we posted a link to a handy tool. Whilst it keeps getting flagged in our forum we haven’t mentioned it for three years in an article.

Via this link you can see the current passenger volumes in the British Airways lounges at Heathrow Terminal 5. A screenshot is below, taken at 5pm on Tuesday.

Given how far apart the Galleries North and Galleries South lounges are, it could come in useful when deciding which way to go. I doubt many people can face the walk from North to South, or vice versa, if they arrive in one and find it busy.

It is also a reminder that, if your flight departs from the 5B or 5C satellites, the Galleries lounge in Terminal 5B is virtually certain to be quieter than those in the main terminal.

You can check the lounge loads here.

Thanks to Matthias for the reminder.