Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Special BA Club Europe fares from London City Airport

Links on Head for Points may pay us an affiliate commission. A list of partners is here.

Via the Evening Standard this week, British Airways has been promoting some discounted European flights in business class from London City Airport.

Full details are here.

The good news is that you can book all the way through to March 2014.

The bad news is that the fares are not outstanding, except for the two £200 return routes into France (Quimper and Angers).  In particular, £389 return to Madrid looks like a spectacularly un-special offer.

There are few Club Europe benefits from London City Airport – there is no lounge and I think the seat pitch is the same as Economy.  The main benefit is therefore the food and drink, although realistically I would say the main benefit is the 80 tier points on a return trip.

£200 for 80 tier points and a weekend in France is not a bad deal if you are struggling to retain status.


How to earn Avios points from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (December 2021)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways BA Amex American Express card

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up, no annual fee and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending ….. Read our full review

British Airways BA Premium Plus American Express Amex credit card

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the UK’s most valuable credit card perk – the 2-4-1 companion voucher Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points, such as:

Nectar American Express

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & two airport lounge passes Read our full review

American Express Platinum card Amex

The Platinum Card from American Express

30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel benefits – for a 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:

Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa

The most generous Avios Visa or Mastercard for a limited company Read our full review

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus:

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express card

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios 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.

(Want to earn more Avios?  Click here to visit our home page for our latest articles on earning and spending your Avios points and click here to see how to earn more Avios this month from offers and promotions.)

Comments (11)

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

  • Sir Stamford says:

    As a comparison, you could easily get 160 Tier Points for £269 by flying JEY-LGW-AMS-LGW-JEY if you are struggling for status.

    Of course, you do have to factor in a positioning flight to Jersey etc but you could coincide this with, say, your meeting with your bank manager in St. Helier regarding your offshore bank account 🙄

    Sir Stamford

  • Volker says:

    In a way, I quite like travelling through LCY. The approach is beautiful, different aircraft types (BAe 146/AvroRJ, Embraer…) make an interesting change to the usual Airbus and Boeing short haul planes and the atmosphere at the airport is much is less touristy. If only… there was a lounge.

    A BA representative said to me (some years ago!): “We know that our customers would like to see a BA lounge at LCY, but the departures area is like a big lounge anyway, isn’t it?” Well… apart from the fact that you need your credit card for food and drinks… What about giving your Club passengers a £10 voucher? (Like they did to me in FRA when they didn’t have any business class catering on board.)

    In my eyes, that would make a tiny but important difference to make their most valuable passengers feel recognised and appreciated. I keep mentioning the missing lounge in airport surveys, but now that some years have passed I have come to the conclusion that they don’t see the need for a change as obviously everybody is ready to bite the bullet when travelling via LCY.

  • Jason Thorpe says:

    I never fly business out of LCY (unless, of course, someone else is paying) for the simple reason that it doesn’t make any difference on those small aircraft. But I do enjoy the smallness and convenience of the airport though, especially when flying to LCY as it is almost like flying straight into a tube station.

  • Jason Thorpe says:

    A lounge at LCY would be nice, I suppose, but because it is so small and everything so straightforward, I never go to the airport early enough to feel the need for a lounge anyway.

  • Andy says:

    There is very little point in flying in club europe from city apart rrom tier points. The seating and leg room is actually the same on the E170 and E190.

    The E-190 must be one of the best short haul economy cabins in europe. 2 x 2 seating with 34″ seat pitch. Plus the Hot Breakfast is still served on morning flights in economy.

    The best thing about city is the 15 min check in.

  • squillion says:

    You could presumably get £15 discount using the Tesco Clubcard perk.

    • Sir Stamford says:

      The £15 discount is only valid for EuroTraveller (Economy).

      Therefore, I don’t think you get a further £15 “discount” if you are trying to take advantage the CE fares referred to in this post.

      Sir Stamford

  • Roger says:

    As always, it’s worth checking other ‘sale’ fares. For example, fan though I am of LCY, the lack of a lounge on a fare that’s more expensive than from LHR makes a difference.

    For example, LCY-ZRH is shown as from £298 return. The current ‘luxury’ sale offers LHR-ZRH from £259 return. The LCY fares have longer validity (the LHR fare is valid only to mid-September) and there are doubtless other differences, but it’s worth checking.

    I have read (on HfP? FT?) that the Tesco £15 off offer also works on CE fares, but I haven’t tried it yet myself.

    The seats on the E190 can be slightly more comfortable than on the E170. seatguru.com shows 34″/32″ seat pitch for the E190 for CE/ET compared with 34″/31″ for the E170, though it obviously depends on the location of the curtain divider.

  • Washing Up says:

    I think I’d prefer LCY owners to make their gate lounges a bit bigger rather than making space for an airline lounge, that is, assuming it’s not possible to do both.
    Whilst 15 minute check-in is good, when you get to the gate late, there’s invariably no where to sit (and little room to stand), so you have to stand like you’re on the tube for 10-15 minutes waiting for the aircraft cabin crew to give the all clear for boarding.

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.