SriLankan Airlines to join oneworld alliance in early 2014 – more Avios redemption options

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SriLankan Airlines has confirmed that it will officially join the oneworld airline alliance, alongside British Airways, in ‘early’ 2014.

SriLankan is not a large airline, operating just 21 aircraft to 22 countries from Colombo (below). Routes do, however, include Heathrow, Hong Kong, Bangkok and Tokyo, so it will open up opportunities for getting around Asia.

Importantly, Colombo is also a key stopping off point for The Maldives, with Colombo being just an hour or so from Male. This opens up yet another potential redemption routing from London, and adds to the new Qatar Airways option that opened up when they joined oneworld.

British Airways resumed its own flights to Colombo this year after a number of years, tagging it onto the end of three existing flights to The Maldives each week.

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:

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

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

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.)

Category

oneworld alliance partners

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

James67 says:

18 Nov18 November 07:26

Flew them for first time this year in their new J class. Was pleasantly surptized by whole experience. Nice seat, nice plane, lovely friendly personable staff and good food if you opted for their local cuisine. Alsoexcellent revenue fares which hopefully will not increase as a result of their joining OW. Seat tip – front row on new J class on a330s best avoided. Centre seats had wall mounted screens that were too low, and window pairs had small screens folded into armrest IIRC,,
darrenf says:

18 Nov18 November 07:42

Flying to CMB next August. I’ve got a revenue ticket back but would rather redeem on BA or UL. Fingers crossed!
gnarlyoldgoatdude says:

18 Nov18 November 09:41

Wasn’t (Emirates’) Skywards once a joint (or perhaps, separate) scheme with Sri Lankan?
- James67 says:
  
  18 Nov18 November 11:11
  
  SriLankan were part of Skywards but no longer. I think EK had a stake in them or it was some joint venture but no longer. There a340s are old EK metal and still have EK J seats which are comfy enough for intrasia flights. Not sure where they got the a330s but the new J they fitted is not bad at all. They have a number of new a330s on order. Unless necessary to save cash I’m not sure I would want to do Europe to Asia via Sri Lanka in Y but J was fine.
  - needroos says:
    
    18 Nov18 November 19:48
    
    Emirates actually used to run Sri Lankan airlines. However, when the their appointed CEO refused to give VIP access and bump revenue passengers to accommodate government officials, the SL government yanked his visa! Flown UL twice now. Nowhere in the league of gulf airlines, but a decent level of service.
craig says:

18 Nov18 November 09:58

All good news for OneWorld at the moment. TAM joining prettymuch seals South America as LAN was already a OneWorld partner there. Qatar Air joining in the Gulf region and no SriLankan.
- James67 says:
  
  18 Nov18 November 11:16
  
  Bangkok Airways, although small, would be icing on the cake for me. Nice little boutique airline with some useful routes out of BKK that could cut journey times compared to CX and MH options.
  - Rob says:
    
    18 Nov18 November 12:28
    
    Yes, its a bit odd you earn Avios with them but can’t redeem (see https://headforpoints.com/2013/06/12/british-airways-launches-codeshare-deal-with-bangkok-airways/ )
  - World Traveller says:
    
    18 Nov18 November 18:26
    
    Bangkok Airways are a bit like Alaskan & Hawaiian airlines – they’re not part of an alliance but partner with several airlines.
    
    Bangkok Airways (PG), whist partnering with BA, also partner with KLM & Air France. Executive Club members are more fortunate than Flying Blue members – Flying Blue can only book & earn points on PG operated sectors when they’re in combination with a connecting AF or KL operated longhaul flight. Executive Club members can access and book the BA codeshares on PG operated sectors without a longhaul connection.