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New Summer sun Avios redemption opportunities for 2015

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British Airways has announced the launch of several new holiday routes from Gatwick for the Summer 2015 timetable.

The new routes are:

Bodrum, above (x 2 per week)

Cagliari (Sardinia) (x 3 per week)

Dalaman (x 4 per week)

Heraklion (Crete) (x 4 per week)

Rhodes (x 2 per week)

For me, Bodrum is the most interesting.  This resort is being taken upmarket at the moment.  If proof were needed, Mandarin Oriental is due to open a hotel in September.  Kempinski has had a luxury resort there for a few years now – photo above.

All flights will start in the week of 26 April 2015.

Tickets are already on sale at ba.com although – because they are only released 355 days in advance – only the first couple of weeks are available.  Avios tickets are also available for booking.  Bodrum is 20,000 Avios return in economy for instance.


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 (29)

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

  • Simon B says:

    Thrilled to see a new Turkish route open up, was thinking about this just the other day when thinking of next years holidays. Too bad they cant launch it this year as 20000 avios is a great deal vs the 400 od one might expect to pay to get there.

    • Rob says:

      Aren’t there airberlin redemption options? I assume there must be loads of flights from Germany to Turkey ….

      Look leg-by-leg as ba.com can wobble with connections. Normally I would say its a lot of faff but when fares get that high changing in Berlin is a small price to pay.

      (EDIT – no they don’t, just Antalya)

  • TrollBasher says:

    I do wish BA would extend this sojourn into leisure flights be doing what they used to do with the night stopping shuttles into MAN and do a night hop to some of these destinations from the regions. I’ve only once done the MAN-LHR-bus-LGW-XXX and will never again, so LGW has become a closed connection for me and, I am sure, many others.

  • Steve says:

    For us north of Watford Gap, LGW is useless.. We use the Avios on Monarch to Bodrum, Antalya & Dalaman. Only pain is, it automatically adds hold luggage & you have to phone up to cancel the luggage

    • danksy says:

      Not to mention us lot in the South West of the country! BA used to fly from BRS to some useful hubs, but AFAIK they haven’t done for years!

  • Tim says:

    Yes, all of the tourist routes are ex-Gatwick, in short-haul uncomfortable planes and with no regional connections!
    I rarely spend Avios on BA these days.
    Tim.

    • Mark says:

      Not to mention unreliable. Our recent flight out to Larnaca with BA from Gatwick was delayed 19 hours outbound, due to all of the following:

      *Late arrival of the first aircraft at Gatwick
      *Problems with the cabin heating when it did arrive
      *A second aircraft also going tech
      *Sitting on the ground for an hour in the third aircraft (next morning) whilst they obtained enough water for hand washing in one of the toilets because of a water leak.

      We got the €400 EU compensation. No thanks to the misdirection in the letter they handed out (which implied the flight had to be cancelled) but it wasn’t quibble when claimed. Still we’d much rather have been away on time and not had to claim.

      Combined with a similar delay on the previous day’s inbound from Larnaca (as well of course as the same day inbound) and the 1h40 wait for bags in the middle of the night on our return at Gatwick North, I’d say this is not a service you can rely on getting you where you expect to be at anything like the intended time….

      Back to Heathrow next time.

  • Erico1875 says:

    20k Avios gets you RFS Edinburgh to Ibiza direct too.

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