Flybe flights now available for Avios redemption on ba.com

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Since last Friday, selected Flybe flights have become available for redemption on ba.com.

This is the final part of the process which began with the announcement in October that Flybe would be scrapping its own rewards scheme and issuing Avios points instead.

There isn’t, as yet, a full list of which Flybe routes will be available. The only ‘fact’ I was told is that no London City routes would be included – but it turns out that they are.

Flybe redemptions are not included in Reward Flight Saver. This means that your taxes will not be capped at £35 and the redemptions may look poor value compared to a cash ticket.

There is a decent amount of redemption space available. On 8th July, for example, the three flights from Aberdeen to London City are offering 8, 8 and 4 seats respectively.

In this example, the cost is 4500 Avios + £31. Looking at flybe.com, the cash cost for the three services that day is £50. You are saving £18 for using 4500 Avios, a truly terrible redemption rate.

Because Flybe seats don’t tend to cost a huge amount, I think you will always struggle here. If you fly in just eight days time, a single ticket on this route is just £59.99 and, whilst Avios seats are there, you are still only saving £28 for your 4500 points.

(EDIT: Perhaps I am wrong! The comments below show a Flybe segment for €360 which was available for 4,500 Avios, as well as other examples. Flybe redemptions may turn out to be more valuable than we think.)

What about Flybe redemptions via avios.com?

This is the odd thing. You have ALWAYS been able to redeem some Flybe flights via avios.com. It is one of four airlines – along with Aurigny (Channel Islands), Air Malta and Monarch – where avios.com lets you redeem but which are not available on ba.com.

I have not yet got to grips with the different availability on Flybe between avios.com and ba.com.

On 8th July, for example, avios.com is showing 9+ seats on a flight from Aberdeen to London City where ba.com only shows four. ba.com shows three options via Birmingham whilst avios.com only offers one.

On February 10th, avios.com shows no seats between Aberdeen and London City whilst ba.com is offering them.

The only advice I can give at the moment is that, if you’re interested in redeeming for a Flybe flight, you should check availability on both avios.com and ba.com – and then on flybe.com to make sure you are not being legged over!

The Flybe route map is here if you want to look at possible options.

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

British Airways and Avios

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

sandgrounder says:

9 Feb9 February 07:06

Due to APD differences, this means you can now combine a weekend Nessie spotting with a trip abroad instead of picking tulips, eating sausages or whatever other cliche you care to quote.

INV-LCY-JFK via BA001 44500 + £228.62
LCY-JFK via BA001 40000 + £342.61

Dusting off my kilt presently 🙂
sandgrounder says:

9 Feb9 February 07:32

INV-LCY LHR-HKG via Cathay 64500 + £85 in J.
This is a real opportunity for those in Scotland, a little bit far for the rest of us unless you want to make a weekend of it.
- JQ says:
  
  9 Feb9 February 07:44
  
  Will Flybe get off-peak redemption rates? Hold on, shouldn’t domestics be free anyway or is it only BA domestics?
  
  Paid 60000 + £251 for CX LHR-HKG recently, (could have started in JER for fees of £123 but would have cost me more than the difference to get to JER in time)
  
  Not sure whether I feel that 94500 Avios + £85 + getting to Scotland is worth it for CX J next time … 🙁
  
  Is there any cheap-ish / fast way of getting Gold without going to HNL (or North America)?
  - sandgrounder says:
    
    9 Feb9 February 07:54
    
    It all depends on personal choice, no doubt some living in Glasgow would happily pay £11.30 for a discount train ticket and spend three hours getting to Inverness to save cash (especially if more than one person) but, no doubt someone else living next door might think they couldn’t be bothered!
    
    I live closed to MAN and LPL so it would make a weekend of it, I went with out the OH last year while she was away with her parents and she was not pleased (has always wanted to go). This hopefully a glimpse of the future when all APD is scrapped or reduced in Scotland. 2 hours from Preston to save £100s would swing it for me for sure.
    
    Only BA domestics are free.
- Eshaq Choudhury says:
  
  9 Feb9 February 07:50
  
  How did you get that price?
Owen Rudge says:

9 Feb9 February 07:43

According to Avios.com, booking a Flybe redemption will get you 20kg of luggage which would otherwise set you back at least £17 per sector (was a nice surprise when work had rebooked me from Eastern Airways direct to 2 segments on Flybe and I had to pay £80 to check my bags one-way at the airport!). Still not great value for 4500 Avios, but makes it slightly better!
Zoe says:

9 Feb9 February 07:46

As a slight aside claiming Avios for flights flown has been made very difficult, they are supposed to post after 30 days. You can fill in an online form but only between day 30 and day 40. Yet to see a single point posted for my husband.
- Rob says:
  
  9 Feb9 February 11:13
  
  I meant to mention this in the article but forgot. I had an email from a reader this week who was having massive difficulties in getting Avios to arrive and he, too, has not seen a single point yet!
  
  Interested to hear of experiences from others.
  - Simon says:
    
    9 Feb9 February 20:05
    
    I had 2 Flybe flights credit ok in early December but of the 3 flights flown since none have credited. I also got caught out by the can’t claim until 30 days, too late to claim after 40 days rule. I have however just submitted an online claim today for a flight taken early Jan so will see what happens with that.
    Interestingly the flights that have not credited have been awarded (now useless) Flybe points although I did enter my Avios number when booking and I understood the Flybe scheme was now closed.
Jamo says:

9 Feb9 February 08:13

Thanks for posting this. I’ve been needing to get from MXP-MAN on 22 Feb which turns out is the end of half term. Flybe wanted €360 for a booking. Just booked on BA.com (no availability on avios) for 4500 avios + £25. Bargain!
Although it appears it doesn’t include hold luggage?
- pauldb says:
  
  9 Feb9 February 08:51
  
  I’ve looked at flights from my local airport and have a similar experience. ba.com appears to have 2 seats on every flight whereas avios.com is variable (0 to 9 seats, appears to be inline with the cash price). Bournemouth to Biarritz or Toulon for 4500 avios + £20 is a bargain on peak dates when the cash fare is £120+ (return fees £40); so it seems there are some good deals on ba.com particularly, initially.
  I had a live chat on avios.com and was told you get 1x20kg.
  - pauldb says:
    
    9 Feb9 February 09:07
    
    I wouldn’t recommend a trip to BOH for anyone who isn’t local (poor connections and limited facilities) but for anyone near Waterloo SOU is very accessible (1hr on the train and a 50m walk to the terminal) and small / reasonably pleasant with a basic PP lounge. And they have a wide route map from SOU from 4500 + £30.
    - Rob says:
      
      9 Feb9 February 11:15
      
      Agreed, I took a flight from Southampton a few years ago. It is as convenient as Luton or Stansted – actually better than Luton because the train station is in the airport.
      
      I can see me booking the parents in law on the Hamburg to S’ton service one day if there are no seats from Heathrow.
Smid says:

9 Feb9 February 08:36

My recent returns from Hannover to Birmingham have been averaging out at 200 euros return (no hand luggage), so its not cheap.

Looking ahead to book a return to Madrid from Birmingham, and I’m seeing 450 euros for a hand luggage only return. Don’t buy into the myth that this is a low cost airline. It’s a low cost off peak airline, where flying on a Tuesday afternoon will be cheap…
Oliver says:

9 Feb9 February 10:00

This is good for me now that I can use avios for MAN-BHD on flybe. (4500 + £51 for a one way) That won’t be too bad when I need to book last minute.
Chris says:

9 Feb9 February 13:44

Not sure if it’s linked to this but I was looking a few weeks ago at flights from Edinburgh to Shetland. Was availability in almost all flights on every day. Looked last week and can’t find a single available flight. Checked on Avios, Ba still claim this isn’t a route that they fly so wont search for availability