Bits: new BA Greece routes, 25% Etihad transfer bonus, Nectar double up

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

News in brief:

British Airways announces two new Greek destinations

British Airways will be operating two new routes to Greece next Summer.

From 30th April, it will fly to Kalamata twice per week (from Heathrow T5) and Chania (from Heathrow T3).

Frequencies to Corfu and Santorini have also been increased. Tickets, both cash and Avios, are available at ba.com.

As usual, because these are new routes, you should still find excellent availability even over peak dates such as Bank Holiday weekends. Kalamata is pictured below.

Etihad Guest launches 25% transfer bonus until the year end

Etihad Guest has launched another 25% transfer bonus. Until the Etihad Guest programme was devalued this year, these were well worth a look. With Etihad redemptions now far more expensive than they were, you may now find that good redemptions are too far out of reach.

This bonus covers pretty much everything – transfers in from Hilton, Marriott, Hyatt, IHG etc plus credit card transfers from American Express and HSBC Premier. Heathrow Rewards is also included.

I am assuming that it does not include points earned from day to day spending on the Etihad Guest credit card. Note that Starwood Preferred Guest is specifically EXCLUDED.

The list of transfer partners can be found on the Etihad website here.

Nectar ‘double up’ at Sainsbury

Finally, Sainsbury is offer a 100% bonus on Nectar redemptions for many non-food items until 24th November. This means that you receive 1p per point of value.

Nectar is an American Express Membership Rewards partner. Time is tight, but you may be able to do a transfer into Nectar and then redeem the points electronically by Tuesday. 1p per point would be a very good deal for a Membership Rewards redemption.

This page on our sister site Shopper Points shows the best value Nectar redemptions – ie everything which gets you more than the standard 0.5p per point!

Category

American Express Membership Rewards, British Airways and Avios, Etihad and Etihad Guest

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

Felix Flyer says:

20 Nov20 November 06:10

Great news re Chania. Was there 3 weeks ago and it was lovely. We said we would definitely return.
gumshoe says:

20 Nov20 November 08:11

What, more new routes from the airport that’s so full it desperately needs a third runway?
- Raffles says:
  
  20 Nov20 November 08:58
  
  You don’t believe that do you?
  
  BA has so many spare slots that Vueling has just been given one to run Heathrow to Barcelona.
  
  Virgin has so many spare slots that it leases them out to other airlines.
  - helper says:
    
    20 Nov20 November 09:24
    
    I guess if you take a long term view like so many fail to in this country, then it is full. And peak time slots which are the most useful are most definitely full.
    
    FYI, these new routes were funded by the return of Little Red slots to BA
    - oyster says:
      
      20 Nov20 November 09:34
      
      When there’s so few A380 and 747 movements at LHR I’ll belive it’s full.
      
      And if there’s slots available for all these short haul holiday routes then surely there’s spare capacity for the long hauls to the BRICS which we are repeatedly told are needed at LHR to compete with AMS/CDG etc?
      - helper says:
        
        20 Nov20 November 09:53
        
        LHR is operating at capacity, set up an airline and ask for some slots, see what happens.
        
        I think it’s crazy that people think a HUB airport should be served mainly by widebody aircraft. It shows a basic lack of understanding of airline economics, yet it’s the typical political / greenie fallback argument.
idrive says:

20 Nov20 November 12:28

Do you think that MBNA posted miles would attract the 25% bonus? stupid question but..
idrive says:

20 Nov20 November 12:50

i just discovered something…while digging into the Etihad Guest..ok I knew and we all knew that you could redeem Etihad with AA…but was I the only one who did not know or that just did not realize that it is a full partner..so you can earn AA miles on Etihad and earn Etihad on AA too??
regarding my previous question, seems silly and do not think it applies to that..but you never know!:-)
- Rob says:
  
  20 Nov20 November 13:05
  
  Yes, full partnership. AA is the only Etihad partner where it is easy to use Etihad miles and you are not messed about!
idrive says:

20 Nov20 November 13:17

well, that is not so bad. I am going to apply for the Etihad card this weekend…there are too many pros at the moments..:-) and I need a Visa card asap for heavy spending…
Rob says:

20 Nov20 November 20:39

You see, you try to do some people a favour by running promotions for them and it only ends in trouble!
Tim Millea says:

21 Nov21 November 05:39

BA have been flying to Kalamata for at least two years. I know because I have often been stuck in the Thomas Cook check-in queue next to the BA one. (There are only three check-in desks at Kalamata). Sadly, the BA flights were under charter by Neilsons and seats-only were not available at any price. I imagine this move means that the charter arrangement will stop and Neilsons will buy up capacity alongside the public.

There is also growing up-market demand at Kalamata as the sprawling Costa Navarino mega-resort starts to take shape.

Sadly Kalamata was not one of the Greek regional airports recently sold off by the Government. It really needs some investment. When two flights depart around the same time, passengers are literally queing in the car park, marshalled by reps to keep order.