British Airways launches Nashville – Avios seats now available – and adds other US flights

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The rumours I reported on Sunday were correct. British Airways announced a new route to Nashville in Tennessee yesterday.

The service will start in May 2018 and will, amazingly, be the only direct flight from anywhere in Europe to Nashville.

The flights will operate five days per week, with departures on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. It will be a Heathrow Terminal 5 service.

The aircraft will be a new Boeing 787-8. This means that it will be a three-class flight with no First Class available (none of the British Airways 787-8 aircraft have First Class).

These flights are already bookable, for cash or Avios, on ba.com. British Airways has loaded the standard two Club World and four World Traveller seats for each flight, so if you are looking for US redemption flights for next Summer then you might want to jump in now.

Further Avios availability is likely to be added in time, but BA will want to wait to see how well the flights are selling.

And extra US flights added ….

British Airways also added two other services yesterday:

Philadelphia gains an additional three flights per week on top of the existing daily flight. These will operate on Tuesday and Friday (from 27th March 2018) and Sunday (from 6th May 2018).

Phoenix gains an additional three flights per week on top of the existing daily flight. These will operate on Monday, Friday and Sunday from 9th April 2018.

These flights are also available now at ba.com and have the standard initial Avios allocation showing. Again, this is an opportunity to pick up flights to the US on dates when you might previously have given up trying to find Avios availability.

In one final announcement, the morning flight to Chicago will switch from a Boeing 747 to an Airbus A380 from 8th May.

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: