British Airways launches flights to Antalya

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British Airways has announced a new holiday route for Summer 2020 – Antalya in Turkey.

The route will operate from London Gatwick. There will be up to six flights per week – frequency increases as we get into the Summer – with the first flight departing on 30th April. It is scheduled to run until 29th October although there is always the possibility that it will become a year-round route if successful.

British Airways already runs a Summer-only service to Dalaman from Gatwick and, of course, there are daily flights to Istanbul from Heathrow.

Tickets are bookable now, for both cash and Avios. A standard redemption is 17,000 Avios off-peak / 20,000 peak + £35 in Euro Traveller and 34,000 Avios off-peak / 40,000 peak + £50 in Club Europe. Under the current variable pricing trial, you can choose to pay as little as £1 in tax by using more Avios, although this option is not available if using a British Airways American Express 2-4-1 voucher.

To maximise your miles when paying, your best bet is the British Airways American Express Premium Plus card which earns double Avios (3 per £1) when you book at ba.com or via BA Holidays. You do not get double Avios if you book with the free British Airways American Express card.

Another option is American Express Preferred Rewards Gold which offers double points – 2 per £1 – when you book flight tickets directly with an airline.

I don’t know anything about Antalya, although British Airways says:

“Antalya is often described as the gateway to the Turquoise Coast with some of the most stunning landscapes in Turkey. The beaches and crystal-clear Mediterranean Sea are perfect for sunbathing, swimming and water sports. As well as the rolling landscapes and beaches, the region has two-thousand years of history with a range of spectacular temples and Greco-Roman ruins close by, as well as a bustling food and cultural scene.”

The hotel scene looks a bit desperate, to be honest. The best option appears to be the four star Crowne Plaza – website here and photo above – which is handy for anyone with IHG Rewards Club status or with IHG points to redeem.

PS. BA giveth and BA taketh away. This announcement came in parallel with the dropping of Summer services from Gatwick to Gibraltar and Limoges. The Heathrow service to Gibraltar will continue.

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.

Rui N. says:

10 Oct10 October 09:40

OT: tried to send some money to Brighton on Tuesday using Curve. Tried twice, both showed an error with Amex. However, one of them went through with Curve, and has now been debited on the underlying card (i.e., not pending anymore). Contacted Curve to ask “what gives?” and they’ve told me that indeed was payment was declined, but the other went through. What are my options here? I’ve replied back to them that both payments were declined, but would like some advice on potential avenues to get it sorted out.
- Rui N. says:
  
  10 Oct10 October 09:46
  
  They’ve now asked for a “decline receipt or any proof of the decline”… Didn’t take a print screen when the payment failed.
  - Riccatti says:
    
    10 Oct10 October 09:52
    
    Chat with AMEX associate, if he confirms declines clearly, specifying amounts.
    
    Screenshot chat conversation.
    - Rui N. says:
      
      10 Oct10 October 10:28
      
      Thanks 🙂 but, they now magically noticed that the 2 transactions were indeed declined and refunded the payment. Go figure!
      - Lumma says:
        
        10 Oct10 October 11:16
        
        This happened to me. Usually get a payment refund notification automatically a week or so later
- Anon says:
  
  10 Oct10 October 12:59
  
  Which underlying card did you use? Some, like IHG, have a weekly limit so can get declined if that’s been used up. Personally I wouldn’t draw the attention of Curve or Amex to it though and just wait and see if it starts working again.
  - Anon says:
    
    10 Oct10 October 13:01
    
    Also – if the payment hasn’t gone through on Amex it will usually arrive back on the underlying card in a day or so.
  - Rui N. says:
    
    10 Oct10 October 16:06
    
    It was an IHG card but it wasn’t do to the limit, it seemed something on Amex side – in my experience when hitting the IHG limit the transaction gets declined by Curve; on this case one transaction went through and another one never even showed up on Curve (or IHG for that matter).
    Didn’t contact Amex, but the Curve representatives seemed completed oblivious what American Express was, they treated it like a regular purchase (even asking for a “decline receipt” like I was making a payment on a POS).
    And yes, normally when payments fail the transaction eventually disappears. What was strange in this case was that it not only did not dissapears but actually went from pending to “confirmed” (or whatever it’s called). And I didn’t really feel like losing £300 (it would wipe out most of the value I’ve ever got with Curve)
Anon says:

10 Oct10 October 09:45

OT: has anyone tried cash withdrawals using Curve linked to HSBC World Elite? Is there a fee or not?
- Renaud says:
  
  10 Oct10 October 10:00
  
  Don’t know about the World Elite, but no fees for Curve withdrawals linked to the Premier card.
- Sam says:
  
  10 Oct10 October 18:43
  
  Not a problem
- Bob says:
  
  10 Oct10 October 22:15
  
  Tried Revolut, HSBC sees it as cash advance.
xcalx says:

10 Oct10 October 09:46

OT Re flexplus travel insurance.
Quite a bit of discussion last week re new terms from Nov 1st for pre existing conditions. I just received a letter offering me the renewal at £132.50. Last years premium was £115.20. This is for COPD (3 inhalers) I will stick with them.
MrHandBaggageOnly says:

10 Oct10 October 10:08

Antalya is a fantastic location for anyone who wants a week or two of sun, sea and good resorts. The airport is decent as well. I haven’t been for a few years but would love to go back, our neighbours were there this year and loved it. Friendly people and great food too.

It’s good move by BA in my book, as I imagine the gap left by Thomas Cook here is rather large.
youngtraveller says:

10 Oct10 October 10:10

As kids, these day would say that was ‘savage’! But having used the app on the ipad before from what I remember it was the same one as the iphone so it wasn’t created for the iPad and I think it ruined the experience.
- Rhys says:
  
  10 Oct10 October 10:25
  
  This one is an ipad-only app…
Russ says:

10 Oct10 October 10:31

4hrs 20 min in a a319 is a long time…..
- Chrisasaurus says:
  
  11 Oct11 October 08:15
  
  BA1 anyone?
Aston100 says:

10 Oct10 October 10:43

The Antalya Crowne Plaza markets itself as five star.
It is certainly superior to some of the 4 star CP properties in the UK anyway, but the definition of 5 star isn’t the same between those two countries.

As others have pointed out, the luxury resorts are not inside the city, but anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour transfer.

It is an amazingly good value for money destination, especially if you can tear yourself away from the all inclusive resorts and go out and about exploring.

The airport however is horrid. The staff are cold and humourless and don’t know how to react if a situation that isn’t scripted arises.
For instances, their brains cannot comprehend how to deal with someone on crutches trying to go through the metal detector. They make that person put their crutches through the xray machine and then expect them to walk unaided through the metal detector!
New Card says:

10 Oct10 October 10:59

OT – My Lloyds card has been converted to the new Mastercard. I recall that the letter I received said I could still earn an Avios Upgrade Voucher this year if I spent £7k by a certain date. How do you know if you have earned one of these? Do they still send the letter out by post telling you like they used to?
- Anna says:
  
  10 Oct10 October 13:07
  
  I’ve never had a letter about the voucher (apart from the “bonus” one I got in February!), I keep a running total of my spend and I’ll be calling BAEC this year to check that it’s appeared in my account.
- Mark2 says:
  
  10 Oct10 October 13:18
  
  WE have received emails.
- ADS says:
  
  11 Oct11 October 11:35
  
  i called up Lloyds a few days ago to ask if I’d hit the £7k target – the very pleasant person who answered had to go through my statements and manually tot up the total spend (excluding refunds / fees) …
  
  apparently the voucher will be triggered once the statement is produced after you’ve hit the target … so if you hit the target at the start of a statement month, you have to wait almost a month before getting official confirmation