Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

British Airways cancelling flights to Northern Italy due to coronavirus

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

Yesterday we ran a long article summarising the latest British Airways and Virgin Atlantic travel policies on coronavirus.

It was partly out of date before it went live, as the Italian Government published a law on Saturday night to place a quarter of the country under quarantine.

As of Sunday evening, British Airways has cancelled for Monday:

all flights to Venice

10/11 flights to Milan

the one flight to Bergamo

This is the new BA guidance for anyone with tickets to Italy.  I ran this in a separate article yesterday but wanted to repeat it here for the benefit of our email readers.

That said, if all flights are now cancelled, the guidance doesn’t make much difference!

Here are the rules:

Rules apply to anyone travelling to Milan, Venice, Turin, Bergamo, Bologna, Verona

If you are booked for travel until 4th April, you can rebook for free for dates up to 31st May

You can also request a diversion to Zurich or Geneva

Here is the new bit added during Sunday:

Anyone with tickets to Milan, Venice or Bergamo for travel by 4th April can now request a full refund


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 (198)

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

  • BSI1978 says:

    Flights to Naples, and then train to Rome booked for this weekend.

    Presently neither destination captured by the no fly/travel rules however the rugby (reason we were going) has been cancelled.

    Chances of insurance covering the costs of the same?

    Realist in me would suggest slim to none…..

  • Shoestring says:

    O/T Piper-Heidsieck Brut champagne down from £31 to £8 at Morrisons – they’re de-listing it and this is a national price, so even if you see a shelf label saying the old price, worth checking for yourself ie take a bottle to the self-scan till and check price. Gold and red packaging.

    Even better if you get another 20% off courtesy Amex/ Virgin/ More 🙂

  • Shoestring says:

    in other news, my MIL’s home country is now generally banning hospital visits from relatives for a precautionary Covid-19 period (I think if they’re on death row you get an exemption/ allowed to visit)

    so my wife is now torn between not spending enough time with her mum in hospital (in another country), paranoid about getting Covid-19 on the plane, but maybe getting there on the weekend then being denied access

    • Cat says:

      How badly ill is MIL? I know it’s far from ideal, but is video calling an option?
      I’m sorry Shoestring (and Mrs Shoestring).

      • Shoestring says:

        thanks Cat – she’s over the immediate bad bits after her stroke (which was her 4th) as luckily it happened in public and they quickly got her to a hospital and she had a stent fitted – but whilst the immediate stuff has retreated (couldn’t move one side of her body/ couldn’t speak clearly) & she can move again, she seems to have gone quite loopy, maybe partly the stroke & probably the drugs are playing a big part – so she thinks she’s been put in in a care home against her will (it’s a hospital) and that people are trying to kill her etc, she must escape etc

        she’s 87 and has had a good life, but this is all obvs very worrying to my wife & could go on for months (or longer) yet

    • JRC says:

      Does it matter if you do Morrison’s transaction are regular checkout or self service? I’ve noted that some of the comments here refer to self service…

      • mark2 says:

        I have done them on self service and got statement credit and Virgin points show as pending.

      • TGLoyalty says:

        No difference in getting discounts or miles it’s just no odd looks or made up “rules” from person at a till.

    • Lady London says:

      Can she not just go and stay there and reduce the risk?

  • Clive says:

    Vietnam have cancelled entry to UK Citizens. Mandatory 14 quarantine on arrival https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Coronavirus/Vietnam-halts-Europe-visa-waivers-as-nation-s-virus-cases-double

  • Tim says:

    The wording of of the lounge snag is somewhat misleading. You can bring multiple guests in but you have to pay £20 per person. You don’t necessarily need your spouse to have a supplementary card especially if he/she is not using the lounge more than 3 times a year.

  • ADS says:

    “The airline industry does not reveal how often fume events happen, but according to some estimates they occur every day on airlines worldwide”

    all you have to do is look at Avherald and anybody can see just how scarily often fume events happen !

  • Bob says:

    My BA flight to Turin has been cancelled.
    Am I entitled to compensation under EU law?

    • Lady London says:

      If flight is in less than two weeks, possibly, technically, currently.

      Personally I would not claim compo, since it’s clear it was out of the airline’s control due to wider events. I do not think claims will ultimately succeed for compo in these circumstances and anyway I think it would be in poor taste to claim as it’s clearly not their fault.

      On duty of care I personally would only claim if stuck somewhere and unable to find myself for the length of the delay.

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