Don’t waste Avios on Club Europe business class redemptions from London City Airport

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If you are a newcomer to the world of Avios, I generally recommend that you try Club Europe business class on short-haul redemptions from Heathrow or Gatwick.

I know that this view is not universally shared.

But, if you aren’t used to premium class travel, it opens your eyes to what you are missing. For an extra 4,500 Avios – assuming you are flying to a country near the UK like Germany, the Netherlands or France – you would get:

Lounge access (I am very positive about the BA Heathrow lounges, unlike some people, and the new Gatwick lounges – if they ever reopen – are universally liked)

Dedicated check-in desks if you have luggage

Fast track security

Priority boarding

Seat at the front of the plane – and therefore also the first off, which speeds up immigration

Empty middle seat

Extra baggage allowance

Some food (once the current cardboard boxes are replaced with the normal offering, which shouldn’t be too long now) and premium drinks including all the champagne you can drink

I think that is EASILY worth an extra 4,500 Avios and £7.50 of tax on the outbound flight, especially if you don’t have British Airways status. Coming back, it might not be such a good deal – you may or may not get fast track security and you may or may not find the lounge is good. Outbound, though, I definitely recommend it.

Except …. if you are flying from London City.

I originally wrote this article in response to an email from a reader who had spent his Avios on Club Europe from London City on a flight to Spain. Because Spain is further from London, the Club Europe premium is higher – 30,000 Avios per person return versus 15,000 Avios for Euro Traveller.

This is what you DON’T get if you redeem for Club Europe from London City:

A lounge – City Airport has no lounges, unless you pay £95 for the ‘be driven to your plane’ First Class lounge (which is very cool)

An empty middle seat – the Embraer 190 aircraft, as pictured above, have 2 x 2 seating

Priority boarding – it exists in theory, but the high percentage of status card holders flying out of City means that virtually every passenger on peak business routes qualifies for it anyway!

You DO get to sit at the front and you DO get better food, when a normal food service is operating. The food is by far the best part of the London City British Airways experience. As I wrote in this review, it is substantially better than what you get out of Heathrow, because there is no other point of difference between the two travel classes. On the other hand, Economy passengers still get free snacks and free drinks out of London City.

The potential reason to redeem for Club Europe, if you don’t have unlimited Avios to spend, is if you need the additional Club Europe baggage allowance.

So, in summary – I do recommend that you redeem in Club Europe for short haul redemptions if you can, especially outbound and especially if you don’t have BA status.

Just don’t do it from London City …. unless there are no other seats available or you have a lot of luggage.

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.

MilesFmBlighty says:

13 Sep13 September 06:16

And certainly don’t waste money on it. The service is now worse from LCY than from LHR by a long way.
Chris L says:

13 Sep13 September 07:29

It will be interesting to see if the LCY operation can remain viable given the dramatic fall in business travel.

One thing worth noting about the ‘business out, economy return’ strategy – BA used to give you the premium cabin baggage allowance on both legs, but no longer. Now you only get the allowance for the cabin you’re actually flying in. So if you make use of the 2x32kg allowance on your outbound you would need to pay extra to use it on your return – £75 per bag on a longer European flight if you pay at the airport. And even then, that would only get you 23kg, not 32.
- TGLoyalty says:
  
  13 Sep13 September 10:15
  
  Unless you’re a status holder then you get 32kg anyway.
Andrew says:

13 Sep13 September 07:47

Also to note that priority boarding no longer exists on ANY services – it’s boarding from the back forwards, so if you’re CE you board last. This will continue until vaccine time I’m sure.
- Jonathan says:
  
  13 Sep13 September 07:57
  
  Boarding last is a positive at the moment (& in normal times in my opinion!).
  - Mingus says:
    
    13 Sep13 September 09:11
    
    I’ve never understood why boarding first, (and then waiting for everyone else to cram past you) is seen as a benefit. Leaving the lounge late, passing through as the gate is closing and going straight to your CE seat wins every time, unless you’re trying to take the mickey with carry-on luggage.
    - Goldmember says:
      
      13 Sep13 September 11:17
      
      It’s more other people taking the mickey with overhead space why I prefer to board early. I can then ensure my hand baggage is suitably positioned above my seat area in a considerate fashion and not having to find room or restack the overheads because someone’s decided to put their wheelie bag in length ways or slunk off to Economy having secured space in Club.
  - Harry T says:
    
    13 Sep13 September 09:44
    
    Yep, I’ve never enjoyed having everyone’s fat arse banging into my shoulders as they meander past to the cheap seats. Much prefer the SQ strategy of boarding premium cabins last, so you can relax in the lounge.
    - Anna says:
      
      13 Sep13 September 09:54
      
      +1, they can’t take off till everyone’s on! Though I know some people get stressed about the lack of overhead locker space if they’re on last, it’s quite often down to pax putting wheely cases flat instead of on their sides.
    - Coucou says:
      
      13 Sep13 September 16:06
      
      Who do you think you are? Jesus.
  - The Savage Squirrel says:
    
    13 Sep13 September 09:58
    
    Couldn’t agree more. Unless you’re in a LCC fighting for overhead space, I’ve always tried to board as late as possible. There’s no class where the onboard experience is better than the experience outside the Aeroplane (even sitting in an airport Wetherspoons is nicer than in an economy seat…) so the people ignoring boarding groups desperately trying to get on quicker so they can sit wedged in a small seat in a crowded metal tube for LONGER than they need to has always puzzled me immensely.
    - Nathan says:
      
      13 Sep13 September 10:04
      
      +1
  - Chrisasaurus says:
    
    13 Sep13 September 12:13
    
    I’ve never understood people wilfully accepting the offer of boarding early with small children!
    
    Yes please I’d love an extra 30 mins of entertaining kids on a stationary plane!
- TGLoyalty says:
  
  13 Sep13 September 10:16
  
  If you are in CE I completely agree boarding last is great. In Economy the only advantage is/was getting your hand luggage on the flight.
  - Genghis says:
    
    13 Sep13 September 11:16
    
    +1. I travel(led) HBO
- Kevin says:
  
  13 Sep13 September 10:30
  
  We used to enjoy priority boarding when in CE, but flights this month and last in economy with boarding and disembarking by strict row number is so much more civilised. I do hope this is retained when things get back to normal.
Passy says:

13 Sep13 September 07:54

Travelling in CE under normal circumstances could hardly be described as ‘premium’. Doing it now will probably put them off for life.
Phil Gollings says:

13 Sep13 September 08:22

Just done CE return from Lisbon.
As you now board last, and no one enforces the “ one cabin bag pp rule’ there was little room for ours.
We stupidly followed the announcements on when to board unlike others so most CE passengers were already on.
Passengers were boarding 15 minutes after the last passenger disembarked the plane so nut sure every surface was cleaned in that time.
This, combined with no distancing in the queues meant it was business as usual in reality, even though there are many measures on paper.
- Nick_C says:
  
  13 Sep13 September 09:10
  
  Are they using jetways at LIS now? Last time I flew back from there, it was a long slow bus ride to a remote stand.
- TGLoyalty says:
  
  13 Sep13 September 10:18
  
  I thought the wipe they hand out was basically their way of saying “please clean the plane for us”
  - Mikeact says:
    
    13 Sep13 September 10:35
    
    Or, ” Thanks for cleaning your space”
  - Chrisasaurus says:
    
    13 Sep13 September 12:16
    
    Compared to my last CW experience I’d say at least this way it might get cleaned, vs sitting/laying in a light covering of suspect grit the entire journey…
    - TGLoyalty says:
      
      13 Sep13 September 12:34
      
      I got 10k Avios because I took pics of my seat covered in the remains of the previous persons in flight meal (salt pepper chocolate and what looked like croissant in the draw on my CW flight to JFK.
Mark says:

13 Sep13 September 09:13

I have booked club Europe redemptions from city before and paid less cash and Avios (assuming 1p per point) than the £ price of an economy ticket on the same route, but that’s the only time I would do it
Mark L 5toBAGold says:

13 Sep13 September 09:48

To be a credible Business Offering BA out of LCY should adopt the AUSTRIAN approach when using Embraer .. only one seat in each pair of seats is used in Business. I value the extra space and feel safer with a vacant seat behind me.
Mark L 5toBAGold says:

13 Sep13 September 09:48

ooos BESIDE me