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British Airways adds four new European routes for Summer

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British Airways has announced four new European routes this morning. All are bookable now with Avios, so if you want to take advantage of the guaranteed Avios availability you may want to jump in.

The choice of destinations is a little eclectic, and gives the impression that BA wants to put some pressure on Wizz Air. There is also a distinct focus on the ‘visiting friends and family’ market rather than the holiday market, although there are definitely good weekend break opporunities here.

The new routes are:

  • Wroclaw, Poland (image below)
  • Gdansk, Poland
  • Riga, Latvia
  • Cluj-Napoca, Romania
British Airways launches Wroclaw, Cruz, Gdansk

All flights will operate from Heathrow, potentially from Terminal 3.

The frequencies are:

  • Wroclaw – twice per week (Thu, Sun) from 1st July
  • Gdansk – three times per week (Wed, Fri, Sun) from 2nd July
  • Riga – three times per week (Wed, Fri, Sun) from 2nd July
  • Cluj-Napoca – three times per week (Wed, Fri, Sun) from 2nd July

All appear to be 40 tier point routes, one way, in Club Europe so are unlikely to work as cheap tier point runs. Although personally I’d rather pay more per tier point and visit places I actually want to see ….

To quote BA:

“Wroclaw is known for its beautiful architecture and array of stunning bridges and islands that cross the Odra River.

Gdansk, on the Baltic Sea, offers fine museums, a dominating church building and a beautiful old city.

Riga, the largest of all three Baltic capital cities, houses a UNESCO World Heritage site, and is known for its Art Nouveau style buildings.

Cluj-Napoca, or simply Cluj, is Romania’s second largest city and often described as a cultural hub.

British Airways last operated flights to Riga in 2007, and flew briefly to Gdansk between 1999 and the early-2000s. The airline has never served the other two airports.”

And Perugia is definitely starting this year …..

British Airways announced flights to Perugia in Umbria for Summer 2020. For obvious reasons, the route never launched.

It is now happening for Summer 2021, hopefully, with the first flight on 28th June.

How should you pay for your tickets?

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

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 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.

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

Tickets are bookable now over at ba.com.


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 (49)

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

  • Denis says:

    Great news! Riga’s Old Town is fascinating!

  • Crackers says:

    Will any of these be 160 tier point routes?

    • Crackers says:

      Just to answer my own question, BA’s TP calculator is listing them all as 80 TPs return assuming that’s accurate…

  • ChrisW says:

    Riga is lovely. Quiet, pretty and very affordable. I slightly preferred it to Tallinn because there were far less tourists.

    I don’t know how BA are going to compete with Wizz on Polish routes. Wizz can always beat them on price and I would have thought the VFR in Poland market would be fairly price sensitive.

    • Sandgrounder says:

      I’ve got a place in Riga, it’s great in the summer. Not been for a little while now though!

    • Daniel says:

      I rather preferred Tallinn when I visited – I found Riga to be a little too tourist-heavy. As a comment on the others, Gdansk is also lovely for a short weekend, as is Cluj (salt mines are worth a visit).

      • Michael Jennings says:

        I’ve been to all four places multiple times. They are all really nice (and very inexpensive) places for a short break. This is a good choice of destinations.

  • James says:

    Do these accrue 80 or 40 TPs each way?

    • Babyg says:

      Crackerssays:
      27 April 12:07
      Just to answer my own question, BA’s TP calculator is listing them all as 80 TPs return assuming that’s accurate…

      • Karl says:

        Initially thought Cluj might be 160 but it’s a couple of hundred miles closer than Bucharest

  • SammyJ says:

    All 4 routes that I can proudly say have been operating for ages at Doncaster!

    • Lord Doncaster says:

      Most definitely! If only Señor Slasher Cruz Now was still at BA I could hint to him about expanding to Doncaster Sheffield Robin Hood Airport 😂

  • Joe says:

    Riga and Gdansk both lovely. Cluj is good for a weekend – if anyone goes, check out “Club Janis”. I fondly recall the £1 entry fee to include all you can drink beer before 11pm…..

    Never been to Wroclaw.

    Problem for us is that it’s hard to compete with £9 each way on Wizz Air from Luton for all of these. Yes – I know re comfort/experience, but LTN is so much more convenient than LHR for us, and given Wizz ultra low prices, it’s hard to justify a trip to LHR!

    • Tony says:

      You must have the patience of a saint if you can stomach Luton on a regular basis. Never in all my days have I experienced such a horrific, badly planned and shoddily run enterprise. Am pretty much equidistant between LHR, BHX and LTN. I’d rather drive to Gatwick or East Midlands than contemplate Luton.

      • Matt says:

        Have you been since the multi million pound refurb? Certainly nowhere near as bad as it was a few years ago. For convenience we would choose LTN over any other airport.

  • Dave says:

    I wish British Airways would have more international flights from other parts of Britain.

    • Lord Doncaster says:

      Doncaster certainly needs a BA presence. Leeds-Bradford’s loss is our gain 😁😏

  • kitten says:

    Is this just BA grabbing peak holiday money off the holiday-oriented airlines by just creaming off the top of their business for July and August only? Like BA has done from LCY for summer peak only in past 2 years before Covid?

    • sigma421 says:

      I would guess that it’s more a bet that visiting friends and relatives (VFR) traffic will be one of the first things to return and that these are routes they can fill this summer – especially if people seem to be pushing their holidays out to the autumn.

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