Green list responses: Virgin Atlantic adds extra Caribbean flights, BA Holidays launches a sale

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Both Virgin Atlantic and British Airways came out with announcements yesterday as travel begins to look a little easier for Summer and Autumn 2021.

Let’s start with Virgin Atlantic.

Whilst the removal of Amber List quarantine for the fully vaccinated won’t be a huge help to Virgin until the US begins to accept UK travellers again, it is using its aircraft capacity to boost flights to the Caribbean.

Virgin Atlantic announce extra Caribbean flights

The changes are a mix of additional services and earlier launch dates. This is what is coming:

London Heathrow to Antigua will increase from 1x weekly (now) to 3x weekly from 15th July

London Heathrow to Barbados will increase from 2x weekly (now) to 4x weekly from 15th July and then daily from 25th July

London Heathrow to Grenada via Barbados will operate twice weekly from 16th July

Manchester to Barbados will restart three times weekly from 7th August

In even better news for Barbados passengers, the Heathrow service will swap from a Boeing 787 to the new Airbus A350 from August for five flights per week. This will allow Upper Class passengers to enjoy the new A350 Upper Class Suite which we reviewed here. All other routes above will be on a Boeing 787.

You can find out more about Virgin’s Caribbean services on this page of their website.

BA Holidays launches a new sale

BA Holidays has responded to the news that fully vaccinated visitors to Amber List countries will not need to quarantine on return with a new sale.

Book by 20th July and you can:

Save £25 with a minimum spend of £500 per booking
Save £50 with a minimum spend of £1,000 per booking
Save £100 with a minimum spend of £2,500 per booking
Save £200 with a minimum spend of £5,000 per booking
Save £300 with a minimum spend of £10,000 per booking

You must travel between 19th July and 30th September.

Participating destinations are Albania, Andorra, Antigua, Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Grand Cayman, Greece, Grenada, Jamaica, Malta, Mexico, Montenegro, Morocco, Poland, Portugal (including Madeira), Spain (including mainland, Balearics and Canary Islands), St Lucia, Turks & Caicos and UK domestic routes.

You can find out more on the BA Holidays website here. The discount is not on the home page at the time of writing but does come up when you search for a trip.

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: