Where can I fly from Belfast airports with Avios points?

In this article I want to look at where you can fly from Belfast airports using Avios points.

This article only looks at non-stop flights.  If you are prepared to change in Heathrow, you can redeem for literally any British Airways flight or a flight operated by one of the other airlines which let you redeem Avios.

EDIT, 2022:  This article was originally written before the pandemic.  Many of the services listed below are not currently running, but flight schedules are very fluid.  You will need to do your own research into what routes are operating now, which have a scheduled restart date and which may never return.

There are few direct flights you can book with Avios if you’re not in London

When British Airways sold its regional operations to Flybe a few years ago, it became an airline with NO flights which do not begin or end in London.  This situation has been reversed slightly in recent years as a few weekend routes were added from Manchester and Edinburgh, but to all intents and purposes there is no substantive route network outside London.

Luckily, there are still some good value options available if you live outside London.  I will list the Belfast options below as well as all other regional options.

How can I redeem these flights?

Nothing is ever simple when it comes to redeeming Avios, but I think the caveats below show that the level of confusion has now got beyond silly.  For the airlines listed below:

Aer Lingus can be booked online at avios.com but taxes may be lower if you ring up British Airways Executive Club and book from your BA account.  For additional confusion, avios.com has different availability to ba.com.

Qatar Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair and American Airlines should only be booked at ba.com – you can book them via iberia.com but they are not refundable so this should be avoided

Vueling can only be booked at vueling.com and iberia.com – bookings via vueling.com are revenue-based (more expensive flights need more points) whilst bookings via iberia.com are priced off the standard Avios redemption chart

Iberia and Iberia Express can be booked across all platforms but there is better availability via iberia.com

Remember that short-haul redemptions are NOT covered by Reward Flight Saver unless operated by a British Airways franchise such as SUN-AIR. These flights will often be a very poor use of Avios points because the taxes represent a very high percentage of the fare.

Where can I fly on Avios from Belfast airports?

You have a grand total of TWO possible flights, ignoring the British Airways flight to London.

The only direct flights from Belfast (Belfast City to be precise) which take you outside the UK are the Aer Lingus flights to Faro and Malaga.

What other regional flights can be booked using Avios?

Here is a full list of ALL flights from UK regional airports which can be booked using Avios and which take you outside the UK.  Long-haul flights are in bold print.

Aberdeen

Aer Lingus to Dublin

Birmingham

Qatar Airways to Doha

Aer Lingus to Dublin, Cork, Shannon

Vueling to Barcelona

Iberia Express to Madrid

Bristol

Aer Lingus to Dublin, Cork

Cardiff

Qatar to Doha

Vueling to Alicante, Majorca, Malaga

Edinburgh

Qatar Airways to Doha

American Airlines to Philadelphia (Summer only)

Aer Lingus to Dublin, Cork, Shannon

Iberia Express to Madrid

Vueling to Barcelona

Finnair to Helsinki

BA CityFlyer weekend routes to Dublin, Palma, Florence (Summer only)

Glasgow

Aer Lingus to Dublin, Cork

Leeds Bradford

Aer Lingus to Dublin

Manchester

American Airlines to Philadelphia

Cathay Pacific to Hong Kong

Qatar Airways to Doha

Aer Lingus to Dublin, Cork

British Airways (SUN-AIR) to Billund

BA CityFlyer weekend routes to Alicante, Ibiza, Malaga, Palma, Nice, Mykonos, Florence (Summer only), Salzburg, Chambery (Winter only)

Finnair to Helsinki

Iberia Express to Madrid

Vueling to Barcelona

Newcastle

Aer Lingus to Dublin

Newquay

Aer Lingus to Dublin

It is also worth remembering that most of the British Airways partners in the oneworld alliance fly to other European capitals.  Instead of flying from a regional airport to London to pick up a Cathay Pacific redemption flight to Hong Kong, for example, why not fly to Amsterdam instead and connect there?  You may also find better availability out of Europe.

(This article is part of our ‘BA Q&A’ series which explains how British Airways Executive Club works.  You can see all of our ‘BA Q&A’ articles here. )

(Head for Points is the UK’s biggest frequent flyer website with 2.4 million monthly page views.  Want to learn more about earning and spending Avios?  Click here to read our latest news stories and click here to join the mailing list for our weekly or daily email newsletters.)

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (January 2024)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

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.

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.

There are also good bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These are available to sole traders as well as limited companies.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.