NEWS & OFFERS: Turkish launch flights to Sydney, BA adds extra summer flights + FLUB and Qatar ALL Accor and Marriott offers

BA adds extra flights for summer 25 and FLUB

British Airways has finalised its summer 25 schedule and added a number of flights.

North and South America

The airline will operate a record number of flights from London to the US, Canada and Mexico in Summer 2025, offering more than 400 direct flights per week during its peak weeks, including 26 US cities.

BA operates more flights across the pond than any other European carrier, and is the only European airline to offer a First class cabin across the Atlantic from London. The increased summer schedule is available to book now on ba.com. If you have been looking for Avios flights for next summer, it may worth checking again. 

Here are the extra US flights added:

• Miami, Florida (MIA): An additional seven flights per week, bringing the total to 14 flights per week and becoming a twice-daily service year-round. The airline will also be opening a brand-new lounge in Miami in 2025, featuring its new lounge design concept.
• Austin, Texas (AUS): An extra six flights per week, bringing the total to 13 services per week
• Las Vegas, Nevada (LAS): An extra three flights per week during peak months of the season, bringing the weekly total to 10
• Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (PIT): The popular route will increase from six to seven flights per week, becoming a daily service for the first time since the route was introduced
• Washington DC (IAD): An increase of seven flights per week, bringing the total to 21 flights per week
• Vancouver, Canada (YVR): An increase of up to seven flights per week from London Heathrow, bringing the total to up to 14 flights per week during peak summer. Coupled with the airline’s daily flight from London Gatwick, customers can choose from three flights per day from June to September.
• Flights from Gatwick to Cancun (CUN) will also grow from six per week to seven, becoming a daily service next summer, and a second daily flight has been added from Heathrow to Florence (FLR).

Additional global route changes

Elsewhere on British Airways’ global route network, a third daily flight to Delhi (DEL) has been added for Summer 2025, bringing the total number of flights to India to 63 per week across five destinations. 

New services to Kuala Lumpur (KUL) and Jeddah (JED), both launching in November 2024, will continue into the summer 2025 season, along with frequency growth in Riyadh (RUH).

For the Winter 2024 season, the airline’s direct route from London Gatwick to Bangkok (BKK) will return on 28 October 2024, operating three times per week to the Thai capital. The service will increase to up to five times per week between January and March 2025.

FLUB addition

FLUB is where a first class cabin is operated as business class. You get the first seat but business class service and drinks/meals. Customers flying on British Airways-operated flights to Doha (DOH) are now being offered the option to travel in the airline’s First cabin, with one of the twice-daily flights from Heathrow being operated on a Boeing 787-10 aircraft. Even better news is that there are still £1500 return fares to Doha in the BA sale from January to March 2025.

Qatar Airways ALL Accor and Marriott offers

If you haven’t already done it, now is the time to link your Qatar Privilege account with your ALL Accor account as three members who do so will win 50,000 bonus Avios. Simply link your Privilege Club and ALL – Accor Live Limitless accounts by 15 September 2024 to enter the draw. You can find the offer page here.

You will also earn double ALL Reward points for making a booking by 15 September 2024 for a stay at a participating hotel until 31 October 2024. You can collect Avios and ALL Reward Points for eligible Qatar Airways flights or stays at participating ALL hotels once your accounts are linked.

You can also earn 250 bonus Avios if you join Marriott Bonvoy by 31 December 2024 and add your Qatar account number. The offer page is here.

Turkish launch flights to Sydney

Turkish Airlines has announced it will launch flights to Sydney from 4 December 2024, adding a second Australian destination to the carrier’s global network. The airline will operate four weekly flights to Australia’s largest city via Kuala Lumpur using an Airbus A350-900 aircraft.

This new route – which will eventually become a non-stop service from Istanbul to Sydney once the carrier receives delivery of new aircraft capable of flying direct to Australia – comes after Turkish Airlines launched flights to Melbourne in March this year.

Turkish also recently revealed the new business class Crystal Suites, which will be retrofitted to all existing Boeing 777-300ERs starting in 2025. All new A350-1000s will also have the new seats. 

Here is the schedule:

The special launch prices for Turkish Airlines’ Sydney to Istanbul flights are AUD$1489, and US$999 for Istanbul to Sydney flights.

The launch prices are valid for:

Ticketing Date: 12 September – 31 December 2024

Travel Date: 04 December 2024 – 31 May 2025.