British Airways: New Routes to Reykjavik and Salzburg

Starting in the latter half of 2015, British Airways is adding new flights from it’s London Heathrow hub to Reykjavik, Iceland and Salzburg, Austria.

The Heathrow to Salzburg flight will operate twice a week, on Saturday and Sunday, beginning December 5, 2015. The Heathrow to Reykjavik flight will operate three times a week, on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, starting October 25, 2015.

These services will benefit passengers departing both Iceland and Austria, who wish to connect in London onto further destinations that are operated by British Airways or other oneworld carriers.

Lynne Embleton, British Airways’ director of strategy and business units, has this to say about the new routes: “These two new routes will be a great addition to British Airways’ ever expanding short-haul network. Reykjavik is a new destination for us, and customers will now have the convenience of flying from Heathrow as well as Gatwick to Salzburg.”

Award Travel to Reykjavik

If you’re looking to book award travel to Reykjavik from Heathrow, you’ll be using British Airways Avios, which use a distance based award chart. Euro Traveller (Economy) will cost you between 8,500-10,000 miles, depending on the time of year. Club Europe (Business) will cost you between 17,000-20,000 miles, again depending on the time of year.

Award Travel to Salzburg

Again, using British Airways Avios, you’ll be booking this trip using Zone 2 figures (it’s literally 5 miles over into Zone 2, which is unfortunate). Euro Traveller (Economy) will cost you between 6,500-7,500 miles, depending on the time of year. Club Europe (Business) will cost you between 12,750-15,000 miles, again depending on the time of year.

Is the Upgrade Worth It To Business?

Not in my opinion. Because this route is operating based on a “Club Europe” service and not “Club World,” you’ll only receive meals and be guaranteed to have the middle seat next to you blocked off. Legroom is the same as in Euro Traveller (Economy), so in either case, you won’t have better seats based on that. Seat pitch is only slightly better than the back. London to Iceland is roughly a 3 hour+ flight, so keep this in mind when deciding which travel class to book.

My Take

These two changes are very beneficial to those who fly oneworld carriers, since this offers a connecting point (though, backtracking) through London. Salzburg is an eclectic city of its own, so to have more options to get there, without having to go to Vienna is always a plus.