BA's Winter Schedule: Melbourne, Lapland and Christmas Markets - What It Costs in Avios

BA's winter season is officially here. In a British Airways press release out this week, the airline confirmed four new routes, its first retrofitted A380, extra capacity to 11 long-haul destinations and a stack of festive and ski flights around Europe. Colombo is already flying - I covered it in detail in my BA x Hoppers Club World piece - so this one is about everything else, and what each route costs in Avios.

Spoiler: the headline is Melbourne, but the best value is hiding in the Christmas market flights.

WHAT // Here are the parts of the release that matter most for points collectors:

WHY IT MATTERS // Every new route and extra frequency is more seats, and more seats usually means more reward seats. BA's Avios prices are fixed by route and date (peak or off-peak), not by demand, so when December cash fares climb, a 10,000 Avios Christmas market flight looks better and better. My view: Melbourne is the news story, but the short-haul festive flights are where most readers will get the best value this winter.

These are BA's one-way 'most Avios, least cash' prices from London. Short-haul taxes assume Reward Flight Saver, and ba.com always offers other mixes of Avios and cash.

*My estimate. BA prices short haul by distance, and Rovaniemi (about 1,390 miles from Gatwick) and Fuerteventura (about 1,735 miles from Heathrow) both fall in the same distance band as Ivalo. Check the live price on ba.com before you move any points. Want to see why a route lands where it does? Our Great Circle Mapper measures the distance between any two airports.

You can look up any other destination with our how many Avios do I need tool. If you hold a BA Amex Premium Plus 2-4-1 Companion Voucher (I don't at the moment), it works on all of these BA flights, including Rovaniemi on BA Euroflyer - that is two seats to Lapland for 15,000 Avios in economy, plus taxes for both.

Short of Avios? The quickest long-term fix is card spend. American Express Membership Rewards points convert 1:1 to Avios, so one welcome bonus can cover a festive return trip. If you run a limited company, Capital on Tap earns points that convert to Avios, with no annual fee on the standard card - I use two for my own business spend.

The new service is the existing Heathrow to Kuala Lumpur flight carrying on to Melbourne, on a Boeing 787-9:

You get roughly 100 minutes on the ground in Kuala Lumpur each way, and you have to leave the aircraft. That is just enough time to stretch your legs, which I'd take over a full connection any day.

Here is the Avios point that I think a lot of people will miss. BA prices London to Melbourne as one journey, at the same level as Sydney: 159,500 Avios + £449.50 one way in Club World off-peak. If you booked the two legs separately, London to Kuala Lumpur alone is 121,000 Avios off-peak, and the Kuala Lumpur to Melbourne leg (about 3,900 miles) falls in the same band as Dubai, at 88,000 Avios. That's around 209,000 Avios - nearly 50,000 more. So book it as one ticket from London.

For context, I wrote earlier this year about BA Club World reward seats to Australia at 374,000 Avios return (peak pricing). It is a big number, and it is worth comparing against oneworld partners that also use Avios, like Finnair, whose own Melbourne route made headlines for its Avios pricing. Search every option side by side with Award Travel Finder.

One more thing: BA is still fitting Club Suites across its 787 fleet, so not every Melbourne flight is guaranteed the newer seat. Check the aircraft on the BA33 seat map before you book. Paying cash instead? Our tier point calculator shows what the trip earns towards status - worth checking after BA's recent tier point changes.

Lapland trips are famously expensive as packages. With BA now flying Gatwick to Rovaniemi, you can build your own: the flight, a hotel in town and the Santa Claus Village (which sits on the Arctic Circle, a short drive from the airport) on your own terms. Radisson has a hotel in central Rovaniemi - if you want status there, Radisson Rewards is free to join.

If the Northern Lights are the main goal rather than Santa, Ivalo is further north, and Tromsø now has a daily Heathrow flight, which makes a long weekend much easier to plan around the weather.

For Christmas markets, Cologne, Nuremberg and Innsbruck are all in BA's cheapest band at 10,000 Avios + £2.50 one way in economy off-peak. I've written a full guide to using Avios for European Christmas market trips, and it all still applies.

Rovaniemi is a month-long season at two flights a week - around ten departures from Gatwick in total. Reward seats on routes like this go fast, and some December dates will price at peak. Long-haul over Christmas and New Year is mostly peak too, which adds 11,000 Avios each way in Club World on the Colombo, Cape Town and Barbados band.

Melbourne has its own catch: it is a one-stop flight, not a direct one, and BA has not said exactly how many reward seats it will release. My advice is to search early and stay flexible on dates, rather than wait for a perfect itinerary.

On the ground, plan for the crowds. Check estimated Gatwick security queues or live Heathrow queue times before you leave home, and use our lounge access finder to see which lounges you can get into.

I like this schedule because it is practical. There is no single headline-grabbing new destination for the sake of it - Colombo aside - just more seats to places people actually want to go in winter. For Avios collectors that is good news, because more frequencies on popular routes usually make reward seats easier to find.

Melbourne is the one I'll be watching. A one-stop BA flight with a short stop in Kuala Lumpur is a decent product, and the fact that BA prices it as one journey from London keeps the Avios cost the same as Sydney. Still, 159,500 Avios plus £449.50 one way is a lot of points. For a trip that long, I'd compare it with partner options before I commit - and I'd only do it in Club World with a Club Suite on the seat map.

The quiet winners are the festive flights. A 10,000 Avios Christmas market trip with £2.50 in taxes is one of the best low-stakes uses of Avios there is. It's the kind of trip that turns a modest balance into a real weekend away, and it doesn't need you to save for years. If you're new to Avios, this is the redemption I'd point you to first.

Rovaniemi is a nice touch too. A short season and a famous destination means demand will be high, so I don't expect reward seats to hang around. As a BA Silver, I get lounge access at Gatwick, which makes a December departure a lot more pleasant - here's what else BA Silver gets you.

If you want a festive break this year, book now: the Christmas market flights are cheap in Avios and the seats will not last. If Lapland is on the list, Rovaniemi is the easiest way BA has offered to get there, but act early. And if Australia is your 2027 big trip, Melbourne is now a real Avios option - just book it as one ticket from London and compare it with the alternatives first.

Travelling long haul? Sort a data eSIM from Airalo before you go so you are online when you land. I'll update this piece once BA confirms reward seat levels on Melbourne. If you fly any of these routes, send me your photos on Instagram.

That's all from me for now. Any questions, just hit reply - I read every email.

Safe travels,
Jack