The routes of British airways - written by Jez Rourke

British Airways is the largest international scheduled airline in the UK and flies to more than five hundred and fifty destinations around the world. The roots of British Airways can be traced back to 1924 when four British airline companies merged to form Imperial Airways.

In 1936 another three companies formed British Airways and a total merger of these companies in 1939 saw the formation of BOAC. There have been several name changes between then and today but in 1986 they once again returned to British Airways.

Today British Airways offers cheap air fares all the year round. They have an extensive global route network operating to and from the most centrally situated airports. Here in the UK they fly from Aberdeen, Barra, Belfast International, Benbecula, Bristol, Cambeltown, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness, Islay, Jersey, Kirkwall, Leeds Bradford, Lerwick, London City, Gatwick and Heathrow, Manchester, Newcastle, Stornoway, Tiree, Wick and Sumburgh.

Many of British Airways routes are operated through its partners. This is possible due to them starting the Oneworld airline alliance. Although the main hub for British Airways is Heathrow and Gatwick, you will find partners such as Loganair operating on short flights out of Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh, Flybe operating from Manchester to Aberdeen, Aer Lingus from Heathrow to Belfast International and BA City Flyer operating out of London City to Amsterdam, Barcelona, Dublin, Edinburgh, Frankfurt, Geneva, Glasgow, Lyon, Madrid, nice, Warsaw and Zurich. Cities not covered in this list may operate BMI.

Flybe, the low cost airlines, also operate from Birmingham to Danduumlsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Milan, Paris and Stuttgart. Other airlines operating British airways routes include Iberia, SN Brussels Airlines, Malev and Qantas. The list of routes the British Airways brand themselves fly to and from is exhaustive and it is sufficient to say that they cover every corner of the world.

British Airways offer regular seat sales and special offers on many of their routes. Sometimes a car hire company or hotel chain sponsors these. You can book seats on all routes up to a year in advance. It really does pay to book early as low fares are limited and sold subject to availability, so this means they are soon snatched up and fares will generally be more expensive the closer you book to your intended departure date.

You can save money on long haul British Airway routes by including a Saturday night and the best way to get the lowest price is to book and buy your tickets online.

You can also check in and print off a boarding passes online and there are check in kiosks at many airports, but be aware that check in times differ from airport to airport. Some smaller airports only require twenty minutes, whereas those operating British Airways long haul routes will require forty-five minutes. There are fast bag drop machines available at many airports to drop off hold luggage, as long as you have aready used the self-service check in or have checked-in online.

Copyright (c) 2009 directline-holidays.co.uk