Earlier I wrote about one of the best Avios redemptions you can make – flying Loganair within the UK. Out of the many good reasons to use Avios, why am I plugging a 1-hour flight in economy for 6,500 miles (when I otherwise wouldn't advise using miles to book flights in economy)? That's because Loganair connects London and other larger UK cities with many unique destinations in the UK, including the Isle of Man, the Shetland Islands, the Orkney Islands, the Outer Hebrides, and a few other unique destinations. These aren't usually serviced by low-cost airlines, so redeeming Avios on Loganair can be a good deal, since these are usually quite price-inelastic flights.

I had a day to spare earlier this week. You can't do the Shetland or Orkney Islands in the UK for a day, though I did visit Derry in Northern Ireland. This was my first time in Northern Ireland, and I was glad to have the chance to visit Ireland's first planned city (now part of Northern Ireland). For the record, in this case I was able to take a bus down to Belfast and take a Ryanair flight home, though it's not so easy to do that from other Loganair destinations.

Here is my experience flying to Derry on Loganair using Avios.

When should you take a trip on Loganair?

Many HeyMax users will be based in Hong Kong and Singapore, so granted you won't be flying Loganair out of there. Loganair will generally be useful if you want to get around the UK, specifically as it opens up many destinations that wouldn't otherwise be easily reachable. These are typically based either in the Scottish Highlands or Northern Ireland (I was flying to the latter today).

Generally, Loganair has more attractive Avios pricing than British Airways. It costs 6,500 Avios one-way to fly a shorthaul flight within the UK, whereas it'll cost you 9,250 Avios on British Airways. Loganair generally operates flights that aren't otherwise operated by easyJet or Ryanair (such as between Southampton and Manchester/Edinburgh), though I wouldn't seek out these flights unless I was specifically looking to travel directly between two cities that a Loganair flight operates. However, I wouldn't consider this to be the best value redemption you can get on Loganair.

Generally, I think it's best to redeem Avios on Loganair if:

• you specifically need to travel between two cities that aren't operated by Ryanair/easyJet (or low-cost airline pricing is >125 SGD)
  • Loganair also flies some niche routes from England/Scotland to Bergen and Stavanger in Norway, and Esbjerg in Denmark; in all cases, redeeming miles can be a good deal, as cash prices can routinely go from SGD 220+ one-way.
• you'd like to visit a new area of the UK, especially if it's in the Scottish Highlands: I would try and fly to Edinburgh or Aberdeen using a low-cost airline if possible before flying Loganair up to the Scottish Highlands, since you need to pay 6,500 Avios per segment if you're connecting

Since you'll have to fly Loganair back in the other direction, as a headline you'll be able to visit super interesting destinations in the Scottish Highlands and Northern Ireland for 13,000 Avios per person roundtrip.

Booking Loganair from London to Derry

HeyMax transfer to Qatar Airways Avios, so you need to convert your Qatar Airways Avios to British Airways Avios, then to Loganair Avios. You can't book Loganair directly using British Airways Avios, and you also need to use British Airways as a middle man. This means that you will need accounts with all three airlines, and they need to share the same date of birth, name, and email address.

Luckily, transfers are instantaneous, assuming you don't get the dreaded lock-out out of your British Airways Avios account. Once you've transferred your Avios to Loganair, you can then go on the website and find a flight between your origin and destination of choice, remembering to click "Spend Avios". It doesn't matter whether the flight costs £79 or £209 – it's a flat 6,500 Avios per segment. In my case, taxes and fees came to 55 SGD on top of the Avios cost.

All fares come with 15 kg of hold luggage and 6 kg of hand luggage, and you can also purchase extra. You will most likely have to gate-check any carry-on bag that doesn't fit in the seat in front of you, though.

My experience flying Loganair to Derry

While Loganair's onboard experience isn't particularly inspiring, it is quite unique, especially if you like flying.

Even though my flight was operated by a 49-seater Embraer ERJ-145, it operated out of Heathrow's massive Terminal 2.

If you hold a Priority Pass membership or an AmEx Platinum card, you can even head to the Plaza Premium Lounge at Heathrow's Terminal 2 – not the best lounge in the world, but certainly a fun way to spend time before a short flight on a regional jet.

My flight was leaving at 8:45 AM, and I headed over to one of Terminal 2's bus gates, gate A5. Loganair flights seem to quite consistently leave out of gate A5, and my boarding pass was scanned – I could even use my driver's license to verify my identity (as Northern Ireland is within the United Kingdom).

The gate area wasn't empty on this Monday morning flight – people were either commuting to Derry for work, heading into one of the city's universities, and a small fraction were travelling like I was. I was happy not to be travelling for work.

All passengers on our flight fit on one single small bus to the aircraft, with plenty of room to spare. The actual plane was a 26-year-old Embraer ERJ-145, and it was fun to see this tiny plane parked at Heathrow. I didn't manage to get a great picture of the plane at Heathrow, though here it is at Derry Airport.

If you'd like a sense of perspective, here's a view of a Qatar Airways A350 from our tiny little aircraft:

The interior itself is nothing special – certainly not a Qatar Airways QSuite or even a JetBlue Mint Suite. However, the ERJ-145 is such a compact plane that it doesn't feel like a commercial jet, with its seats in a 1-2 configuration. It was so wild to think that I had redeemed Avios for an experience like this.

If you're flying from Heathrow/London City Airport to Dundee (Scotland) or the Isle of Man, or if you're flying one of the airline's few international routes, you'll get one of the airline's ATR turboprops. This is still a very small plane to be flying out of Heathrow, though they are slightly more cavernous than the ERJ-145s.

We left Heathrow more or less bang on time, taking off west from runway 27R (passing Heathrow Terminals 3 and 5 as shown below) before turning right to head northwest to Derry.

While Loganair's inflight service isn't set apart from other carriers, it still feels closer to a full-service carrier than a low-cost carrier, with the absence of a buy-on-board menu. There was tea, coffee and drinks available, as well as a complimentary Scottish Tunnock's wafer biscuit and shortbread. Both were much appreciated, and the little water containers were a throwback to many years ago as well.

These planes don't have power ports or WiFi, though they don't operate flights of more than two hours. It was a very smooth landing into cloudy Derry.

Amelia Earhart landed in Derry (instead of Paris as intended, due to bad weather conditions) in 1932, and that's still celebrated today, with red Lockheed Vega 5B models painted all around the city. As you'd expect, the tiny Derry airport has a model aircraft hung onto the ceiling as well.

While I would consider the Shetland Islands, Orkney Islands and Outer Hebrides to be more "interesting" destinations, I was very glad to visit Derry, a pretty city with a very fun food scene.

Is flying Loganair a good use of Max Miles?

While Derry is within reach of other cities with cheaper services to/from London, Loganair is a great use of Max Miles as you can reach areas of Scotland/Northern Ireland unserved by any other airline. The Shetland Islands, Orkney Islands, and Outer Hebrides come to mind, and you can even fly the world's shortest commercial flight (this isn't bookable through Avios).

I'd be cautious about flying too many segments on Loganair, since the 6,500 Avios per segment cost does add up. For example, say I were to fly to Sumburgh and visit the Shetland Islands. You can book from Manchester to Sumburgh via Aberdeen on Loganair, though personally I'd consider taking the train up to Edinburgh, before picking up a Loganair flight from there. That train costs around £50 (85 SGD) without a railcard, though the cost otherwise would've been a further 6,500 Avios. Similarly, while you can fly on a direct flight to Kirkwall (Orkney) from London in the summer, I'd consider flying up to Edinburgh and taking the train up to Dundee in order to save my Avios.

Conclusion

Loganair is a fabulous use of Max Miles, as its 6,500 Avios flat rate allows you to fly to many interesting destinations in the Scottish Highlands and Northern Ireland. The flight itself is pleasant (and in many cases an avgeek's dream), though the USP is that you're connected to lots of interesting destinations that you can't otherwise get to on a low-cost carrier.

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