The British Airways Seoul service launches – a new redemption route into Asia

The new British Airways service to Seoul started two days ago.

It has been, amazingly, 14 years since BA last flew to South Korea. The new service will operate six days a week using a 777. It is a four-class service (First, Club World, World Traveller Plus and World Traveller).

The next few days will see a mass influx of travellers to Seoul from the Flyertalk forum.

For a few days last month, BA was selling the Club World cabin for just £777 return, all-in – a massive reduction on the normal £3-4,000 fare, which even in a sale would not drop below £1,999 or so. A massive group of 76 Flyertalk members will therefore be heading out to South Korea over the next few days!

What are the benefits of this new service for the rest of us?

Well, for a start, it is another route into Asia for redemption flights. Despite BA’s presence at Bangkok, Tokyo, Singapore, Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai etc, seats for Avios redemptions can be tricky to find.

You can, of course, also use BA partners Cathay Pacific and Japan Airlines, plus Malaysia Airlines from Spring 2013 and indirect routes on Finnair and Royal Jordanian. However, if you want to use a BA Amex 2-4-1 voucher, you need to use a BA aircraft.

Reward availability is currently looking good. I looked for the number of days offering 2 Club World seats outbound, and found:

February – 12 days, March – 22 days, April – 23 days (ie every day the service runs except for one!)

So, fundamentally, if you want to go down to Asia this Spring on an Amex 2-4-1, the new Seoul route offers you a real opportunity.

After exploring Seoul, local Asian budget airlines can get you around the region fairly cheaply – although it is a long way down to Hong Kong, for example. The obvious spots for a 2-centre holiday would be Japan (Tokyo, Kyoto), Beijing and Shanghai.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2024)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.