Astonishing British Airways Maldives and Mauritius Avios availability

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• Adam says:

  3 Mar3 March 09:35

  I managed first class redemption EDI to SYD with an amex 2for1 in August. I just need to find a way back now. Worst case i should be able to add something back from somewhere else like singapore and find my own way there.

• Mel says:

  3 Mar3 March 10:03

  There has not been any availability to the Maldives in club world for so long now that I couldn’t believe this when I read it…. Unfortunately I still cant as there is no availability showing at all, not even for a one way in club world for 1 person for the next year. BA needs to improve availability. Devaluation in disguise as another person wrote.

  • Rob says:

    3 Mar3 March 11:07

    Remember that SriLankan joins oneworld in a couple of weeks. That will open up a LOT of space, albeit no 2-4-1’s allowed.

    It is already relatively easy to get to The Maldives if you’re not bothered about using a 241. Cathay via Hong Kong, BA to Singapore and buy a short hop ticket, BA to Dubai, Qatar to Doha (and Qatar on to Male), BA to Bangalore etc. Some of these may mean you end up with a two-centre holiday, of course – if you’re going to go all the way to Singapore you might as well stay a couple of days.

    • Russell Evans says:

      3 Mar3 March 20:21

      Thanks to the support of this blog, we, on our Honeymoon in November are going Qatar (F) LHR to DOH, (J) DOH to MLE on Avios. Used a small balance to upgrade a cash ticket in Y to J on Sri Lankan from MLE to CMB. Also have another Avios redemption in BA (F) from BOM back to LHR. I’m waiting for Sri Lankan to join OW alliance to try and get an Avios redemption in J from CMB to BOM.
      Honeymoon has gone from 2 weeks out to three with a couple of stop overs for 2 nights each on the way home. Going to be a trip of a lifetime!

• Worzel says:

  3 Mar3 March 11:05

  It seems evident, that (having viewed comment here over a number of months) there is an undercurrent of dissatisfaction-availability the main issue it would appear + erosion/devaluation possibilities.

  From memory, James67 posted a few months ago expressing concerns.

  My spending “rewards” go into Avios predominately, however (with the lack of availability) I struggle to get over 0.65p of value from potential bookings.

  Like many, I hold Tesco Vouchers with a view to making a strike-however these vouchers might well be used elsewhere.

  Worz.

• Polly says:

  3 Mar3 March 11:09

  Just a though Raffles, even if it is 11pm when you spot these odd deals, might be an idea to send it out then, as folks, like me are often checking late at night to find availability? The odd one or two of us might just get in there quickly and avail. Just an idea, thanks again for all the tips and ideas though.

  • Rob says:

    3 Mar3 March 13:21

    I did think about it, but I thought it was too late in the day to matter and that it would still be around in the morning. Obviously not!

• pazza2000 says:

  3 Mar3 March 11:36

  A little OT; I have a 241 expiring mid Aug which I am determined to put to use. I am keen to use it towards a destination in the summer months in CW/F although my options seem limited to DXB / HKG, both of which I imagine are pretty humid that time of year. At best guess, should there be some last minute availability a month out to more desirable places (at that time of year)?

  • Polly says:

    3 Mar3 March 12:00

    Just use HKG as a jump off point to one of the Thai islands, we did that in dec , couple of hours in y and you are there….

    • James67 says:

      3 Mar3 March 12:16

      Be careful though. Your times could councide with rainy season depending where you go. Thai islands are breezy so humidity does not feel so bad. Air Asia is great and direct from HKG to HKT. 15k avios gets you ow J on CX or RJ however would recommend UL when it comes available. If you get their longhaul J it is better than CX regional J. IIRC RJ does not get fastrack in BKK but both UL and CX do.

      • CV says:

        3 Mar3 March 13:20

        CX seem to use a mix of regional and long haul business class cabins on their short(ish) flights. You can work out what type it will be by seeing if the flight operates a premium economy cabin, which (should) mean a long haul business class cabin.

        Also watch out for the Air Asia sales which happen periodically, there is one on at the moment.

        • James67 says:

          3 Mar3 March 15:53

          Mostly a330s to BKK these days and Dragonair a320s to HKT. A great sale on Air Asia just past. For example they had KUL-HND/KIX/NGO all for around £50 each way, less than half the price of fees on a one way avios redemption on JAL which are mostly old 767s. Have flew Air Asia for short hopsd for years and love them. Was only ever late once, and that was due to congestion arriving in HKG. Another good thing about Air Asia is another promo always comes along soon.

  • pauldb says:

    3 Mar3 March 12:36

    My (limited) experience is that last minute availability is more like 7-10 days out, so not much use for you. The wider issue is that there aren’t that many places BA fly that aren’t humid in the summer.
    Don’t trust the availability calendar. e.g.there are 2 F/J seats to YVR on 7/8Aug, coming back F on the 21st from YVR or J from YYC. 🙂

  • Polly says:

    3 Mar3 March 15:48

    Also we used Asia travel.com to book our local flight and hotel, they flew is Thai Airways, direct from hkg to hkt which ended up cheaper than air Asia, great site for local bookings over there. Plus a higher grade room than we were getting on the UK sites, def worth a browse.

    • James67 says:

      3 Mar3 March 15:57

      Thanks for tip Polly will have a look next time I need a flight. Last time I compared TG versus FD HKG-HKT at TG site they were 4 times the prive.

      Pauil, where are you finding different availability from BA calendar please?

      • pauldb says:

        3 Mar3 March 18:05

        Use the search option on your BAEC homepage (pr the Book with Avios option) rather the Explore map. Sadly this means one destination at a time, ideally one way at a time too. Once you get a one-day result, choose the calendar. The map shows nothing to YVR in August which is clearly wrong.

• Jason says:

  3 Mar3 March 12:13

  Availability opened right up for West/East coast of America in F and CW yesterday afternoon as well. Booked a LHR – SFO, JFK – LHR open jaw in F for 2, using 2 4 1. Had a choice of multiple dates in May or June to SFO or LAS, and even multiple flights with 2 F availability on the same day on the return from JFK. Had to ring up to book obviously as open jaw. Looked again this morning, looks as if all gone. Either they released a whole heap of seats at once and have to be real quick (I had been checking almost daily for availability, and there had been literally no award availability for May for a couple of months to west coast), or there was a glitch of some sort yesterday…

• James says:

  3 Mar3 March 15:46

  (Deal dead) Astonishing BA Maldives and Mauritius Avios availability

  I could not believe this when I logged in last night, MLE was wide open for nearly every flight for the next 12 months, Xmas/New year was patchy but possible.

  I also saw this last night around the same time. It was still there when I went to bed at 01:30. I was going cancel another Avios booking this morning and book MLE but it had all gone.

• Laurence says:

  3 Mar3 March 15:59

  I have been checking for an upgrade from WT+ to club in August to Male for the last 3 months or so so was shocked to see all the availability yesterday, annoyingly my flight was one of the few that was not available. Guess that doesnt bode well for future upgrade possibilities.

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