“What is a good destination for an Oct / Nov redemption using an Amex 2-4-1 voucher?”

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• Craig says:

  31 Mar31 March 14:42

  Surprised nobody has mentioned South Africa. Cape Town is fabulous in Oct/Nov, as well as safaris in Namibia, Botswana, etc.

  Also Mauritius is a great beach destination for that time of year…

  • Andrew (@andrewseftel) says:

    31 Mar31 March 14:58

    I believe it’s quite hard to find availability to CPT or even JNB.

  • Roger says:

    31 Mar31 March 16:29

    South Africa was my first thought, especially for game viewing before the foliage gets too dense.

    But years of experience tell me that there is almost zero chance of getting BA First or Club award flights to SA when you want them.

    Disclaimer: that’s for advance bookings. Availability sometimes opens up at short notice, but that then becomes a gamble so no good for planning.

  • Trevor says:

    1 Apr1 April 06:19

    If you are prepared to go a little earlier, CPT is good in Sept/ Oct as there is whale watching and the Namaqualand’s desert blooms (as well of course as everything else it has to offer, and the benefit of winter foliage for safaris), but weather can be a bit patchy still in the south.

    • Trevor says:

      1 Apr1 April 06:22

      PS oh yes, and regarding flights, BA now has the monopoly on this route, so expensive at any time and hard to find redemption availability. Redemps are available tho if you are very flexible, but then high surcharges almost make them pointless as far less value for your points.

• John says:

  31 Mar31 March 15:48

  I am doing 100k on 241 to Orlando, business class both ways, I am hoping that hurricane seaason is over but willing to take the chance. The weather is, in the main, very pleaseant at that time of year and certainly warmer than UK.

• Peter says:

  31 Mar31 March 20:01

  I’d be interested to know about any ‘tricks’ for using 2 x 241 vouchers with kids (will be 4&1, or 5&2 year after)

  Maybe looking to go to Oz with a stopover somewhere?

  I’ll have around 400-500k avios.

  • Rob says:

    1 Apr1 April 03:09

    “Don’t do it!” is the answer! We did Barbados last year when ours were 4 and 1 and that is about as far as I’d want to take them. Since then we have done 2 x Dubai (still here!) and the 7.5 hour return is, again, pushing them. Our eldest is fine but 6 hours of non-stop TV / ipad is more than enough, and the youngest just likes to run up and down the plane all the time.

    The time difference really hits kids as well. Our (nearly) 2 year old has adjusted 1 hour per day – which the books say is all the body can cope with – so it took 4 days to get him back to his normal eat and sleep pattern. Wouldn’t want to push the time difference much further. At least Dubai is ‘the other way’ – in Barbados he was waking at 5am if not earlier.

    If you insist … you will need 2 x 2-4-1s. Both need to be from the Premium Plus card for 2 years validity, because Oz seats need booking a year in advance. This makes the 1 year validity on the voucher on the free card no use. Your wife would need her own BAPP Amex, perhaps with you have a supplementary card on hers if you do most of the spending.

    Club World is the way to go, keep the kids blocked in the middle pair of seats with the parents riding shotgun on either side. BA status would be a massive help to you (Cathay Gold via Amex Plat would do the trick) to get you free seat selection, otherwise you’d be looking at a pretty chunky bill to pay for seat selection together, which would be essential on such a long run.

    I will do a longer piece on flying with kids in a few weeks when we’re back in London.

    • Peter says:

      1 Apr1 April 17:46

      To be honest, it’s something we’ve always done – travelled with kids.

      We do NY every winter, Dubai every summer and other places in between; Caribbean, Orlando etc and short haul flights.

      I know Oz is a long flight which is why I mentioned the stopover… Maybe HK or somewhere for a few days.

      We’re ticking all the boxes so far:

      2 x 241s – will have 2 by end of 2013 (already have one valid till end of 2014.

      BAPP – check. But why would we both need one?

      Cathay Gold – check.

      I guess it just all the tricks of how to book Oz a year in advance, nice places f

      • Peter says:

        1 Apr1 April 17:48

        Pressed send too quickly!

        Nice places for stopover and how to book them… Internal flights to other places using Avios,

        I’m thinking there will be other people in similar positions to us.

        Even maybe not Oz, maybe other places would be good!

        Just want to get best value out of the vouchers…

        I’d love 1st class but just don’t think it’s viable with kids!

      • Rob says:

        1 Apr1 April 17:56

        If you got your wife a BAPP as well (her own card, not a supplementary on yours), you would (assuming you could hit the £10k target on each) generate 2 x 2-4-1 vouchers each per year, which – given your list of destinations above – you would have no trouble using.

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