British Airways has confirmed the rumours we discussed yesterday about a possible (re)launch of a direct flight from London Heathrow to the Seychelles.
It was lucky that we were able to post the rumour yesterday, as much of the Club World reward availability was snapped up immediately – judging by the emails we received, many went to our readers.
The key information is:
launch date is 24th March 2018
there will be two flights per week from 24th March until October
the aircraft used will be a brand new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner which will include First Class
BA is the only airline offering non-stop flights from the UK to the Seychelles. If you’ve not been, it is a group of 115 individual islands in the Indian Ocean and a popular honeymoon and holiday destination.
The flight time will be 10 hours, instead of 13 hours when connecting in the Middle East, the most popular routing at the moment.
Here is the timetable:
As the flights are on Wednesdays and Saturdays they are perfect for a 10 day holiday.
If you are paying cash, return fares start from £699 in World Traveller, £999 in World Traveller Plus, £2499 in Club World and from £3499 for First.
Seats are now available for booking at ba.com. More importantly, so is Avios availability.
Unfortunately, with under 60 flights scheduled, there are under 60 pairs of Club World seats available for Avios under the guaranteed availability rule.
Many of these were snapped up yesterday. It is worth having a search to see what is left but it may not be much.
You have better luck in World Traveller, with at least four World Traveller seats available on every flight, but the taxes generally make these poor value redemptions.
If you are interested in the route keep an eye open, especially for signs of any First Class Avios seats coming available. There will also be Club World seats for September 2018 and October 2018 released every few three or four days under the ‘355 days in advance’ booking rule.
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About Head for Points
Whens the best time to go to Seychelles? Always been on the bucket list so will be very tempted for next year, maybe Nov.
I cancelled yesterday’s booking and rebooked to change dates take advantage of the May bank holiday. Also saved a few Avios by going for two off peak dates. FYI the refunded Avios and 241 voucher were both returned to my account instantly, although had to log out and in again to see the voucher.
Seychelles is well worth it. I bagged a £250 ticket a couple of years ago with Etihad – error fare 🙂
Try La Digue Island, it’s brilliant!
OT – How long does it usually take for the BA241 to show up on the BA account after the spending has been triggered with Amex?
OT – How long does it usually take for the BA241 to show up on the BA account after the spending has been triggered with Amex?
My better half triggered the voucher yesterday and it landed in her account this morning.
I flew on Air Seychelles from CDG for 360 euro a year ago (fuly flexible Y tarriff – error fare). I don’t think I would want to pay £700 for direct flight in BA economy. 3 days were enough to see the main island, stayed in private accommodation via booking.com for 70 euro per day. Driving is a bit dangerous, especially on weekends when locals are out and drinking. Roads are unlit, people and animals walk on the roads, they are deep ditches on the sides or ocean, no security barrier.
It looks like paradise if you don’t leave the resort, but real life is not that perfect.
That’s fair enough for main island which the busiest – it’s the most convenient to stay if you just want a week in a resort but I wouldn’t stay there otherwise (unfortunately the early return departure probably means you have to on your last night). But Praslin is closer to paradise – 8000 inhabitants and more obvious sights (beaches, boat trips, Vallee de Mai); La Digue has virtually no cars except a handful of taxis; Silhouette (with not much besides the Hilton) has virtually no roads! 🙂
OT – Does BA do status soft landing? I’m currently silver and the membership year ends in November, by which time I would have probably only 20 tier points Will I be downgraded to Blue or soft-landed to Bronze?
Bronze. It happened to me a few months ago.
Hi,
I am going away next year for a wedding (family of 4). I have saved up around 150k points. I’m currently earning around 25k per month.
I want to book a hotel and flights (full holiday) using points.
What is the best way to do this?
Any advice? Is it best to use the Avios website? Or booking flight and hotels separately?
Thanks,
Rob
Although the website will try and sell you flights and hotels together, you are essential buying the two things at their individual prices. In other words it doesn’t really matter how you are booking.
Using avios for hotels is typically poor value (if you mean avios points specifically) – I believe you only get around 0.5p/avios and you are probably paying more than that to acquire some of your avios. Might be better to save avios for another trip, and/or devote some of your earning (or Amex points) to hotel points.
Great stuff! Managed to get a couple of Club World flights for April using my 2-4-1 thanks to Head For Points. Just missed out on First sadly by dilly-dallying over dates, but hey-ho it leaves some Avios in the bank.
Now to find accomodation!
Many on here agree that whilst First is a treat, a lie flat bed in CW is the biggest bang for your Avios.
Managed to book in First for May, used an Amex 2-4-1 and a GUF2, 125k Avios and approx £1200 for two pax, looking forward to our first first trip.
Good result.
We booked 25Apr to 6May in CW yesterday afternoon using an Amex 241.
Called BA in New York at 1am this morning to rebook into First which (except for a little haggling over the correct calculation of the 45k avios difference) was surprisingly quick and painless.
Anyone know why the tax/charges change quite a bit between flight selection and summary? Seems they jump from £916 to £1166 between the two page – this is for two people in first or biz using a 241 voucher (the taxes for both cabins are broadly the same)
thanks
I am not sure why, but it did exactly the same to me yesterday.
o/t ive just upgraded my ba amex to premium plus and now my spending progress for the companion voucher has dissapeared does anyone know how i can check my progressonline short of ringing them ?? thanks
I find it comes and goes on the BAPP, maybe down to them updating the system? It’ll probably reappear in a couple of days. I’ve just triggered the spend on the blue card though, and progress bar never appeared at all, but it only took a few weeks so I just kept track of it myself.
If you click on “View Earned Avios” is your progress logged there?
That option wasn’t there either but I’ve just logged in and it’s back – happy days only £900 to go!! Any ideas how to trigger it early with a refundable spend somehow? I need the 2-4-1 ASAP thanks
Scott,
The only and best way is by a fully refundable well advance biz class flight into Europe somewhere. Your 241 will be banked and used! By the sound of things. The credit will come back into your downgraded BACC and sit there. When you finally cancel the card after your refer your OH, then ask Amex to send you a cheque.
Or set up this new Billhop to prepay your OH and then pay the bills. I did, just this week, as l needed to complete our BAPP target spend quickly. Def worth the few £ in fees to Billhop to get our spend bonus. Couldn’t risk the 26k avios lost! Billhop is probably the better option for you in this scenario. This is probably the one place it proves its worth to us avios collectors and spenders.
Gutted I haven’t got a 241 yet …. likely won’t trigger until the end of the year. Very envious of everyone who have managed to get tickets.
I’ve already booked my hols for next year, pleased with my 2 4 1 CW deal but yes, well jel of those going to Seychelles!
I’m very new to this so well be my first 241 and avios redemption when i do finally get there. Only took out the BAPP in July so not doing too bad. Also got the gold amex. So far in 3 months I’ve managed to collect around 32k avios and 44k MR points to add to the 30k avios we already had in our household account.
I remember getting going in this hobby can take a while. Once you’re rolling, things seem to happen much more easily.
I hope so. Would be nice to have one long haul hol a year that is in club or first rather than WT or WTP like we normally do. I seem to be finding WT more uncomfortable the past few years.
Tilly,
Once you start referring each other, the avios and MRs roll in. It’s surprising how quickly they add up. So you will have enough for your first LH in J in no time. Remember when you do achieve your 241 and its banked in your baec account, do drop down to the free card BACC for your pro rata to fee refund. You will still get 9k avios when you refer Your OH for their BAPP later on. Also, with your PRG Gold card, if you do achieve the £15k spend you will get the extra 10k MRs at the beginning of the 2nd year. After they are banked probably you will pay one month fee, do the PLAT upgrade to earn another 20k avios. Refer your OH for their PRG, a further 9k for you, then cancel your plat. It’s a fun hobby…
Thanks Polly. I’ve already done the referral for the husband and got the 9k bonus. A friend of mine also did on my referral so got 9k from that. Will try remember to do the BAPP downgrade or would it be better to refer husband, get referral 9k and then cancel my card?
Hi Tilly,
Your OH will have had to have his BAPP already cancelled for over six months for him to benefit from the new BAPP spend bonus of currently 26k avios. No point in wasting a referral unless he can benefit from the new spend bonus. So check your timing on both cards, and wait a bit if ness. We usually downgrade to our BACC whilst waiting out the cancellation period of the OH. We do approx a 10/12 month rotation so as not to push it. But often, we only need one 241 a year, so quite often we drop down to the BACC very quickly once the spend bonus avios are earned. We put all spend on either GOLD , BAPP, or BACC, at any one time.
If you travel a lot short haul, might be worth having the PLAT, for lounge and other great benefits. It’s fun actually, so we try to keep it that way.
Thanks Polly. OH doesn’t have a BAPP card yet? Only the gold. The BAPP is my account and he has a supp card. Good advice about 10 month cycle though. We also have the Hilton card which I’ve had for around 7/8 years now I think so put spend on that too. We do 2 LH trips a year some years and only 1 other years bit if the voucher on the BAPP lasts 2 years I’m hoping we’ll be fine.
I managed to get 2 tickets last night. I’m well excited:)