News in brief:
Good new BA Holidays flash sale launched
BA Holidays is running another of its ‘luxury flash sale’ events this weekend. You have until Tuesday 30th October to book.
Here are the headline deals in Business / Club World they are using to promote the event, based on two sharing:
- London to New York – Flights + 3 nights luxury hotel from £1,479 in January
- London to Seychelles – Flights + 7 nights in a luxury hotel from £1,999 in May
- London to Malaga – Flights + 7 nights luxury hotel form £422 in January
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London to Orlando – Flights + 7 nights luxury hotel from £1,699 in December
- London to Mauritius – Flights + 7 nights of luxury hotel from £2,249 in February
There are also a number of deals on European Christmas market trips and ski holidays, albeit with Economy / Euro Traveller flights, for example:
- London to Vienna – Flights + 2 nights hotel from £139 in December
- London to Sofia – Flights + 7 nights ski hotel from £173 in January
You don’t need to pay in full now. You can just pay a deposit from as little as £150 per booking. The balance is not due until five weeks before departure.
For clarity, flights booked via BA Holidays earn full Avios and tier points. You also earn 1 bonus Avios per £1 spent at BA Holidays and the spending counts for ‘double Avios’ (3 per £1) if you use a British Airways Premium Plus American Express. The only thing you cannot earn with BA Holidays are British Airways On Business points.
Full details are on this special page of the BA Holidays website.
British Airways prunes its CityFlyer regional weekend services
I mentioned briefly last week that BA CityFlyer had quietly cut its Manchester to Ibiza service for Summer 2019. There was no announcement but the flights had gone from ba.com.
We now have details of all the Stansted and Manchester service changes. If you are booked on any of these routes you should check that your booking is intact.
London Stansted – Florence, starts 4th May, reduces from 2 to 1 weekly
London Stansted – Ibiza, starts 19th May, reduces from 3 to 1 weekly
Manchester – Ibiza, starts 16th May, reduces from 5 to 1 weekly
Manchester – Malaga, starts 18th May, reduces from 2 to 1 weekly
Coupled with the cancellation of Bristol and Birmingham services for Summer 2019, it is clear that British Airways is struggling to make these services work. As a reminder, these flights are operated by Embraer 190 aircraft which are freed up over the weekend when London City Airport is closed.
With more Embraer 190 aircraft due to arrive this Autumn, BA is going to need some new ideas if it is to keep the planes occupied seven days per week.
Get 1,000 American Airlines miles at Hyatt Place or Hyatt House
Whilst this is a little niche, there is no harm in signing up if you have a stay – it is more free miles.
Hyatt Place and Hyatt House, the two ‘limited service’ brands in the Hyatt portfolio, are offering 1,000 American Airlines miles for every stay between 15th October and 31st January.
You need to register via this webpage.
If you usually take World of Hyatt points from your stays, you will receive 1,000 American Airlines as well. You don’t give up your points.
If you usually take 500 airline miles from your stays, you get the 1,000 American Airlines miles on top.
The only thing you can’t do is claim base miles from another airline, such as British Airways, and receive 1,000 AA miles too.
Registration closes on 30th November which is a guaranteed way of annoying anyone who books into a Hyatt Place or Hyatt House in December or January and who forgot to sign up.
I stayed at a Hyatt Place in Dubai earlier this year and was very impressed – see my review of Hyatt Place Dubai Al Rigga here. There are also two Hyatt Places properties near Heathrow now. Diverting a stay to Hyatt Place or Hyatt House is also a way of ticking off another brand for Hyatt’s ‘stay at five brands and get a free night’ long-term offer. We covered Hyatt Brand Explorer here.
Play Marriott’s ‘daily win’ game
Finally, don’t forget to click here to play the Marriott Rewards ’29 Ways To Stay’ daily win game today. You should win at least 50, but hopefully more, Marriott Rewards points. My wife got 1,000 points yesterday.
(Want to earn more Avios? Click here to visit our home page for the latest articles on earning and spending your Avios points and click here to see how to earn more Avios from current offers and promotions.)
About Head for Points
Rob has pointed out that if you book a BA holiday with BA you only need to pay the deposit when booking, not the whole cost. But are you still able to reserve specific seats? I found when buying a package tour (assembled for us by a specialist travel company) using BA flights to the West Indies, I couldn’t reserve specific seats until the tickets had been issued, and they were not issued until the flight element had been paid in full. Perhaps it’s different if the holiday is being provided by BA itself. (Of course I hate paying BA to reserve seats but when there is a pair of you flying premium economy it’s most comfortable having a pair of seats by the window – and they are in very short supply.)
@ Peter
I have booked flights and hotels using BA holidays , you can either pay to reserve seats or if you have status you can also do so free of charge. I have done this for up coming trips to HKG if F at Christmas and also SFO at Easter