This is, I admit, not necessarily the best time to be planning a holiday in Asia.
However, hear me out.
British Airways has opened the floodgates on Avios availability to some Asian cities between now and, in some cases, the end of 2020.
You may never, ever see it as good as this again in Club World.
Don’t dismiss the idea. The key with Avios travel is that you can cancel your ticket and get all your Avios and cash back for just a £35 per person fee.
If British Airways cancels your flight due to coronavirus, you will get it all back without a cancellation fee.
On some routes, if we look ahead to December – ten months from now – there are loads of dates with virtually unlimited amounts of Club World availability. Coronavirus could be a lot worse by December, but it could also be a lot better.
Here are some screenshots from seatspy.com this evening. They show days where BA is offering AT LEAST 9 (NINE) Club World seats outbound.
If you don’t need nine seats for your family, you will have even more options 🙂
There are probably MORE than 9 Club World seats on these dates, but ba.com won’t show more than 9. I have only looked at outbound travel but the return patterns are similar.
The ‘hollow’ rings are off-peak dates. The ‘solid’ rings are peak dates. Click to enlarge.
To Singapore (Singapore is only wide open until May):
Hong Kong (Hong Kong is only wide open until August):
Tokyo (not so good due to the Olympics, but still plenty of days with 9+ Club World seats):
Beijing:
Shanghai:
Seoul (to be honest, I think the days with 9+ Club World seats are just standard availability with no coronavirus impact):
Oddly, seats are still very restricted to Bangkok, Osaka and Kuala Lumpur if you want nine Club World seats.
It’s up to you if you want to risk a booking, but it is really a one-way bet given the Avios refund rules.
PS. If you missed it, take a look at our recent article on the top 10 reasons to think about getting the British Airways Premium Plus American Express card.
(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
On topic almost. Should I choose, day flight from Bangkok on a 777 or an overnight on a 787-9 from Kul? I’ve read a couple of things that Bangkok is changing planes from the 777 but it’s still coming up as the plane for 2020
We have done the 787 many times overnight from KUL. Really good experience, presume you mean in J. And the golden lounge in KL is lovely.
Yes sorry in J. Will stick to this then. I really don’t like the old 777s so probably a good idea.
The BKK flight will be operated by the refurbished B777 with Club Suites. You will need to check the dates though, I recall it mentioned that it is expected to be later this year. J on the B787 is cramped and if you have an aisle seat then be prepared to be brushed by anyone and everyone passing by because of the narrow aisle.
Where are you getting the BKK info from? 787 is going on the route from June, but that won’t have Club Suite.
Rhys it still says 777 as the plane details when I look on the ba website for that date in Jan. will this be a refurbed one? Or will it change to a 787
Hi guys a quick question about UUA – if I book a ticket with the outbound in WTP and the return in basic economy, can I upgrade the outbound flight or does the basic economy return leg “invalidate” the ability to UUA. Thanks so much Jeremy
Also whilst writing why is no one mentioning the REUNION1 discount code – still seems to be working for me.
You should definitely be able to upgrade the outbound WTP to CW if redemption availability is there. I believe all WTP fare buckets are upgradeable.
Thanks Steve. You can do Lgw to nyc in wtp on the way out and basic economy on the return for just £371 return with reunion1. Hopefully the additional taxes and charges to upgrade the outbound to business won’t be too steep
that’s a great code & I believe there was a companion code for Business
just no use for it, I’m surprised it wasn’t highlighted in an article but as usual they ignore a lot of good stuff such as the Avios points for under 1p offer currently ongoing
Gavin 07:11
https://www.headforpoints.com/2020/01/21/get-3000-bonus-avios-for-300-of-british-airways-spend/comment-page-1/
Don’t know if this has been posted before but used a code called REUNION1 last time which got 15% off WT & WTP fares (to Seoul in our case). I believe there’s another code for Club World fares. Combined with the current sale, it got us a WTP return for £707 which is an exceptional price. Upgraded the outbound overnight leg to club round as well.
Gavin says:
21 January 2020 at 08:38
REUNION1 Code – yes it did allow me to upgrade to CW. However I did this after booking was complete rather than during the booking process..
It didn’t seem to work on the App, only BA.com. Valid for bookings made by 29th February 2020 not sure what the restriction dates for flying are – we used it for late May – June.
My wife found the code on a forum, it’s valid on fares ex UK only. The text is:
“Simply use the code REUNION1 to make a booking in World Traveller and World Traveller Plus. If you’d like to treat yourself to Club Word, you can use the code REUNION2”
Couldn’t find the rules. Looked everywhere. I can’t run it if there is a risk that BA will come after us and say it is restricted to a certain group / company / travel agent etc. They pay a big chunk of our wages!
I think if I’m buying Avios points, I’d prefer to save £222 by buying on the Iberia site @1p/ point rather than buying on the UK site
OK I get that
HKG – it could go either way… I’ve got tickets for my partner and myself for 16 days between the bank holidays in early May with Virgin to HKG… booked before the virus outbreak.
All things being equal I’d cancel if I could but Virgin will only cancel up to end April to date.
But I’m watching the virus numbers and the rate of increase is tailing off…. so fingers crossed for 75 days time will be OK.
The tickets aren’t refundable, so I’ll have to wait and see if the advice changes. I guess I can’t sell em on either.
The silver lining is I may get a good hotel deal, the cloud being I may die of the virus. Hmmm… i need to think this one through.
I’m never going to advance book anything more than about a month ahead again….
Don’t bank on a good hotel deal, prices in HKG have stayed stubbornly high over the last year, with the civil unrest and even now with the (admittedly non-risk) of corona.