British Airways moves its Maldives flights to Heathrow airport

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• David Cohen says:

  4 Mar4 March 04:24

  American Samoa is also on the ‘almost banned’ list. You have to be 14 days in either Hawaii or Samoa before you’re allowed to board, plus also have a variety of medical certificates and tests done within three days of travel. I’m in Samoa myself and was planning to get there this morning and was denied boarding. To be fair, Samoa is not an unpleasant place to be stuck, but it’s just a faff to arrange alternatives.

• Alex says:

  4 Mar4 March 04:38

  “I also wouldn’t bother if you only have British Airways Silver status, since Star Alliance Silver status is pretty useless.”

  I think you mean BA bronze. BA silver is oneworld sapphire, which the website says is matching to Star Gold.

  • Alex says:

    4 Mar4 March 04:40

    Good news. The Tajikistan travel ban has been reversed. The border is now shut only to citizens of China, Iran, South Korea, Afghanistan and Italy

    • Sussex Bantam says:

      4 Mar4 March 08:28

      Phew…

    • Toby says:

      4 Mar4 March 10:02

      Oh goody. I am a resident of China, but not a Chinese national/citizen. Time for a quick run across the border to get away from the hysteria.

  • Rob says:

    4 Mar4 March 07:36

    Apologies.

• Liam says:

  4 Mar4 March 04:53

  Given that I am a US resident with AA Platinum (OW Sapphire), is there any reason not to go for this, even if don’t end up flying United or any other Star Alliance carrier before the temporary status expires? Rob, you mention it isn’t free, but on the OMAAT link it just says you need to sign up to Miles & Go OR buy miles. As I am not a Miles & Go member, my reading is that signing up will be sufficient.

  • Rob says:

    4 Mar4 March 07:36

    No, you sign up to one of the PAID Miles & Go levels.

• TripRep says:

  4 Mar4 March 06:16

  I actually tried booking the LHR-MLE at midnight last night, website refused to complete the booking, gave up after a dozen times of getting as far as the payment page, Was also on hold for > 40mins on the phone to US Exec club number, gave up as needed sleep by nearly 1am.. Will try again for other dates…..

  Interestingly First Class did not come up as an option for redemptions

  • BJ says:

    4 Mar4 March 06:56

    First didn’t come up because it’s a three class 777 route. Other routes operated by three class 777 are showing various four class planes operating them at times this year but First is never available to book for either cash or avios. So anybody hoping for First might be disappointed although it is easy to see MLE justifying a First cabin. I don’t think the 77W will ever fly this route, BA only has a few of them IIRC and mostly they will be used in high volume daily rotations. I suspect the reasons we see this aircraft version of musical chairs going on at the moment is due to the fitting of Club Suite to existing fleet.

    • Secret Squirrel says:

      4 Mar4 March 07:10

      I read elsewhere yesterday that it would be a remitted 777 with Club Suite!

    • Secret Squirrel says:

      4 Mar4 March 07:26

      @BJ – its a 4 class refitted 777 with new Club Suites. I’ve just checked & booked and it showed availability in First.

      • BJ says:

        4 Mar4 March 08:05

        Great result then 🙂 curious how many will choose CS over F.

        • MD says:

          4 Mar4 March 09:31

          I did! Better use of a companion voucher, in miserable rainy December. 😉

        • MD says:

          4 Mar4 March 09:34

          @BJ Oops, misread your comment. I booked First over Club Suite, better use of the voucher… Don’t care that much about a half door. 🙂

      • Secret Squirrel says:

        4 Mar4 March 08:18

        All F gone! 😢

        • TripRep says:

          4 Mar4 March 09:33

          Some in November…

      • Elliot Harris says:

        4 Mar4 March 09:57

        How can you tell that it’s the new club suite? Used my companion voucher for Club – now tempted to cancel and use it for First!

        • Rob says:

          4 Mar4 March 10:06

          Seatmap shows 1-2-1 if CS. However, BA could be scheduling a plane which hasn’t yet been converted but is due to have been done by late October, meaning there always some risk until the day you actually board.

        • Lady London says:

          4 Mar4 March 13:12

          Worth booking F in case they downgrade you ?

        • e.thomas says:

          4 Mar4 March 18:53

          Still lots of club J seats in jan and feb. And def four class with 1 2 1 seating in club acc to seat map. Great use of my 241

  • Secret Squirrel says:

    4 Mar4 March 07:13

    First is available 22nd Jan but nothing inbound.

  • Secret Squirrel says:

    4 Mar4 March 08:29

    Triprep: Check now, BA are loading F & J avios Seats as speak. Nothing 20 mins ago now a fair amount been loaded.

  • Rhys says:

    4 Mar4 March 09:34

    Had the same problem last night for Bangkok – ended up having to call in. Real pain in the arse. Must have been a site wide IT problem.

• Cat says:

  4 Mar4 March 06:50

  That was a great interview Rob!

  • BJ says:

    4 Mar4 March 07:01

    Pity the interviewer wasn’t somebody else

    • Shoestring says:

      4 Mar4 March 07:51

      Heslehurst is a great presenter IMV – big personality, articulates well in his half Ozzie, half mid-Pacific accent (!), lots of gestures to emphasise points – sure, he’s in the Peston model – but they are TV presenters making the news interesting.

      • Freddy says:

        4 Mar4 March 08:23

        The interviewer was quite loud and brash for my liking. Slow down, tone down, calm down would be my message to the interviewer. Nice interview Rob, alot covered in not alot of time

        • where2travel says:

          4 Mar4 March 12:02

          Totally agree, the interviewer’s poor style makes this incredibly difficult to watch. Looks like he’s a marmite interviewer though as clearly some people think the opposite.

          Good one on Rob for being able to get the points across that he did.

• Rob says:

  4 Mar4 March 07:35

  Yes, sorry, it was the video (again). Mailchimp has developed an aversion to YouTube embeds.

• Cat says:

  4 Mar4 March 07:41

  Indeed (and with the greatest respect). Any idea where I can find this interview? I’ll have a listen later – manic day ahead!

• Polly says:

  4 Mar4 March 07:46

  Yes, he’s very informative, and good to listen to. Been popping up in radio 4 i programmes regularity. Much worldwide under reporting going on it appears.

  • Cat says:

    4 Mar4 March 07:54

    I tend to leave the flat just after the Maths puzzle of the day, and only listen between 06:45 (when OH gets up) and 07:00, so often miss the best bits of the Today programme 🙁.

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