You can now book Royal Air Maroc flights to Casablanca on Avios points

Today I want to look at how to redeem Avios on Royal Air Maroc flights.

As we covered last month, Royal Air Maroc joined the oneworld alliance on 1st April.  This opens up a lot of new Avios options in Africa.

oneworld has, to date, been lacking a full member in Africa, putting it at a disadvantage vs SkyTeam (Kenya Airways) and Star Alliance (Ethiopian Airlines and – if it survives – South African).

Where does Royal Air Maroc fly?

We discussed the Royal Air Maroc route network, all of which is now bookable with Avios, in our April article.

It flies to 100 cities in 49 countries.  Impressively, 21 of these countries previously had no oneworld flights at all.  This map is a bit old (Boston needs adding) but is the latest available:

In this article, I want to talk about the three routes which will be of interest to UK residents:

Manchester to Casablanca (Summer only)

London Heathrow to Casablanca

London Gatwick to Casablanca

Our older article tells you how many Avios and British Airways tier points you earn on Royal Air Maroc.  When we wrote that article, however, redemptions were not yet bookable.

Now they are.

How much are Avios flights to Casablanca with Royal Air Maroc?

A lot, unfortunately.  The taxes and charges are bordering on crazy.

Here is London Heathrow to Casablanca in Economy – 22,000 Avios + £150 in taxes and charges:

….. and in Business – 44,000 Avios + £231 in taxes and charges:

Gatwick is around £25 cheaper and Manchester is around £15 cheaper.

Our beginner’s guide to redeeming Avios points here includes the Avios ‘price list’ for partner airlines if you want to know they got to the 22,000 / 44,000 Avios price points.

This is a bit nuts.  For comparison, if you fly to Marrakech on British Airways off-peak, you will pay 34,600 Avios + £50 in taxes and charges:

….. and you could use a British Airways American Express 2-4-1 voucher too if you had one.

Of course, if you specifically want to go to Casablanca over Marrakech then this isn’t really a fair comparison!  You need to pay the Royal Air Maroc price or mess about with a connecting flight.

There is some good news …..

There appears to be SIX economy seats and two business class seats available on each Royal Air Maroc flight.  This gives you a good chance of getting a seat.

More importantly, looking at this review here, short-haul Business Class has ‘proper’ seating.  It is a 2 x 2 layout, as opposed to the ‘3 x 3 with a blocked middle seat’ approach taken by the European carriers.

This could mean a very relaxing trip from London or Manchester to Casablanca if you want a weekend away with a difference.  You ARE getting something extra for the additional cost versus flying on British Airways to Marrakech, via the FAR bigger seat.

Note that Royal Air Maroc uses Heathrow Terminal 4.

Conclusion

On paper, Royal Air Maroc is a good addition to oneworld and adds some valuable new destinations to the network.  However, with such high taxes attached to both economy and business class redemptions, it is hard to see Casablanca becoming too popular with Avios collectors.

You can find out more about Royal Air Maroc on its website here.

PS.  If you are visiting and want to do it in style, the Four Seasons Casablanca is the only world class hotel in the city.  This can be booked, with various additional benefits thrown in for free, via our hotel booking partner Bon Vivant – see here for details.

PPS.  Casablanca airport has a bad reputation for queues and security, so you may want to take a look at their surprisingly reasonable VIP service.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2024)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.