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British Airways launches flights to Montego Bay

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British Airways has announced that it will be launching a new route from Gatwick to Montego Bay in Jamaica.  The first flight will be on 13th October 2020.

With leisure destinations now at the forefront of travel, I imagine BA is hoping that Caribbean routes will keep them ticking over during the winter season.

British Airways BA 777X 777 9X

The route will join Antigua, Barbados, Kingston and St Lucia which are now operating or re-starting in the coming week.

The flight will operate twice weekly, on Tuesdays and Saturdays, with a three-class Boeing 777. You won’t be getting Club Suite on this flight unfortunately, as the Gatwick fleet will be the last to get it retrofitted.

You can book on the British Airways website here.  As this is a new route, you are likely to find wide-open Avios availability in Club with two seats guaranteed per flight.

Montego Bay is also a Virgin Atlantic route so you may be able to mix and match inbound and outbound flights across the two airlines if it helps you get the dates you want.

This could be the start of a run of new leisure routes, as British Airways looks to move its aircraft to destinations where leisure – rather than business – travellers are likely to be visiting over the next few months.

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

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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.

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

Category

British Airways and Avios

Comments (53)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • James A. says:
    23 Jul23 July 04:12

    I thought BA permanently closed LGW base, are they reopening it or it was never closed? Also any updates on BA allowing us to use the vouchers directly on their website?

    • Rhys says:
      23 Jul23 July 08:43

      That was Virgin, not BA. Some readers have said the vouchers are now usable online, but we haven’t had any personal experience of this (no cancelled flights recently!)

    • Rob says:
      23 Jul23 July 08:44

      No, that was Virgin. BA short haul due to return 8 Sep.

      • Mikeact says:
        23 Jul23 July 09:28

        Montego Bay is hardly short haul.

        • Rhys says:
          23 Jul23 July 09:43

          Nobody said it was!

        • Rob says:
          23 Jul23 July 10:23

          BA is already doing long-haul from Gatwick – the Caribbean flights never moved. Going from North Terminal and using the Aspire lounge.

      • Heather says:
        23 Jul23 July 14:49

        Hi
        Is that definite that they will return * sept to Gatwick and is Malta counted as short haul?

        • Heather says:
          23 Jul23 July 14:49

          That should be is it 8th Sept that they return to Gatwick?

          • Rob says:
            23 Jul23 July 15:15

            A pilot told me 10th recently, but it is that ballpark.

            Nothing is guaranteed of course.

            Malta is short haul, yes.

  • Jerry says:
    23 Jul23 July 05:25

    Does the book with confidence guarantee apply to avios 241? The underlying companion voucher (with extension) will expire April 2021. Flight was booked in Feb. Would we be able to rebook any sate until April 2022 or would we need avios seats available? Or is it better to cancel get the cash and avios and pay £35? Trip is Tokyo club out first back.

    • Secret Squirrel says:
      23 Jul23 July 08:06

      Wouldn’t of thought so, think this is aimed at cash fares.

    • Jonathan says:
      23 Jul23 July 08:11

      Yes, you can claim a voucher for Avios bookings (including with a 241) but you will need redemption seats available when you use the voucher.

      If BA cancel your flight then you can rebook without Avios availability but may get some pushback depending on dates you choose plus issues if new date is more than 12 months from when you BOOKED original flight.

      • Mikeact says:
        23 Jul23 July 08:52

        A couple of months back one of my Lloyds Avios flight was cancelled. The lady said that the voucher will now be extended for any zone use by the end of November, adding that it may be extended further by management nearer the time dependant on flight restrictions.
        Without me calling up to check the latest, does anybody have a voucher extended into next year by any chance?
        It would help with our forward planning..Thanks.

      • Jill (Kinkell) says:
        23 Jul23 July 09:11

        That’s a right PIA! Given I’ve booked at t-355, I’ll have no leeway at all. I think I’m just going to have the lot refunded…with or without the cancellation fee depending on what BA do with out flights.

  • Chrisasaurus says:
    23 Jul23 July 05:48

    You rebelling this morning Rob?

    References to One-way in this here article, wait til the BA word police get hold of you!

    • TGLoyalty says:
      23 Jul23 July 10:06

      The reason why they stipulated each-way on the sale article is because the fares aren’t available and one way tickets only returns.

      I’m hoping Rob has used it correctly here and it actually is that price for a genuine one way ticket.

  • Ed says:
    23 Jul23 July 07:30

    Thanks so much for this Rob. Looks like I can save about £200 by cancelling for a voucher and re-booking!

    I part paid with Avios though. Will the Avios be refunded?

    • Ed says:
      23 Jul23 July 07:43

      Sorry. Answered my own question. BA’s FAQs says:

      “You will receive a voucher which will equate to the full value of the original booking (cash & Avios combined) and can be redeemed against future bookings. Please note you will not be refunded any Avios points related to the original booking.”

      Carry on!

      • Ian says:
        23 Jul23 July 12:55

        How do you work out the cash equivalent of an avios?

        • Rob says:
          23 Jul23 July 14:26

          If you reduced the fare by £20 by using 2,000 Avios, you get £20 extra back and no Avios.

    • Rob says:
      23 Jul23 July 08:42

      No, you get the cash equivalent you saved IIRC.

  • meta says:
    23 Jul23 July 07:51

    I’ve been rebooking hotels every other week. Prices are coming down and down. I saved hundreds of pounds, even for next year prices are coming down significantly.

    • Anna says:
      23 Jul23 July 08:28

      I booked so many stays in the recent IHG points deals I’m not spending any actual money on hotels next year 😂

    • Harry T says:
      23 Jul23 July 13:09

      @meta
      Great point, I’ve been rebooking flexible rates whenever a covid sale pushes prices down. Booked a junior suite in a Tokyo hotel for £232 a night instead of £450 when Marriott Bonvoy did a targeted Japan sale. Best part was the sale was meant to be fully prepaid non flexible rates but this hotel halved its prices and made them flexible, even though they were in the prepaid section!

  • Mikeact says:
    23 Jul23 July 07:53

    Gatwick ? And it seems to have gone awfully quiet on the redundancy issues.

  • letBAgonesbe says:
    23 Jul23 July 07:54

    If you cancel your flight these days, your voucher will arrive in minutes.
    I suspect it is now automated, unlike the old days when it was processed manually.

    I cancelled my BUD flights few days ago. Voucher was there in 60 seconds.

    The new vouchers CAN BE used online. You don’t need to phone.

    • Rob says:
      23 Jul23 July 08:41

      This was for a 100% cash flight?

      • Ian C says:
        23 Jul23 July 09:12

        I can confirm the speed of the voucher code coming through. Mine just took about 2 minutes to come through.

        I am not sure if this is because we are trying to rebook the same flight but the voucher doesn’t work online. When attempting to enter the voucher details in to the e-voucher section all of the fields fail validation.

    • Boon says:
      23 Jul23 July 14:54

      I can confirm that the voucher also arrives almost instantly for Avios bookings too.

  • Anna says:
    23 Jul23 July 08:30

    Now I’ve got that Amazulu song stuck in my head. “Come sing me now – Montego Bay”!

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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