British Airways launches flights to Aruba and Georgetown

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• Matt says:

  12 Aug12 August 05:14

  If you’re going to splurge 35k/night Hyatt points in Santorini, the SLH options look much better, closer to the Oia and include breakfast, which you would only get included as a Globalist at Hyatt properties. We stayed at Canaves in a room with a private pool for 40k/night back in 2020, which was excellent and is typically priced at €800+ per night in holiday season.

  • Tom says:

    12 Aug12 August 05:37

    I don’t stay at Hyatt much but would agree having been to Santorini a few times since COVID, unless you plan to hire a car the location here is very isolated and it is also on the wrong side of the island for caldera views. I have no idea why anyone would pay €600 per night to stay here when there are a options at the same price, although I get why you might use points if there is no availability at a better points hotel. Would be a classic case of hotel scheme loyalty driving an otherwise irrational purchasing decision.

• Michael says:

  12 Aug12 August 06:11

  I can’t see Aruba being loaded as yet , ?

  • Rhys says:

    12 Aug12 August 07:35

    I can. Are you searching from late March, Thursdays and Sundays?

• James says:

  12 Aug12 August 07:41

  RE: Aruba looks good – how many avios points does it require? I tried looking but no availability

  RE: Tesco Clubcard auto-redemption – does it only take into account new spend and conversion of vouchers or all previous money off vouchers? Not sure if its worth making a new account, spending x amount in Tesco and registering for this promo

  RE: O2 I am looking to move a spare sim away from Vodafone. I topped up the min. amount and made one sms, very frustrated to find out that one sms cost £1 as it was a charge per day, as opposed to the original PAYG tarriffs they stopped doing now. I now have £3 stuck and looking to move, any smart way to use up the credit (competition or payment processors?) before using the PAC code and moving to O2.
  In the long term which is better O2 priority or VeryRewards?

  • Rhys says:

    12 Aug12 August 07:56

    150,000 Avios at peak.

    Vouchers already on your account can be included, I believe. But you can obviously top that up with new spend if you wish

    • Genghis says:

      12 Aug12 August 08:22

      Tesco auto convert only takes into account “points” in the quarter, it does not convert existing “vouchers”.

• Nick M says:

  12 Aug12 August 07:52

  Semi OT – how long does it usually take for manual conversions from Tesco to Virgin? (Just in case their cruise dates ever work for me!)

• Alan says:

  12 Aug12 August 07:55

  Yet more LGW routes with no domestic connections, good old BA 🙄

• Dev says:

  12 Aug12 August 07:58

  How about some creativity from
  BA’s side and do some Gatwick to Mombasa & Zanzibar. Can be done as a one stop tag service

  • Nick says:

    12 Aug12 August 08:36

    Mombasa is sadly not permitted for safety and security reasons, and Zanzibar is a strong QR market. You need to remember who owns 25% of IAG – for that kind of stake they do get a say in the route network, formally or otherwise.

  • Joe says:

    12 Aug12 August 08:55

    While I always welcome the introduction of new routes, I agree that some creativity would also be welcomed. If tag on flights can work for the Caribbean, why can’t Bali be tagged on to Singapore, or Cebu tagged to Hong Kong for example. I recognise there are One World partners that need to be considered, but the focus on US and Caribbean routes is very predictable.

    • Catalan says:

      12 Aug12 August 10:42

      It comes down aircraft utilization. Send an aircraft to Bali via Singapore and you’ll not see that aircraft back for at least 48 hours for what is a relatively low yield holiday destination. Send same aircraft out to a Caribbean destination at say 10am today and you’ll have it back at LHR/LGW around 6am tomorrow morning.

      • ADS says:

        12 Aug12 August 11:26

        Yeah, it’s noticeable that most of these Caribbean add ons bring the total ex London time for each aircraft to around the 24 hour mark

        Also interesting that BA are NOT doing triangular routings

    • jjoohhnn says:

      12 Aug12 August 11:08

      SIN to DPS would add about 2 hours flight time each way vs the 1 hour each way of UVF to GEO. The ground time in SIN would be a lot higher too with taxiing to a gate compared to a small airport like UVF where they are likely to be the only plane and can just roll up the stairs, throw off some bags and then nip out again. BA schedule about 5 hours from arrival from LGW at UVF until it departs back to LGW with a 1hr Port-of-Spain hop added on. It would be 7-8hrs if you were to put Bali on to Singapore.

      • memesweeper says:

        12 Aug12 August 13:20

        Local governments need to approve ‘5th freedom’ flights — you may find local airlines objecting in SE Asia or Africa.

• Lee says:

  12 Aug12 August 08:01

  BA should focus their efforts on the mess their still creating this summer rather than publishing information about new routes to the Caribbean and next summer! Flights for next summer mean nothing for the people that have had their flights ruined this summer. BA re-focus and concentrate on the here and now! An airline that has hit the bottom and not worthy of any praise.

  • Nick says:

    12 Aug12 August 08:40

    But they are focusing heavily on it… Mega disruption at LHR is over, and enormous resource is being thrown at recruitment and training to get ground staff in for winter and next summer. Short of taking the tiny team of people who plan new routes and training them as baggage handlers, I’m not really sure what you think they should do.

  • Carlos says:

    12 Aug12 August 10:10

    they want to take in as much as revenue as possible, which will improve their cash flow
    think of it as an interest free loan + profits on top a year in advance

• Jonathan says:

  12 Aug12 August 08:49

  What if you can’t remember if you’ve ever had a Clubcard to Virgin points auto conversation sign up bonus, is there anyway of checking ?

  • Alex Sm says:

    12 Aug12 August 23:08

    Check your old emails – there will be a trail

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