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BOOK NOW: a Barbados ‘Avios only’ flight for February half-term is launched

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British Airways has launched its first ‘Avios only’ flight of the year.

Every seat, in every cabin, on the Barbados flights on 15th February (out) and 22nd February (back) are bookable NOW.

Move quickly if you want to get a seat.

EDIT: All Business and Premium Economy seats went quickly – you need to follow HfP more closely to jump on these deals! However, we suspect that a lot of seats will be cancelled as people fail to get approval from their partners or employers, or realise how expensive hotels are over February half term. See our comments below about setting up a SeatSpy alert.

‘Avios only’ flights were launched last year, starting with the inaugural flight to Sharm El Sheikh. More short haul services followed. In December, BA raised its game sharply – a Dubai long haul flight was added for October half term, the peakest of peak weeks for UK tourism to the UAE.

(Disclosure: I managed to get four Club World seats on this flight. I missed the outbound when the flight launched, as I was travelling, but quite a few seats were later cancelled and I picked them up via a SeatSpy alert.)

ALL seats in ALL cabins are available for redemption on his new flight.

However, it is a Boeing 787-10 service. In theory, these have a first class cabin although it does not appear to be for sale. BA’s 787-10s have Club Suite, although the aircraft may well change before February.

When will the ‘Avios only’ flight run?

One issue is that February half-term tends to vary amongst schools.

Here are the flights, which are now bookable:

  • Saturday 15th February – 13.35 Heathrow, lands 18.35 Barbados
  • Saturday 22nd February – 20.25 Barbados, lands 08.35 next day Heathrow

The pricing options for Club World are:

  • 200,000 Avios + £450
  • 168,000 Avios + £640
  • 150,000 Avios + £810
  • 116,000 Avios + £1,200
  • 84,000 Avios + £1,650
  • 60,000 Avios + £1,920

2-4-1 companion vouchers etc can be used as normal.

Barbados Avios only flight

These seats won’t last long. Remember that all Avios seats are cancellable for a £35 per person fee. All points and taxes will be returned.

Missed out?

It is likely that by the time you read this, Business Class seats will have gone.

Based on my experience with the Dubai flight last year, all cancelled seats go back into Avios availability. A LOT of seats will be cancelled because people have booked without discussing with their family, or indeed checking Barbados hotel pricing over February half term. Many will be cancelled within 24 hours due to the ‘free cancellation within 24 hours’ rule.

Set up a SeatSpy alert and you have a chance of getting seats over the next few days.

There are two Geneva flights as well

Whilst less exciting, BA has also added two ‘Avios only’ Geneva flights for half term.

There are outbound flights on Saturday 15th and Saturday 22nd February, and return flights on Saturday 22nd February and Saturday 1st March.

PS. There is an interesting rule change for the Barbados flight. Any unsold seats on 15th November 2024 will be sold for cash. BA is also selling the flight for cash if passengers connect from elsewhere. It is only ‘Avios only’ for people joining in London.

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Category

British Airways and Avios

Comments (78)

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

  • yonasl says:
    11 Apr11 April 14:13

    What would be really cool is if BA did a HfP ONLY flight (maybe the mother of all TP runs or something like that)

    • Rob says:
      11 Apr11 April 15:52

      This is a HfP-only flight, in all but name. Flight was sold out before BA got its emails out.

      • NicktheGreek says:
        11 Apr11 April 16:51

        How can they mess this up so poorly. The average punter would have clicked through to no availability. They’ll come away thinking it’s all a big scam…

        • Rob says:
          11 Apr11 April 17:16

          7m Avios accounts, around 100 people (assuming average group size of 3.5, given that only families and teachers would book this over half term) can book. You’re never going to keep people happy.

          • NicktheGreek says:
            11 Apr11 April 17:33

            Indeed. But having 0% of people that found out about it only through BA comms secure seats is pretty average.

          • Rob says:
            11 Apr11 April 20:02

            But they’ll never know! These are also the same people who don’t have SeatSpy and so won’t pick up seats overnight as people start to cancel under the cooling off period.

          • James says:
            12 Apr12 April 07:44

            I think there is a big difference between understandable “never going to keep people happy” and emailing 7m loyal customers in the knowledge that no-one receiving that email is going to be lucky enough to get a ticket – the few who had already booked by following HfP will already be smiling away, while everyone else will have wasted their time clicking through to no availability. I agree with NickTheGreek that this is a bizarre approach to marketing from BA.

      • JDBeds says:
        11 Apr11 April 23:12

        I actually saw this first on a BA Insta Story, they even had a clickable link to set a reminder. Checked HfP and it wasn’t on there at that juncture. So if you follow BA on socials you had a chance.

    • Mutley says:
      12 Apr12 April 14:21

      Afternoon plane spotters, I can’t think of anything worse apart of course from sitting in the first twenty of so rows of a Taylor swift/ Madonna/ Ariana Grande gig😀

  • Boaby says:
    11 Apr11 April 15:24

    Surprised the boomers were able to get the seats so quickly, once they put the coal in their PC 🤣.

    • NorthernLass says:
      11 Apr11 April 15:33

      Why would boomers want to go to Barbados at half term?

      • Jake says:
        11 Apr11 April 16:12

        Because they have to spend the money they’ve earned on the housing market somehow.

        Or if that’s not enough their final salary pensions might cover it too.

        • Rob says:
          11 Apr11 April 17:18

          But unless you’re totally dim and are happy to pay a fat premium for everything compared to the weeks before and after ….

      • Freddy says:
        11 Apr11 April 16:39

        The same reason they go supermarket shopping on the weekend despite being retired

        • NorthernLass says:
          11 Apr11 April 19:36

          That IS annoying! I’m retired but avoid supermarkets whenever possible, and especially at weekends. I’m Gen X though, so much prefer the shopping to come to me.

  • Mark says:
    11 Apr11 April 15:44

    Barbados flights are twice daily next winter, so this is just one of the two flights (the later one) operating on those dates. You can still book return from Heathrow in cash on the earlier flights.

  • M says:
    11 Apr11 April 16:21

    Avios seems to have gone up – I used 180k a few months ago for this redemption

  • Martin says:
    11 Apr11 April 19:25

    Can you imagine the middle classes with their entitled kids on this flight?
    Hell in he sky.

    • NorthernLass says:
      11 Apr11 April 19:38

      That’s pretty much like every school holiday though!

      • Ryan says:
        12 Apr12 April 10:54

        I think the point is the ‘entitled kids’.

        Not every school holiday period has an aircraft full of entitled kids, which is a sentiment I agree with.

        The wealthy plumber (or insert other trade here) that Rob alludes to is far more likely not to be taking an Avios only flight to Barbados I imagine…

    • Rob says:
      11 Apr11 April 19:58

      I suggest your definition of ‘middle class’ is different to most people, since if you have a job any better than a dustman you are effectively middle class these days. Similarly I’m still in that bucket myself, and my kids believe they are too (despite daughter going to Charterhouse in September).

      Most ‘working class’ jobs also pay better than most ‘middle class’ jobs these days – I doubt there’s a single self employed plumber in London earning under £100k for example.

      • TimM says:
        11 Apr11 April 21:17

        This is the eternal confusion between British English and U.S. English. ‘Middle Class’ in U.S. English means an average working person. In British English it means a qualified professional, e.g. a lawyer or a doctor, or someone who owns a business and employs people. Sociology class first day! Even most British people who think they are middle class are actually working class. Class in British English has nothing to do with income or wealth but what you do and, for upper class, blood lines.

        • Paul says:
          11 Apr11 April 22:30

          It’s all bollocks and the primary reason this country is in terminal decline.

          Barbados at half term sounds nightmarish and those flights even worse

        • Bagoly says:
          12 Apr12 April 10:04

          “Blue collar” and “White collar” are perhaps less ambiguous, even though most people in desk jobs no longer wear white collars, and blue collars (originally denim?) are now pretty rare.
          There is that other definition of “those who shower/bathe before work” and “those who shower/bathe after work” although shop/waiting staff muddy that up somewhat.

  • Simon says:
    12 Apr12 April 06:53

    It is all well and good promoting SeatSpy, but their BA data is basically broken at the moment – they have confirmed this to me on email. Until this is fixed (no timescale given), you need to rely on the BA site directly.

    • Mark says:
      12 Apr12 April 08:24

      It’s been shocking for weeks. I flagged this the other day and emailed them but didn’t get a reply

      • Mark says:
        12 Apr12 April 08:25

        Probably not shooting about it otherwise they could be forced to offer refunds

        • PlaneSpeaking says:
          12 Apr12 April 09:19

          I flagged it too and was brushed off. Just waiting until it’s fixed before I politely request an extension for the time the service was down.

      • babyg_wc says:
        12 Apr12 April 09:37

        yeah we need an article on seatspy, its totally useless for me currently…

    • Mostlycloudy says:
      12 Apr12 April 10:26

      Same for me totally useless for the last month I have been looking. Do they offer a pro rata refund

  • Matthias says:
    12 Apr12 April 08:26

    I still fail to see the point of this both for BA or for 99% of punters.

    As BA, I think you’ll end up annoying more people than you please, so I’m not sure there’s a positive halo created here.

    As a punter with enough miles available, if you’re “on it” a bit with SeatSpy etc plus a little bit flexible, you’ll find something to do with your miles without needing an Avios only flight at a time and to a destination that is unlikely to be the perfect one for you.

    • Chris W says:
      12 Apr12 April 09:34

      It’s a marketing exercise – people see there is a flight where every seat is available with Avios and think “well I don’t want to go to Barbados then, but that surely means this loyalty program is valuable if they offer things like this”

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

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