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Hi all. Im new to this so please help me out with your expert advice. I would like to take my wife and kids to Sri Lanka and Mauritius for her 40th in 2027/28. I would like to fly us all first class (x2 adults and x2 children). To do this i have started saving Avios via Amex BA Card and im on course to earn my first 241 voucher in October this year. I believe they are valid for two years and so i plan on having x2 241 vouchers available to me by the time i book (on track to earn my 2nd voucher in Sep 2026). We are planning on going about March/April 2028. Im looking for advice on if this is doable, will i be able to use both vouchers for my family, has anyone got any idea how many AVIOS/Cash i might need to pay too and how do i maximise my chances of booking the first class seats we are looking for. Any advice is well received, as well as any suggestions on the destinations too (are we going right time f year, any suggestions on where to stay etc). I was also thinking i might be able to use my AVIOS to book hotel too, is this possible (will have about 300,000 points by then).
The outbound flight date must be before the voucher expiry date. The voucher you earn in 2025 cannot be used for flight in 2028. If you must fly in March 2028, you need to book in March 2027 and trigger vouchers between April 2026 and March 2027.
While BA does fly to Mauritius, it doesn’t fly to Srilanka. You might have to book a short haul flight from other nearby airports that BA fly to, for example BLR, MAA, HYD etc. Many of these routes do not have first class and even if they do, a maximum of 2 first class seats will be released for Avios redemptions which will be taken up quickly as soon as they are released.
Unfortunately, there are a few issues with your plan.
1. I’ve been to both. If BA does fly first class to Mauritius (I thought it didn’t) you’re highly unlikely to get 4 first class redemption seats.
2. According to flight connections, there are no direct flights from Mauritius to Sri Lanka
3. There are no direct flights back with BA from Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka Airlines is an Avios partner but you can’t use 241. You could connect via a middle east hub e.g. Dubai or DohaYou could use BA to Mauritius in Club World, work out how to get from Mauritius to Sri Lanka, then connect via an Indian hub using BA from Mumbai or Bengaluru, but it sounds like a faff. The Maldives and Sri Lanka work better together but it’s another ‘unicorn’ route, like Mauritius, where you’ll need to get the seats as soon as they come out 355 days ahead.
BA to mauritius is Gatwick old ying Yang business no first.
We were looking at flights to Mauritius yesterday after seeing the Air Mauritius plane at LGW. The only one world airline flying there is BA, which is also from LGW so no first class. The closest airports we could find with one world flights were Cape Town, Jo’burg and Nairobi (all have BA flights) plus a number of airports in India, Dubai and KL. I think it’s about 3.5 hours flying time from South Africa. We had looked at flights to Sri Lanka as well from Mauritius, but there were none at all.
Airlink flies to Madagascar from SA and you can use Avios. It seems theres a 5th freedom flight from Turkish, Madagascar to Mauritius which could be of interest.
Sri Lanka and Mauritius is quite adventurous on one trip, I’d be tempted to split the trips and just do one at a time? To do both and concentrate on Avios usage I’d suggest basing yourself in Bengaluru, IndiGo fly to Mauritius from there and SriLankan fly to Colombo. But you’d be looking at UK-BLR-MRU-BLR-CMB-BLR-UK, that’s a lot of flying.
As noted, BA doesn’t offer F to MRU, and it’s also one of those routes where the seats get snapped up very quickly, especially at peak times. MRU seems to be generally quite poorly served from Europe compared to other tropical destinations.
If you really want to fly some of the way in 1st, your best bet is looking at one of the ME airports BA serves (so DXB, DOH, AUH) and connecting to MRU on another airline. You may or may not get the full 4 seats and there’s no guarantee of when or if they’ll appear! You can set up an alert with SeatSpy, but you don’t always get the notifications immediately.
One of the good things about avios and 241 is that you can change your booking for £35 pp plus any extra avios or cash required if better flights come up.
Sri Lanka and Mauritius is quite adventurous on one trip, I’d be tempted to split the trips and just do one at a time? To do both and concentrate on Avios usage I’d suggest basing yourself in Bengaluru, IndiGo fly to Mauritius from there and SriLankan fly to Colombo. But you’d be looking at UK-BLR-MRU-BLR-CMB-BLR-UK, that’s a lot of flying.
I think that’s very wise advice; it feels over ambitious, costly and inconvenient to attempt both and may compromise enjoyment of both destinations.
Also, while appreciating you want to do something special for your wife’s special birthday, when weighing the ease of travel vs First, focussing on the latter risks spoiling the overall effect of it, particularly if it involves separately ticketed connections.
It’s not terrible to plan 2 destinations in one trip, as long as you can fly to atleast one of those directly.
Problem is availability on the MRU leg.Also, while appreciating you want to do something special for your wife’s special birthday, when weighing the ease of travel vs First, focussing on the latter risks spoiling the overall effect of it, particularly if it involves separately ticketed connections.
This is true. Don’t let the tail wag the dog.
Joburg to Mauritius is 3.30 hrs and not a proper longhaul businessclass, it’s a lot of bother for going first.
Two suggestions, if you go via joburg, then go to Kruger or better private reserve like Sabi, make it part of trip
Complete alternative , first to Kenya safari , then 2.30 hrs Nairobi to seychelles
More crucially, you can’t use two companion vouchers in your name for 4 of you to fly together. One voucher will have to be in your wife’s name and make 2 bookings.
Hi everyone. Thank you for the advice…. seems like it was a good job i asked as most of the replies seem to scupper the plan… That said we have plenty of time to make a new/adjusted one. Am i right in saying that flying to the Maldives and then Sri Lanka would be easier but still very difficult? Im also getting the impression that getting all 4 of us in first class is pretty much out f the question too. And i didnt realise that i had to fly before the 241 voucher expired, i thought as long as it was boked that would be fine. Perhaps ill delay the spending so as to get it later. Finally, i was unaware that i couldnt use x2 241 vouchers to book 4 seats…. My wife is an additional card holder for the amex BA but i assume i would be able to have the voucher in her name….
You absolutely can use two companion vouchers on the same booking. And the only way to do this is to have them in the same name (ie both earnt on your card – supplementary card spend contributes to this.)
If you make two separate bookings in different names as suggested above then there is a chance that you may end up on different flights if there are cancellations or other changes.
See point 36 in attached link
Hi everyone. Thank you for the advice…. seems like it was a good job i asked as most of the replies seem to scupper the plan… That said we have plenty of time to make a new/adjusted one. Am i right in saying that flying to the Maldives and then Sri Lanka would be easier but still very difficult? Im also getting the impression that getting all 4 of us in first class is pretty much out f the question too. And i didnt realise that i had to fly before the 241 voucher expired, i thought as long as it was boked that would be fine. Perhaps ill delay the spending so as to get it later. Finally, i was unaware that i couldnt use x2 241 vouchers to book 4 seats…. My wife is an additional card holder for the amex BA but i assume i would be able to have the voucher in her name….
Maldives and Sri Lanka is much more realistic but still tricky for first. Outbound to Male, short hop to Colombo on several airlines, short hop to Mumbai, again many options. Home from Mumbai. If you’re on the ball you could use 1 241 in your name and 1 in your wife’s name to book both BA flights at T-355 in Club World, then set a seat spy alert for 1st to become available. I just did the same, for wife and I, returning via Bangalore. If you get 4 CW both ways you’ll have done very well. 4 in first would be a small miracle. Bear in mind that Male and Mumbai should be both Club Suite, I think which is very good.
You absolutely can use two companion vouchers on the same booking. And the only way to do this is to have them in the same name (ie both earnt on your card – supplementary card spend contributes to this.)
If you make two separate bookings in different names as suggested above then there is a chance that you may end up on different flights if there are cancellations or other changes.
See point 36 in attached link
@SJ Thank you for pointing this out. No idea how this has passed me by! I had always thought that the voucher holder had to be one of those using it not just part of the same booking.@SJ – thank you for the update this makes things much more enticing…. @whatsthepoint thank you also for the plan…. to confirm Club world is like business class right? When you say book one flight in my name and the other in my wifes name, can the 241 voucher be in her name as an additional card holder for the BA amex card?
CW is BA’s business class, often also referred to as J on here. No, the main cardholder earns the 241 voucher and has to be on the booking. But if you have 2 vouchers in your name, you can use them all on a single booking for 4 people, which sounds like what you want to do?
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@SJ – thank you for the update this makes things much more enticing…. @whatsthepoint thank you also for the plan…. to confirm Club world is like business class right? When you say book one flight in my name and the other in my wifes name, can the 241 voucher be in her name as an additional card holder for the BA amex card?
No the vouchers can’t be in the additional card holders name .
The only thing you could do is once you are nearing triggering the voucher on your card is for your wife to apply for a card in her name if you think you can do that level of spend in one year.
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