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We are trying to go to Maldives (MLE) next Easter and so far have failed miserably – doing it all in Economy. For now I’ve booked a one-way flight to BOM using companion flight for 4 pax. I then thought I’d try and call BA just before 1am (BST) to book the MLE – LON route. Called 2 days ago but I didnt get through till 1.05am UK time, so by then there was no availability left. Today I called at 12.45pm and the BA telephone operator was brilliant, took all my details and was ready to go. As soon as flights became available she tried to lock them in but she said only 2 seats available by that point. It was literally a few seconds after 1am. I will give it a go again tomorrow as my final attempt at getting the return from MLE to LON – but has anyone had any experience of this – do I stand a chance of getting this or am I wasting my time? Do you get preference if I call at 12.30 instead of 12.45? Just trying to get the best odds when I try again tomorrow. Thanks in advance.
Not impossible, but very difficult – as you have found. No one gets priority – if doing it by phone, it is just relying on the agent to be able to quickly secure the tickets and seats.
Have you tried doing it on the laptop at the same time, maybe with the help of family or friends? You can purchase with avios, then ring later to get 50% of the avios back.
It’s an incredibly popular route – maybe just book a return from Mumbai (or another Indian city or Middle Eastern for that matter (Bahrain/Doha/Dubai etc)) back to London? There are a few threads at the top of forum at the moment, all talking about this (woahs of securing tickets to/from Male and alternative options) so do check them out.
As @redlilly says, you may have to be flexible. Consider using the 241 to get home from DOH – there are 3 QR flights daily MLE-DOH which you can book for a reasonable number of avios in economy.
But definitely the source of much woe!
It’s getting harder and harder on popular routes. It seems you can only get Avios tickets where no one wants to go for holiday. Busy business routes with empty economy.
I’m seriously wondering if it’s better to get cash back than Avios.
If you value avios at 1p then at £750 to Mahe, cash tickets or a package may be better value
I found that the trick to book at T-355 is known by everyone so naturally when everyone starts booking at the same time no tickets are left at T-355. I now book my tickets much closer in and it seems there are plenty for the most popular routes. If you’re prepared to wait then you may want to check say 6 months before, there are usually plenty of seats in economy if you’re not fussed about flying business. For business and first, it’s usually easy to find seats within a month and at other points before as well.
This won’t work certainly for business in for the most popular places and times. The initial guaranteed seats are released and no more.
That’s not always the case, as the 241 voucher can open up more availability (although fewer of these will appear on the routes most likely to sell for cash).
Quite a lot of people book speculatively at T-355 as well, then cancel when their travel plans are decided. For example, 2 “unicorn” CW seats to CPT in February appeared yesterday which could only really have been a cancellation. They were snapped up again very quickly, however, probably by someone with an alert set up!
Extra 241 seats from the regions were also quite common at one time, though these seem to be becoming far fewer now.
Thanks everyone for your input. It’s been a week of late nights to trying to snag these. Thought I’d share my experience if it helps with anyone.
First called on 18th evening (1am uk time on 19th technically) to get MLE to LHR for 8th April 2026. My voip signal didn’t work so had to call direct from mobile whilst being abroad and it cost me like £45 to make the phone call. I called the US number. Called about 10-15mins before 1am and the assistant on the phone took all the details and then held for like 6 minutes just before 1am. At 1am, she saw the flights become available and went to secure the 4 seats but she only managed to get 2 seats. Someone had napped six already!!! So that was our first failed attempt..
Called the next night to get flight for 9th April 2026. Similar thing, managed to do it on voip so a fraction of the cost. Again the ba lady was lovely. Waited till 1am but there was no seats. Funnily different to the previous night, she didn’t even see the seats become available. I just assumed someone had snagged them. Annoyed, I then started looking at alternatives online and realised that there was actually no direct MLE to LHR flights on 9th April which would explain why the lady on the phone didn’t even see the seats become available. After a few hours looking around I managed to figure out the schedule for April 2026, and realised that ba would fly on the 10th so I said I’d try one more time the following night before giving up!!!
So I just did the same thing tonight, called 15 mins before. Did all the Pre checks on the account etc and explained what I wanted to do. It was 12.55 by the time we ha done it all and the lady on the phone said that she couldn’t just put me on hold for 5 minutes so I’d have to hang up and call back. I then recalled reading somehwre on this forum about ‘buying some time’ asking about something else, so I did that and it bought me 3 minutes. The lady then said she’d wait the 2 minutes until 1am. Tbh of all the 3 times I called, I was the least hopeful this time…. But, she managed to get me the 4 seats, and all confirmed now. Coming back 2 days later than we thought we would but that’s ok. Longer holiday I guess!
So to reiterated what some other people have posted, it is possible to do. You need to be willing to give it a go several times. It pays to be nice to the people on the phone. Check the schedules so you don’t waste late nights waiting to call. And then hopefully luck is on your side.
Thanks again all!!
It’s getting harder and harder on popular routes. It seems you can only get Avios tickets where no one wants to go for holiday. Busy business routes with empty economy.
I’m seriously wondering if it’s better to get cash back than Avios.
If you value avios at 1p then at £750 to Mahe, cash tickets or a package may be better value
Agreed. If there are cash back cards at say 3%+, then I might as well choose them – no need to fuss around getting Avios flights!! Killing all my brain cells
Thanks everyone for your input. It’s been a week of late nights to trying to snag these. Thought I’d share my experience if it helps with anyone.
First called on 18th evening (1am uk time on 19th technically) to get MLE to LHR for 8th April 2026. My voip signal didn’t work so had to call direct from mobile whilst being abroad and it cost me like £45 to make the phone call. I called the US number. Called about 10-15mins before 1am and the assistant on the phone took all the details and then held for like 6 minutes just before 1am. At 1am, she saw the flights become available and went to secure the 4 seats but she only managed to get 2 seats. Someone had napped six already!!! So that was our first failed attempt..
Called the next night to get flight for 9th April 2026. Similar thing, managed to do it on voip so a fraction of the cost. Again the ba lady was lovely. Waited till 1am but there was no seats. Funnily different to the previous night, she didn’t even see the seats become available. I just assumed someone had snagged them. Annoyed, I then started looking at alternatives online and realised that there was actually no direct MLE to LHR flights on 9th April which would explain why the lady on the phone didn’t even see the seats become available. After a few hours looking around I managed to figure out the schedule for April 2026, and realised that ba would fly on the 10th so I said I’d try one more time the following night before giving up!!!
So I just did the same thing tonight, called 15 mins before. Did all the Pre checks on the account etc and explained what I wanted to do. It was 12.55 by the time we ha done it all and the lady on the phone said that she couldn’t just put me on hold for 5 minutes so I’d have to hang up and call back. I then recalled reading somehwre on this forum about ‘buying some time’ asking about something else, so I did that and it bought me 3 minutes. The lady then said she’d wait the 2 minutes until 1am. Tbh of all the 3 times I called, I was the least hopeful this time…. But, she managed to get me the 4 seats, and all confirmed now. Coming back 2 days later than we thought we would but that’s ok. Longer holiday I guess!
So to reiterated what some other people have posted, it is possible to do. You need to be willing to give it a go several times. It pays to be nice to the people on the phone. Check the schedules so you don’t waste late nights waiting to call. And then hopefully luck is on your side.
Thanks again all!!
Well done! But surely 2 more nights in a hotel there is going to wipe out any savings you have made on booking avios vs cash flights ???
Well done! But surely 2 more nights in a hotel there is going to wipe out any savings you have made on booking avios vs cash flights ???
OF course there’s a cost, but it’s two extra days holiday. If the aim was to save the max amount of cash then we’d all be flying home the day after arriving!
Well done! But surely 2 more nights in a hotel there is going to wipe out any savings you have made on booking avios vs cash flights ???
OF course there’s a cost, but it’s two extra days holiday. If the aim was to save the max amount of cash then we’d all be flying home the day after arriving!
Not really. I’m assuming there was a total holiday budget, hence the midnight calls and economy flights, and attempt to fly back on the original date…….but to then just add more nights on to the holiday blows that out the water – especially in the Maldives, with 4 travellers.
Might be a points booking. But even though it’s counter-intuitive, sometimes getting the award flight is the end in itself! I’ve had a fair few trips where the number of nights depended on flight availability. I also totally admit that one trip to NYC some years ago was chosen mainly because there was F availability on my birthday, and I hadn’t flown F before!
Extra nights are always good. Also possibly having to extend because of avios availability gives psychological justification for staying away longer, lol.
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