kingcole974

Looking like MLE may well be on the green list but with high numbers in Qatar, the only OW route might not be an option.
With a view to this, do you think MLE might go daily? I notice the current flights are busy and I'm sure if/when the Maldives is green, there would be huge demand.

Naturally, I'm asking for myself. I have a 5 night points stay booked at the Waldorf and points stays there for 5 nights are like hens teeth. I arrive on 10th June so would need to cancel by 12th May.

If necessary, I would consider ditching OW and flying via the UAE but would really rather not as it's a huge waste of TP!

Currently I'm booked on QR but starting in Rome (for less than £1500 each), so my chances of the current itinerary look slim, although I'd be happy to isolate for 5 days at home in the scenario where Italy and Qatar went amber.

mikeyfly

I'd take a legal holiday any which way I could and not care for Tier Points this year !! Just take sensible flights and enjoy the holiday

sunshinebob

Lots of Russians and Germans here at Rangali at the moment - I picked up economy (I know) LH from Malaga via Frankfurt for a tad over €500 return plus €75 pp each way in row 23 extra legroom. Was very civilised to say the least.

The seat itself was very comfortable with 60 inches of leg room and a short 9 hour hop. Passable pasta, cold beer and aldi wines but cheap as chips.

kingcole974

Yes, as long as it's legal, we have resolved to get there any way we can. Keeping fingers tightly crossed that BA do indeed add the extra inventory. I can then get a voucher from QR and maybe even snag a reward booking. Failing that, I've considered reward to Dubai and onward with Emirates. Failing that, Emirates all the way through but I might be doing my first Y ticket if J remains at £3k

If there a way of doing Emirates as Qantas to earn TP?

LH does have some good rates. What are the current rules for entering Germany if just connecting?

bluemoon68

To add to the mix, Sri lankan airways, a OW partner, fly LHR-MLE direct.

Sam Bee

I'd been looking at this - they have 2 scheduled flights Tue/Sat loaded 03 Jul - 31 Aug season only, but closed off all reservations, so unsure if they will open up.

Wouldn't be surprised to see BA add flights this summer as prices have been surging, but they might wait for confirmation than Maldives is on the green list first (as I think is most likely).

golfmad

Any complexity in routing adds a very large amount of risk. Your hopes of an ex EU then OW with QR seem fanciful at the moment. My advice would be to keep it as simple as possible.

kingcole974

Could not agree more. Thankfully I have no issue in taking a voucher for these. Clearly direct on BA would be fab. I'll keep an eye on Sri Lankan. Knew they were OW but had no idea they offered a direct service. Maybe they will consider adding too.

tom139

Unfortunately this has been really cracked down on and you’ll struggle to be able to book a codeshare on any journey that isn’t involving a point of origin/final destination of Australia.

lost_in_translation

Not a huge surprise here but BA has now loaded additional LHR-MLR flights starting 18th May. In addition the previous once-a-week Friday departure, there are now outbound Tuesday / return Thursday and outbound Sunday / return Tuesday. Grab them while you can...

The Friday departure has also been re-timed to leave LHR at 21.45.

kingcole974

Thanks for the heads up. Is it possible the 2 x J Avios tickets have not been uploaded yet?

For my dates every seat is available but no joy with a reward seat. There are 4 x Y rewards listed.

If I’ve missed the reward seats then I think my plan will be to burn some On Business points and travel Y for the first time long haul in years.

corporate-wage-slave

Usually the second that a flight is added into the schedule and the revenue buckets have been added, then two Club Avios seats pop up immediately. And to somewhere like MLE those 2 seats will go very quickly, I imagine within a few hours, perhaps sooner now there are online tools monitoring award space and sending out email alerts to people. If it's a new route such as PIT or DUR then the Avios seats tend to linger for a bit since there would be typically hundreds of flights over a 1 year period and therefore it would take a while for the market to absorb the availability.

kingcole974

Judging by the cash ticket prices, is it possible all fare buckets are yet to be added? Expert Flyer is showing zeros across the board and a J return in a little over £5000 each.

1Aturnleft

Iberia has applied for 2x weekly services MAD-MLE for July/August (reported on headforpoints this morning). Might be an interesting redemption if approval is granted.

1Aturnleft

Revenue management working well there I'd say.
If there is enough demand at J/C fare levels what reason is there for BA to make I/R buckets available? I'd expect more of the same once the UK traffic light travel system is unveiled and safe destinations are announced.