britbronco22

I’m hoping to visit a friend who lives in Jakarta next summer (late July/ August), with my family so we would be using 2 2-4-1 vouchers.
Clearly I’m not expecting to get all the way to Jakarta on BA, but we might arrange to meet somewhere else in SE Asia, or we could finish the end of the journey on another booking.
Right now it looks like Singapore is the only option (I would assume I would need to book as soon as flights are released). Is there any prospect of BA restarting Bangkok or Kuala Lumpur for next summer?
When would the destinations for summer 2024 be set, or could they launch new routes at any time if Russian airspace opens again?
Any advice or route speculation welcome!

Swanhunter

I very much doubt Russian air space is going to be used, and BA have clearly decided that they can’t make money in SE Asia. Singapore or bust I think.

Calum

I don't think it's a case of them being unable to make money, rather that they're able to make more money elsewhere.. (Eg more routes to small US cities)

britbronco22

I was hoping that as BA gradually take delivery of more new aircraft that they might be willing to venture East again…

Flumps

I think the chance of Russian Airspace opening any time in the foreseeable future is vanishingly small.

wb1969

Don’t count on BKK coming back at all. KUL & SEL maybe one day but not any time soon.

I still don’t understand why BA haven’t tried Vietnam, both from a bucket & spade point of view and business. Surely a 3 weekly HAN or SGN using a 788 could work?

Hezu

I don't think the Russian (and Ukrainian) air space closure would significantly affect flights to SE Asia. It is more of a problem for flights to/from more northern destinations in Asia: Japan, Korea and China as these do require a significant detour from the most optimal flight path.

lsquare

Probably not enough demand? Primarily a discounted leisure route?

mikeyfly

Just grab SIN at 355 and you’re almost there!

And if BA restarts BKK or KUL and you want to swap, there will be four J seats on every flight ready to be snapped up. But I prefer SIN for transit etc and wouldn’t swap myself

lsquare

​​​​​​Is that a BA policy? For every single route?

Starship73

Yes, minimum 4 Club seats for every long haul flight are released at midnight 355 days out, but these are snapped up almost immediately for the popular routes.

orbitmic

So in practice, what would you do if someone says: "Sure, who knows, maybe they will reopen BKK or KUL or even open CGK" ? Would you then not book and take the risk of having nothing?

I mean, it's not as though anyone could possible give you a guarantee that a route or other will be open - or indeed that it won't. Even when new routes are decided and confirmed - which typically happens about 6 months before the inaugural, sometimes less, the few people who actually know are not allowed to mention it, and by the time they feel comfortable enough to start being less careful, discuss it in such a way that crew or some well connected FTer hears in turn, you are only a few days before the official announcement.

So I guess that unless (and I don't think it's likely) BA announce that they are starting a new SE Asia route for October 2023 in coming weeks and you can then hope that the route will continue into the summer season, all you'll get is really speculation of little practical help. Just book whatever you want to book when you are ready to book and based on what is available there and then.

Duck1981

The above reads like 'if you like to go to SE Asia and use a companion voucher, you need to be online by midnight 0:01AM 355 days in advance'.

Did anybody actually succeed to get seats to SIN on a companion voucher (in any class)? I don't know BA's schedule by heart towards that direction of the world but I believe there's 1 actual flight to SIN (on a Triple) and the Sydney flight (where people will try to get seats to Australia).

I managed to get seats once to SIN in J - pre covid when there was the 380 flight to SIN (and maybe another one or two flights a day).

D

MeltingAlf

Russian airspace closure doesn't affect UK-SEA routes much - the routing south via Turkey doesn't add much, if any, extra distance. In fact SQ used the Turkey routing instead of overflying Russia the majority of the time after MH17/before the full-blown invasion.

I'd like to see KUL back but it was a market they've entered very late, and with 787s, and during a boom in the market before Covid, so I suspect the yield hasn't been all that great. And with fellow *O partner MH on that route, I think it's not as likely as BKK coming back first.

wb1969

Vietnam Airlines have just announced they’re increasing flights to London from 3 weekly to daily from October.