Spending Avios can sometimes be tricky, particularly for first class since BA do not release a set amount of seats 355 days before departure unlike for business class. There are also less first class seats available across BA’s network since they go rid of their B747s.
We will be regularly bringing you a look at what routes have the best Avios availability thanks to Reward Flight Finder.
In conjunction with RFF, we have looked at some of the best short and long haul availability for the Easter period. Despite it being a peak period, there are still some destinations with good availability.
What is Reward Flight Finder?
Reward Flight Finder offers a free and paid service to find Avios seats for a whole year’s worth of flights at a glance. One of the most useful features is available on the paid plan where you can set alerts when Avios seats are released on the flights you want. You can also use the map feature which shows you all the Avios destinations available on a particular date.
RFF offer monthly and yearly plans. Here are the options:
Silver membership – from £2.49 a month billed annually
Silver membership includes:
- Unlimited reward seat searches
- Get reward seat Alerts within 1 hour
- Worldwide Map tool
- Set up to 5 Alerts at once
- Get email Alerts
Gold membership – from £4.16 a month, billed annually
- Unlimited reward seat searches
- Get instant reward seat Alerts
- Worldwide Map tool
- Set up to 20 Alerts at once
- Get email Alerts
- Get SMS Alerts
You can find out more and sign up here.
Which short haul destinations have the best availability?
Once upon a time, using Avios on short haul business class was considered a waste. Now with the high cash price of Club Europe seats at key periods and high taxes and charges for long haul redemptions, these sort of Avios seats make sense.
Barcelona
There are lots of Economy and Business Class Avios seats throughout Easter. Even if you don’t fancy a city break, there are still plenty of beach destinations within driving distance.
Amsterdam
There are plenty of Economy and Business Class Avios seats up for grabs. It’s a cheap route for Avios too.
Bordeaux
If you fancy visiting some chateaus, then this could be a good option which should be warmer than the UK by Easter. There are plenty of both Economy and Business Class up for grabs on this route for Easter.
Long Haul
Bermuda
There is not much availability left bbut there are a few days with Business Class seats at the end of March/start of April. There are also quite a few for mid-April when the Easter holidays come to an end.
Houston
There are quite a few dates at the start of Easter time with 6 Business Class seats still available. For inbound, it’s the same at the end of Easter hols. If you don’t want to stay in Houston it’s a decent airport for connections on somewhere else.
Toronto
There are lots of dates with 6 Business Class available at the start and end of the holiday period.
Boston
Boston is one of my favourite US cities that is relatively small compared with other major cities in terms of the main downtown part. There’s plenty to see and do, or you can head out of town into New England. Boston has pretty good availability all year round from February and earlier in the year there are plenty of dates with more than one first class seat. Though you’ll probably need your thermals!
You can use Reward Flight Finder to find the current availability for these routes and the rest of the BA route network.
4 comments
Good list! Shout out for Bordeaux which I visited for a long weekend not long ago – highly under-rated and a fabulous City. Although perhaps not one for kids to enjoy. Intercontinental hotel was tops.
I will second that about Bordeaux. I’m here at the moment and also staying at the InterContinetal which is an stunning property! First time flying out of LGW for a while too and I must say I was impressed. Galleries First felt a real step up on LHR- much quieter, range of cooked to order items on the breakfast menu including California Toast and Eggs Benedict and there was Johnnie Walker Blue on self pour. No First Wing but there was a dedicated First/ Gold desk at check-in plus priority security was quick and you can be swiftly into the lounge provided you don’t descend the escalators once you’re through the scanners.
Important to check the aircraft as the business seats we were given on our recent paid flight to Toronto were the old style very narrow/no storage seats without aisle access for most.
There’s a 50/50 chance of getting the new seats at the moment. If you book with Club Suites then there’s still a chance it will change nearer the time, particularly if you book a long way out. Sadly this is the case with lots of airlines – Qatar, Emirates and Lufthansa all have a wide variety of business class seats on long haul too.
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