The BA Seoul service launches – a new redemption route into Asia

The new British Airways service to Seoul started two days ago.

It has been, amazingly, 14 years since BA last flew to South Korea. The new service will operate six days a week using a 777. It is a four-class service (First, Club World, World Traveller Plus and World Traveller).

The next few days will see a mass influx of travellers to Seoul from the Flyertalk forum, from where I ‘borrowed’ the image below.

For a few days last month, BA was selling the Club World cabin for just £777 return, all-in – a massive reduction on the normal £3-4,000 fare, which even in a sale would not drop below £1,999 or so. A massive group of 76 Flyertalk members will therefore be heading out to South Korea over the next few days!

What are the benefits of this new service for the rest of us?

Well, for a start, it is another route into Asia for redemption flights. Despite BA’s presence at Bangkok, Tokyo, Singapore, Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai etc, seats for Avios redemptions can be tricky to find.

You can, of course, also use BA partners Cathay Pacific and Japan Airlines, plus Malaysia Airlines from Spring 2013 and indirect routes on Finnair and Royal Jordanian. However, if you want to use a BA Amex 2-4-1 voucher, you need to use a BA aircraft.

Reward availability is currently looking good. I looked for the number of days offering 2 Club World seats outbound, and found:

February – 12 days, March – 22 days, April – 23 days (ie every day the service runs except for one!)

So, fundamentally, if you want to go down to Asia this Spring on an Amex 2-4-1, the new Seoul route offers you a real opportunity.

After exploring Seoul, local Asian budget airlines can get you around the region fairly cheaply – although it is a long way down to Hong Kong, for example. The obvious spots for a 2-centre holiday would be Japan (Tokyo, Kyoto), Beijing and Shanghai.

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (December 2021)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up, no annual fee and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending ….. Read our full review

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the UK’s most valuable credit card perk – the 2-4-1 companion voucher Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points, such as:

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & two airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital On Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios:

Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa

The most generous Avios Visa or Mastercard for a limited company Read our full review

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus:

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

(Want to earn more Avios?  Click here to visit our home page for our latest articles on earning and spending your Avios points and click here to see how to earn more Avios this month from offers and promotions.)