British Airways adds new Maldives services – Avios seats available

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If you’ve wanted to fly to the Maldives on Avios, today is your lucky day.

British Airways seems to have relaunched the Maldives as a year-round service, albeit in a limited way.

A new service has appeared in the timetable today.

It departs on Fridays, leaving Heathrow at 19.15, arriving into Male at 09.40 on Saturday.

It departs Male at 11.40 on Saturday, arriving back into Heathrow at 19.05

Avios seats are available

British Airways has only made the minimum number of Avios seats available – 4 in World Traveller and 2 in Club World.

However, they are available, at least at 5.45pm on Thursday. Here is a typical screenshot from October (the last week of the Summer timetable) although flights are available from May onwards:

If you can find a pair that work for you, either for 8 or 15 nights, I would jump on it ASAP.

How to earn Avios points from UK credit cards

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 BA Amex American Express card

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 BA Premium Plus American Express Amex credit card

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.)

Category

British Airways and Avios

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

Matt says:

25 Feb25 February 20:37

Does Combine my avios work for you? BA page always keeps loading and expires, Iberia always throws an error
- Matt says:
  
  25 Feb25 February 21:04
  
  Update – I’m in, but this is strange: You can only move Avios from British Airways to Iberia Plus – you cannot move your Avios back again.
  
  Any idea why pls?
  - Gtellez says:
    
    25 Feb25 February 21:40
    
    That happens if you have a family account with BA. You can move the avios through Avios.com if you have an account with Vueling or Aer Lingus; first from Iberia to avios.com and then to BA. I just did that to book two business flights for Sept; not amazing weather but well I hope we could have few hours a day of good weather
    - Genghis says:
      
      25 Feb25 February 21:45
      
      Best of login to Aer club then pull from Iberia and push to BAEC.
      - Matt says:
        
        25 Feb25 February 22:06
        
        Thanks, will try
meta says:

25 Feb25 February 22:31

Thanks Rob for the mention.
Doug says:

25 Feb25 February 22:46

Only Sept available now, I don’t want to risk the weather and missing my potential second dose. I guess more opportunities will show up eventually
Tom says:

25 Feb25 February 23:24

More availabilityust be getting loaded. I’ve just managed to get the exact dates I wanted in August that weren’t showing until around 20 minutes ago.
TeesTraveller says:

26 Feb26 February 07:42

The Rockliffe lounge is shown in the photo which is being created in conj7nction with nearby Rockliffe Hall (5 star golf resort). Construction currently underway on both lounges at Teesside Airport and should be complete by the summer.

The terminal is undergoing a full renovation right now with an extended check-in area, ultra-modern security scanners and new shops & bars

Suspect you will be able to fly there on a BA code soon but let’s see…
- Mr(s) Entitled says:
  
  26 Feb26 February 09:41
  
  Judging from the picture this looks like an excellent facility. I’m in Cheshire but I would absolutely consider flying from Teeside just to experience the reef and clear blue waters while waiting for my onward connection. It looks like a game changer.
  - Toppcat says:
    
    26 Feb26 February 10:22
    
    +1. Absolutely revolutionary. Teesside up there with Changi in the ‘top airport facilities’ stakes now. More airports should consider installing house reefs.
Anna says:

26 Feb26 February 11:20

Don’t laugh but the Holiday Inn Maldives looks to be a decent option if you’re on a budget! They do have overwater villas and different meal plans you can add, and rooms are bookable on IHG points. Someone posted on here a few months ago that it’s actually a decent place to stay.
- chabuddy geezy says:
  
  26 Feb26 February 19:08
  
  The Intercontinental also has some reasonable food and beverages prices compared to other resorts.
- Mrs_Fussy says:
  
  26 Feb26 February 19:40
  
  Anna – I have been to holiday inn, jumeirah, Niyama, taj and one & only. The food at Holiday inn was phenomenal, the rooms were a little run down when we went ( 2016) but beautiful white sand ( unlike niyama which was shingles ). The only problem is there is a local island next to it ( you could literally swim up there ) and that may not appeal to many. Otherwise perfectly reasonable stay esp if you are doing it as part of twin centre holiday. If you manage your expectations, it won’t disappoint
TripRep says:

26 Feb26 February 19:22

Rob I am awaiting the refund of a 241 voucher.from a flight I cancelled 2 weeks ago.

Can I go ahead and book the outbound to MLE without using the 241 voucher and then phone up CS in a couple of weeks for them to apply the refunded one to the booking?
- Anna says:
  
  27 Feb27 February 12:31
  
  If you come back to this, TripRep, I would suggest calling BA about that voucher, they normally come back as soon as you cancel (by phone anyway, I am also waiting for avios requested online a month ago!) I’ve never heard of BA applying a 241 to a whole booking, just to the return portion but others may have had different experiences.