It’s not especially easy to get to the Seychelles, so this is an exciting development for anyone looking to fly from Europe to the Seychelles, or from the US to Seychelles in one stop. British Airways is adding 2x weekly flights between London Heathrow and Seychelles International Airport as of March 24, 2018. The flight will operate with the following schedule, per @airlineroute:
BA63 London Heathrow to Seychelles departing 6:00PM arriving 7:10AM (+1 day) [Wed, Sat]
BA62 Seychelles to London Heathrow departing 9:00AM arriving 4:20PM [Thu, Sun]
The flight covers a distance of 5,074 miles, and is blocked at 10hr10min eastbound, and 10hr20min westbound.
The flight will be operated using a Boeing 787-9, which features a total of 216 seats, including eight first class seats, 42 business class seats, 39 premium economy seats, and 127 economy seats.
One thing that’s especially interesting about the above is that the flight operates out of London Heathrow rather than London Gatwick. Most of British Airways’ leisure destinations are flown out of Gatwick. I suspect the logic for the flight being out of Heathrow is that they recognize that people will be connecting from all over the world to take this flight, and Heathrow maximizes those connectivity opportunities.
The Seychelles (photo credit: British Airways)
British Airways last flew to the Seychelles in June 2004, when they operated a flight from London to Nairobi to the Seychelles.
Keep in mind that British Airways has a policy of making at least four economy and two business class award seats available per flight, so there should be a good amount of award space between London and the Seychelles (though many dates have already been booked up).
A redemption on this flight will cost you the following number of Avios one-way, depending on whether you’re flying peak or off-peak:
- Economy: 16,250 Avios / 25,000 Avios
- Premium Economy: 32,500 Avios / 50,000 Avios
- Business Class: 62,500 Avios / 75,000 Avios
- First Class: 85,000 Avios / 100,000 Avios
For example, I found space for a business class award that’s peak in one direction and off-peak in the other, and the total cost was 137,500 Avios plus $792 in taxes and carrier imposed surcharges.
I’ve been considering a trip to the Seychelles soon, and my plan was to fly with either Air Seychelles (using Etihad Guest miles), Qatar Airways (using American AAdvantage miles), or Turkish Airlines (using Avianca LifeMiles). All three are great at making award seats available, and have more reasonable surcharges.
Is anyone considering taking British Airways to the Seychelles?
We managed to get two BA first reward flights (one with companion voucher). Two weeks, flying on Saturday towards the end of May and back on Sunday. The first cabin on the 787-9 looks a step up from the rest. I quite like the idea of the permanently fixed bigger screen but let’s see. I also like the idea of BA’s own first class security channel that takes you straight into the lounge at T5....
We managed to get two BA first reward flights (one with companion voucher). Two weeks, flying on Saturday towards the end of May and back on Sunday. The first cabin on the 787-9 looks a step up from the rest. I quite like the idea of the permanently fixed bigger screen but let’s see. I also like the idea of BA’s own first class security channel that takes you straight into the lounge at T5. Just adds to th3 exclusivity of the experience.
I’ll message after to tell you how it was.
Air Seychelles only recently cancelled their SEZ-DUS flight, which I loved because it seemed so strange. By the way Lucky, if you’re thinking of flying on the airlines of the Indian Ocean, don’t forget Air Austral (who operate 777s and 787s from Paris to Reunion and Mayotte respectively) and Air Mauritius (who operate A330s and A340s from Mauritius to London and Paris).
I'm flying Srilankan to the Seychelles in the end of November.
@Alvin Tse
I'm seeing the UL flight at $920 next month, problem is flight timings. Either you have to take the flight at 535AM for a same day connection to LHR or on the days that the 1135AM flight runs spend the night in CMB as the only flight to LON has already left by the flight from SEZ lands.
And if you take the LON-SEZ route on UL you have to spend the night in CMB regardless.
It's cheap, because the connections suck.
1310 USD one way can take you from the Seychelles to London in SriLankan's new reverse herringbone seat if you want to try them on a longer flight (and review their A320).
If QSuites still appeals, Qatar Airways is selling 1770 USD one way from the Seychelles to Doha to London.
can you redeem AA miles all the way from the US to Seychelles on BA? Since AA allows travel to Africa on a single award if you go via London , would it cost the same as any other award to African continent?
Also - what about Alaska miles? Alaska shows BA availability - do you think it'll show this?
Additional commentary provided by readers on how to get to Seychelles on miles is very helpful.
How are only 4 Y and 2 J award seats considered "good availability"?
Doesn't Turkish also fly to Seychelles? I wonder what their award space availability is like
I'm flying there next month. Used ANA business class award to the Middle East via Etihad for 104k + ~$150 in fees. They had amazing award availability out of SFO (R.I.P to that route). With a stopover and openjaw allowed on their awards ANA had some amazing values. I ended up having to use AA to bring my boyfriend along. Cost was 200k and that's flying economy between AUH and SEZ. Stupid AA routing rules.
If Air Seychelles has availability, they don't show up much (or ever) on Etihad. I ended up booking EY for a fairly high (to my way of thinking) 38,000 points + $330 apiece
Lucky, FYI, you can also get there using *A miles on Ethiopian (via Addis) and (much more appealingly) on Austrian (via Vienna).
Although you should definitely continue your tour of "obscure business classes of the world" and fly Air Seychelles for at least one leg.
That doesn't seem like a coincidence with QR upgauging its own flight to SEZ..?
The reason for LHR is that all of BA's 788/789 only fly from Heathrow. Also they make two award seats in CW and 4 seats available on each flight.
actually, just returned last week from the Seychelles; transferred 250K SPG points to JAL and booked 2 Emirates F seats JFK>DXB>SEZ>DXB>ATH>EWR with a stop in Dubai, Seychelles, and Athens. Seychelles was pretty damn special and there was decent award space when we booked. Would definitely recommend to split the stay across both major islands.
You can also redeem United Mileage and fly Austrian to connect at Vienna. They fly direct to Maldives, Seychelles, and Mauritius.
Seychelles are so tempting...
British Airways is not.
Plus, you don't have to fly BA, which you can't put a price on.
I am just in the process of looking at going to Seychelles, I am based in Doha who fly direct, for approx GBP 800-900 return, though as I am doing a tour of the middle east, have found that both Qatar Air and Emirates massively reduce prices if you are flying from Istanbul. Istanbul return to Seychelles on Qatar Air or Emirates, you're looking at £310-330. Or Colombo to Seychelles is about the same. If...
I am just in the process of looking at going to Seychelles, I am based in Doha who fly direct, for approx GBP 800-900 return, though as I am doing a tour of the middle east, have found that both Qatar Air and Emirates massively reduce prices if you are flying from Istanbul. Istanbul return to Seychelles on Qatar Air or Emirates, you're looking at £310-330. Or Colombo to Seychelles is about the same. If you've got that flexibility and are traveling with a family, these are definitely options worth considering.