During a recent trip to Europe, I decided to travel back home the long way, by first flying to the Maldives (and then directly turning around there, as one does). Why? Well, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to fly Beond Airlines, the all-business class airline startup that flies between the Maldives and destinations in Europe…
Continue reading: Review: Beond Airlines Business Class Airbus A319 (MXP-DWC-MLE)
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Thanks for the review, based on the schedule and the facilities offered onboard, I find this to be quite an expensive way to get to Male. The only benefit is the all business concept, but outside of that, especially with the stop on both in/outbound at DWC, I would rather stick it with the different ways via the usual airlines.
From pricing point of view, even with the cheapest, it comes close to 2000€ return, which from value point is very questionable.
Like you I do really question the business model behind this.
Good you got your flight and review in. This can't last very long.
Money laundering?
You can also book it just to Dubai I think. One of the aviation YouTubers (the one who says "quite nice" all the time) did that as I recall.
Do all the crew do same day turns? Given the typical length of their flights I wonder if that’s a way they save money.
I love the stitching on those seats and the cream leather. The food looks excellent too. Agree can't see this lasting though - and the Dubai stop makes no sense, this needs to be a direct flight to be appealing imo.
A bit of a limited-period offer as I see it, but a glamorously resplendent one. Now if you’d hurry up and review the Vistara A321neo and 787 before they’re gone, as you did for Bamboo Airways…
And which airline with the yellow winglet did you fly to MXP, as you teased weeks ago!
@ VT-CIE -- I'll see what I can do! 🙂 I flew Vueling, just on the short flight from Paris to Milan. As always, you're very observant.
@ JBar -- Nope, the crews generally work one sector per day, which is one of the reasons the staffing seems so inefficient.
For context, this is the post with the mysterious yellow A320/1neo winglet, which looks suspiciously like Vueling. Yes, Vueling! At least that’s the best guess I can hazard… https://onemileatatime.com/insights/best-view-plane/
Speaking of which, looking at your descriptions of an easyJet A319 above, I recall how you flew easyJet some years back from Milan to Santorini. Despite being a low-cost carrier, Vueling wouldn’t be out of place at MXP, I think. How about the other 7-letter word with V?
@ Jim -- Currently only the Zurich route is bookable as a fifth freedom service to Dubai, and not the Milan route.
Ah, I see you’ve replied before my comment was posted. Very observant of YOU, lucky — that’s why OMAAT is second to none!
Given that LON-NYC all business class can’t survive, this has literally no chance.
As others say, it’s a case of once the money has all been laundered they can stop operating. There’s a risk they don’t even achieve that, with those loads and prices they are probably pretty much lighting money on fire for each flight currently. No rational business should choose to go head-to-held with EK and QR for their passengers like this.
Ben mentions the joys of a very small boarding group. I have enjoyed the ultimate example of a small boarding group -- just myself. The flight was a USAir flight from PIT to LAS to SFO just after USAIr had acquired PSA, and I was boarding late evening in LAS.
and yes I could not resist asking the agent if they were still going to board by rows:-)
Worth a try as long as you book close to departure. As you say I can't see how it's sustainable.
Still, all easyJet planes must dream of such a glamorous retirement.
With so few passengers and their luggage in the hold (even on full flights) surely it makes sense for Beond to fit an auxiliary fuel tank into the A319 (like they use for CRJ version) so they can fly direct to Male?
This might be a pampering, intriguing experience, but I’d be reluctant to put my money in advance on a ticket for any of their flights.
And here is why:
If the past experience from “luxury airlines’ with reduced seat count in North America, Europe and even Australia is anything to go by, this will be a short-lived experience, as none of these luxury airlines seems to have been able to survive.
Load factors to break even could rarely ever be achieved; in comparison with established airlines the low frequency of flights is inconvenient, the latter tempt frequent travellers with mileage points that “luxury airlines” do not offer, and typically there are no interline agreements with the other carriers if you do not happen to live near the luxury airline’s departure or destination points and need connecting flights.
In this case, it is a route primarily travelled by (low yield) holiday makers, which makes the whole thing worse.
It’s a concept that was often tried in the past, but never succeeded. It’s surprising that people still find investors for such a dated idea that never worked.
“Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it!”
—Winston Churchill
B.
I know it's your job to review airlines, but I thought it is a bit nutty to fly 4 hours from Dubai to MLE just to turn around and fly 4 hrs back to the Middle East.
Then I thought about about an upcoming saver award trip I booked from the west coast to Newark to fly J non-stop to Porto on TAP with an 8 hr layover at EWR. Maybe I'm also nutty.
At least the return, LIS-LHR-LAX, I finally snagged a few and far between saver AA metal J ticket for 57,500 miles without the $800 surcharge.
Ben, were there any warnings from Beond about the Maldives forbidding Jews from traveling there? I was wondering if the rule was still in effect, and if their immigration asked upon arrival in Male.
There is/was no ban on Jews but Israelis. Let’s not spread misinformation and conflate the two. It was a country ban and also included Arab Israelis.
La Compagnie seems to be doing ok. They've been around for over a decade, though they serve different markets without a stopover.
Great, so Trump's Muslim Ban must be a fake thing since it also only banned 7 countries not technically Muslims.
You far, far left is as bad as far right.
I can't believe you're writing this in good conscience. BTW, the Maldives is looking to carve out non-Jews from the ban.
Optimares also makes the Hawaiian A330 business class seats, and there are clear similarities between the two, though HA has simpler seat controls.
Cuz they are doing trans atlantic, the most profitable, year round routes in the world, and even so, they have to pump out tons of discounts during off-peaks to offset costs
Nice Try DavidM, & sorry to break it to you, but "forbidding jews" sounds like a lame and outdated Hasbara lies, victimhood propaganda, and disinformation. FYI, conflating Judaism, Zionism, and Israel is so ‘passé. the ban applies to Israeli passport holders, regardless of their ethnicity (whether Arab, Jewish, Druze, etc.) or faith (Jewish, Christian, Muslim, etc.). there is no "forbidding jews" do not insult everyone's intelligence.
No shit Sherlock. Are you that dumb to not understand something that even first graders will get instantly?
If there's anyone having a problem with a good conscience, it's definitely you with justifying Israeli imperalism and eugenics.
another drawback is the high risk of cancellation and the issue of there not being many options for rescheduling
Great review Ben as always. I’d love to fly this but agree it must be actually burning cash with the loading passengers being zero on the inbound leg then 5 on your trip. Even as a private jet this amount of staff would be simply madness.
They have 2 aircraft and there’s nothing significantly outstanding about their product v Qatar Etihad or Emirates who offer far more flights / connections and a superior product. And no WiFi with refuelling. Moreover as Ben says it wasn’t full and apparently that’s the case with most of their flights
I doubt they will be around after 2026/7
As usual a moron comparing Israelis and Jews.
Jews are not prohibited from travelling to most places and as far as I can tell, there’s no mention of religion on passports.
Jews travel frequently to countries Israelis are prohibited from going assuming they don’t have dual nationality and can use another passport, as many do.
There are Jewish people throughout Europe, Latin America, North America and South Africa amongst other regions. They are NOT Israeli !!!
To add, 18 % of Israel’s population are Muslim and if they have Israeli passports they are prohibited from travelling to several countries including Malaysia.