British Airways Launches Route To New Orleans – Award Seats Available

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Hot on the heels of cancelling its route to Chengdu British Airways has announced that, from spring 2017, it will be offering a non-stop service between London Heathrow and New Orleans. On the grounds that the aircraft that British Airways will be using on its new route is the same as the aircraft type used for the Chengdu service (787-8 Dreamliners) it’s unlikely that the two pieces of news are unrelated.

British Airways’ New Route To New Orleans

From 26 March 2017 British Airways will offer a 4x/week service between London Heathrow and New Orleans on the following schedule:

BA225 LHR 15:40 – 19:40 MSY (Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat)
BA224 MSY 21:20 – 12:00+1 day LHR (Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat)

The new route will be operated by a three-class Boeing 787-8 offering the following seat choices:

• 35 Business Class/Club World seats
• 25 Premium Economy/World Traveller Plus seats
• 154 Economy Class/World Traveller seats

British Airways’ Director of Networks and Alliances is quoted as saying:

We are really excited to be adding New Orleans to British Airways’ extensive global network. It’s a city that boasts an iconic music and arts scene and plays host to more than 130 festivals a year, including the world famous Mardi Gras.

Holidaymakers can enjoy the jazz and blues music trails, visit the historic sugarcane plantations, cruise down the Mississippi River or relax on the unspoilt Gulf Shores and Orange Beaches which are just a short drive away. More than 80,000 visitors head to Louisiana and New Orleans every year and we are confident this route will be a big hit with British tourists as well as business travellers.

Award Seats Are Available

British Airways opens up a minimum of 2 Business Class seats on every flight so, as the New Orleans Flights have only just been loaded into the airline’s reservations systems, there are a lot of award seats available….although you may not be that interested when you take a look a the associated cost.

I did a quick search for Business Class award availability found quite a lot of dates with 2 award seats open for the new route….

….in both directions…..

…but the cost isn’t great.

For one adult flying in Business Class British Airways will charge 137,500 Avios + $597.37 in fees for a round trip award during “off-peak” season:

And 150,000 Avios + $602.37 in fees during “peak season”:

Ouch!

If the horrendous British Airways fees don’t put you off this is a good example why collecting AAdvantage Miles could be a better option than collecting Avios – yes you still have to pay the carrier fees if you use AAdvantage Miles but the cost is just 115,000 AAdvantage Miles (year-round) as opposed to 137,500 or 150,000 Avios depending on season.

For anyone wondering if you can get an award to Mardi Gras in 2017 the answer is no – Mardi Gras falls on 28 February next year so the route won’t even be up and running….you may, however, have a chance for 2018 when Mardi Gras falls on 13 February.

Bottom Line

I’m sure some people will be happy with this new route and, for those based in New Orleans, this could be a nice option to have….but I can’t say I’m particularly excited about this news.

It’s not like we’re exactly short on options when it comes to flights between the US and the UK so it would have been nice to see BA send its 787-8 Dreamliners to somewhere different (like a new route to Asia or Africa for example). Unfortunately we were never very likely to get a new route to somewhere different. A new route to the US is considered a reasonably “safe” option for BA and with low-cost Alex at the helm we’re unlikely to see anything particularly interesting out of BA for some time….so this will have to do.