I was working in London this week and decided I wanted to take a side-trip for the weekend (not that the weather is anything to complain about in London Town …unheard of 8 days of sunshine and 85+ degree temps so far with more of the same expected next week). Anyway, I’ve wanted to visit Malta for some time and decided to check flight prices:
Direct flights on Air Malta were GBP 506.80 or $773!
easyJet had better pricing but the return flight would mean loosing all of Sunday and the outbound was too early to do any work in London at all. easyJet was priced at GBP 366.98 or $560 USD
I actually liked the Lufthansa options and they were pricing at GBP 430.95 or $658 USD, still a little steep for a short weekend trip.
How about using some of those Avios miles? Unfortunately, BA does not service Malta but Air Malta is an Avios partner. Unfortunately, no availability, even from some of the smaller UK airports. DL miles were useless as KLM does not fly to Malta, Air France only flies from Toulouse and had no space, and Air Europa showed no longer operates their Valladolid flight.
Well, it was United to the rescue with award space on the same Lufthansa flights as above. The system could not find availability as a round-trip, but searching segment by segment worked nicely for an economy class ticket. Total cost -> 25,000 miles and $133.60.
…and now I’m writing this from one of the two terraces that are part of my upgraded executive suite at the Westin Dragonara Resort. Trip report coming next week, in the meantime check out my initial positive reactions from the Westin here!
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7 comments
Avios might have worked on Air Malta, if flights available, from regional airport. UA prob best option though.
@James M – MAN didn’t have any availably for today (though it did when I looked about two months ago). LHR/LGW had nothing too, but yes definitely an option by calling in or checking on avios.com.
69 countries!? I’m going to jealously pretend you’re counting Hawaii and Bermuda n’ shit to pad your stats!
@James K. – No Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico, or Bermuda included 😉
Anxiously awaiting your trip report as Malta has been on our radar screen for next year.
@Jane – Having a great time so far! Excited to post about it next week.
Anxiously awaiting your trip report as Malta has been on our radar screen for next year.