So, this is a bit of a weird one but no doubt could come in handy for anyone looking at a trip to the Seychelles. It’s not perfect as it starts in Bangkok but that shouldn’t be too difficult to position to for those in Australia. Even business class to Bangkok can be had pretty cheaply using AAdvantage miles, Lifemiles or United miles. If you have a stash of Qantas points you can even get there flying Emirates if you can find the award space. Otherwise, we’re spoiled for choice here in terms of low cost carriers to Asia.
Anyway, it’s a pretty amazing fare to the Seychelles.
Sri Lankan Airlines are selling return business class tickets from Bangkok to Mahe in the Seychelles for AU$1236 (about US$890) including all taxes! Pretty incredible. This fare seems to be pretty well valid throughout the calendar as long as you can find availability in (I) class. Keep in mind though, that Mihin Lanka (the carrier that operates the Colombo to Seychelles leg) only operates the route on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Also, these flights only match up with the flight from Bangkok without an overnight stop on Tuesdays. For the return journey, both Tuesdays and Saturdays have a good connection in Colombo.
The thing that makes me laugh about this fare is that it’s exactly the same price as Sri Lanka Airlines’ cheapest economy class fare for the same route. This isn’t a misload though. Well, it might be but it’s been that way for months. It really just doesn’t make any sense. Maybe it’s that uncommon a ticket for people to travel on that they’ve had a misloaded fare sitting there for months unchecked?? No idea.
Sri Lankan Airways have a reasonably solid business class product but don’t expect the same standard as Emirates or Singapore Airlines. On their A330-300 aircraft though, which they use on certain flights between Bangkok and Colombo, they have a pretty nice looking reverse herringbone business class product.
(photo from the Sri Lankan Airlines website)
Mihin Lanka is Sri Lankan’s regional subsidiary and doesn’t look very exciting.
(photo from Mihin Lanka website)
Still, all legs book on UL flight numbers and, as they’re a OneWorld carrier, you can credit the miles to Qantas, AAdvantage, BA Executive Club etc. The total mileage for a return trip is about 6700 miles and, as this fare is in (I) class, would earn 125% of miles flown with Aadvantage as well as 1.5 EQMs per mile flown.
You can also add a stopover in Colombo in one direction if that’s appealing and the only extra cost is some negligible additional taxes (about AU$40).
