British Airways Avios Peak 2023 analysis

British Airways have now released their peak / off peak dates for 2023 - as covered on Head For Points

Last year I explained BA's big shift, away focusing their peak days around holiday months, to now focus on weekends in shoulder months - whilst keeping roughly the same number of peak days

For 2023 British Airways have continued the weekend (peak) / weekday (off peak) split

Firstly the total peak days peak year:

2020  138
2021  138
2022  140
2023  139

In a world of points inflation - there's nothing much to complain about here!

Now looking month by month - here is the confirmation that last year's move to reduce peak days in July & August, and shift them to the rest of the year, has been maintained

In 2023 most months only change by one or two days - with April being the only month to change by three days:

And then there's the day of the week view

Last year's shift towards more weekend days being peak continues - with 33 Sundays and 34 Saturdays in 2023 requiring extra Avios for redemptions

At the other end - just 8 Tuesdays and 5 Wednesdays in 2023 are classed as peak

Last year I concluded by saying:

So if you can fly midweek in the Summer, you should be happy with the 2022 British Airways Avios calendar

But if you like weekend flights, or getting away in June, then you need to budget for some extra Avios in 2022

That analysis holds for 2023 as well

ischgl

i'm thinking of going to Ischgl for some skiing in January 2012 ...

the best value package holiday seems to be with Inghams for 602 gbp, which departs on a saturday, via Innsbruck ... or for 29 quid extra you could fly with BA, and with the evening departure on the way back, might get an extra morning's skiing (depending on the timing of the bus transfer to the airport) ...

alternatively, to be guaranteed an extra day's skiing, you could do your own package ...

accommodation

there isn't a great choice of accommodation that can be booked online through the town's website (unlike St Anton) ... but they do have a large number of B&Bs, it just seems that you have to contact them directly. their accommodation brochure lists Frühstückspensions from page 36 onwards (ÜF means Bed and Breakfast and HB is half board) and the map grid (planquadrat) helps to find the property - each street/house number combo is highlighted on the town map. to stay in the town itself, ignore all properties with a village name in brackets after the property name (Mathon, Versahl etc.)

one of the good options looks to be Bergfrieden which has 7 twin rooms and is located on the eastern side of town, about 10 mins walk from one of the gondolas, and a few minutes further to another gondola - which goes up to a different part of the ski area. prices start from about 35 euro per person per night ...

travel

the closest airport is INNsbruck, and Easyjet have return flights for around 191 gbp (including 1 piece of luggage). the resort isn't easy to access by train, but is possible with a bus into Innsbruck central station, a train to Landeck-Zams, and then a postbus up to Ischgl - total time would be about two and a half hours. the train part costs around 30 eur return, the postbus presumably another 10 eur each way, and the bus/taxi into Innsbruck station something similar ...

there doesn't seem to be any direct transfer buses, and the 100km journey by taxi for up to 4 people would be 300 eur or 320 eur return, or for up to 8 people it would be 382 eur return ...

another alternative is to fly to Allgäu airport (that well known hub) for 130 gbp (including the cost of a 15kg bag and the rip off credit card fee) from Stansted (dep just after midday) with Ryanair. the journey to Ischgl is about 200km - the 60 quid saving on the flight, could well be eaten up by the double distrance transfer ...

another option is to fly to ZuRicH - flights available from 98 gbp with Easyjet (a bit cheaper to fly back to LUTon) - the 3 hour train (approx 51 gbp) connection to Landeck-Zams (arr 19:21) would be too late for the last postbus up to Ischgl so would require a taxi 68 eur taxi. earlier flights with BA would be 150 gbp (cheaper available for horribly early departures) - so better to get the taxi up the valley ...

DIY price

so the total price (including an extra night's accommodation) via Zurich would be about 440 gbp (assuming the local taxi was shared between 3 pax) ...

flying via Innsbruck and got 4 people sharing a transfer the cost would be very similar to the long winded bus/train/bus option (even cheaper if there were up to eight in a minibus transfer) - and the total price including flights and accommodation would be around 500 gbp ...

Final Thoughts

if there were 4 or more people to share the transfer - Innsbruck seems like the best choice, or if there were just a couple of people, Zurich sounds fine !

a weekend in Sighisoara ...

am looking to go to Sighisoara in Romania from London for the 2nd May bank holiday weekend ...


one option is to fly to Bucharest and drive [the 300km] to Sighisoara ... the best flight option is an 08:00 departure on Sat 23rd from LUTon with WizzAir for 91 gbp, with a return departure to LHR at 17:05 on Mon 25th with BA for 132 gbp ...

a closer option is Cluj - just 150km from Sighisoara ... but there are no direct flights that weekend ... so the best option would be an LH departure from LHR at 06:05 via MUC, arriving in CLJ at midday for 164 gbp ... with a return departure at 18:00 again via MUC, arriving into LHR at 22:20 for 164 gbp ...

there is a direct departure on friday at 08:10 from LUTon with WizzAir for 136 gbp ...

london - johannesburg ...

looking to fly to Johannesburg, departing London around Fri 13th Apr ... and departing Johannesburg around Saturday 5th May ...

travelocity.co.uk have Kenya Airways for 444 gpb, but the return flight leaves early morning, arriving into London early morning ...

expedia.co.uk have AirFrance/KLM flights for 461 gbp, but the outbound flight leaves london early morning ... they also have Emirates flights for 487 gpb ... and DIRECT flights with SAA for 637 gbp ...

opodo.co.uk have Air France flights for 491 gbp ...

ebookers.co.uk have Kenya Airways for 452 gbp, and Emirates for 486 gbp ... SAA for 627 gbp, Virgin for 645 gpb, and BA for 655 gbp

majortravel.co.uk have KLM flights for 515 gbp ... and no availability on any other fares ...

traveljungle.co.uk have Kenya Airways and Emirates flight for similar prices, and Iberia for 468 gbp ...

trabber.com doesn't have any other fares ...


flysaa.com have flights for 617 gbp ...

virginatlantic.com have flights for 645 gbp ...

ba.com have flights for 1,127 gbp ...

dublin - johannesburg

looking to fly to Johannesburg, departing Dublin on Sat 14th Apr ... and departing Johannesburg on Saturday 5th May ...
travelocity.co.uk have AirFrance flights for 455 gbp

opodo.co.uk have KLM/AirFrance flights for 521 gbp

expedia.co.uk have KLM/AirFrance flights for the same price

ebookers.ie have BA flights for 816 eur

majortravel.co.uk does not have availability on any of its fares