Destination Guadeloupe from UK any reward flight pointers?

[Sudz74]

Excuse my naivety having been a vanilla BA Avios booker up to now. Have got it into my head that I want to go to Guadeloupe early next year. Realise it will almost certainly need to be via Paris and keen to keep costs as low as possible. Very happy to go Economy but (along with everyone and his mother) would like to travel the return night flight in a bit more comfort if possible.

Would be happy to overnight in Paris to go with one of the low(er) cost carriers out of Orly. As we’re in the south-east corner of the country I’m probably happier doing Eurostar than starting journey from LHR with AF. However, have been trying to get to the bottom of Air France reward flights but can’t find much information. Does there exist reward flight tables? Are point upgrades a possibility? At Amex points 1,000 to 750 points exchange I can’t see me having more than 100,000 or so points available anytime soon so perhaps it’s a non starter unless upgrades on points are good value(for 2). Any pointers much appreciated.

I believe I could still status match to Flying Blue from BA Silver which might give some extra benefit with AF.

[NorthernLass]

This and related articles and threads might be helpful:

https://www.headforpoints.com/2024/09/12/how-to-redeem-virgin-points-on-skyteam-flights-virgin-redemption-university-4/

From what I’ve read on here it can be a bit hit and miss with AF redemptions and necessitates calling Virgin and asking about availability.

For stating in Paris, that’s going to be one of the easiest/cheapest positioning journeys to do, loads of options.

[Gagravarr]

Could you go sooner? There’s an AA sale on at the moment to the Caribbean, you can get LHR – MIA – PTP in business for £2080 return over the summer. That’s a regular cash fare, no avios needed, but you’ll earn a moderate amount of avios and BA tier points from the flights.

Price jumps up after August though

[NorthernLass]

If you don’t mind going via the US or Canada, there are options from Miami and Montreal. You might be lucky and find avios seats on AA, as well.

[Sudz74]

Thanks for the replies. Heart set on a (UK) winter escape unfortunately. Had ruled out Toronto as it added lots of extra travel time and weather not very conducive to a short stop over – would need an alternative wardrobe. Will revisit possible Miami routing on the return.