Aug. 14, 2026 • 9 min read Jump to section Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Copy URL Email The cards we feature here are from partners who compensate us when you are approved through our site, and this may impact how or where these products appear. We don’t cover all available credit cards, but our analysis, reviews, and opinions are entirely from our editorial team. Terms apply to the offers listed on this page. Please view our advertising policy and product review methodology for more information. At the start of this week, I had no intention of trying to see the solar eclipse. London, my home of almost 20 years, was set to experience more than 90% partial coverage, and that felt good enough for me.
After an intense year of work and travel — and celebrating my 40th birthday last week — I'd put myself on a self-imposed travel ban for August. It felt like time for some rest.
Then, this past Monday afternoon, I felt some familiar tingles: the urge to escape, have an adventure and do something a bit different.
The chance to experience eclipse totality was tantalizingly close to home.
Both northern Spain and the Balearic Islands were in the path of totality and easily accessible from London. A points and miles aficionado to the bitter end, I turned to two of my favorite tools, SeatSpy and Seats.aero , to see if I could get there at the right time, on the cheap, using points.
To my amazement, despite being in the peak of British school holidays, there was plenty of availability on several ideal British Airways flights.
Then it dawned on me: What if I could get on a flight that would cross the path of totality and see the eclipse from the sky ?
One quick Google search suggested that if I could get it right, the payoff would be mind-blowing.
I poured hours of research into my first attempt and thought I had nailed it. I even made an Instagram reel encouraging others to take my selected flight to Palma de Mallorca Airport (PMI), which had wide-open award availability and, I believed, an incredible chance of seeing totality.
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Then some viewers of that reel pointed out a slight problem: I had gotten the science wrong.
Even if everything else went our way, the flight would be too far north to experience totality. I'm no astronomer, so, grateful for the advice, I went back to the drawing board to hash out a new plan.
I'm very fortunate to live with an airline pilot, and together we plotted the path of totality and analyzed three days of FlightRadar24 data, replaying flights that had crossed the right area at the right time. Then we narrowed them down to flights departing from London or nearby.
One stood out: British Airways Flight 2644 from London Gatwick Airport (LGW) to Malaga-Costa del Sol Airport (AGP).
Recent flight data showed it typically took off about an hour after its scheduled 5:10 p.m. departure — exactly the delay we needed to put us in the right place at the right time.
I nervously pulled up the British Airways website and searched for award availability .
And there it was. Wide open award availability in both economy and busin…