At the start of the week, I had no plans to chase the solar eclipse. I live in London and the forecast promised more than 90 percent partial coverage — good enough, I thought. After a hectic year of work and travel and a quiet celebration for my 40th birthday, I’d put myself on a mini travel ban for August and was ready to rest.
Then Monday afternoon, the familiar itch returned: the urge to escape, try something different and have an adventure. The path of totality was tantalizingly close — northern Spain and the Balearics would experience totality and were easily reachable from London. As a points-and-miles nerd, I opened my usual tools to hunt for a bargain and a chance at seeing totality.
At first I thought I’d found the right flight to Palma de Mallorca. I even posted an Instagram reel recommending it, only to be corrected by viewers: my timing was off and that flight would miss totality. I’m no astronomer, so I went back to the drawing board, this time with better data and better help. I’m fortunate to live with an airline pilot, so together we mapped the path of totality, replayed several days of flight tracks and focused on departures from London.
One flight kept popping up: British Airways 2644 from Gatwick to Malaga. Recent patterns showed it usually pushed back about an hour after its scheduled 5:10 p.m. departure — just the delay we needed to place us in the right spot at the right time.
Award space was wide open. I booked a window seat on the west-facing side for 14,000 Avios plus 2.50 pounds in taxes and fees — roughly three dollars out of pocket. My Club Gold status let me pick the perfect seat for free. Satisfied, I went to bed and hoped the rest would fall into place.
On the day, we took the train to Gatwick. Security was quiet, and we even had time for a quick bite before heading to the gate. Boarding started later than scheduled, which I secretly welcomed. A few more minor delays on the ground continued to push our takeoff toward the ideal window.
We finally pushed back and joined a queue of aircraft awaiting departure. When we got airborne a little after 6 p.m., I kept watching the sun through my solar-protective glasses as the moon slowly ate into its disk. Only a handful of people on board seemed aware there was a real chance we’d see full totality; our paper sunglasses attracted attention and were loaned around as people peered out the windows.
About 40 minutes after takeoff the captain made an announcement. He’d been tracking the eclipse and believed our route and timing would carry us through the moon’s shadow at just the right moment. He described the rare opportunity we had: to witness the lunar shadow sweep across the Earth below and to experience totality from 35,000 feet.
When the shadow raced across the surface, the cabin’s energy changed instantly. Darkness fell over a narrow swath of land beneath us and for a handful of seconds the plane was wrapped in that eerie, deep twilight. The cabin went silent, then erupted into gasps and cheers. Faces around me were awestruck.
I grabbed my cameras and tried to capture the moment, but I also made sure to stop and simply look. Totality lasted roughly 90 seconds — long enough to feel otherworldly, brief enough to leave me wanting more. The classic “diamond ring” appeared as a sliver of sunlight reemerged, and the hum of excited conversation returned. Strangers swapped photos, AirDrop was put to good use, and new friendships began in those heady minutes.
The spectacle didn’t end there. On our approach into Malaga we watched a dramatic partial-eclipse sunset during the final minutes of the flight, a lingering encore to what we’d just seen from above.
Luck certainly helped: the flight’s usual delay, the captain’s routing, clear skies in the right place at the right time. But that luck was engineered in part by research, planning and a tiny outlay of cash. For 14,000 Avios and about three dollars, I got a front-row seat to one of nature’s most dramatic shows from a perspective few ever experience.
I came home tired, exhilarated and already thinking about the next eclipse adventure.