Looking for help booking BA vacation w/ Avios
Jun 19, 2012, 5:40 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 1999
Location: Gila, NM, USA
Posts: 1,044
Looking for help booking BA vacation w/ Avios
I have over a million BA miles that I earned from using Diner's Club card. I have tried off and on to use some of the miles for a vacation for my family but never been able to find any good deals to anywhere we wanted to go that I could book on our schedule and which made sense. A couple of times I did find the F or J tix available somewhere we wanted to go, but the taxes and fees for BA travel were more than economy tickets would cost us for those routes and so paying miles and then also thousands of dollars in taxes and fees just did not sit right with me when I could just spend the dollars to fly the same route and EARN miles and status rather than spending miles.
I've earned and used millions of miles with DL, AA and other carriers but I have not had to pay what I considered terribly much to use those miles. Recently I was told that we should consider AA as the airline to use our BA miles on where the deals would be better with less tax and fees than BA, CX, QF or the other carriers we had tried to use the BA miles on. I tried to search BA.com to find tickets, but this does not seem to work. On the route I am searching this week, ELP to GCM the BA site simply gives a message stating that no BA partners currently fly that route. I think that is wrong since AA flies it. I called the BA EC # and asked for help. The agent there tried to find out why the BA site says they do not fly it, she put me on hold while she researched that but she said she does not know why. On her system she looks at she said that they DO fly the route. She said she thought I could use the AA site to look for tickets, then I could call in to BA and ask that agent to book the tix for me and to waive the fee since the website was not working. She said it was up to the discretion of each agent whether or not she would waive the fee, and that she herself would do so.
SO I looked at AA.com and sure enough I was able to find 3 tix in F/J from ELP to GCM on a date that was acceptable to me. They were offered in the low category of miles called MilesAAver at AA.com so it would be 60K miles RT per ticket and this was fine with me. I got very excited and starting thinking about calling the guys we dive with in GCM to book dives (happy to share info on that op, Indigo Divers, with anyone who wants it, they are fantastic).
But my joy was shortlived. I called BA to try and book and was told that BA had no availability on AA for this route now through end of July. I told her that AA.com showed 5 days on which there were 3 tix available in F/J for the 60K per RT fare outbound and 2 days for which they had returns available for us. The BA agent told me she had nothing! I said to her "well, when is the next day you have open to fly from ELP to GCM?" She said she could not check that, but she would check for 341 days ahead. This was yesterday, she said she checked 341 days ahead and it was already booked. She said more seats might open up this morning and that I should call in at 5:30 my time to ask for seats for 341 days in advance, I guess May 16 of next year. I said what will I do about a return? She said, "Well, you just have to take your chances on a return! If you want to stay 2 weeks in GCM then wait 2 weeks and call back again at 5:30AM to try and get it." I have a really hard time with my work to schedule 341 days out. The odds are quite high that if I do schedule it that way then I will have to cancel the trip. I did not ask if there was a fee to cancel, I probably should have. I am much better able to take last minute trips when I see an opening in my schedule. And with airlines like AA, I can see openings to get tickets on their calendar and get them and it can work out well. I used AA for travel to GCM 18 months ago and it went very well.
I am hoping that someone here who is more knowledgeable about BA can help me find a way to use my miles. Is there a process by which a traveler can petition BA or AA to open up these seats that AA has available to book for miles to be booked with BA miles? Like can I perhaps reserve them with AA, then call BA and ask that they ticket them for me for BA miles? Or what can I do? Thanks in advance for any help anyone can offer! I don't find the time to spend much time on FT any more, but I was one of the early members here and FT has done so much for me and my family over the years, I cannot even begin to express how grateful we are. So my first thought upon being frustrated with BA was probably someone at FT knows a way around this or some creative solution and to ask and check for that and I hope I am right!
I've earned and used millions of miles with DL, AA and other carriers but I have not had to pay what I considered terribly much to use those miles. Recently I was told that we should consider AA as the airline to use our BA miles on where the deals would be better with less tax and fees than BA, CX, QF or the other carriers we had tried to use the BA miles on. I tried to search BA.com to find tickets, but this does not seem to work. On the route I am searching this week, ELP to GCM the BA site simply gives a message stating that no BA partners currently fly that route. I think that is wrong since AA flies it. I called the BA EC # and asked for help. The agent there tried to find out why the BA site says they do not fly it, she put me on hold while she researched that but she said she does not know why. On her system she looks at she said that they DO fly the route. She said she thought I could use the AA site to look for tickets, then I could call in to BA and ask that agent to book the tix for me and to waive the fee since the website was not working. She said it was up to the discretion of each agent whether or not she would waive the fee, and that she herself would do so.
SO I looked at AA.com and sure enough I was able to find 3 tix in F/J from ELP to GCM on a date that was acceptable to me. They were offered in the low category of miles called MilesAAver at AA.com so it would be 60K miles RT per ticket and this was fine with me. I got very excited and starting thinking about calling the guys we dive with in GCM to book dives (happy to share info on that op, Indigo Divers, with anyone who wants it, they are fantastic).
But my joy was shortlived. I called BA to try and book and was told that BA had no availability on AA for this route now through end of July. I told her that AA.com showed 5 days on which there were 3 tix available in F/J for the 60K per RT fare outbound and 2 days for which they had returns available for us. The BA agent told me she had nothing! I said to her "well, when is the next day you have open to fly from ELP to GCM?" She said she could not check that, but she would check for 341 days ahead. This was yesterday, she said she checked 341 days ahead and it was already booked. She said more seats might open up this morning and that I should call in at 5:30 my time to ask for seats for 341 days in advance, I guess May 16 of next year. I said what will I do about a return? She said, "Well, you just have to take your chances on a return! If you want to stay 2 weeks in GCM then wait 2 weeks and call back again at 5:30AM to try and get it." I have a really hard time with my work to schedule 341 days out. The odds are quite high that if I do schedule it that way then I will have to cancel the trip. I did not ask if there was a fee to cancel, I probably should have. I am much better able to take last minute trips when I see an opening in my schedule. And with airlines like AA, I can see openings to get tickets on their calendar and get them and it can work out well. I used AA for travel to GCM 18 months ago and it went very well.
I am hoping that someone here who is more knowledgeable about BA can help me find a way to use my miles. Is there a process by which a traveler can petition BA or AA to open up these seats that AA has available to book for miles to be booked with BA miles? Like can I perhaps reserve them with AA, then call BA and ask that they ticket them for me for BA miles? Or what can I do? Thanks in advance for any help anyone can offer! I don't find the time to spend much time on FT any more, but I was one of the early members here and FT has done so much for me and my family over the years, I cannot even begin to express how grateful we are. So my first thought upon being frustrated with BA was probably someone at FT knows a way around this or some creative solution and to ask and check for that and I hope I am right!
Jun 19, 2012, 11:44 pm
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 1999
Location: Gila, NM, USA
Posts: 1,044
If you were sending me to a different part of the Points Guy site or know something that can help me further, could you post that here or PM me please?
Also, if anyone can shed light on why BA's site will say they do not fly a route that their agents say they do, I am not sure if this is part of the problem or not.
Jun 20, 2012, 1:25 am
#5
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: somewhere north of London, UK
Programs: HH Gold, BA Silver, Accor Silver
Posts: 15,245
BA taxes and fees etc are a joke. That aside however I'm surprised that you can't consider $700 plus a slug of miles (which have no value as you have so many and seem unable to spend them) for a first class return to London as a good deal???
The other aspect you might want to consider is using the points to upgrade cheap/sale BA WT+ fares (which tend to be well over 50% in taxes anyway) to business class. However given your "miles-rich" position this seems wasteful unless you're really having to chase the status (you would be awarded the usual WT+ status but travel in business).
The other aspect you might want to consider is using the points to upgrade cheap/sale BA WT+ fares (which tend to be well over 50% in taxes anyway) to business class. However given your "miles-rich" position this seems wasteful unless you're really having to chase the status (you would be awarded the usual WT+ status but travel in business).
Jun 20, 2012, 8:29 am
#6
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Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)
If ba.com is showing availability for each segment, the OP could book each segment individually on ba.com. The downsides to this strategy are:
1. There is a slight chance that by the time the first one (or two) segments have been booked, availability might have disappeared on one or more of the subsequent segments; and
2. In the event the trip has to be cancelled or the dates have to be changed, BA will impose multiple fees (since there are multiple award), rather than just one fee per passenger.
To cut down on the number of separate bookings, the OP might look to see whether ELP-MIA and MIA-ELP portions are bookable at ba.com.
Also, note that BA will charge more than 60,000 Avios for each round trip.
Originally Posted by angatol
If you look at the details of the flight on aa.com, it will show ELP-GCM as ELP-DFW-MIA-GCM. There is availability on ba.com for various dates for each of those segments, but I think you'll probably have to call BA to book them as it's too complicated for their booking engine to find that route. BA also charges per segment, so this might not be the best route to book on BA.
1. There is a slight chance that by the time the first one (or two) segments have been booked, availability might have disappeared on one or more of the subsequent segments; and
2. In the event the trip has to be cancelled or the dates have to be changed, BA will impose multiple fees (since there are multiple award), rather than just one fee per passenger.
To cut down on the number of separate bookings, the OP might look to see whether ELP-MIA and MIA-ELP portions are bookable at ba.com.
Also, note that BA will charge more than 60,000 Avios for each round trip.
Last edited by guv1976; Jun 20, 2012 at 8:30 am
Jun 20, 2012, 3:14 pm
#7
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 1999
Location: Gila, NM, USA
Posts: 1,044
Thanks for the helpful replies. I am learning here and feel like maybe making progress. Could someone tell me how much BA will charge per AA segment? I could theoretically cut down the # of segments by embarking from another airport, ABQ, PHX or TUS if any of those would have a direct flight to MIA. Not sure if any of those would actually have that on AA though. I guess I need to know how much more miles BA would charge me to know if this is even worth considering. So can someone just tell me for the 6 segment trip ELP-DFW-MIA-GCM and back how much would BA charge per First/Biz MilesAAver award ticket that AA wants 60K a ticket for? To be clear the domestic US segments are all in F and the MIA-GCM and back are in J.
The person who suggested I try and use up my BA miles on AA metal told me that a big selling point of this strategy is that BA charges LESS per trip for some trips than AA charges for those same trips. Now, obviously I have enough BA miles that if I did have to pay more BA miles than AA miles for the trip I might still do it, but I like to use them economically and so if I could get more value I would love to know how. Like, which are the AA flights that cost less with BA miles than AA miles? Is it certain destinations or length of trip or what? Since I have never gotten BA to ever actually show me any availability on their site no mileage cost has ever been displayed!
The person who suggested I try and use up my BA miles on AA metal told me that a big selling point of this strategy is that BA charges LESS per trip for some trips than AA charges for those same trips. Now, obviously I have enough BA miles that if I did have to pay more BA miles than AA miles for the trip I might still do it, but I like to use them economically and so if I could get more value I would love to know how. Like, which are the AA flights that cost less with BA miles than AA miles? Is it certain destinations or length of trip or what? Since I have never gotten BA to ever actually show me any availability on their site no mileage cost has ever been displayed!
Jun 20, 2012, 3:23 pm
#8
FlyerTalk Evangelist
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Jun 20, 2012, 3:27 pm
#9
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Join Date: Oct 1999
Location: Juneau, Alaska.
Programs: AS 75K;BA Silver;AA G;HH Dia;HY Glob
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With regard to how many Avios per segment, see:
http://www.awardguru.com/blog/?p=425
http://www.awardguru.com/blog/?p=425
Jun 20, 2012, 3:35 pm
#10
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Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)
" So can someone just tell me for the 6 segment trip ELP-DFW-MIA-GCM and back how much would BA charge per First/Biz MilesAAver award ticket that AA wants 60K a ticket for? To be clear the domestic US segments are all in F and the MIA-GCM and back are in J."
BA will charge 90,000 Avios per person for that itinerary.
" So can someone just tell me for the 6 segment trip ELP-DFW-MIA-GCM and back how much would BA charge per First/Biz MilesAAver award ticket that AA wants 60K a ticket for? To be clear the domestic US segments are all in F and the MIA-GCM and back are in J."
BA will charge 90,000 Avios per person for that itinerary.
Jun 20, 2012, 3:38 pm
#11
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: ATL
Posts: 347
Deals we like had a blog today laying out 10 good Avios Redemptions if you are interested in any of the locations and can position yourself.
http://boardingarea.com/blogs/dealsw...-avios-points/
http://boardingarea.com/blogs/dealsw...-avios-points/
Jun 20, 2012, 3:53 pm
#12
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: ATL
Posts: 347
Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)
" So can someone just tell me for the 6 segment trip ELP-DFW-MIA-GCM and back how much would BA charge per First/Biz MilesAAver award ticket that AA wants 60K a ticket for? To be clear the domestic US segments are all in F and the MIA-GCM and back are in J."
BA will charge 90,000 Avios per person for that itinerary.
" So can someone just tell me for the 6 segment trip ELP-DFW-MIA-GCM and back how much would BA charge per First/Biz MilesAAver award ticket that AA wants 60K a ticket for? To be clear the domestic US segments are all in F and the MIA-GCM and back are in J."
BA will charge 90,000 Avios per person for that itinerary.
https://www.britishairways.com/trave...s#CalculatePod
0-650 miles is 4500
651-1150 is 7500
and so on there are charts on the googles that show this.
The calc above will determine points per segment. Business clas is double economy rates, and First is triple.
Jun 20, 2012, 4:55 pm
#13
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 1999
Location: Gila, NM, USA
Posts: 1,044
So I did an individual segment, then I got: "Sorry, this journey is flown by British Airways and a partner airline. Please try again and search for the individual flights that make up the journey" in big red letters. It seems like they try and make the website as hopelessly unhelpful as possible!
So then I did ELP-DFW in first, it showed 13,500 Avios
DFW-MIA in F 22,500
MIA-GCM in J 9,000
So, yes, 90,000 Avios RT as Guv1976 said, thanks Guv!
So the MIA to GCM seems like a really good deal. It almost makes sense to buy tix to MIA on AA and earn miles for that portion then spend Avios from MIA to GCM.
All segments said the cost in Avios then "$ 0.00 + taxes, fees, charges and surcharges" so is that correct that they charge no dollars at all on AA flights? That is great!
Thanks to everyone who replied and helped, I really appreciate it. I wish their website was more like AA's but I am just grateful for all the help from FT'ers and hoping I will find something that makes sense to book and can be booked here soon!
Jun 20, 2012, 5:01 pm
#14
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 1999
Location: Gila, NM, USA
Posts: 1,044
Deals we like had a blog today laying out 10 good Avios Redemptions if you are interested in any of the locations and can position yourself.
http://boardingarea.com/blogs/dealsw...-avios-points/
http://boardingarea.com/blogs/dealsw...-avios-points/
Jun 20, 2012, 5:49 pm
#15
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: ATL
Posts: 347
Aviator, thank you very, very much for this helpful link. I've read this and bookmarked it and if nothing else I have family who live in Boston who could probably use a trip to Ireland or Spain with my miles and these just seem like super deals all around. This is exactly the kind of help I was hoping for here and I am very grateful!