BA award availability
Apr 25, 2013, 4:10 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: LHR,WAW
Programs: IHG Amb,Hyatt Plat, HH Gold, SPG Gold, Best Western Diamond, Club Carlson Gold, Marriott Silver
Posts: 120
BA award availability
Anyone know what happened on ba.com with flights availability, looks all disappeared till at least mid May /At least European destination/?
Yesterday it was good availability for almost every day in beginning of May / EDI-LHR/ now all gone!
Yesterday it was good availability for almost every day in beginning of May / EDI-LHR/ now all gone!
Apr 25, 2013, 4:17 pm
#2
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: LAX
Programs: AA ExP, DL Diamond, AF Plat, AS 75K, Hertz #1 Gold, National Executive, SPG Gold
Posts: 197
on my personal observation, things have been funky on BA.com and I think it's actually their system, I've seen space disappear right before my eye all together on KVS.
Apr 27, 2013, 5:01 am
#4
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: UK
Posts: 47
I've been watching for CW seats to SEA in the last month and a lot of availability for Nov, Dec, and Jan appeared in the last two days. Might be happening with other routes?
Managed to get 64 J/K for a flight after Xmas, feels like Christmas in April!
Managed to get 64 J/K for a flight after Xmas, feels like Christmas in April!
Last edited by bookish; Apr 27, 2013 at 5:08 am
Apr 27, 2013, 5:06 am
#5
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Munich, Algarve, Sussex or S.F Bay Area
Programs: Mucci, BA Gold, A3*Gold, AA Plat, HH Gold, IHG Plat Amb, Marriott Plat
Posts: 4,158
I think it's a new strategy. TATL J availability seems to regularly open up 24-48 hours before departure. Only problem is booking before somebody else grabs it, since ba.com never works for my UUA's.
Jun 1, 2013, 4:50 pm
#7
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: dallas/london
Programs: aadvantage plt/2mm; Southwest A-pref'd; VA Gold; SPG PLT
Posts: 108
There are basically no first or club flights available for award from Dallas to London. At least on BA.com. My last four international flights were on BA club, booked with AA miles. Frankly it's a dump. I will stick with AA or other carriers.
Jun 1, 2013, 5:33 pm
#9
Join Date: Jul 1999
Location: Sacramento, CA
Programs: AA Exec Plat, Hyatt,Marriott,BA,AS
Posts: 4,423
With this almost complete lack of award availability, I have little reason to keep the Chase BA credit card. After spending $30,000 to get the companion award ticket, it's now worthless due to lack of availability.
Jun 2, 2013, 1:44 am
#11
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Munich, Algarve, Sussex or S.F Bay Area
Programs: Mucci, BA Gold, A3*Gold, AA Plat, HH Gold, IHG Plat Amb, Marriott Plat
Posts: 4,158
You need to be flexible and plan ahead. The LHR-SFO routes look better now for Jan/Feb 2014. LHR-JFK has availability most days from September 2013 onwards. Very popular routes and times have always been difficult.
I just bagged MUC LHR PVG / NRT LHR MUC in F using 2-4-1 for November. 198,000 Avios and €1,200 instead of over €20,000. I even got 2 * PVG-NRT on JAL in J for 15,000 Avios and €70 each. Also not bad for a 3 hour flight in J on a 777.
It's not bad when you do find something. Just don't try looking the same places everybody else wants to go. You have to be very early or last-minute for that. I'm sure the Europe-US availability is being completely swallowed up by the volume of Chase 100K and 2-4-1 bonus tickets being issued.
I just bagged MUC LHR PVG / NRT LHR MUC in F using 2-4-1 for November. 198,000 Avios and €1,200 instead of over €20,000. I even got 2 * PVG-NRT on JAL in J for 15,000 Avios and €70 each. Also not bad for a 3 hour flight in J on a 777.
It's not bad when you do find something. Just don't try looking the same places everybody else wants to go. You have to be very early or last-minute for that. I'm sure the Europe-US availability is being completely swallowed up by the volume of Chase 100K and 2-4-1 bonus tickets being issued.
Jun 2, 2013, 1:53 am
#12
formerly fdemoulin
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: UK
Programs: SPG Lifetime Platinum, BA Silver, Virgin Flying Club Red
Posts: 916
Sorry don't understand, did you spend 30k just to get the companion ticket?! If not surely you would have spent this amount anyway so what is the problem. With all the credit card, supermarket offers of avios, it is little wonder there is virtually no availability, even for those spending thousands with BA itself.
Jun 2, 2013, 3:41 am
#13
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Seattle, WA
Posts: 3
I've found it hard to get BA First flights from ANC > SEA > LHR, but in April 2011 finally decided to redeem AS mileage for only alternate available for the timeframe in First being ANC > IAH > LHR, and return LHR > SFO > ANC. And now April 2013 I again tried to get something out of SEA, or LAX to no avail, and ended up with alternate ANC > SFO > LHR and reverse for the return. This 2013 trip I had to use AS miles to get to SFO via LAX, then BA Avios for SFO to LHR redeemed for First using the Chase companion code for $30k spend. So at least I got something, although it wasn't easy, and it was more costly for mileage than I'd have preferred since I had to pony up to get to SFO gateway. In 2011 trip I used 140k per First seat from ANC to LHR, but this trip I had to spend 150k Avios for SFO to LHR, plus 100k for First ANC to SFO. Frustrating, but I made it for an awesome 20 day trip.
Jun 2, 2013, 9:44 am
#14
Join Date: Mar 2010
Programs: BA silver, Hyatt PLT, AA EXP, US silver, ICH RA, CO PLT
Posts: 957
Sorry don't understand, did you spend 30k just to get the companion ticket?! If not surely you would have spent this amount anyway so what is the problem. With all the credit card, supermarket offers of avios, it is little wonder there is virtually no availability, even for those spending thousands with BA itself.
Jun 2, 2013, 9:49 am
#15
Join Date: Mar 2010
Programs: BA silver, Hyatt PLT, AA EXP, US silver, ICH RA, CO PLT
Posts: 957
I am actually surprise not see more post on FT on the subject, it is a pretty clear change from a major airline with decent award. I have not spend anytime on the forum for the last 6-12 month, ft not the place to be anymore?