paulwuk

Not possible? I assume you were going for not impossible. I used my last 241 to SEA in F in December for a weekend away, having cancelled my SFO weekend away in Feb.

Still get stung for £1100 return though.

dpark74

I recently used a 241 to go to EZE, another difficult one. Booked outbound a year out, but had to settle for IB for return. A few weeks before departure I was able to switch to BA for the return, and not waste the 241. Took a lot of persistence (and some luck).

Just booked NRT return in F with another 241, my first F. No J available so I'm forced to experience F!

Flier74

Maybe it is just me, but so far we never had a problem using our 2-4-1 voucher and in FIRST or Club World too. Yes, it requires some work and flexibility but in the last few years we managed to use them all and in style.
Yes sometimes it causes a little diversion via another airport but yet they seemed very useful and we have great gholidays on them, just in the last 12 months we used them to HKG in First, on a skiing holiday to YVR in First and the latest addition is aBOS/JFK mini break in September, yes you guessed it in, in First
So we are happy with them

MrHeckles

Thanks - yes that's what I meant. For those who ever watched Big Train, I'm just a fat-handed t...

Sixth Freedom

They probably think that they have neither. Instead they have a profit centre that sells Avios to many customers for more revenue than the cost of buying the reward flights back from BA.

One of the customers of this profit centre is indeed BA, who offer their passengers Avios in return for flying on BA and to some extent to reward loyalty. But as we all know there are many other customers too, including supermarkets, credit card companies and other oneworld airlines.

absolutboy20

Thanks all for the very helpful information and the warm welcome to the board. I tried the trick of going forward and back a month, and it seems to pull up a few dates for me. The sweet spot seems to be nine months out.

If possible, I would like to be able to redeem on the LAX-LON route on the new A380. I was excited last month for my first 787 experience on JAL business class, but unfortunately due to the Rolls Royce engine icing issues the plane was switched out to a 767. I'm hoping I'm not going to have that issue with a switch to a 747 due to the delivery delays.

I'll keep you posted of what I eventually "cash in" on. As far as the credit card consumers into the AVIOS program, I don't know if their influence is that great compared to other programs especially for these long haul routes. I think AA's program is much more popular with very low fees and redemption points, and availability seems to be better than on BA IMHO. I believe most people are turned off by the high fees for redemption on AVIOS, which take a lot of that market out unless they are using it for short haul routes and on partner airlines with low fees. I don't think the majority of people are excited about 2-1 SFO-LON (First) with a redemption of 150,000 avios plus $2,530.00 in fees.

Tobias-UK

That's now £1200.76! uch:

WT87

in my experience, I find the financial reality of using 2for1 Amex vouchers far too depressing for flights on BA metal, out of London. The taxes/fees are extortionate.

I tend not to use mine at all and instead use my Avios to fly Cathay Pacific F & J in Asia, alone!!

Frustrating though. I currently have 3 of these vouchers and probably won't use them.

T8191

So is the 40% UK Income Tax rate, and its even worse in France I believe.

Somehow, somewhere, everyone has to make money. Government, company or individual. And somewhere in that chaos is a situation that you can live with.

I don't find the 'fees extortionate' ... they're just part of BA and UK Govt being financially viable. And if I don't want to pay them, thats my choice too.

So ... what would your 'acceptable' level of fees be? Zero obviously the preferred. And what impact does that have on the carrier's profitability, or the Governement, or the airport, or all the other little things that have to be paid for 'somehow'?

Tobias-UK

I agree Mr T, I think £600 and 75,000 Avios for a flexible first class round trip MAN-LAS is excellent value. Not a hint of extortion.

MrHeckles

75,000? Am I missing a trick?

SteveF

150,000 for two with a 2-4-1?

MrHeckles

Ah yes!

Tobias-UK

£600 plus 75,000 per ticket (with the 241).

DWB1873

I see these posts and sometimes wonder what reference points people are using to measure 'value'.

For me, I've had the Amex PP for 4 years. In that time, we have travelled to Mauritius in CW, travelled to Johannesburg twice in F and will soon be travelling to the Caribbean in CW.

If I had paid cash for these tickets, well firstly we wouldn't have gone and secondly they would have totalled around £45,000 if we had purchased them. Even travelling economy wouldn't have been a whole lot cheaper than the £1,100 fee charged each time.

There is no cashback card in existence that would match that kind of value and I have got that out of using the card as I would otherwise have done anyway. but of course, it's all how you measure value, but for me, the challenges of finding seats etc by no means outweigh the benefit I perceive I get when I do travel.

Sure, I'd love to be able to get the exact dates I want, but equally I can live with having to be flexible or dedicated. I can see though that the way the cards are marketed can perhaps lead to unrealistic expectations on redemption options.

Each to their own - I'm very happy with the results I've had.