Originally Posted by
audi321
Is there a way to 'buy' myself into Gold?
No, the only way to get it is by flying and earning Tier Points (status points) which you get alongside Avios points (miles).
BA do not normally status match either, however they made a VERY rare exception with bmi members if you are Gold in bmi diamond club, they will match you to BA Gold.
If you were bmi Silver they will match you to BA Silver, which is also very good and worth doing, but doesnt get you the occasionally gold extra seat (golds do NOT get them on every flight, needs availability to be open in a certian bucket).
If you were not Gold or Silver in bmi, sadly there is no other way currently other than flying.
I have 25000 points and so does my wife.
Not an insignificant sum.
I read that we can 'transfer' points to each other, so does 50000 points get me anywhere close?
What you have here are Avios points (i.e. 'miles' for spending, "destinaitons miles' in bmi terminology"). These have nothing to do with getting status, you need Tier Points ('Status miles' in bmi speak). See the forum sitcky threads at the top of the BAEC section here for a full guide to BAEC and how it works.
NOTE: You can pay to transfer miles to other members, however doing this is VERY poor value for money due to the fee charged.
BAEC has the concept of setting up 'household accounts' (HHA), which is linking of a number of separate BAEC accounts. Each account has its own balance, but there is also a 'household balance' which is the combined total of all the household members added together, any member can spend up to the combined total. Miles are deducted in a prorated fashion.
NOTE: If your BAEC account is NOT part of HHA, then you can spend your Avios on yourself, or ANYONE else. If you are part of a HHA, then any member can spend up to the combined total on themselves and/or other members of the HHA, you can not spend it on people who are not part of your HHA.
Regards them releasing more 'normal' avios seats, is this likely?
Certianly very possible.
If so, when do they normally do it?
They might do it at any time from now until departure. There certainly can be activity in the run up to departure, but of course cash seats get more expensive, giving you a problem if you wait for it and it does not appear. But it could happen any time.
Is it a case of checking daily?
Look at awardnexus which you can singup for as a FT member, this should let you automate the search if you want. Or just diarise it and do it daily/weekly.
I would try to search at different times of the day and days of the week. It is not unheard of for availability to change over the course of a working week, etc. I.e. weekends vs 9-5 M-F etc.