Originally Posted by
rumbataz
Was desperately trying to book a redemption flight on the LHR-DXB route for ages (almost a week). The search never worked for me.
Do you mean that there was availability but you couldn't book? Or you couldn't see whether or not there was availability?
And in either case, why didn't you pick up the phone to ask and/or book?
Originally Posted by
rumbataz
Ended up booking a paid flight on Emirates for not much more than the cost of the additional taxes you pay on a BA redemption flight. Got exactly my dates, convenient outbound and return times and got my seats reserved. Saved myself 40,000 almost useless Avios.
As is routinely said here, it's normally pretty pointless using Avios on long-haul economy redemptions. You could probably have got a BA cash ticket for not much more than the TFC on a BA redemption, too. 'Twas ever thus. It's not a smart way of using Avios.