I did this promo and recall figuring out how I would need 50k to fly to EU because looming changes would make this so. It did and some people who only got 40 now realized how and why the BA marketing worked on them: With 40k and 10k needed to fly, you had vested interest in shoring up the account, doing biz with BA and thus, making all of this worth their while.
But I had done 5 jag certs and thought I was ahead of the game by having just enough for the new 2003 requirements for a free ticket to Europe (remember when it was 40k on this and many airlines?)
Anyway, on countless planned trips overseas, whether on my own or with my wife, I have always flirted with the use of this award because we go to Holland to visit family often. Probably not gonna happen and here is why:
1) from BOS to LHR, 99.99999% of all "free" BA awards of this class will force me to leave at night from Logan and then get to London just after the last plane leaves for mainland Europe. All of this, of course, if you can even GET an award booking availability when you want to. NOT!
2) this requires a stayover in London which, although that might be nice if you are planning business or leisure there, is not something we have on the radar of travel money and timeframe planning in our rather busy lives.
Such a stayover has a significant cost to it, and if I lived in Holland, I'd be home now...
3) taxes for the flight to LHR are much higher than those of other airlines and we still aint in Holland! In fact, to get to Holland from England is about 1hr as the crow flies and frankly, he can do it a bit faster! I have been stuck in LHR for many a visit in my past and dont particularly like the place all that much. To have to be so close to our destination and yet so far is a bit of a pain.
Ok, so maybe we should just enjoy the place a while and see something we have not seen, thereby making it worth it.
Well, I would rather send a friend but you cannot without doing some tricky administrative tactics to make them part of the household award scheme this set of miles is all about.
I have thought of using the miles to fly here on some partner trip, but they take so much in loss that it is shameful. Sure, I could lose them all anyway, and if I dont act fast I very well may, but these are 50k miles that I wish I could trade in the CC for something more worth while for my current uses.
If anyone's got any fun ideas, let me know! Good promo, cost me nothing, but sort of a what I call an "award+mile tease" to me after all, I'd say. I mean, I suppose I might be able to utilize these for some EU fllights or something but I wasnt planning to spend the coin on a second flight to Europe if the trip was to be my wife and I flying together. We have limited time and the only times of the year I have really seen availabilty to travel based on our specific needs, it is almost cheaper to pay for a ticket. In any event, we often use our miles from other programs to fly direct or thru the one US city we are comfortable with connecting in on an airline we have status on. I fear that even if there is another year plus left on this account for me, I will never really use the BA 50k!
MM