MFtraveler

I've was looking to book a ticket this fall to London on British Airways using my AS miles and was surprised to see that the award booking was a considerably higher cost. Have others seen this issue?

For context, when I tried to book an award flight via Alaska the total price amounted to 65K miles + $812. The same exact itinerary booked on BA as a revenue fare is $822.

Is this common practice? Seems pretty questionable to charge someone the cost of the normal fare on top of additional miles.

frankvb

Assuming this is a Y booking, I'm not surprised at all as the actual BA fare could even be $10 or so. The $400 YQ is the problem here (and the fact that you still have to pay it when booking using miles).

Actually what is even worse is that AS charges $540 YQ which is higher than the revenue booking. That is unusual as it should be $400. But even if it was $400, Y long-haul reward bookings on BA are a particularly bad use of AS miles. Probably the only exception would be if you need a fully refundable ticket as (for revenue) those will cost easily more than double the nonrefundable fare.

ft543

This is par for the course with BA awards originating from the US. Between APD and "carrier imposed charges," BA awards are typically a poor value.

I think originating from the EU cuts down on the carrier imposed charges, and APD can be avoided if you transit LHR for less than 24 hours, or start/end from INV or ABZ.

notquiteaff

Yeah, and the revenue ticket would actually earn you some miles (RDM and EQM).

As others have said, BA redemptions are usually a bad choice. Supposedly if you have Cathay Pacific miles (or can transfer to their program from Amex), your copay is lower, but I have no personal experience with that.

Flying for Fun

What is the route? Cabin class? Are you flying beyond LHR? If so, is it a layover or a stopover? A BA 65K redemption is usually a business class award. Are you saying the revenue flight is also business class. More information is needed to ensure we are comparing apples with apples.

James

MFtraveler

SFO > LHR, economy for both the award and revenue fare. Exact same cabin class for each.

Flying for Fun

Would you share the date you are seeing a 65K economy award on BA? I haven't seen a Y award on BA NA-EU over 50K. Fees and taxes should be ~$310 on a Y award redemption.

Nonetheless, BA redemptions are extremely poor value NA-EU. An AA award would be 22.5K non-peak & 30K peak with minimal taxes. Alternatively, AS will market AAs flight close to the fees & taxes of the BA award and you would earn 100% EQN in Mileage Plan.

James

blitzen

BA already has high costs but Alaska somehow finds it in their heart to make teh charge even higher .... if you can find the same flight on Cathay miles you usually pay less surcharges.

frankvb

I assume the OP priced up a Y return looking at UK APD among the fees (and otherwise the revenue fare would be extortionate - actually using miles on a one-way is great use of them).

And as per another post, if booking on miles on BA, always book two one-ways as the fuel surcharge will be much lower ex-EU/UK.

xliioper

OP is looking at a roundtrip award, not one-way. Note that there is both US departure and arrival taxes on trip (indicating roundtrip booking). As far as "correct" carrier surcharge, there is nothing that binds carrier surcharge rates on revenue fares to the BA surcharge rates on AS award ticket bookings. In this case, BA is charging $270 each way on coach awards (vs. $200 each-way on coach revenue fares). While it doesn't seem fair, it's just the way it is. The only real solution is to avoid BA metal flights.

Note that ordinarily on awards without carrier surcharges, the $21 US departure/arrival taxes are waived by US because the awards are considered so-called "zero fare" tickets (due to an IRS ruling). However, the BA surcharges means the awards are no longer considered zero fare tickets which triggers the $21 US arrival/departure taxes on award. Another reason to avoid awards on BA metal.

Flying for Fun

Thanks for the clarification. I missed that it was a return ticket. 65K miles triggered a one-way J award.

For September 9th-16th AS is marketing AS/AA SFO-SEA-LHR return. Base fare is $271, YQ is $400. With all fees & taxes included, the outlay is $936.95 return. It earns 10,956 EQM/RDM + any Elite bonus as RDM.

I believe avoiding BA metal flights is the best option. This itinerary for a 75K or 100K Elite would generate enough RDM for another one-way SFO-LHR, off-season award + $19. Even if you don't have AS Elite Status, usiing 65K MP miles + ~$800 seems to be such a waste in my opinion.


SFO-SEA-LHR return September 9th-16th. AS marketed.

James

MFtraveler

Thanks for all the replies. Yes, the award fare I looked up was for a RT ticket — 11/21-27 to be exact but can also be flexible +/- a few days before/after that window (SFO > LHR).

From all I am taking in, it sounds like generally BA award flights via AS are not a great use of miles and not a good deal. It looks like I will be better off purchasing my ticket via BA or AA (or some other One World airlines) and just earning miles for the trip. I am currently MVP Gold (and just hit Gold for next year with my last flight, so have so time to get back to the 75K tier I miss so much). It's unfortunate that award travel is significantly more via BA, but it sounds like this is pretty standard and cannot be avoided.

Flying for Fun

Please be aware that booking directly with AA or BA will earn significantly less in Mileage Plan. Deep discount Main Cabin fares will earn 25% of the flown distance as your base (EQM) If you purchase an AA itinerary marketed by AS, it will earn 100% EQM. In my Prior example, the AS marketed flights earned 10,956 EQM. If it was AA marketed, it would earn 3,400 EQM. (SFO-SEA-SFO, 500 EQM minimum each way, 2 × 500 = 1,000, SEA-LHR-SEA 4,800 miles each way × 25%, 1200 × 2 = 2,400 miles)

James

MFtraveler

Agree it's not the smartest way to go about booking to earn miles but given how short the trip is, I don't know that we want to lose more time (or risk delays) due to connecting flights. Definitely something to consider though before we book.

PDXPremier

I would use AS miles to book AA flights to LHR....it should be 22.5K each way that time of year which is a great use of miles, especially if you include your "free stopover"....avoid BA at all costs if you can. From SFO, you could catch one of the multiple non-stop flights on AA from LAX-LHR after a quick flight from SFO. I used 22.5K AS miles for KOA-PDX (1.5 month stopover)-LAX-LHR....about $20 in taxes (for that direction which is the cheaper direction in terms of taxes).