BA limiting the number of awards available to AAdvantage (and other partners)
Nov 8, 2023, 12:55 pm
#31
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Thousand Oaks, Ca., USA
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I heard that BA awards now base surcharge based on address, not origin.
if so, makes the surcharges higher for US fliers.
on US-LHR, is there a price differential booking through AA vs BA?
if so, makes the surcharges higher for US fliers.
on US-LHR, is there a price differential booking through AA vs BA?
Nov 8, 2023, 1:11 pm
#32
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Nov 8, 2023, 6:33 pm
#34
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 1,710
You are correct BAEC now prices surcharges by your BAEC address on file and not origin. While it is always worth checking all permutations for a specific booking, in general ex-US one way or round trip should have similar surcharges on BA whether booked BAEC or AA. It is when you are booking one ways from some other place to US that BAEC may have higher surcharges than AA. Not sure about entirely outside of US as I haven't done that with Avios since the changes.
Nov 9, 2023, 11:22 am
#36
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 1,710
If Gary from VFTW is right it sounds like this was a surprise to AA. I suspect AA got them to back off of this at least for moment.
Nov 9, 2023, 11:36 am
#37
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Given AA's award ticketing window is 330 days vs 355 for BA, I'm not sure this change would have really made that significant of a difference though.
Nov 9, 2023, 11:42 am
#38
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Could be. Let's not forget that AA is the gorilla in the room here. They are a huge airline and a significant amount of BA's business comes from AAdvantage members.
Nov 10, 2023, 3:35 am
#39
Join Date: May 2022
Programs: AA
Posts: 24
You might recall I had raised this issue a few weeks ago that around pre 10/25, there seemed to be plenty of inventory for June from Greece to US then it all disappeared overnight. I had procrastinated to much...
Thanks to you, I just went in and while not back to the same level, there were a bunch of options and I did not hesitate this time...even miler saver B class awards were back vs AA at 400K ea!
On the point of awards ticketing surcharges, I booked 5 award tix Athens to Boston (via LHR) with a surcharge of $395/ea. That wiped out the inventory but I needed 1 more so I paid cash for the ATH/LHR leg on BA and then miles for the LHR/BOS leg.
That portion was avail in Biz at same award level cost as the 5 complete bookings yet the surcharge was $695!!
Go figure but who cares.....I got 6 Biz class tickets for around 250K miles and $2700 total on the exact dates/place I wanted....
Nov 10, 2023, 7:18 am
#41
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 1,710
Your booking from LHR originated in the UK so you were hit with UK APD tax which is why that booking had a higher surcharge/taxes payment. I have seen mention that you can request a refund after traveling if you can prove you weren't in the UK for 24 hours. So you might want to research that (I have heard mixed things on success doing this). Also I assume since you are on FT you understand the risks and complications of separate tickets?
Nov 10, 2023, 12:20 pm
#42
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Sao Paulo, Brazil and Porto, Portugal
Programs: AA Executive Platinum, LH FTL, FB Gold, LATAM Black Signature
Posts: 554
QF was always stingy, now lately QR, IB and BA joined the club.
The downside is worse for AA as they are the only one with strictly dynamic pricing. GRU-MIA for 300k R/T? I will pass….
Nov 10, 2023, 1:07 pm
#43
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On the point of awards ticketing surcharges, I booked 5 award tix Athens to Boston (via LHR) with a surcharge of $395/ea. That wiped out the inventory but I needed 1 more so I paid cash for the ATH/LHR leg on BA and then miles for the LHR/BOS leg.
That portion was avail in Biz at same award level cost as the 5 complete bookings yet the surcharge was $695!!
Go figure but who cares.....I got 6 Biz class tickets for around 250K miles and $2700 total on the exact dates/place I wanted....
That portion was avail in Biz at same award level cost as the 5 complete bookings yet the surcharge was $695!!
Go figure but who cares.....I got 6 Biz class tickets for around 250K miles and $2700 total on the exact dates/place I wanted....
Nov 12, 2023, 11:21 am
#44
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Kamuela, Hawaii
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In response to a question earlier in the thread, last month I booked a September 2024 flight from LHR to SAN. On BA, I would have needed 200K for a club ticket; via AA, it was 117.5.
Nov 12, 2023, 11:54 am
#45
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BA Business Class award tickets between the U.S. and Europe booked with AAdvantage miles cost exactly 57.5K AAdvantage miles each way. Perhaps you paid 115K for the roundtrip?