tkelvin69

Mostly an AA traveler (OW emerald) so not too familiar with BA policies. I'm on an OW F award issued by AA and would like to return 1 day later. The return I'd like (NBO-LHR) is not available at the BA.com website (Thursday, Friday, or Saturday) but it seems the LHR-NBO-LHR is pretty wide open for February except a three day stretch when I want to return. Outbound was open as I was the only one in F.

In the past when calling AA for AA seats they've been receptive to requesting to open additional seats or there is hidden inventory not seen at the website. Any chance BA has something similar or if I call AA and they can request a seat not shown available at BA.com?

Thanks

FlyerTalker6245

Hmm as a BA Gold (OW Emerald) there is certainly a means of opening up V class availability but I don't know much about this.

Perhaps a gold card holder will know better than me (I'm only BA blue and as such know little about the perks for Golds)

gms

I guess there is no harm in asking, but I suspect the answer will be a simple "no". If BA want the seats to be made available for miles then their revenue management team will open them up, but I suspect they want to keep these dates free for paying customers (maybe there is a specific event happening around then?).

gms

That's only for economy class. The seats appear automatically when a Gold views availability. Not aware of any special treatment in Club or First when it comes to availability.

hbr245b

We flew last August LAX-LHR in club via MFU - I was Gold at the time of reservation and I distinctly remember the website stating that an extra redemption had been made available to accommodate my request for four seats. I'm no longer Gold so haven't seen the message recently.

clubman

Extra award availability for Golds is only in Y, and is not something you can request.
It's either there, or not.

sunrisegirl

Have a feeling this is only a perk for GGL not normal golds. I believe it's only allowed once a year but don't know any more than that. Doubt it would be extended to OW Emeralds

Thursday - Saturday are busy days on many routes and that's why no award space is available. (There NEVER is on the route I take most frequently).

Call BA if you want but I can't see any reason for them to open space.

G-BOAC

SRG - if it's got inventory for sale, V class is automatically available for redemption to Golds (if there's no X class). A perk for all Golds is the ability to pay double miles (any cabin but pure miles not MFU) on a flight where there's no award space - can be done any time (AFAIK) as long as you have the miles. The GGL perk is a once a year 'joker' where for normal miles/GUF2/MFU/whatever prices and combinations BA will open up for you a maximum of 5 seats for redemption provided no other GGLer has already used it on those flights.

Frankly, I would feel quite miffed if I learned BA's rev man was opening up award space for non-BA members to redeem non-BA miles...considering it's something they will not routinely do for BA's own loyal members (past threads on here will reveal both denials and the odd success story). However, from the OP's perspective no harm in asking - though who to ask and how to coordinate that so he can get AA to 'eat' the space (and not someone else), etc. seems a bit of a stretch.

Swanhunter

The revenue inventory to award space is an annual GGL perk. This - along with double miles option - means I doubt BA would do much with any request. Of course, no harm in asking but don't be offended by a refusal.

You might have more luck going through your home FFP if you can find someone with the right connections.

Shuttle-Bored

If only I had the right connections! Been mulling over this for a trip in August - we'll be departing ex-EDI, connecting to the 17:25 DEL flight ex-LHR in F. At present, bags of availability on the F leg to DEL (even after we've booked our seats, a further 7 remain).

But on the EDI-LHR leg, our only option is an 08:00 flight. I don't particularly fancy our chances of waking up on the morning after our civil partnership and catching a flight at that hour....

Will probably just book a flight on a separate ticket from EDI to LHR at lunchtime, and as an insurance policy, a fully cancellable ticket on BD....

OPebble

Easy peasy - just stay awake all night!