McLovin

This has been a particularly frustrating issue for me as it involves our honeymoon flights. First of all, there are still no F seats being offered on this route, despite rumours of 4-class birds coming down to Gatwick and picking up some of these Caribbean routes. However, the biggest issue I have is that BA have still not made any CW reward seats available on the LGW-ANU route over Christmas/New Year. I was able to secure WT reward seats on this route (out on Dec 21st, return on Jan 4th) but, despite checking every single day for the past six months, I have not been able to secure any seats in CW (or even WT+ seats).

I have spoken to EC on the Gold line about this a couple of times and they confirmed that they have not released a single CW seat on these routes over this period so far, they are however keeping an eye on this for me and will let me know if anything comes up. However, I notice that no CW seats are available to buy on the return leg now, so I guess that's game over.

Now, I appreciate that BA don't have to make reward seats available on every flight but I am really annoyed by this as we had deliberately put enough Avios aside for a pair of LH seats in F for our honeymoon and now find ourselves travelling at the back of the bus... On our honeymoon?? Now that's something we absolutely did not want to do and it has really taken the shine off what was supposed to be an absolutely perfect holiday.

So it would appear there is no hope for our honeymoon, but I thought I'd ask here anyway... So, here goes, does anybody know if there is anyone I can speak (or plead) to anywhere within BA who might be able to help us move further up the cabin on this hugely important trip? As I said, I have more than enough Avios points to spend on this!

rossmacd

Congratulations on the wedding and I hope you are looking forward to your honeymoon ^

All I can say if it is imperative that you fly in CW or F, why don't you just pay for it? As you say, it is your honeymoon and these are the types of trips that you want to make sure are perfect. Stressing over BAEC releasing reward seats is something I wouldn't want to fret over!

McLovin

Much as I'd love to, an extra £10,000 over the £30,000 I've already had to put aside for the wedding this year is just a stretch too far. I like to think that I have given BA enough business over the years to grab a couple of decent seats for our honeymoon flights. Clearly I was wrong.

jimcbob

Or pay double miles?

NEWEXP1

Unfortunately for you, cash / revenue seats trump Award tickets any and at all times over your loyalty or stash of Avios !Save on the airfare , the 'comforts of CW / F" for just a few hours and blow it on more memorable experiences on land.

BotB

Do you have enough Avois to use double to 'force' the seats in the class you want? I can't remember the name of this GCH benefit right now but as a Gold you can always use double the miles to get a seat in any class cabin I believe.

So if you can still get enough Avios or get a household account going or buy enough with a BA Amex you could still get F (not sure about CW if there are no revenue tickets left...)

Anyone else help me here with more info about this benefit?

angatol

.....

rossmacd

In your situation there are 4 factors that will require some flexibility:

• The date of travel to ANU (to secure CW/F seats on different dates)
• The destination for your honeymoon (to secure CW/F seats on another route)
• Your budget
• The cabin you travel in

With a little bit of flexibility, I am sure you can get the seats to the destination you desire

jimcbob

Gold Priority Award

T&Cs as follows:

1.This benefit is only available to Gold Executive Club members.

2.Bookings to use double Avios Points can only be made by calling your Executive Club service centre and cannot be made online.

3.Bookings must be made at least 30 days prior to date of travel.

4.Flight(s) must still have seats available for sale in the desired cabin of travel.

5.Double Avios Points may not be used in conjunction with [i] Avios & Money, [ii] Gold Upgrade for Two; or [iii] Avios for Upgrade or [iv] American Express Vouchers.

6.Only available on British Airways mainline operated flights.

7.A service fee applies.

8.Any telephone and online booking/service fees apply as detailed on ba.com.

9.Once booked, changes can be made both online and by telephone but cancellations and/or refunds must be requested by calling the service centre.

10.If the member chooses to cancel the reward flight, Executive Club terms and conditions apply.

11.Executive Club Terms and Conditions apply.

12.Reward flights are subject to applicable taxes, fees, charges and airline surcharges.

13.When you book your flight, the standard Avios Points price for a reward flight will be debited immediately; and following this the additional Avios Points will be debited from the Executive Club member's account within 21 days.

NB - it can't be used with a 2-4-1

BotB

Thanks jimcbob ^

So OP, you can still get seats in F if you have enough miles or can get them in the time remaining to you using this benefit.

Service fee (from the sticky) is £ 15.

Hope that helps or provides another option to you?

McLovin

So, given current availability, it looks like it's too late for that now. Also, just spent a chunk of Avios on a "mini-honeymoon" directly after our wedding (we get married on 25th August and wanted to get away straight after, but the Antigua trip over Christmas is the big one), so currently only have around 150,000 available. Wish I was aware of this double points option earlier...

PanGalactic

There are many ways in which you can quickly boost your stash.

Time for an app-o-rama maybe?

How far off are you?

There must be a lot of wedding expenses you could pay via various credit cards to get points and/or trigger signup bonuses.

Sixth Freedom

Would you be willing to go somewhere else? There is plenty of choice on the dates you mentioned.

On the dates you have booked you could go to any of the following destinations in CW:
* Tokyo
* Boston
* New York
* Washington
* Toronto
* Chicago

You could go to any of the following destinations in F:
* Accra
* Boston
* Chicago
* New York
* Philadelphia
* Washington
* Houston
* Los Angeles
* San Francisco
* Delhi
* Tokyo

jimcbob

Most of the flights still seem to have Club revenue availability on ba.com? (Although, for some reason, expertflyer is showing J0 for all of the flights over Christmas.) It looks like you could do 21 Dec - 5 Jan, for example.

McLovin

Okay, let me get this straight.

So far I have redeemed 100,000 points to get 2 return seats in WT. After additional recent redemptions I currently have 146,553 Avios points available.

In order to force release of CW seats I would have to pay double points, that would be 200,000 (x2) so 400,000 Avios points which means, adding the points I have to the points I've already spent I'll be 153,447 points short. That's quite a stretch.