ale.penazzi

100K miles and 370 euro before avios for JFK-HKG-BKK-HKG-JFK on CX J... At the time of booking (a month in advance) the price of the ticket was a little more than 10K USD...

koshka

Being able to get on one of the very first flights out of LHR to ARN at the end of ash cloud crisis. The flexibility of being able to rebook online every time it was clear that the cloud wasn't going was priceless. It was the quietest that I ever saw T5 and I had a nice lunch at Plane Food whilst I was waiting for the flight.

leebids1

4,500 +$40, or 18,000 + $160 for four HAN- HKG on Dragonair booked last week for a March 2013 flight. Price was over $500 each on dragonair site, and overall best price was $380 in VN. Alternative using UA miles was a one stop 7hr flight for 12,500 miles each.

Edit- just notice seattle29's similar "best" post above

Thunderbirds

I'd been checking availablity for a couple of F tickets to Sydney for some months and it wasn't looking good. On the very day I received a 2-4-1 voucher I decided to check again, low and behold two tickets in March three weeks apart. I booked them immediately without telling my partner. 11 months later I flew out with my wife for a honeymoon...!

mkjr

i really wonder with the opaqueness of the new system how long it takes before some of the good short haul asia redemptions on well used business routes all of a sudden increase....the HKG - China routes on KA/CX come to mind as do the JAL...and is removing the ability to book domestic JAL flights on line some sort of way that BA screws people by making them pay an offline booking fee since there is basically no fees on most of these routes?

HIDDY

I may be completely wrong though.

LTN Phobia

You can't (or at least couldn't until recently, if they had changed it recently - last time I tried, which was a couple of months ago, I couldn't) book JL flights online using QF points either so I suspect it has more to do with the JL booking system.

HIDDY

Which confirms my previous post was drivel.

mkjr

And yet ba does not waive the fees for not being able to book on line. I do not trust them on this one and hope it is temporary. Mostly because calling baec for these flights is sheer and utter pain.

LTN Phobia

QF doesn't either. They didn't waive the offline booking fees although I explained that I could not book JL flights online (in my case the flight in question was international but the same applied to domestic anyway) and they knew it wasn't possible to do so either.

Their reason was that my being unable to book it online was because the facility for booking it online wasn't normally offered as a result of technical reasons rather than as a result of temporary failure of QF website preventing me from doing so. No waiver due to my QF status (I'm currently a QF Platinum as well as BA Gold) either.

The same applied when I couldn't book something else online due to restricted website functionality. I think it was a semi-complex itinerary involving three airlines and different classes. I was charged by QF the offline booking fee of some sort.

It is inconvenient not to be able to book it online and was a bit disappointing to have to pay, but it's one of those things that I would just roll my eyes and accept as I base my redemption flight values on cost saved (it is easy for me to do so because all of my redemptions are for things I would have paid cash to do if there had been no redemption availability) and not cost incurred. Those things simply saved me a tiny bit bit less. I can, however, see that the offline booking fees become seemingly disproportionately large if you are talking about a low value ticket like a domestic redemption.

HIDDY

A very good point.

An extra few quid when redeeming on a long haul premium cabin seat that normally costs thousands is neither here nor there. However when it's a short haul route costing say 4,500 Avios then the offline booking fee seems very unfair. Add on the cancellation fee and it becomes even sillier especially as was stated on another recent thread it's actually cheaper just to no show than to cancel.

mkjr

that is fine if you want to pay for something that should be free as do not for one second suggest my comments are beyond specifically and only directed to ba's all of a sudden inability to allow domestic JAL flights to be booked online. It is not acceptable, in my opinion, for a multi billion $ company to all of a sudden allow one thing one day and then not another. I am sorry, but I do not accept that and if you are so rich that booking fees do not bother you, well good for you. I really hope it is temporary and not some back ended way to grease the consumer after they have found that their changes to avios has now resulted in more money out to JAL and they want to try to get some sort of fee back.

Philatravelgirl

I use BA partners for redemptions in J and BA for upgrades to CW.
1. CX J to Perth with a JAL return in J from SYD to JFK
2. Prior to Avios change, got in on the IPC via Santiago and Lima on LAN J

Great thread to plan more redemptions

foofiter

I also went to IPC on pre-Avios miles. Business down and Economy back for 104,000 BA miles and around $350 USD. Not bad for 2 to go to Easter Island which is a fantastic place.

Post Avios I look at short hauls. Though I still intend to redeem for BA F at least once for the experience. I have read many great reports and want to check out the CCR at LHR. I hate the surcharges but it could be much worse.

Loving the responses here as well. Keep going guys!