Yes to all questions :)

Only you can answer this one really. A US direct transcon or Caribbean trip may be better value than an EI flight to Ireland.

Is that really right? Does that mean if I have a travel agent booking with the outward and return legs two weeks apart I have next to no chance of getting an upgrade on the return?

Redemption help...
 

I have never redeemed with BA - I used to redeem regulary with BMI through the diamond club. I have read through this guide and i think i have a fair grasp of how to do my first redemption.

I have also used credit cards and tesco to build up points - i will have a 2-4-1 ticket soon. I have approx 500K Avios

I am planning to go to South America and/or Japan and the far east for one of our hols this year - but the 'value' looks terriable (maybe to used to BMI...?)

Even with a 2-4-1 the cost to Brazil in F is £2000+ and 180,000 Miles for two people. i.e no 2-4-1 would be 360,000 +£2000+ to go toBrazil :eek::eek:

Any suggestions for 'good value' redemptions im missing....

What do you have in mind by "good value"? Getting the most distance out of a certain amount of Avios, or paying less in taxes, fees, and charges? Or something else again?

Unfortunately if comparing with BD, you may find it hard to get something you would consider good value!

I suppose good value is four points...

The furthest distance, for the least miles in the highest class with the lowest fees.

Appreciating that some of these parameters are set. i.e. Class and the miles are in bands that leaves distance and fees.

So as you correctly point out, i am looking for relative good value for fees and distance (+ of course the fact there is something worth going to that place for... preferably far east japan and south america.)

I must admit i am a little surprised at the redemption rates i have been redeeming on BD (star alliance) for 3/4yrs + .... maybe im just not used to it.

Swings and roundabouts. Some redemptions on BA are great value against Star Alliance, others are not. A business return from LON to Germany, for example, would be 18k Avios plus about £50. The same on LH would be 45k miles and around £120.

BA redemptions using UUA offer about the best value, but it will always depend on your situation.

The award bucket and RFS tables have been updated to include Malaysia Airline redemption buckets and the current cash add-ons applicable to RFS tickets

i';m trying to book flights on AA w/ avios
why is it that the inventory that i see on BA's site is VASTLY more limited than what AA showings on their site?
i'd see almost wide open availability on aa.com and like barely any that it is available via Avios

same problem here ! Using my treasure of Avios on domestic AA flights as I simply cannot see the value in paying the humongous fees and Yqs. Let's hope wiser counsel prevails and they do away with it.

Need some help. Thought I would ask before calling BA.
I have booked HKG - VVO (Vladivostok, Russia) on S7 before using BA website. However, when I try to do the same today, it does not recognize the airport VVO. Does anyone know if BA cut ties with S7?

I'm after some help which I imagine someone will have a quick answer to, regarding booking 4 RFS tickets.

It will be my brother and I, and our non BAEC GF's.

We both want to use our own avios to cover each couple (i.e. I cover my girlfriend and I, and he likewise) but I'd like to have them on the one booking so I can select all 4 seats well in advance as silver, but I'm guessing you can't take avios from two different accounts to make a booking. Is there a way to merge them afterward?

I have enough avios to cover booking the four of us but we'd rather spend separately.

It's not a major issue - but thought I may as well ask the experts if there are other ways around it?

Avios bookings can only use the inventory of MilesAAver awards. What you are probably seeing on AA is AAnytime awards.
I think paying £700 instead of £4700 for a roundtrip in business class isn't bad value myself. And upgrading using Avios can often be better again. YQ is here to stay an expect.
Website crap. Pick up the phone.
A merger like this is sort of available to gold members, but that's no use to you. You aren't eligible for a household account. You could transfer the Avios from your brother's account to yours, but the transfer fee is silly. Just book them all from your account and get your brother to book your next equivalent reward flight from his.

AA has two types of awards, MileSAAver and AAnytime. The former is the availability other OneWorld partners get (including BA), the latter is AA only and is double the mileage. MileSAAver is a lot more limited than AAnytime (which I think can be used for any non full flight).

[QUOTE=stifle;20309774]Avios bookings can only use the
< SNIPPED >
I think paying £700 instead of £4700 for a roundtrip in business class isn't bad value myself. And upgrading using Avios can often be better again. YQ is here to stay an expect.

Yes but if I can get the same value without spending most of the 700 GBP, why not ?

Alas, you may be right re staying power of the YQ. Bet it does fatten up the bottom line. Only two ways for it to go: Eithier others climb on the bandwagon or they steal a lot of business from BA.