Enhancements to Avios booking functionality on ba.com
Aug 7, 2013, 1:29 am
#46
Ambassador, British Airways; FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Leeds, UK
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, GfL, HH Diamond
Posts: 42,958
I think the open-jaw problem comes in to play more where you are doing a cash + avios booking rather than a straight avios booking. Booking two one ways is not usually an option as the one way fares are very high. I know you can do it on the phone, but it would be nice to be able to do it online.
Aug 7, 2013, 1:43 am
#47
Join Date: Oct 2009
Posts: 5,041
Aug 7, 2013, 2:05 am
#48
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: KUO
Programs: BA Gold, HH Diamond
Posts: 447
Seems like the system isn't able to show many Finnair's european routes anymore, I get error:
Few routes show up, like HEL-CPH, but many that I checked I get the error above, like HEL-ARN, HEL-FRA,HEL-CDG etc...
(And some routes like HEL-KUO it just doesn't show never any availability online, the BA call centre can see the availability - this is already known fault, pity that it didn't get fixed with this update)
Unfortunately our systems are not responding, so we are unable to process your request at the moment.
We apologise for this inconvenience and suggest you try again later.
We apologise for this inconvenience and suggest you try again later.
(And some routes like HEL-KUO it just doesn't show never any availability online, the BA call centre can see the availability - this is already known fault, pity that it didn't get fixed with this update)
Aug 7, 2013, 2:14 am
#49
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: MAN
Programs: F
Posts: 2,898
You may be paying more in fuel surcharges than you need to. They are not symmetric.
Aug 7, 2013, 1:29 pm
#50
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: UK
Programs: BA Silver, ICH Plat, Club Carlson G, SAS S
Posts: 1,175
Aug 7, 2013, 3:20 pm
#51
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: London
Programs: Mucci. Nothing else matters.
Posts: 38,644
On the current (new) interface: Without wishing to sound ungrateful for the improvements, I do find myself missing the facility to see only availability (or not) in the specific cabin in which I'm interested. For example, if I'm looking for a Club award seat, it is a little frustrating to have to wade through page after page of dates on which there is WT+ availability but nothing else.
Aug 11, 2013, 5:47 am
#53
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: In the air
Programs: Hyatt Globalist, Bonvoy LT Plat, Hilton Gold, GHA Tit, BA Gold, Turkish Elite
Posts: 8,718
Whatever development resource there is really should be put to just fixing the most crippling bugs for a while. Most times I try using ba.com it breaks - and I visit daily.
Aug 11, 2013, 6:49 am
#54
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: UK oop north
Programs: BMI Diamond Club RIP,BAEC Silver
Posts: 1,692
Not impressed at all I'm afraid, unusable in Chrome and still has a long list of airports serviced by One World partners not shown as existing e.g. Cathay to Hanoi HAN, Qantas to Lord Howe Island, LDH and Learmonth LEA and numerous LAN destinations. A poor show really.
Aug 11, 2013, 9:22 am
#55
Join Date: Jul 2013
Posts: 86
Aug 11, 2013, 10:25 am
#56
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: UK (currently)
Programs: BA Gold (and many other greater and lesser distinctions)
Posts: 7,208
I rarely travel Y, and would give a lot to be able to set a default search profile attached to my mmembership, with London (all airports) as my dafult origin and J (which would now also pick up F) as my default cabin. It would save me so much work !
Aug 11, 2013, 10:27 am
#57
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: UK (currently)
Programs: BA Gold (and many other greater and lesser distinctions)
Posts: 7,208
Having had some time now to check this against availability, it looks like clicking the button to show the calendar of BA availability will at least show you only available days (if any) in the cabin which you originally selected. So the quick check function is still available one click away.
Aug 14, 2013, 2:45 pm
#58
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 160
Dear all
A short while ago we launched some enhancements to the way you can book flights using Avios on ba.com.
The key change is that you can now book mixed cabins - the following is a summary of the changes launched today:
- Up to three available cabins will now be displayed when you searches for reward flights on ba.com.
- This functionality is available for British Airways and partner airline flights
- Improved RFS (Reward Flight Saver) signposting and new icon to distinguish from standard redemptions.
- A 'change flights' button on the fare quote page to make it easier for you to change selected flights.
- A new 'back' button on the fare quote page to allow enable easier navigation between pages
We are continuing to work on the online experience for Spending Avios on ba.com and will keep you updated as an when any enhancements or changes are made.
As ever, please do let us know your feedback on the changes made today.
Warm regards
Nicci
A short while ago we launched some enhancements to the way you can book flights using Avios on ba.com.
The key change is that you can now book mixed cabins - the following is a summary of the changes launched today:
- Up to three available cabins will now be displayed when you searches for reward flights on ba.com.
- This functionality is available for British Airways and partner airline flights
- Improved RFS (Reward Flight Saver) signposting and new icon to distinguish from standard redemptions.
- A 'change flights' button on the fare quote page to make it easier for you to change selected flights.
- A new 'back' button on the fare quote page to allow enable easier navigation between pages
We are continuing to work on the online experience for Spending Avios on ba.com and will keep you updated as an when any enhancements or changes are made.
As ever, please do let us know your feedback on the changes made today.
Warm regards
Nicci
It looks like the new website is not displaying availability for economy class on DragonAir (KA) properly. Let's take a look at this. For example, HKG-PEK on Nov 1, 2013. Results show four flights: two CX's and two KA's. For two KA flights, economy class was Cabin not operated on this flight. I don't believe they are full first class flight.
Anther example is HKG-XIY which was only served by KA. The website says Sorry, there are no flights available. I've booked the flight two months ago so I believe it might be a glitch.
Hope it could be fixed soon.
Thanks.
zhengqiji
Aug 14, 2013, 3:07 pm
#59
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: usually LON
Programs: BA Gold (OWE), Tesco Blue, TK Elite (*G), Oyster Diamond Jubilee edition
Posts: 1,546
More cabins in one display are great step forward.
It would be really good if 'Not Available' flights are in grey (whole box, not only text). Now it looks almost the same as 'Available' at first glance and I get too excited just to find out that not all flights are available...
It would be really good if 'Not Available' flights are in grey (whole box, not only text). Now it looks almost the same as 'Available' at first glance and I get too excited just to find out that not all flights are available...
Aug 14, 2013, 4:03 pm
#60
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: London
Programs: Mucci. Nothing else matters.
Posts: 38,644
I agree that "(o) Available" and "Not Available" are too visually similar, and it's not easy to distinguish between them when sweeping one's eyes across the screen. This is particularly bad when the column is broken up with the pink stripes that say "Only x reward seat(s) left" (which is very useful in itself).
On the booking screens for cash tickets, each coloured box that represents an available flight/cabin combination will have a smaller sub-box containing a price that's either white or yellow. In either case, it stands out against the background colour. A flight/cabin combination that has no availability therefore visually fades into the background as a solid colour.
At the moment, the award booking version doesn't have this visual cue. It would be good if something could be designed to provide a similar effect to that in the cash booking engine.