absolutboy20

I got sucked into the 100k promotion that they had earlier last year through Chase and since then I have accumulated two companion vouchers and a good amount of AVIOS points. I was well aware of the outrageous fuel charges, taxes, imposed by BA routing through LHR, but felt that if I were able to obtain a long haul flight in business or first, it would still be worth it.

I don't have a specific trip planned in mind as of yet, but I thought since I have two of these vouchers I may take a trip to London for a week over the summer. SFO would be the home base, and when I looked through the BA calendar for a flight from SFO to LHR, I could not find anything available in the timeframe I would want. Business had maybe four availabilities of dates pushing the date all the way out through 04/2015, and in first the availability was maybe two dates all the way through the same period. Coach was widely available but doesn't make sense in using points.

I tried other scenarios of not using the companion pass and trying to purchase a coach ticket using miles to upgrade, but the only availabilities were to premium economy.

While I was prepared for always paying for fuel charges, etc, I never expected the actual availability of using Avios to be this difficult on the actual carrier. Is this a usual scenario on BA? Although I've had to be a little flexible in dates on AAdvantage, I normally have been able to get the tickets I wanted. I tried another scenario on BA of flying out of LAX and had similar results.

If the availability isn't there through their redemption program, I may just start switch back to using AA. How far out does BA release seats into Avios for booking availability? Any advise on using miles on BA with a companion pass?

Mattyb44

You may want to see some of the other, larger threads and discussions around this topic. There are many to choose from.

UKtravelbear

From reading other threads the reward calendar does not work properly and has not for some time.

Solution I think is to put in some dates and then the system will show you alternative availabilty

BenSenise

i know this sounds crazy but it consistently works; put in your dates, show calendar of BA availability, show next 28 days, and then go backwards 28 days. when i do YVR-LHR there is zero availability going forward and then loads when i go backwards. it's crazy but true. granted, not in the next month or two but it works for 9-12 months out.

angatol

.....

sp4294

Yes, this has been happening since last summer IME. Booked several F tickets this way from the Pacific Northwest, but you also need to be flexible! There is just nothing available from the large centers like SFO or LAX.

Cap'n Benj

Award a availability is currently sparse, I suspect mainly due to BA being able to sell a lot more seats than hey could a couple of years back but also no doubt due to promotions like you, yourself took up that will have increased demand significantly

Less supply, coupled with more demand leaves us where we are now, which is sat at home unless you want to fly to NYC or BOS!

corporate-wage-slave

Welcome to Flyertalk absolutboy20, welcome to the BA board in particular, it's great to have you with us, and assuming you can find somewhere to fly it would be good to see more of you on here. Welcome on board.

Now it looks like you're fairly clued up on how this works, but I hope you've seen this thread at some point.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...tart-here.html

SFO is always a tight one, though I got a CW redemption out of there quite recently. You best bet is to book anything out of LAX, LAS, SAN, and be prepared to shift to SFO / LAX if something comes up at the last moment, which is quite possible. Seats could be released on any day so keep looking, and perhaps be prepared to compromise initially. WTP is the other option, this is more cost effective than WT.

By all means complain to Chase about it too, they apply some leverage on BA if there are lots of customers raising it with them.

fdem

I agree, I have collected airmiles/avios since the programme's inception and have always in the past found some availability with a bit of flexibility. Mauritius, Miami, LA and other holiday destinations were always possible in F/J, again obviously not at Christmas, Easter etc. Now we have just about given up, I find if I want to go to Phuket/bali I have to fly via China (used to be able to use HK as a backup) and by the time I have forked out the taxes, paid for a J class onwards from either India or China to get to my destination in the far east, it just doesn't pay.

BA really need to decide if they have an airline loyalty or a credit card loyalty programme. I find reading on this forum and talking to people that many fly BA through Tesco, Chase only and never spend a penny with BA. Surely BA should really look at this and perhaps only give F/J allocation to Silver/Gold (I would be effected as I have now been downgraded to Bronze but hopeflly not for long). At least this gives me an incentive to keep my status and know that I am able to use my hard earned miles. Interesting how North American availability has dried up and am sure it is due to the zillions of Chase customers taking out a credit card (then moaning about costs/availability). Understand there is even a lawsuit against BA for misleading the poor dears into parting with a fee to buy a credit card. Maybe i should sue for stress due to not finding my reward flights, such a hard life!!

1010101

I have successfully used them, but you have to be flexible. I booked acceptable* flights as soon as I could and then checked back frequently to change them when the flights I really wanted came up. In the end I got 2 F returns on the A380 for ~$1000, including a couple of change fees when better flights came available. It's possible. On the HKG route availability is posted a year in advance, and then a few days before if the cabin isn't filling.


*acceptable = not perfect dates, or from a nearby airport that requires a cheap positioning flight.

T8191

just looked for UK-IAD using 241 in F (2 pax). Westbound beginning of Sep, no problem. BUT, despite using the "next 28 days" technique, the eastbound F redemption is zero availability from 22 Aug > 19 Oct.

Time to cancel my relatively new PP Amex - no point in paying £150 p/a trying to earn 241s if they're unusable.

BenSenise

check out my post here

fripperies

You wouldn't be alone. When I cancelled my BA Amex PP last week the agent asked why I was quitting after 9 years. I explained and asked if that was news to him. From his reply it was clear that Amex are not short of negative feedback.

I realise BA are indifferent to individual customers but when enough of them take their £££ and $$$ to other carriers BA will have an incentive to make the programme attractive again.

paulwuk

The main selling point of the £150 amex is it looks nicer than the free one.

MrHeckles

It's difficult, but not possible to use these 241s, even to West Coast USA. I haven't considered cancelling my BA PP.