Bobbex

This is my first time experimenting with redeeming avios, it's all a bit last minute and I'm struggling to get to grips with it when you have multi-segment journeys.

I am planning a trip to South America next month and BA doesn't fly to my final destination but IB and AA do. The options are to go with IB and change in Madrid or go with AA and change in MIA. I plan to go with AA in economy as it's several hundred pounds cheaper than booking with BA or IB even though the second segment of the return is a flight operated by BA. I haven't decided whether to go via Miami or Boston on the return yet. If the info helps I'm gold and have circa 100,000 avios to play with.

My questions are:

- if I call and book with BA using the AA flight numbers will I get the AA price or the BA price?
- if I book with AA my understanding is that I won't be able to UuA through BA but can I use MileSAAver on the AA site if the booking class is not Y?
- is it possible to upgrade using cash on certain segments? E.g. if I wanted to purchase an airport upgrade from either MIA/BOS to LHR but not from Uruguay to Miami. As I said above the second segment is operated by BA but the first by AA.
- if CW availability opens up on the BA return flight is there any way I could book that as a redemption without having to pay all the taxes and fees as I'll already have a ticket in which a portion of those will have been paid? Or is it treated like a new ticket so all fees and taxes are payable in full?
- does anyone have a view on whether, if I can purchase an airport upgrade for the second segment of the return, I'm likely to stand a better chance of finding CW availability out of Boston or Miami on a Sunday afternoon?

I hope the above makes sense. I've never flown AA in economy, but I like their business product, and I understand that it's pretty poor but if millions do it every year I think I can put up with it. However, the return flight to Europe is overnight so I would really appreciate a bed but failing that I'll just aim for an exit row seat.

Thanks in advance

Bob

PS This was in the "Your Guide to spending Avios" thread but didn't seem to have been looked at so I moved it.

nux

It sounds like you're talking about buying a revenue fare and not a redemption.

If you're talking about revenue fares, then the reason for the difference is likely due to availability being different for AA and BA codeshares.
If you provide exact details this can be checked. I would suggest trying ITA Matrix.

I don't really know what you mean by this. You can't upgrade with avios on an AA issued ticket. You would need to use an AA upgrade instrument (AA miles etc) according to the rules of AAdvantage.
You cannot upgrade from discount economy fares with avios even on a BA issued ticket.

Yes if offered.

No, completely separate.

Not particularly.
AA does have main cabin extra on many aircraft which provides extra legroom although with economy service. Perhaps look at ex-EU CW fares.

Bobbex

Nux thanks for the answers. I suppose just wanted to know whether I could use avios to upgrade at any stage after purchasing the ticket whether via BA or AA. The answer appears to be no so I'll just hope for a cash upgrade on the return. I have a limited amount of time to travel so don't have the time to waste with positioning flights so ex-EU isn't a viable option even if it would only be a couple of hundred more. Plus I'm young enough to not suffer if I'm in an economy seat but I am catching a night flight back to the UK and heading straight to work so that's why a bit more comfort would be appreciated on that leg.

I had thought you could use avios if there was milesaaver availability but from your answer I think that's wrong.

When I mentioned the exit row it's because I assumed that if the second flight was operated by BA I could reserve it as a gold even if on a AA ticket but correct me if I'm wrong.

Thanks for the help.

guv1976

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

It's still not entirely clear to me exactly what the OP wants to do: redeem Avios for an award ticket, or use Avios to upgrade a paid ticket.

With 100,000 Avios, the OP can redeem for LHR-MAD-SCL-MVD one-way in J, or roundtrip in Y, with the MAD-SCL-MVD segments being on LA, for which BAEC does not assess any surcharges. The least expensive way to use Avios for this would be to redeem for Reward Flight Savers LHR-MAD-LHR, and then book the LA flights as separate redemptions. (This would avoid the steep UK APD on the outbound.) However, on separate tickets, neither BA nor LA would be obligated to protect in the event of IRROPS, so allow extra time for the connections at MAD.

LA award seats -- if available -- should show up on a ba.com award search.

If the OP wants to fly J in both directions, and award seats are available, another option is to purchase additional miles from AA or US. (I believe that US is running a sale now on miles, but I'm not sure how many miles US charges for Europe to Uruguay.) AA offers one-way redemptions; US only offers roundtrip redemptions.

nux

Yes if it is a BA issued ticket you can upgrade an AA or BA flight if it is booked in an eligible fare bucket. You cannot upgrade from discount economy, only Y, B, H fares on BA and only Y, B fares on AA.
See: https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb...ditions-of-use

If there is AA MileSAAver availability you can book that flight outright with avios or upgrade if you are in an eligible fare class and on a BA issued ticket.

Your thread title and post is still not very clear as to whether you are looking to book a revenue or award ticket.

Yes.

Bobbex

Thanks for the replies. I wanted to either redeem using avios or upgrade a paid ticket but I wasn't clear on my what my options were due to the mixed airlines. In the end I opted to do the outbound in economy and the return in J on a BA operated flight as I'd rather not take the risk of not being able to do an airport upgrade. I got 64A on the return so I should get a decent amount of sleep which was my main priority.

Thanks

Bob