I *heart* Gold Priority

Old Jul 15, 2016, 7:23 am
  #1  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Jun 2016
Programs: BAEC Gold
Posts: 1,149
I *heart* Gold Priority

LHR-MUC for Oktoberfest - no regular availability for the flights I want, and the cash price even in ET is north of £400....


...but just used my first Gold Priority Reward to open up some seats on the flights I wanted - GREAT feature for those times you really need to be able to spend Avios!


Weirdly, whilst discussing another possible booking, the (very friendly, and otherwise excellent) agent told me BA didn't fly to Texas and I would have to take an internal flight - pretty sure everyone booked on the dailies to Austin and Dallas and the double-daily to Houston (before we even get into the AA metal...) would be interested to learn this


Anyways - thanks BA and what a great feature GPR is!
ratypus is offline  
Old Jul 15, 2016, 8:00 am
  #2  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Hong Kong, France
Programs: FB , BA Gold
Posts: 15,495
I have no idea what that is
brunos is offline  
Old Jul 15, 2016, 8:08 am
  #3  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Four Seasons Contributor Badge
 
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: London
Programs: BA, VS, HH, IHG, MB, MR
Posts: 26,865
Originally Posted by brunos
I have no idea what that is
A Gold can book any seat, any flight for double Avios.

Gold Priority Reward

Outstandingly useful at times.
Raffles is offline  
Old Jul 15, 2016, 9:10 am
  #4  
Suspended
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: London
Programs: BA GGL, AA 1MM LT GLD, SPG PLAT, National Exec Selc, Hilton Diamond, Hyatt Plat, Marriott Silver
Posts: 8,278
Don't get too excited. On AA this is available to anyone at anytime. Largely the same on DL and UA. The fact that on BA its limited to Golds and limited to 30 days notice makes it a pretty uncompetitive benefit vs US carriers (not sure about LH, AF, etc.).
sts603 is offline  
Old Jul 15, 2016, 9:50 am
  #5  
Moderator, Iberia Airlines, Airport Lounges, and Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold; Flying Blue Life Platinum; LH Sen.; Hilton Diamond; Kemal Kebabs Prized Customer
Posts: 63,469
I've occasionally punted the benefit of this, which I think is quite significant. One aspect that many people think is that it's economy only, it's not, and it's not shorthaul only either. Admittedly the longhauls get a bit pricey at this point, but the cash component stays the same. RFS at half term with GPR (which you can do for your extended family) must be an excellent example of their use.

The other very important factor is though there is some confusion about this with agents, GPRs can be cancelled fee free. So if "normal" availability pops up, say 3 days before departure, then you can rebook yourself down to the lower level. But yes, thanks for the reminder about the Gold Card Joker.
corporate-wage-slave is online now  
Old Jul 15, 2016, 11:04 am
  #6  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Jun 2016
Programs: BAEC Gold
Posts: 1,149
yes, this was another example where GPR was seriously useful: no award availability at all for the flights I wanted, and cash fares north of £400 for a short-haul economy return


at which point paying £35 and using 16,000 Avios instead of 8,000 becomes a very good deal


plus it' completely changeable & cancellable for free, so if either I decide on a different flight and/or regular availability pops up nearer the time I can re-book and get 8,000 Avios back


pretty neat, I think - first time I have used this and had not really appreciated the usefulness


prohibitive on long-haul premium tickets, I guess unless you are SERIOUSLY high on Avios
ratypus is offline  
Old Jul 15, 2016, 11:06 am
  #7  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Four Seasons Contributor Badge
 
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: London
Programs: BA, VS, HH, IHG, MB, MR
Posts: 26,865
Originally Posted by sts603
Don't get too excited. On AA this is available to anyone at anytime. Largely the same on DL and UA. The fact that on BA its limited to Golds and limited to 30 days notice makes it a pretty uncompetitive benefit vs US carriers (not sure about LH, AF, etc.).
Not really.

What is the cheapest AA Y return? 25k? So you're looking at 50k AA miles return under this benefit for, say, New York to Washington in Y. Yes, that stinks.

With Avios, most of 'near' Europe is 9,000 Avios return. Double that and it is only 18,000 Avios plus £35 RFS taxes. That is outstanding value at peak school holiday or festival periods when BA will happily ask £300 - £400 for an economy return.

We are doing this down to Spain in August. BA for cash for over £2,000 in Y for the four of us to fly at peak times on a Saturday, or 120k Avios + £140. Easy call.
Raffles is offline  
Old Jul 15, 2016, 11:16 am
  #8  
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Netherlands
Programs: BA Gold; Flying Blue Platinum, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 481
Can you do this in conjunction with an AMEX 2-4-1?
silonic is offline  
Old Jul 15, 2016, 11:20 am
  #9  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Jun 2016
Programs: BAEC Gold
Posts: 1,149
No, which is a shame


2-4-1 remains difficult to use effectively - best used long-haul and in a premium cabin for maximum value, but finding "normal" award availability for two premium seats on any good route is super-hard...so far have only managed to use mine:


- in J to New York (tons of flights so more award seats)
- in Euro-J to Canaries (a waste, but it was going to run out and at least with RFS we got a week away for £90 of flights...)
- in Y to the US...was a real shame as with taxes we didn't save all that much, only made sense as the Y cash fares were already sky-high
ratypus is offline  
Old Jul 15, 2016, 12:13 pm
  #10  
Suspended
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: London
Programs: BA GGL, AA 1MM LT GLD, SPG PLAT, National Exec Selc, Hilton Diamond, Hyatt Plat, Marriott Silver
Posts: 8,278
Originally Posted by Raffles
Not really.

What is the cheapest AA Y return? 25k? So you're looking at 50k AA miles return under this benefit for, say, New York to Washington in Y. Yes, that stinks.

With Avios, most of 'near' Europe is 9,000 Avios return. Double that and it is only 18,000 Avios plus £35 RFS taxes. That is outstanding value at peak school holiday or festival periods when BA will happily ask £300 - £400 for an economy return.

We are doing this down to Spain in August. BA for cash for over £2,000 in Y for the four of us to fly at peak times on a Saturday, or 120k Avios + £140. Easy call.
Your point is really about US carriers not having variable rate pricing based on distance in the US, not the value of AAnytime awards.

Btw - AA starts at 40K for anytime awards on off peak days.
sts603 is offline  
Old Jul 15, 2016, 12:22 pm
  #11  
Suspended
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: London
Programs: BA GGL, AA 1MM LT GLD, SPG PLAT, National Exec Selc, Hilton Diamond, Hyatt Plat, Marriott Silver
Posts: 8,278
Originally Posted by Raffles
Not really.

What is the cheapest AA Y return? 25k? So you're looking at 50k AA miles return under this benefit for, say, New York to Washington in Y. Yes, that stinks.

With Avios, most of 'near' Europe is 9,000 Avios return. Double that and it is only 18,000 Avios plus £35 RFS taxes. That is outstanding value at peak school holiday or festival periods when BA will happily ask £300 - £400 for an economy return.

We are doing this down to Spain in August. BA for cash for over £2,000 in Y for the four of us to fly at peak times on a Saturday, or 120k Avios + £140. Easy call.
Your point is really about US carriers not having variable rate pricing based on distance in the US, not the value of AAnytime awards.

Btw - AA starts at 40K for anytime awards on off peak days.
sts603 is offline  
Old Jul 15, 2016, 6:25 pm
  #12  
 
Join Date: Jan 2014
Programs: EBD, BAEC GGL/CCR, Alitalia AlataPlus, Club Carlson Gold, SPG Plat100, HHD
Posts: 654
Originally Posted by corporate-wage-slave
I've occasionally punted the benefit of this, which I think is quite significant. One aspect that many people think is that it's economy only, it's not, and it's not shorthaul only either. Admittedly the longhauls get a bit pricey at this point, but the cash component stays the same. RFS at half term with GPR (which you can do for your extended family) must be an excellent example of their use.

The other very important factor is though there is some confusion about this with agents, GPRs can be cancelled fee free. So if "normal" availability pops up, say 3 days before departure, then you can rebook yourself down to the lower level. But yes, thanks for the reminder about the Gold Card Joker.
I do like the feauture, but it is of very limited use because of the 30 day requirement - at least for me. Often when I book Europe travel it is quite last minute (say 1-20 days in advance). Often I can find OK cash fares, or the occasional normal award with Avios. However I often end up using *A points instead [where I can do the same on SK for double points up to departure as long as they sell cash tix on the flight].

So compared to its competitors this feature is really quite restrictive.
skba1 is offline  
Old Jul 15, 2016, 10:14 pm
  #13  
 
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: London
Programs: BA Silver
Posts: 326
GPR, along with the extra 'V' class reward availability in economy (often plentiful) are the two best Gold benefits for me personally.
musehead is offline  
Old Jul 16, 2016, 4:54 am
  #14  
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: mostly London
Programs: BA Gold - so flying too much again... plus AA, LX, VS and too many hotel programmes to mention
Posts: 594
Originally Posted by sts603
Don't get too excited. On AA this is available to anyone at anytime.
Yes and no...

I have accounts on both BA and AA and have quite a bit of experience trying to redeem for transatlantic trips in J and F.

BA make a lot of awards available at the standard rate.
AA don't seem to be as generous. So one must use the "double" rate for many redemptions.

It is frequently easier to redeem AA miles for a flight on BA metal at the "discounted" rate on the AAdvantage programme.

BA's version is not perfect (the 30 day notice isn't very convenient but probably understandable from BA's revenue point of view), but pretty useful in the right situation.
FlyingDentist is offline  
Old Jul 16, 2016, 5:22 am
  #15  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: London, UK and Southern France
Posts: 18,351
Originally Posted by skba1
I do like the feauture, but it is of very limited use because of the 30 day requirement - at least for me. Often when I book Europe travel it is quite last minute (say 1-20 days in advance). Often I can find OK cash fares, or the occasional normal award with Avios.
That is my problem too. Whenever I would have had occasion to use it, I was within the 30 day windows and therefore unable to use it.
NickB is offline  

Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Manage Preferences - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

This site is owned, operated, and maintained by MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Designated trademarks are the property of their respective owners.