ttman333

Hi

I hope someone can help me. Due to BA providing the worst customer experience ever in terms of trying to book return flights from SYD in Jan 2018 I now need to get family of 4 from either AKL or SYD to Tokyo ideally using Avios in Jan 2018.

Can anyone offer any advice how best to achieve this? Have around 100k Avios (currently BA Avios).

Thanks in advance ^

Mwenenzi

This is QF forum.
All questions about the use of BA avios belong in the BA forum http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...tive-club-446/
Have alerted the moderator to move this thread to its correct home

January is a peak time to/from Australia & New Zealand for personal travel. Has lower demand by people travelling for business
Getting 4 awards on the same flight is always hard. Split your party to 2 + 2.

Granlor

I hope this reply follows your original post. There are 4 awards everyday in January 18 from 09 to 31. From AKL to HND the connections are via BNE or MEL (at 35000 Avios per person) on QF. Travel via HK is available on CX at 40000 Avios. Hope this helps.

DownUnderFlyer

[mod hat] Moving to the BA forum. [/mod hat]

ttman333

Thanks for sticking me in the right forum!

Need to find Avios flights from AKL to Tokyo in the first week of Jan. Happy to route via Australia if that works.

Could someone tell me how I go about that?

Thanks in advance

Mwenenzi

First week of Janurary is peak travel time from Australia & NZ. Many thousand of people will be travelling.
Awards will be hard to get. Four awards seat on the same aircraft, at time of the year, is unlikely.

You need to find out which OW airlines will get to HND or NRT (Tokyo)
There is a OW route map in https://www.oneworld.com/flights/where-we-fly
BA fly SYD SIN
Cathay fly AKL-HKG
QF fly NZ-Aust & Aust-Japan
JL fly SYD to Japan.
May be others.
SYD is not the only international airport in Australia with flights to Japan.

If going via Australia you will need to determine if its worth using avios or better to pay cash for trans Tasman. Many airlines fly trans Tasman NZ to Australia. Fare are often NZ/Au$200~NZ/Au$275 one way. Can be a lot more early January.

Jetstar at times has cheap flights Australia Japan. Check was is included in the base fare very carefully.

FrancisA

The OP's initial post is cryptic and likely to irate a number of people.

BA have limited flights to SYD, January is high Summer and four award tickets is a lot to ask on one of the most popular redemption routes at the peak of peak season.

AKL to TYO is also a route that BA doesn't fly and BA hasn't had any of its own flights to New Zealand for many years.

Now if we start from the premise, this may be difficult but what is the best way to overcome that, responses may be more positive.

ajeleonard

Do a search for availability. Not much more to say really.....

ttman333

Have tried via BA.com but that showed nothing at all.

Rang BAEC and that gave me some availability but pretty limited and only from AKL to SYD.

Could you recommend any other way of trying to "see" availability - ideally from AKL to Tokyo?

- In response to comments re being negative I am sure that had others spent 3.5 hours on hold over 4 nights while trying to contact BAEC they would be somewhat frustrated as well.

FrancisA

Whilst that is obviously not pleasant, what you are asking for is a shining unicorn. BA have extremely limited flights in Australasia and they are amongst the most popular redemption routes. Four tickets on a single flight is also a lot for most airlines, particularly on very popular routes at peak times.

My comment was negative because I think you need to be realistic about your expectations. Many people struggle to get a two person off peak redemption from the UK to the West Coast USA despite BA having numerous daily flights to
many different cities.

You are asking for four redemption seats on partner airlines at peak season in a part of the world that BA has limited flights. "Easy to get" is not a phrase I would use. The negativity is meant to be constructive, not critical.

henkybaby

The OP is asking for flights from AKL (or SYD) to TYO. CX connecting awards notoriously don't show up on BA.com and when they do, they can't be booked. It is a pain in the behind.

So, the best way to search is by individual flight. For instance AKL-HKG and then HKG-TYO. Alternatively try AKL-BNE and BNE-TYO etc. When you have found availability on all separate segments, call BA and ask them to book them as one PNR.

I have had to book them separately before, because even the ba agents could not book them as connecting flights / under one PNR. Pretty annoying with the new interlining restrictions and no protection etc.

It will take some time...

ttman333

Thanks for your suggestions - but couldn't I look at Quantas Avios availability? I can split so it isn't 4 but 2 and 2. Looks like I can manage AKL to SYD on Avios, but ideally it would be easier to find at least part (i.e 1 seat or more out of the 4) from AKL to Tokyo.

Really appreciate any ideas that anyone has and thanks for the suggestions so far ^ !

Mwenenzi

In the first week of January airlines out of Australia and New Zealand will be expecting to sell every seat for top money. Be prepared to pay cash for your 4 off AKL-TYO seats.

No BA partner OneWorld airline flys AKL Tokyo. So you need to go via another airport. With BA avios that will be costed as 2 avios flights. As above search for each flight separately for 1 seat. If that shows availability then look for 2. Even looking for 2 + 2 will restrict your options.

There is BA thread on using avios for awards.
Consider these http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...e-reviews.html

And Qantas does not have a u

henkybaby

AKL - TYO is an insanely expensive route. SYD-TYO a little less so.

If you do economy your best option is to use AirAsia from SYD via KUL. Around £468. Using a OneWorld airline one ticket would be at least £800 to £900 and the chances that you find award availability on the same flight is close to zero.

AKL-HND can be done for £800 on AirAsia as well. 2 stops though and quite the schlep.

I would not choose OneWorld for this, although you might get lucky and find a £790 flight with one stop.

Granlor

There are four award seats (at least) from AKL-HND on Jan 8 2018 on CX via HKG but none before. You don't have enough Avios but at the prices quoted above you could travel more cheaply by buying American Airlines miles (a whole new education process, unfortunately). I haven't looked at buying Avios but if there is a current bonus offer it could help you top-up your current holding.
There are also 4 award seats from Sydney on Jan 6/7 on CX via HKG. These seats are visible on QFF so should be bookable with Avios.