Globaliser

0000 GMT. It's also worth learning how to work out the date on which your desired flight will open for booking.

I think I once took about 15 seconds to secure a pair of seats in First to SYD. 30 seconds is a leisurely pace in comparison.No, that's not true, as you will see from baredemptionfinder.

Even if you want to go in First to BGI, there are plenty of October 2019 dates left. And bookings for those have been open for a month or so already. So no, you do not need to do the midnight thing in order to use your 2-4-1. All it means is that you may have slightly less choice, from not being at the very front of the queue.

grantsteve

I'm not sure that's very fair, or indeed necessarily the case. There is normally good availability to destinations where BA fly multiple times per day, North America for example.

cupsandsaucers

Yes, I just checked IAD randomly and there is indeed heaps of avalibility. I guess F or CW to barbados in December is a popular offering for sure. I'll do plenty reading.

cupsandsaucers

Equally there is pretty poor availability to destinations where BA flies once a day. For example. Want to redeem your Avios to barbados in CW or F between now and june next year? Literally not a single slot there.
Considering many many people outside this world here just assume you can opt to "pay with miles" you have accrued when you so please. Having that lack of availability is pretty poor and does go to devaluing avios IMO.

grantsteve

Supply and demand would suggest that is logical though wouldn't it? Availabilty on a less frequent route at a popular time will always be in short supply.

I agree with the first part of this, and unless you are the sort of person who researches something in preparation (which might lead to you somewhere like this) then I'd imgaine there is a fair bit of trial and error when trying to use miles and vouchers. Googlefu doesn't need to be partiuclarly strong to find this place though where the answers are pretty easy to come by.

ttama

I don't think that's fair. OK yes, I've usually planned my trips around availability, rather than expecting to go exactly where I want on the exact dates I want, but I've always ended up with something decent. It's clear from BA's website that these tickets are refundable and changeable for a small fee, which makes them very valuable even to the unsavvy traveller. I've never had to use the smart tricks that many people here use, although sometimes I've had to compromise at the time of booking then swap when better flights became available (e.g. only being able to book JNB initially, then swapping to CPT closer to my travel dates, ditto SEA and YVR). Yes, you have to keep your eyes open for when more flights become available, which can happen at any time, but you don't necessarily have to get them at midnight 355 days out.

I appreciate some destinations have fewer reward seats available, but BA is a business and there's no reason why they should give unlimited seats away for free on their busiest routes.

Maybe you can use your 2-4-1 to get part-way there (e.g. Kuala Lumpur for Singapore, Seoul for Japan, Houston for New Orleans) or try an open-jaw if a straight return isn't available? Or a different class on the outbound and inbound?

And regards not being savvy, it wasn't hard for me to find forums where very helpful and knowledgeable people hang out. I'm often asked for travel advice by friends and family, but really all they have to do is use google; they'll soon find their own answers.

grantsteve

I've now realised that baredemption finder does do such a thing!

https://baredemptionfinder.com/explore

cupsandsaucers

It's great! Just discovered the wife and I can use our Avios to spend a romantic fortnight in Portland Oregon.

cupsandsaucers

I think that's my main problem and indeed my main difference from most folk on here.
I work full time, have an infant, a school age child and a wife who is a high school teacher.
Not one of these lends itself to "flexibility".

nologic

How is the award redemption for two one ways cheaper than one round trip? What's cheaper? The taxes and fees?

WHen you combine for use with a 241, you're saying they don't recalculate the fees as if it's a round trip?

Globaliser

You can now apply a 2-4-1 voucher across two one-way bookings that make a round trip. And two one-way bookings can lead to you paying less in total taxes, charges and fees than a round-trip booking for the same flights.

nologic

Isn't an open jaw basically two one ways?

​​​​​​​Any idea how two one ways would price differently BOS-LHR-LIN and VCE-LHR-BOS vs as a 2 for a round-trip?

pauldb

Globaliser

No! Have you ever tried pricing a cash ticket BOS-LHR-LIN one way, and a cash ticket VCE-LHR-BOS one way, and comparing it to the cost of an open jaw ticket for that itinerary? Using ITA to estimate this (and thus with all the caveats that includes) for business class:-

1. BOS-LHR-LIN//VCE-LHR-BOS: total TFC $1,240.23
2. BOS-LHR-LIN: total TFC $595.00
3. VCE-LHR-BOS: total TFC $395.43

Lines 2 and 3 added together total $990.43.

ringingup

I initially thought I was in the Premium fares thread and those were prices for those flights in Business Class. Then I realised it was the 2-4-1 thread and we were talking about taxes instead!