400,000 points, silver status, 2 companion vouchers... pointless
Jul 17, 2017, 1:51 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2016
Posts: 284
400,000 points, silver status, 2 companion vouchers... pointless
Sorry, have mainly come to rant, but if anyone has any ideas how I can actually make any decent use of points and vouchers let me know.
I've searched several times this week for reward flights all over Europe from any London airport, and the only availability are places that are inland southern cities, which are unpopular as they'll be baking and humid.
Iceland, Norway, Scotland, Finland, Denmark, many others, nothing. Sometimes there's a inbound flight.
Often the whole page crashes. Searching London to Inverness just says 'there's a problem with your request'. The explorer page is completely down two thirds of the time I've looked.
I've searched several times this week for reward flights all over Europe from any London airport, and the only availability are places that are inland southern cities, which are unpopular as they'll be baking and humid.
Iceland, Norway, Scotland, Finland, Denmark, many others, nothing. Sometimes there's a inbound flight.
Often the whole page crashes. Searching London to Inverness just says 'there's a problem with your request'. The explorer page is completely down two thirds of the time I've looked.
Jul 17, 2017, 1:56 pm
#2
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2014
Location: UK
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 12,255
When do they expire? I'd give it a miss trying to get something this summer unless you're happy to wait for last minute availability (which could be plentiful, but maybe not to where you want to go and on the exact days you want...) spend those points and vouchers on next years summer holiday as the seats become available at 355 days before this year
Jul 17, 2017, 1:59 pm
#3
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: London, UK
Programs: BAEC
Posts: 2,279
It is the start of school holidays. Without access to extra award availability for golds you really need to be looking much further in advance at this time of year. Even with the gold availability you'd be hard pressed to find multiple seats anywhere other than business destinations this time of year. Perhaps buy some cash tickets on a LCC to somewhere you want to go and save the avois for use later in the year?
Jul 17, 2017, 2:00 pm
#4
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: UK
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 708
Happy to take some miles off your hands to reduce the stressful burden? 
In all seriousness though - understand your frustration - requires earlier booking/planning unfortunately for some summer seats alas. Hope you find something ^
In all seriousness though - understand your frustration - requires earlier booking/planning unfortunately for some summer seats alas. Hope you find something ^
Jul 17, 2017, 2:25 pm
#5
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Scotland
Programs: BA Exec Club (Silver)
Posts: 452
You'll find loads of hints and tips in the "Guide To Spending Avios" at the top of this forum and the 241 Voucher Discusion wiki:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...7-edition.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...iscussion.html
It can be frustrating at times however persistence, forward planning and flexibility can really pay off.
I'm a fairly infrequent flyer (1 LH plus 1 or 2 SH trips per year) however in the last 13 months I've managed to:
Book a 241 CE RFS GLA > LHR > FRA return as a positioning flight for an ex-EU trip to HKG. Also allowed for a couple of nice nights out in FRA.
UUA the CW LHR > HKG leg of the aforementioned cash ex-EU booking originating in FRA. This involved checking daily after making the cash booking and two weeks after booking two F rewards seats appeared. I phoned to book as soon as the UK call centre opened at 6am to avoid losing out. This was F on the A380. An amazing experience.
Booked a 241 CE RFS GLA > LGW > CAG return for a short break.
There are far more experienced on here who will give some great advice. My main tips would be:
Be flexible, both with your destination and travel dates. Have a timeframe in mind rather than exact dates. The wider this is the more chance of success. Try and have a mindset of going where there is availability rather than having your heart set on a particular destination. The most popular destinations during peak times can be extremely difficult to grab reward seats on.
Book as far in advance as possible. Reward seats begin to be released 355 days before departure. Some seats are released last minute however you've a better chance of success 10-12 months out.
Keep looking. Keep checking.... daily! While a set number of guaranteed seats are released at T -355 the pattern of future release of reward seats is shrouded in mystery and complex algorithms. This has paid off for myself as mentioned above in getting F seats on the A380 to HKG. I also managed to UUA from WTP to CW for LHR > MIA when it was looking impossible at first. It took weeks if not months of daily checking and again a 6am phone call to book.
I hope this helps. The two guides I've mentioned are invaluable, and this forum in general has propelled many of us from statusless passengers in Y to flying in only the premium cabins. It just takes some research and effort.
With regards to two of your particular issues, I've always found RFS CE flights fairly good for availability. I'm wondering if your booking holiday routes at short notice during the summer? This might be a reason for a lack of availability. The best way of searching for availability is to make dummy bookings. This can be time consuming however you get accurate results.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...7-edition.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...iscussion.html
It can be frustrating at times however persistence, forward planning and flexibility can really pay off.
I'm a fairly infrequent flyer (1 LH plus 1 or 2 SH trips per year) however in the last 13 months I've managed to:
Book a 241 CE RFS GLA > LHR > FRA return as a positioning flight for an ex-EU trip to HKG. Also allowed for a couple of nice nights out in FRA.
UUA the CW LHR > HKG leg of the aforementioned cash ex-EU booking originating in FRA. This involved checking daily after making the cash booking and two weeks after booking two F rewards seats appeared. I phoned to book as soon as the UK call centre opened at 6am to avoid losing out. This was F on the A380. An amazing experience.
Booked a 241 CE RFS GLA > LGW > CAG return for a short break.
There are far more experienced on here who will give some great advice. My main tips would be:
Be flexible, both with your destination and travel dates. Have a timeframe in mind rather than exact dates. The wider this is the more chance of success. Try and have a mindset of going where there is availability rather than having your heart set on a particular destination. The most popular destinations during peak times can be extremely difficult to grab reward seats on.
Book as far in advance as possible. Reward seats begin to be released 355 days before departure. Some seats are released last minute however you've a better chance of success 10-12 months out.
Keep looking. Keep checking.... daily! While a set number of guaranteed seats are released at T -355 the pattern of future release of reward seats is shrouded in mystery and complex algorithms. This has paid off for myself as mentioned above in getting F seats on the A380 to HKG. I also managed to UUA from WTP to CW for LHR > MIA when it was looking impossible at first. It took weeks if not months of daily checking and again a 6am phone call to book.
I hope this helps. The two guides I've mentioned are invaluable, and this forum in general has propelled many of us from statusless passengers in Y to flying in only the premium cabins. It just takes some research and effort.
With regards to two of your particular issues, I've always found RFS CE flights fairly good for availability. I'm wondering if your booking holiday routes at short notice during the summer? This might be a reason for a lack of availability. The best way of searching for availability is to make dummy bookings. This can be time consuming however you get accurate results.
Last edited by GlasgowBlue; Jul 17, 2017 at 3:42 pm
Jul 17, 2017, 3:38 pm
#6
Join Date: Mar 2015
Programs: BA GGL
Posts: 2,447
Look on Avios.com too, gives a broad spread across all four classes.
If you have 400K Avios right now then flying further afield in a higher class cabin will yield best value from them IMO.
The 2-4-1 will be harder to use overall, but there's still huge value in it/them. In the last 11 months I've flown LHR-SCL in First, LHR-ORD in First both on 2-4-1s - so it does work, it's just about persistence and a little flexibility. Also did LHR-LAX on a Lloyds upgrade voucher (82,500 Avios return in business, bargain!), so there's value in it all.
Good luck, don't be too down on it.
If you have 400K Avios right now then flying further afield in a higher class cabin will yield best value from them IMO.
The 2-4-1 will be harder to use overall, but there's still huge value in it/them. In the last 11 months I've flown LHR-SCL in First, LHR-ORD in First both on 2-4-1s - so it does work, it's just about persistence and a little flexibility. Also did LHR-LAX on a Lloyds upgrade voucher (82,500 Avios return in business, bargain!), so there's value in it all.
Good luck, don't be too down on it.
Jul 17, 2017, 3:51 pm
#7
Join Date: Feb 2017
Location: London
Programs: BAEC Gold, Marriott LT Platinum
Posts: 2,333
Hello
I have managed to book 2 trips to Grand Cayman (Dec 13/ 15) + 1 trip to SIN in J departing this August with the voucher.
Downside: I've booked all flights 364 days in advance and then I could choose of 2 seats per flight.
Not using my Amex anymore as not keen on these early bookings for sub-par BA J - but thats a different story
I have managed to book 2 trips to Grand Cayman (Dec 13/ 15) + 1 trip to SIN in J departing this August with the voucher.
Downside: I've booked all flights 364 days in advance and then I could choose of 2 seats per flight.
Not using my Amex anymore as not keen on these early bookings for sub-par BA J - but thats a different story
Jul 17, 2017, 4:55 pm
#8
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Edi
Posts: 2,203
Jul 17, 2017, 5:10 pm
#9
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: London/ Hong Kong
Programs: CX SL, BAEC Gold, IHG, Hyatt, Starwood,Ritz Carlton Reward
Posts: 122
I managed to book 2 F return tix to JFK for the July fourth week - I only researched and booked the week before... JFK seems to have a lot of premium availability a lot of the time...
Jul 18, 2017, 1:22 am
#12
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: London, UK
Programs: Ronin - churn and burn
Posts: 701
Not the most obvious choice but I almost almost always use my 2-4-1s to fly CE during the summer holidays.
LCY-JTR in CE is a good example.
When you factor in the BA fuel surcharges and the low prices of QR flights, long haul BA redemptions don't make too much sense to me (I tend to head East when flying long haul).
If I were you I'd start looking now for CE flights over summer next year.
LCY-JTR in CE is a good example.
When you factor in the BA fuel surcharges and the low prices of QR flights, long haul BA redemptions don't make too much sense to me (I tend to head East when flying long haul).
If I were you I'd start looking now for CE flights over summer next year.
Jul 18, 2017, 1:33 am
#13
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: London
Programs: BAEC Silver, HH Diamond, Avis President's Club
Posts: 1,219
Jul 18, 2017, 1:37 am
#14
Join Date: Jun 2003
Programs: BA, IHG, 5C
Posts: 4,413
Give us a bit more (less!) to work with - it looks like you are looking for a summer trip (for 4?) to Europe???
From your list of countries, there seems to be decent availability (probably amongst others) to Stockholm and Stavanger. We had a good trip a couple of years ago: a few days in Stockholm, then a Finnair flight to Bergen and a few days there.
Otherwise there are plenty of "business" destinations that have high frequencies and good availability and can be turned into a cooler summer holiday. That particularly applies to the Alps GVA and MUC (to Salzburg/Tirol/etc), maybe ZRH, VCE and Milan for the lakes too.
Ever thought about going to Moscow (low RFS taxes but longhaul product)?
From your list of countries, there seems to be decent availability (probably amongst others) to Stockholm and Stavanger. We had a good trip a couple of years ago: a few days in Stockholm, then a Finnair flight to Bergen and a few days there.
Otherwise there are plenty of "business" destinations that have high frequencies and good availability and can be turned into a cooler summer holiday. That particularly applies to the Alps GVA and MUC (to Salzburg/Tirol/etc), maybe ZRH, VCE and Milan for the lakes too.
Ever thought about going to Moscow (low RFS taxes but longhaul product)?