TravelManBiz

I also have a booking in March (OSL-HEL-LHR-JFK-LAX-LAS) where JFK-LAX is in A with the A321T. Since they now changed the rules, is there any risk that they will change my ticket from A to I and put me in business class instead? For example if the flight from LHR-JFK is cancelled and they need to move me to another flight, will this affect the A class booking on the A321T? Also if I need to take a later A321T flight?

Calchas

BA made all the necessary changes back in January. This particular loophole was related to that but arose separately, only recently. It wasn't possible before June.

To search ITA for Y class with I- fares use the f bc=I syntax and set the minimum cabin to economy.

nufnuf77

you are safe, the rules of when you booked apply and they can't just downgrade you. If you try to change your ticket before departure of the first segment is when a new fare and new rules would apply

nh1980

As a recent beneficiary (and v. grateful one at that) of the info about such fares I'm glad these threads have been around with tons of information about how to search and book. Indeed I have asked questions and received help either by open forum or PM.

There is however an element of people not bothering to do any groundwork and the spoon-feeding to death of every step they need or "can you send link please" type laziness constantly bumping the same topic to the top- hasn't this no doubt helped kill it for everyone? There is so much clear info around and I personally read about 100+ pages before booking first HNL (with help) whilst my second trip just about managed to do without. Oh bully for me one might say but the info is certainly there

For those who are still considering such fares, rather than help kill it, prepare to read up and book it now whilst it lasts or, as I also suspect, until the Tier system changes. The (for example) ex-CAI to HNL all in I class is still good deal for the price per TP even without the transcon A

HIDDY

Rather a strange post considering you're always telling us you always avoid flying BA anyway so the number of GGL/CCR members shouldn't bother you.

dylanks

I have to assume I'm amongst the least expensive CCR member BA have. My primary route leaves from T3 and so I get to use the CCR maybe 10X-15X/year and I'm a teetotal. I think it all balances out on the whole.

Blueboys999

Disappointing if unsurprising development but I wonder just how many people are actually affected by this move?

I have the clear impression that apart from the diehards the whole TP run on AA craze had largely evaporated after the points reallocation on domestic F and the exchange rate post-brexit. I'm certain it's nowhere near as popular as it was a couple of years ago and I might even go as far as to suggest that this move has relegated US trips to a pretty unattractive TP run destination.

Blueboys999

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crazyarmadillo

Most times when we go to the CCR its relatively empty. Lucky us!

I think BA have more important things to worry about , than a few peeps getting the CCR 'cheap', not that I agree with that sentiment .

if you are a CCR member, you the same level as status as anyone else whose is a CCR member. Whether you spend 5k or 100k with BA

Judging recently from the pictures posted on Flyertalk, I think BA should be focusing on GF - it must cost a fortune for BA in heineken.

IAN-UK

Then I'm sure you maintain a certain symmetry by studiously averting your eyes from information on good fares posted by our more generous colleagues...

snuffi

If you will excuse me for saying so, I find your post to be unnecessarily supercilious. You could have saved yourself a few minutes and simply typed “I am better than you”.

There are plenty of people on FT who fly full revenue and do not see the need to be so elitist.

Wozza2404

Swings and roundabouts. I don't disagree with you, but certainly there have been plenty of fares which were available for a significant period prior to being posted on FT which were pulled shortly after appearing here. This is because suddenly rather than a few hundred tickets a year going through, it often becomes thousands in a very short space of time.

A few years ago fares could appear here and still survive. The CMB-US/CAN fares one way in First for <£1500 are a good example. You could pretty much choose a mix of any airlines on that route, but EK-EK-BA was a popular choice. Once the blog culture really took off and they got hold of it, however, it disappeared shortly afterwards.

We had the RGN fares, which were heavily promoted by blogs without making it clear that these were mistake fares. As a result we ended up with reports of non frequent flyers having their honeymoons cancelled, grandparents stranded on the other side of the world, etc.

My issue isn't with information being shared on FT. It's with these blogs who trawl that information to promote to a much wider audience for the sole reason of trying to profit from it; whether by ad revenue or card referrals.

IAN-UK

I can manage to feel just as happy that many individuals benefitted from the deal over a short time, as the same number over a much longer period. Of course, happier still if I'm in on it, too And in the ideal MR world these aberrations of fare rules would hang around forever, but won't and they don't. Something else will come along. Hopefully ...

The Finnair Sydney tickets had a short shelf life. I took advantage of the fare, and I seem to remember you did, too. I don't think either of us imagined the same deal would be around six months' later. I'd have been pissed off to miss it, but I wouldn't have railed at blog sites for spoiling the deal. It's what blog sites are set up for and lots of folk are grateful for their service.

But FTers can't have it both ways - a vociferous bunch are warning NEVER to mention the word <mistake>, because it will come back to bite you if you plead innocence of such things

I got myself quite involved in this. The "bad" carriers mostly downgraded passengers from first-class to economy on part of the route; the fare was still a bargain under these conditions, and I think anyone claiming to be stranded was playing to the gallery. Some flounced off at Zurich at the indignity of a downgrade and caimed to have been ditched by SWISS. There were plenty histrionics at the injustice of having to travel in Y across the Atlantic after being carried in first and business from Asia, legal claims were made ... and an awful lot of hot air blown around.


I get your point, really I do. But the world is as it is: bloggers are here to stay. The information will seep through to them anyway, so that trying to keep secrets between FTers simply hurts those of us not members of a covert network.
And once the networkers who want to fly Brussels Sydney with FI have bought their tickets, what are they hoping will happen - the fare will stick round for next year if they keep stum?

Phil the Flyer

... furthermore, you wouldn't expect anyone wishing to limit GGL/CCR numbers for reasons of self-interest to offer advice to others on maximising TP collection, however (below thread, post # 10):

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...las-vegas.html

Wozza2404

I did! I'd forgotten about that. In fact, it led to me writing this TR: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...parison-j.html

That being said, I've since flown to SYD for a very similar price on all BA metal in F (via a GUF), so as it turns out these fares did stick around; just not the AY variant.


Here's my concern. You'll notice that discussion about credit card point churning, manufactured spend, etc. used to be a HUGE part of the chatter on FT. That has all but completely stopped these days. The reason for that is that there was a small group of people doing the homework and finding the routes, but a 'vulture culture' started to develop where people were waiting for info to be posted on the thread and then using it and/or blogging it and the routes were closed down incredibly quickly. Remember 3V cards? Those worked for years as a really good way of gaining Tesco points and credit card spend; but as soon as the blogs picked them up the 'outs' for the cards were closed and that was that. Want proof of that? The MS board on FT has just over 2k posts, and almost 400k views.

As a result, those who had anything to offer chose to no longer post on FT; taking themselves off to various closed forums.

Circling back to my point here, I'm worried the same thing will happen. Ultimately it's the same small group of regular people who tend to find and post these 'good deals' on flights. My concern is that these people decide to stop feeding the vultures and take their posts elsewhere. As stated above, there has been a precedent for this behaviour.

Certainly FT would be a much less useful resource as a result, but honestly in the current climate I couldn't blame anyone for choosing not to shout about a "mega fare" over here.