LondonTechTraveller

Having been awarded this year's Amex 2-4-1 I'm looking at making a booking for next summer and would appreciate advice from the experts here!

The current thinking is an open-jaw road trip from LHR down the west coast of America. Thinking flying into Seattle (spend a couple of days there) and out of San Francisco a couple of weeks later (again with a couple of days in the city).

I've enough Avios to go First if the cabin is available. But knowing the need to be flexible we could fly in to Vancouver and could fly out of LAX, San Jose or Oakland. Very flexible on dates so it could be June, July or August 2018.

So I'm looking for advice on good routes to find availability and routes to fly for the best aircraft experience. Plus any advice on the road trip too - hiring a car for the one-way cross-state journey and places to stay or visit on the way (though these may be too off-topic for this forum!).

Thanks in advance!

markle

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LondonTechTraveller

That's a very helpful thought - many thanks!

Dorsetboy

Good luck with that. We did something similar in early October with F into SJC and out of PHX. Tried to get flights for same time this year too but they are like hens teeth to all of the west coast, and looking at the redemption finder it's difficult to find any premium cabin availability earlier too.
Definitely try F into or out of SJC if you can. It's just the best BA F cabin going IMHO

LondonTechTraveller

Thanks, Dorsetboy, good advice about SJC. I was thinking about PHX to SJC but that means travelling first class but out of LHR terminal 3 so no concorde room which would be a shame! But maybe I'll slum it with a LGW-LAS service in Club World on the way out!

daftboy

Seconding the baredemptionfinder.com tool as a very useful tool for BA routes. And just to flag there is pretty good West Coast availability in April and May at the moment (in CW rather than F), not so sure about into the summer months – but I’d recommend jumping on availability if you find it, it doesn’t tend to hang around very long.

And T3 is not the poor relation when you have the Cathay First lounge and the new Qantas lounge to choose from…plus a new American Flagship lounge in due course (along with the BA lounge offerings of course)

jeffers

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LondonTechTraveller

Good point about the Cathay first lounge - impressive and great dining room.

On the idea of snapping up seats, am I right in thinking that if I book a redemption (with my Amex 2-4-1) and then find out that the dates don't work after all I can change the dates/routes of the redemption booking for a relatively small fee? What happens if I cancel?

MikeBouch

If you know your travel class, in your case F, you can use the BA iPhone app to look at any destination with a scrolling calendar showing availability using 'Reward Flight Finder' and you just need to select 2 PAX. Only down side is that you have to use the website to book using the voucher! This is option is not however available on iPad for some reason!

PS A quick check shows there is some, if limited availability to Seattle in July and August for 2 F redemptions.

Good Luck!

daftboy

You can subsequently amend if other availability appears, and if cancelling you get the voucher back (with its original validity intact) and the Avios and cash returned, in both cases subject to a £35pp fee - think of the £35 as an option cost on getting the flights you want, even if you have to subsequently amend the booking if a more desirable routing or cabin opens up. Also good to have an outbound locked in to be able to get the return you want, as 2-4-1 bookings need to depart from the UK.