mrvincent

I'm seeing no availability in F from any Asian destination in January 20198 - a week ago there were tonnes of options (particularly from Japan/China) but I'm now seeing zero. Do BA do anything that would cause all availability to go like this?

theOtherHolmes

KARFA

no your LHR-FCO and BCN-LHR flights should not be free for this type of booking and you should have paid the additional avios and taxes/fees/charges required. The only free flights for rewards are UK domestic connections to or from long haul rewards - free in the sense no further avios is required but you still have to pay any additional taxes/fees.charges due.

YYZ-LHR is 68,000 avios off-peak and 80,000 avios peak one way in F. FCO and BCN are both the same avios bands so 12,750 off-peak and 15,000 peak one way on CE.

theOtherHolmes

leonheart17

Hello, very new member here. It's been a very stressful year for my family (missus especially) and think I should take her somewhere nice, to allow my wife to take a very well deserved break from things.
I just only managed to realize what my BA Amex can do, and have been reading online to get some info before i bumped into this helpful community.
Long story short, we live in London. We have a 2-4-1 voucher that expires on the 12th of May 2018 (which makes the travel window super tight between end-arpil to early-may). And approximately 100k Avios points.
There are 4 of us flying, 2 adults + 1 child (2.5 years) + 1 (infant).

This would be the first time we will be travelling since first kid was born, so would really appreciate advice on 2 things:
1. An opinion on a family destination that we can travel to using the criteria above, I'm thinking middle east as the furthest. but i've never been so not sure if its good for family?
2. Best "bang for your buck" way to get there. I dont mind paying some cash to cover cost of a kid/adult ticket as well.

Between kids and stress with work, I think we've been neglecting ourselves as adults. Really appreciate your kind thoughts on building this travel package.

BertieBadger

Welcome to FlyerTalk leonheart17, I'm sure one of the forum ambassadors will be along shortly to give you the formal welcome. And while it seems perfectly on-topic for this thread, I wonder if you might get more of a response by posting as a new thread (you can ask a moderator to move it by alerting them to your own post via the red triangle if you think so). I'm hardly an expert in these matters and Mrs BertieB are without kids, so not well placed to advise on the family friendly issues, hopefully others can do so.

Nonetheless, maybe some suggestions about your second point. If your 2-4-1 is soon to expire then as you've noticed, you're going to be really constrained on what your options are. If you haven't seen it, BA have a page that shows the routes with some of the best upcoming availability:

https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb...-flight-offers

A marketing tool no doubt, but perhaps as good a place to start as anywhere

As I understand it, your infant will travel at 10% cost (as a lap infant) so for simplicity, let's disregard that cost on the assumption that you can buy circa 10k Avios if you need them.

So you're looking at spreading your 100K Avios across 2 people, since one will travel free (i.e just taxes) on the 2-4-1. If you want long haul you're mostly going to be looking at WT cabins or WTP cabins. Most people here would argue that WT is a pretty poor use of Avios, simply because you'll often end up paying nearly as much in taxes as a cheap revenue ticket would cost, and the latter would earn you more Avios and TP. It would certainly seem to fail your "best bang for buck" criteria.

Even WTP is going to somewhat marginal on that front, again, because you're going to pay a significant amount of tax. Generally, the thinking on FlyerTalk seems to be that you get the best value from using Avios either to fly the premium cabins, or to upgrade to them. Since you have a 2-4-1, my understanding is that you'll need to be looking at pure redemptions rather than upgrades.

Perhaps you could give a little more information, and hopefully people will come up with some creative options, so e.g:

- who holds the 2-4-1, you or your missus? (It might be relevant if you want her to fly in a higher cabin as a treat, tho you could always swap onboard)
- Do you have specific cabins you want to fly (e.g. treat her to CW? Would you fly a lower/separate cabin?)
- What sort of budget do you have in terms of additional cash fares etc.
- What status do you (and your wife?) have in BAEC - possibly relevant if you want lounge access.

You can do somewhere like NY/Boston off-peak for 100K avios return in CW, so I'm wondering if you could do one adult, one child (on the 2-4-1) and lap infant in CW, while remaining adult buys a revenue ticket in whatever cabin they want?

Of course, if you look at short haul, you open up an awful lot more options, including RFS flights, which cap the tax at £35 in ET, and £50 in CE. Hardly the best use of a 2-4-1 of course, but it's probably just as important to focus on going somewhere that gives you the relaxation you want and deserve, rather than trying to force a trip round a specific constraint at any costs.

PETER01

And here it is.......drumroll.........so welcome to Flyertalk and the BA Board lionheart17.

Some sage advice from BertieBadger there, knowledgeable and always very helpful and I would echo his comments re the east coast.

No doubt maybe a few more will chip in with their words of wisdom, Globaliser springs to mind.

I have only ever used a 241 twice and that was many years ago and so I am probably not the best person to ask for advice re this specific matter. However, what I would say in response to your latter comment is that once booked it definitely gives you all something to look forward to knowing your going on a holiday trip. I hope it all works out for you and perhaps you could let us know how you got on if possible.

I hope you enjoy your time here, and even more than 10 years later since I joined this board with regards to BA and oneworld there is an abundance of experience here so feel free to chip in whenever with yours as each and every member makes a difference and of course it's always good to have new blood as the old saying goes.

The Dashboard is also great for tips and info but I believe as Flyertalk has had an IT update just a few weeks ago it is needing fixed which I am sure it will be.

memesweeper

In addition to the page @BertieBadger recommends take a look at the “Reward Flight Finder”. Great if you have a short window of dates but an open mind on destinations.

Remember, only the outbound journey needs to be inside your voucher availability window.

jediwho

I am thinking about booking two one way tickets on Cathay Dragon for next year using Avios. It’s a short flight so the two tickets together would be 9,000 Avios + US $64. Ideally, I would like to fly business but would also like to secure these two seats in coach. If business class seats on Cathay become available in the future, would my change fees be $55 (as the two tickets are on one booking) or $110? Thanks!

KARFA

Mike_Smith

Hi, I hope somebody can assist.

We booked 1 trip with my wife’s Avios on business, LHR – JNB for March 2019

As of today, all 3 classes show availability Non Peak times

Now I am short on points for business but can book Premium Economy.

I will have enough points in 20ish days to cover the flight + (€215 fee)
What is the chance of a business seat still being available as a reward flight with Avios on 20 days?

I know that is probably like asking for the lotto numbers, but, any advise will be appreciated.
Thanks.

Globaliser

I think you have it right: it is indeed like asking for the Lotto numbers. But in your shoes, I would be working on the basis that there will be no seats left.

Why don't you just buy the missing Avios now? I think that should be instant.

Mike_Smith

I am 16 000 short.

In approx 3 weeks, I will get 48K points.

Globaliser

I've just been quoted £255 to buy 15,000 or £335 for 20,000, so that's your answer if you want the security of knowing that you'll get a business class seat. Remember that if you book premium economy now with the aim of changing the booking to business class in three weeks' time, you're in for a £35 fee to change the booking then, so that is an offset against the current cost of buying some Avios if you then only need to book now and then forget about it. And if you don't book anything now, there is at least a theoretical possibility that in three weeks' time there will be no award seats in any cabin.

DeltaB

I'm getting myself organised for (trying to!) book our honeymoon for April/May 2019 to SEZ. I currently have about 165k avios and the amex 2-4-1 voucher, so I think enough for First out and Club back, hopefully enough for First both ways by the time I come to booking...

Obviously I don't want to miss out on the outbound flights while waiting on the inbound ones being released, so I've been trying to read up on one way bookings and adding on the inbound, making phone calls to Tokyo etc, but I think the addition on the 2-4-1 voucher complicates it.

Has anyone made a one way redemption recently with 2-4-1, then added one the return at a later date? Any tips/advice?