Your guide to spending Avios | 2019 edition
Apr 23, 2019, 7:19 am
#151
Join Date: Apr 2015
Location: GA
Programs: HH, IHG
Posts: 141
With the UR-->Avios transfer bonus, I remembered that BA may be a good use for my SYD-ZQN flight but I ALREADY BOOKED IT using AA. Even though I couldn't cancel I wanted to see how big a deal I missed out on. I used 50k AA + $181 to book in J, that would have cost 40k Avios + $181, so pretty close. Considering how I have many more AA than UR I'd call it a wash. Crisis averted hahaha
Apr 23, 2019, 12:53 pm
#153
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 189
I called into BA to get a quote for a few dates flying ORD-DUB on Aer Lingus next March. For two different days (first week of March, third week of March) I was quoted peak Avios pricing, which led to my questions:
1) Are off-peak rewards on IE metal booked through BA still available? (The third table above indicates they are not, but I have not read that anywhere. I thought it would've been front page blogger news had this happened.)
2) Where is the best/easiest place to find IE off-peak dates for March 2020?
3) Does IE availability enter BA's system at 355 days? If not, approximately how far in advance are IE flights available vi BA Avios?
1) Are off-peak rewards on IE metal booked through BA still available? (The third table above indicates they are not, but I have not read that anywhere. I thought it would've been front page blogger news had this happened.)
2) Where is the best/easiest place to find IE off-peak dates for March 2020?
3) Does IE availability enter BA's system at 355 days? If not, approximately how far in advance are IE flights available vi BA Avios?
This is a good guide for EI avios bookings which I think addresses your questions https://www.headforpoints.com/2019/0...on-aer-lingus/
For the curious here's what I discovered:
1) Off-peak BA awards on IE metal still exist. I believe my problem was is there's a non-Avios One World partner providing one of the segments the IE leg will always be charged the Peak fare.
2) avios.com
3) I am not seeing any IE availability on a few different routes after 29 Mar, 2020. That is 341 days from today.
Last edited by 8tracks; Apr 23, 2019 at 12:58 pm
Apr 24, 2019, 1:44 am
#154
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: London
Programs: Mucci. Nothing else matters.
Posts: 38,644
Apr 24, 2019, 10:34 am
#155
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 189
EI. Ugh. Once is an excusable typo. Repeats reveal my amateur status.
Apr 24, 2019, 12:33 pm
#156
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ashtead, Surrey
Programs: BAEC G, VS G, Marriot Plat
Posts: 55
HKG to LHR Seat bonanza
Following all the sage advice, stayed up late last night to try and secure 4 CW seats returning back from Hong Kong next Easter Sunday.
Dialled US Gold line to be put through to a very nice agent sat in Warrington (why can’t they open for UK card holders at that time?) with 10 mins to go.
Got the obligatory warning that 4 seats might be hard to come by but as 1am ticked over, 9, yes, 9 reward seats were released and agent nabbed 4 for me. Bit of payment and paperwork and was off the call by 1:10.
Pleased with outcome if only a bit tired and bemused that there’s still at least 4 reward seats available this evening meaning I didn’t need to stay up at all... oh well, right result and now time to start saving more Avios...
Dialled US Gold line to be put through to a very nice agent sat in Warrington (why can’t they open for UK card holders at that time?) with 10 mins to go.
Got the obligatory warning that 4 seats might be hard to come by but as 1am ticked over, 9, yes, 9 reward seats were released and agent nabbed 4 for me. Bit of payment and paperwork and was off the call by 1:10.
Pleased with outcome if only a bit tired and bemused that there’s still at least 4 reward seats available this evening meaning I didn’t need to stay up at all... oh well, right result and now time to start saving more Avios...
Apr 24, 2019, 2:12 pm
#157
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Edinburgh
Programs: BA Gold, FB Gold
Posts: 83
Domestic connections no longer included
Has something changed - if I price up LHR-HKG its 90k Avios, but LHR-HKG-EDI is now 99k Avios (peak pricing, one way)
I'm sure domestic feeders used to be included in a long haul redemption?
Has something changed - if I price up LHR-HKG its 90k Avios, but LHR-HKG-EDI is now 99k Avios (peak pricing, one way)
I'm sure domestic feeders used to be included in a long haul redemption?
Apr 24, 2019, 3:29 pm
#158
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: London
Programs: Mucci. Nothing else matters.
Posts: 38,644
Apr 27, 2019, 12:41 pm
#159
Join Date: Mar 2018
Location: Edinburgh
Programs: BAEC Gold, ITA Volare Executive
Posts: 450
Hi folks, have had a quick scroll through the earlier posts but can’t really find anything that hits the nail on the head.
I have an INV-LHR-LAS and return booked later on in the year, with a 7 hour layover in LHR - ideal for a T3 lounge crawl.
I’m booked in CW and there is reward availability LHR-LAS in First, if I understand correctly at 22500 Avios.
Doing dummy reward bookings for First / CW the taxes and fees element seems to be the same, does mean there is no cash difference to pay? If that is the case what should I expect the change fee to be? (Booked in Jan during the sale)
Grateful for any help and apologies if I’ve left any obvious details out.
I have an INV-LHR-LAS and return booked later on in the year, with a 7 hour layover in LHR - ideal for a T3 lounge crawl.
I’m booked in CW and there is reward availability LHR-LAS in First, if I understand correctly at 22500 Avios.
Doing dummy reward bookings for First / CW the taxes and fees element seems to be the same, does mean there is no cash difference to pay? If that is the case what should I expect the change fee to be? (Booked in Jan during the sale)
Grateful for any help and apologies if I’ve left any obvious details out.
Apr 27, 2019, 12:52 pm
#160
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: London
Programs: Mucci. Nothing else matters.
Posts: 38,644
The change fee should be £35 per person.
Apr 27, 2019, 1:00 pm
#161
Join Date: Mar 2018
Location: Edinburgh
Programs: BAEC Gold, ITA Volare Executive
Posts: 450
Thanks for that! My previous transatlantic strips have been in lowest of the low buckets so unable to upgrade even to W.
Apr 27, 2019, 3:50 pm
#162
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: London
Programs: BAEC Gold, Accor Live Limitless Gold, Hilton Honours Gold, Avis Preferred Plus
Posts: 1,807
I did an UuA earlier this year to CW from WT+ (On a different route). They originally said that there was no difference in taxes and fees etc to upgrade so they just took the Avios. I then got a call 30 mins later saying “sorry we made a mistake and there actually are fees, it is €xx in total for the two of you” I can’t remember exactly how much but it was along the lines of £55 when converted from EUR.
it seems that there was no change fee incurred for me. I don’t know if this is always the cause when UuA?
it seems that there was no change fee incurred for me. I don’t know if this is always the cause when UuA?
Apr 27, 2019, 7:37 pm
#163
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 4,709
I did an UuA earlier this year to CW from WT+ (On a different route). They originally said that there was no difference in taxes and fees etc to upgrade so they just took the Avios. I then got a call 30 mins later saying “sorry we made a mistake and there actually are fees, it is €xx in total for the two of you” I can’t remember exactly how much but it was along the lines of £55 when converted from EUR.
it seems that there was no change fee incurred for me. I don’t know if this is always the cause when UuA?
it seems that there was no change fee incurred for me. I don’t know if this is always the cause when UuA?
Apr 28, 2019, 1:33 am
#164
Ambassador, British Airways; FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Leeds, UK
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, GfL, HH Diamond
Posts: 42,983
Just to confirm, UuAs do not incur any change fee. It should purely be the difference of taxes/fees/charges between the two cabins.
Apr 28, 2019, 3:10 pm
#165
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: London
Programs: Mucci. Nothing else matters.
Posts: 38,644
If you take a cash ticket and upgrade it using Avios, this is a UuA and no change fee is payable.
If you take an Avios ticket and change it to a higher cabin by paying more Avios, that is a change and a change fee is payable. For this reason, I usually try to discourage people from referring to this kind of transaction as an "upgrade", even though in some senses it is.