Cannot redeem Avios for trip to Canada
Apr 27, 2019, 3:18 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2008
Programs: Aeroplan; BA Executive Club; BMI Diamond Club; American Airlines
Posts: 23
Cannot redeem Avios for trip to Canada
After many years as a faithful BA customer flying from Canada to the UK I am struggling to decide if it is worth having the account. We moved to the UK six years ago and due to the Home Office retaining various documents during that time have not travelled much. I just received British citizenship and wanted to fly to Canada to celebrate my mother's 85th birthday October which falls around the Canadian Thanksgiving as well visit an elderly aunt in Ottawa before flying to Victoria to see friends and subsequently fly back to the UK. BA's revamp of its rewards has made it impossible to use our household points to fly to Canada it seems.
I have spent the past ten hours trying to search ba.com's website to find flights that will fly to Ottawa from the UK but it won't list the Oneworld alliance flights that fly there. Tried to see if there were reward flight bookings from London to Toronto or New York then flying back to London from Victoria up-gradeable from WT+ to CW however none were available even with flexible dates or the web-site crashed or BA and One world don't fly to those cities. I have tried to use AA and Qantas sites to search availability however it seems the itinerary I need is rather obscure.
Anyone have any suggestions before I totally give up on BA? Looking forward to seeing insights from others.
Allison
I have spent the past ten hours trying to search ba.com's website to find flights that will fly to Ottawa from the UK but it won't list the Oneworld alliance flights that fly there. Tried to see if there were reward flight bookings from London to Toronto or New York then flying back to London from Victoria up-gradeable from WT+ to CW however none were available even with flexible dates or the web-site crashed or BA and One world don't fly to those cities. I have tried to use AA and Qantas sites to search availability however it seems the itinerary I need is rather obscure.
Anyone have any suggestions before I totally give up on BA? Looking forward to seeing insights from others.
Allison
Apr 27, 2019, 4:19 pm
#2
Moderator: British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: TPA/ABZ
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold. GGL/CCR.
Posts: 13,248
Allison, have a look at BA rewards through the BA App. Click on the hamburger (top right) and select Reward flights then touch Go under Reward Flight Finder. Failing that, try baredemptionfinder.com or others such as Awardnexus or ExpertFlyer. If you want to post some sample dates and cities I'm sure someone will take a look for you.
Apr 27, 2019, 4:28 pm
#3
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: coastal Croatia
Programs: BAEC Gold, M&M Senator
Posts: 2,180
As I understand things, you want a multi-city reward for LHR-Ottawa / Victorai or Vancouver-LHR. Is that correct? What class?
Flying from Ottawa to Victoria or Vancouver is not possible using a BA award because AA is not allowed to sell a routing between two Canadian cities with a connection in the US. And the Canadian airlines who could fly that route are not oneworld members. That willhave to be bought separately. Maybe try just the transatlantic flights and see how that goes as one way tickets so LHR-YOW and then YVR-LHR. Then when you find the flights as one ways, use the multi city feature to book or call in.
You might be able to fly from Victoria to Seattle on Alaska and then on to London on BA but you will have to call in for that routing since Alaska Airlines doesn't show up on the BA website offerings. Those flights do seem to show on AA.com.
Flying from Ottawa to Victoria or Vancouver is not possible using a BA award because AA is not allowed to sell a routing between two Canadian cities with a connection in the US. And the Canadian airlines who could fly that route are not oneworld members. That willhave to be bought separately. Maybe try just the transatlantic flights and see how that goes as one way tickets so LHR-YOW and then YVR-LHR. Then when you find the flights as one ways, use the multi city feature to book or call in.
You might be able to fly from Victoria to Seattle on Alaska and then on to London on BA but you will have to call in for that routing since Alaska Airlines doesn't show up on the BA website offerings. Those flights do seem to show on AA.com.
Last edited by eefor jfp; Apr 27, 2019 at 4:37 pm Reason: add last sentence
Apr 27, 2019, 5:02 pm
#4
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: MEL CHC
Posts: 21,008
I have spent the past ten hours trying to search ba.com's website to find flights that will fly to Ottawa from the UK but it won't list the Oneworld alliance flights that fly there. Tried to see if there were reward flight bookings from London to Toronto or New York then flying back to London from Victoria up-gradeable from WT+ to CW however none were available even with flexible dates or the web-site crashed or BA and One world don't fly to those cities. I have tried to use AA and Qantas sites to search availability however it seems the itinerary I need is rather obscure.
Look at the airports to find out what airlines fly where.
Look for alternate airports
YYZ-YUL-NYC
SEA-VCR
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottawa...tional_Airport
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toront...tional_Airport
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montr%...tional_Airport
- x
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor...tional_Airport
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattl...tional_Airport
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vancou...tional_Airport
Great Circle Mapper
Canada http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=YUL-YOW...A&MS=wls&DU=mi
Apr 27, 2019, 5:19 pm
#5
Join Date: May 2006
Location: 5 miles from EMA
Programs: BD, BAEC Pleb, VS Pleb, Accor Pleb, HHonors Gold, Big White Season Pass
Posts: 5,903
As I understand things, you want a multi-city reward for LHR-Ottawa / Victorai or Vancouver-LHR. Is that correct? What class?
Flying from Ottawa to Victoria or Vancouver is not possible using a BA award because AA is not allowed to sell a routing between two Canadian cities with a connection in the US. And the Canadian airlines who could fly that route are not oneworld members. That willhave to be bought separately. Maybe try just the transatlantic flights and see how that goes as one way tickets so LHR-YOW and then YVR-LHR. Then when you find the flights as one ways, use the multi city feature to book or call in.
You might be able to fly from Victoria to Seattle on Alaska and then on to London on BA but you will have to call in for that routing since Alaska Airlines doesn't show up on the BA website offerings. Those flights do seem to show on AA.com.
Flying from Ottawa to Victoria or Vancouver is not possible using a BA award because AA is not allowed to sell a routing between two Canadian cities with a connection in the US. And the Canadian airlines who could fly that route are not oneworld members. That willhave to be bought separately. Maybe try just the transatlantic flights and see how that goes as one way tickets so LHR-YOW and then YVR-LHR. Then when you find the flights as one ways, use the multi city feature to book or call in.
You might be able to fly from Victoria to Seattle on Alaska and then on to London on BA but you will have to call in for that routing since Alaska Airlines doesn't show up on the BA website offerings. Those flights do seem to show on AA.com.
Apr 28, 2019, 5:41 am
#6
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: coastal Croatia
Programs: BAEC Gold, M&M Senator
Posts: 2,180
Alaska will be offered on a very limited number of routings. There appears to be some weird married segment logic going on as I'm trying to get to YLW via SEA with the last leg on Alaska and it will only work with the morning Seattle flight. It might be better to call up for this one. Ottowa isn't served by BA, so you probably need to book to Toronto and make your way internally on separate tickets to Ottowa and Vancouver.
Apr 29, 2019, 6:19 am
#7
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: YTZ/LHR
Programs: VIPorter First, BA GGL, DL Plat, Golden Circle Elite
Posts: 830
The easiest way is to fly LHR-YUL and then drive or take a bus/train to Ottawa. It's a <2hr drive. Ottawa is not particularly compact, either, so having a rental car is not a bad idea.
Within Canada, you have no option for domestic flights with avios, so you'll need to buy a one-way or return from YOW-YYJ. From YYJ, you'd have to fly from SEA or YVR back to LHR.
Within Canada, you have no option for domestic flights with avios, so you'll need to buy a one-way or return from YOW-YYJ. From YYJ, you'd have to fly from SEA or YVR back to LHR.
May 4, 2019, 3:07 am
#9
Join Date: Jan 2014
Programs: Amtrak Guest Rewards (SE), Virgin America Elevate, Hyatt Gold Passport (Platinum), VIA Preference
Posts: 3,134
As I understand things, you want a multi-city reward for LHR-Ottawa / Victorai or Vancouver-LHR. Is that correct? What class?
Flying from Ottawa to Victoria or Vancouver is not possible using a BA award because AA is not allowed to sell a routing between two Canadian cities with a connection in the US. And the Canadian airlines who could fly that route are not oneworld members. That willhave to be bought separately. Maybe try just the transatlantic flights and see how that goes as one way tickets so LHR-YOW and then YVR-LHR. Then when you find the flights as one ways, use the multi city feature to book or call in.
You might be able to fly from Victoria to Seattle on Alaska and then on to London on BA but you will have to call in for that routing since Alaska Airlines doesn't show up on the BA website offerings. Those flights do seem to show on AA.com.
Flying from Ottawa to Victoria or Vancouver is not possible using a BA award because AA is not allowed to sell a routing between two Canadian cities with a connection in the US. And the Canadian airlines who could fly that route are not oneworld members. That willhave to be bought separately. Maybe try just the transatlantic flights and see how that goes as one way tickets so LHR-YOW and then YVR-LHR. Then when you find the flights as one ways, use the multi city feature to book or call in.
You might be able to fly from Victoria to Seattle on Alaska and then on to London on BA but you will have to call in for that routing since Alaska Airlines doesn't show up on the BA website offerings. Those flights do seem to show on AA.com.
Two other options to consider:
(1) You can always break a ticket somewhere in the US (so, for example, YUL-CHI/CHI-YVR), though this may involve a certain amount of inanity regarding baggage claiming.
(2) As far as going to Vancouver, the other option to put out on the table is to fly YUL/YYZ[/YOW]-SEA and then catch a train up to Vancouver. It's a beautiful train ride, and the evening train leaves late enough that traveling up there should be doable.
Price-wise this may not make sense (you might just be better off writing off an out-of-alliance ticket for a better fare), but the options do exist.