So frustrated with BA
 

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...bf55da1423.jpg
Amazing BA availability
I have 500,000 AVIOS points but for the last 2 years I have not been able to spend them.

The issue is always the same:

BA will let you go anywhere in the world using AVIOS points...they just won't let you come back home.

The outbound flights are always "available"..but the inbound flights are "NO AVAILABILITY"

Does BA want you to fly to Europe and swim back?

I have tried 5,6,9,11 months in advance, the story is always the same. Of course, this is if you can successfully navigate the BA booking website.
It is frequently non-functional. In addition, there is some bug where it constantly asks you if you want to STOPOVER in London.
No I don;t want to stop over. No matter. The website will ask you again and again and again, until you go away and give up.

Does anyone have any tips for me.

AT this point I don't really care where I go: send me anywhere from the EAST COAST of the US to ANYWHERE.
Please don't tell me that the only flight BA has is one Premium economy seat to London, but only if you leave in 2 hrs.

It would help if you were a little more specific. Do you want a beach resort in Greece for example? If so roughly when?

The thing that may well be holding you up is that the website isn't great with connections, particularly if you need 3 flights to get somewhere. But give us a few more clues and I'll certainly have a look for you.

How about the Caribbean (or Bermuda) on AA? Or South America on AA or LATAM? As an added bonus, there are no "carrier surcharges" on those redemptions.

I don't care at this point:
I have 500K BA points that I cannot spend to go anywhere because of these little loopholes in BA rules.
They should introduce an option to fly passengers in FREIGHT class to Europe (bonus...lots of inbound availability if you want to fly cargo)

PICK a US city...pick any other city on planet EARTH.
4 months, 6 months, 8 months, 11 months.

I guarantee that BA will show you seats on the outbound and NONE on the inbound. I'm beginning to think BA takes people to Europe only if you want to move there (and I'm only half kidding). Also BA give you no choice....YOU MUST FLY TO HEATHROW, its a religious shrine for this airline so the "connection" issue is moot.
5-6 years ago I could get a flight (IAD, JFK, MIA to Europe and back, those days are gone). Why is the outbound available always and the INBOUND return always impossible.

Thanks for the screen shot.

There is actually availability almost every day in December and January between Washington and London, not immediately around Christmas and New Year. Paris also has lots of options.

Have a look for WAS to LON first, find some options. Then check LON to CDG separately and see what works best. Then call BA to get it all on one booking.

If you want to save a bit of time, use rewardflightfinder.com, it takes you to the options more quickly, then go to BA.com. Search using WAS/LON/PAR rather than airport codes.

The QUESTION is British Airways.

I accumulated BA points to fly BA (maybe Quantas) to Europe or Asia not go to Detroit on American Airlines.

And BA will fly you back home?

Again, OUTBOUND...availability all the time.
Inbound?

Check this out:

IAD to PARIS:

massive out bound availability (on New Year's Eve no less)
ZERO inbound
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...342279284e.jpg

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...b2086a5555.jpg

Why is the question BA? And why do you think that the only option on AA is Detroit?

How about a week in Bermuda in August? The aa.com website is showing MileSAAver Coach availability on its nonstops PHL-BDA-PHL for 8/13-8/20. Those flights should be available for just 18,000 Avios roundtrip. How about Japan on JAL? Or Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific?

For North America to Europe, Iberia can be another option with your Avios. And if you transfer your BAEC Avios to Iberia Plus, you will pay much lower surcharges for IB flights than if you redeemed BAEC Avios for them.

OP you'll be a lot less frustrated with BA's website if you search by individual segment, as per @corporate-wage-slave - and consider an overnight layover in London in one direction if it will line up the flights better for you (eg late incoming flight to LHR then early outgoing TATL the following morning etc). Good luck!
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https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...b0a7eb0ef4.png

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...2c866e33bb.png

I fail to see the problem. Random dates picked 20DEC IAD-LHR and returning 10JAN LHR-IAD reveal availability in Economy, Premium Economy and Business

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...4b34b5b3ac.png

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...29a352ea9b.png

So forgive me but I'm failing to understand your inability to make a successful search. You've been advised to check availability for each leg if travelling beyond London. That means Washington to London then again London to XXX. And again for the return sectors back to Washington. Have you actually done this yet?

Once you've found availability call BA and have them build your redemption booking for you.

People are trying to help you but getting antsy at the people who are trying to help isn't really the most practical thing you can do to help yourself.

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The OP might also consider doing his initial award search at aa.com, which is capable of displaying award-seat availability on AA, AY, BA, and IB (among others). It is better than ba.com at displaying connecting award flights.

Any AY, BA, or IB award flights displayed on aa.com should be bookable with Avios. With AA now moving to dynamic-award pricing for AA flights at the MileSAAver level, I'm not sure if all AA MileSAAver award flights will continue to be available with Avios.

You want to fly BA, but not go via the UK? That's not going to happen.

I dread to think what you'll think of the taxes/surcharges when you do eventually find availability :)