hewittj1

I wonder if anyone can point me in the right direction....?

I have managed to book my reward outbound flights in first - LHR to Bridgetown Barbados in Jan 2021. There was lots of availability for the outbound when I booked.

But I haven't seen any return seats yet (Bridgewater to London). We are now at 345 days (fish) before the dates I want to fly back (10/11/12 Feb 2021) but I haven't seen these come up - and I am checking daily.

Is there a way I can check whether these seats haven't been opened for reward tickets yet or whether they have been booked already?

Thanks for any help

Jon

SteveF

BA do not promise to make any F seats available so there is no guarantee that they will. They may have made some available and they may have gone, they may make some or some more available later or they may not. Personally I would grab CW seats if they are available, although they may have already gone by T-345. If you do that and F opens up later, you can just upgrade and pay the change fee.

argonath

Very sound advice

hewittj1

This is what I normally do ..... it is sound advice

Sadly, next January is a special occasion ..... so I really want first class - our plan would be to go somewhere else in First rather than here in club.

Thanks for the advice, 99.9% of the time thats what I would do.

mikeyfly

You are not guaranteed F - I would book elsewhere if you want guaranteed F for somewhere that currently has available space. The two seats in Club would have already been snatched

LondonElite

Have you considered coming back from a different destination?

johnaalex

Sign up to seatspy.com for free alerts.

sunshinebob

You do know that Ba do not fly from BGI to LHR? Its a Gatwick route...

hewittj1

Sorry that is what I meant!

fdem

Sorry if it is that important maybe just buy a one way F. Honestly I find that some posters need a reality check, if you have to go f just pay for it. Is CW really that awful, especially as you don’t seem to have any status so obviously not a seasoned F flyer. Seriously if it is a really special occasion just fork out if it is that important. I think you would find CW acceptable.

UKTraveller4Fun

I am not sure the advice of buying a one way F is very good as its likely to cost nearly as much as a return and it is quite possible spending £10k+ on flights is not an option, hence the desire to use avios. I have no idea but its possible the Op has never flown First and wishes to make the most of it, personally I do find a huge different between CW and F with BA and would consider other options than flying CW.

All that said if the dates the Op wishes to travel are pretty fixed then for now I would book the CW return if its available and there are no other destinations with return F flights that appeal, it could also be worth looking at a connecting flight and doing a couple of nights elsewhere on the return if they can find F availability from somewhere else. I have noticed BA does not seem to release as many F seats as it used to and while this is a long way out its safe to say assumign BA will release F availability just because it has space is not a safe way to play things as they are quite tight on F control these days.

Tiger_lily

I would pay for CW seats and then upgrade to F when available in this case, especially if the initial release of CW award seats are likely to have already gone.

hewittj1

Seriously fdem - get off your high horse.

1. Yes I have status - Gold at the moment..... but exactly how would this help in this scenario???
2. Why a reality check - over the past few years I have flown in First on rewards for nearly all of my personal flights (only not to ORL where they don't offer first)
3. YES, the old CW is really that awful!
4. You clearly don't fly that often as IF you did you would know that one way First tend only to be sold in the most expensive ticket class and likely to be £10k each.

You know what, if you don't have anything helpful to say (or any real experience) why not shut up!

mikeyfly

Hey hewittj1 if you are Avios rich - book the return you want in the cabin you want using the Gold double Avios, then you can reduce to single use or even 241 if F rewards open. It will give you peace of mind and you'll have what you require

hewittj1

Thanks.

I think I've now worked out the flights I am after have been released, and someone else has got to them before me! I think I will cancel the outbound and start again, being a bit more proactive on the return and also looking for returns in F fro m Miami (thanks for the idea) and just getting an AA flight across to there if needed.