higham44

I've just seen that the AA agent hadn't entered my BAEC number on the booking schedule. That may be the reason that I can't book the seat for free - will call AA to add and see what happens.

sipple89

Hi all, im looking at doing a return trip in business class from LHR-SOF twice to get 320 tier points.I cant book a return trip on the same day on the BA website but i could book 2 separate journeys on the same days, so LHR-SOF then SOF-LHR both for the 4th and 5th of November, there is only 55 minutes between landing and take off for the return flight. would i have to exit the airport and go back through passport control to get on the same day return flight or can i check in online and have the boarding pass on my phone and just stay at the gate for the return flight? i know its not cost effective getting tier points this way but id get to the reduced tier points needed for gold before they revert the the original amount required. thanks

webstereo

I'd recommend you search SOF B2B and you will find, I believe, that it says something along the lines of passengers decant into departure area - so from that I understand that you will get off the arrived aircraft and then get back on it when they board.

higham44

I was in Sofia recently on an overnight return flight. The arriving passengers do, indeed, exit the plane in departures. There is a basic lounge just nearby to use between arrival and departure.

pdbe25

Arrival and departure was the same gate when I did LHR-SOF-LHR(same day) in January 2022.

pdbe25

Hello,

Roughly when is your DUB-LCY trip for £50? Struggling to find a £50 fare.

Sunnyqazi

Hello, Could I just understand for my own knowledge about immediate turn around at Sofia. I had thought that since UK not being part of EU anymore so we had to get the passport stamped for arrival and exit ?
am I wrong, sorry in advance for my ignorance.

ISTFlyer

If you don't enter Bulgaria, you don't need to get your passport stamped.
A back-to-back doesn't involve entering Bulgaria and the passenger would remain at the international zone of Sofia Airport without entering Bulgaria.

Sunnyqazi

Thank you so very much for helping me on this, clearly I had the wrong understanding

pdbe25

Thank you for the explanation.

chrislondon2

Worth watching for the UL price to come back down on this soon. SU offering AUH-JED-CGK rtn in I for as little as £626 in late March. Let's see if UL price matches.

Wide open availability on UL 9th Aug to 15th Nov for £807, not bad for 560TP. It's quite a tough trip - I did a double run on this in March 20 to get the 1120TP I then needed for gold, not then realising that I'd keep that status as a result to Mar 23! Cost when booking mid-Dec 19 was AED2475 per rtn (then £495). If you are willing to risk it, possible to get all onward boarding passes at the UL office in AUH, then save 24hrs in CGK by doing a back-to-back at CGK. Transfers are on the right just before you get to immigration.

Sunnyqazi

I am quite tempted to be honest, 560 TP for around 800 quid is reasonable I think

erikh94

Hi everyone! I've been stalking this section for quite some time but never booked anything myself... until today! Thanks for all the tips and ideas, I've settled on a TP run next easter from Budapest to Long Beach, and looking forward to my first time in Southern California

BUD - LHR - HEL - JFK - PHX - LGB
LGB - PHX - JFK - LHR - HEL - BUD

totalling 920TP per £1,360 (£1.47/TP)

(I have the screenshot but can't post pictures cause I'm new to the forum unfortunately)

AnttiV

Did you manage to book this on BA stock? Can get my BUD-LHR-JFK-LAX-HNL to price on Matrix and book via AA but I would like to GUF myself to F and was told it needs to be on BA stock in order to do that.

erikh94

Still new to the jagon... if you mean BA metal then no, it's all AA and AY, BA only for the BUD-LHR and back

If you mean flight code, then yes except the PHX-LGB and back (unsurprisingly as it'a an AA subsidiary) and, more surprisingly, the PHX-JFK (while the JFK-PHX is on BA code). Weird, but not too worried by the Avios optimization

Also not sure about GUF, but none of the aircraft have proper first class, the AA domestic flights call "first" what is really a J product but that's another story. J itinerary also book in the AA "first" anyway for domestic

EDIT: sorry missed a point in the answer, I think you would only be able to upgrade F your LHR-JFK, unless AA uses different (and more premium) configs on the JFK-LAX-HNL, which wouldn't surprise me too much