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£1200 surcharges now showing on BA and Virgin Atlantic redemption flights

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£1200 surcharges now showing on BA and Virgin Atlantic redemption flights

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Old Mar 26, 2024, 5:40 am
  #16  
 
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Thanks for the reply. So are you saying for American or Delta supply of reward seats outstrips demand?
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Old Mar 26, 2024, 5:43 am
  #17  
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Originally Posted by jp-mco
Thanks for the reply. So are you saying for American or Delta supply of reward seats outstrips demand?
From what I can make out, if they charged more they won't shift the inventory.
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Old Mar 26, 2024, 5:47 am
  #18  
 
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Originally Posted by corporate-wage-slave
From what I can make out, if they charged more they won't shift the inventory.
That’s really interesting. I never realised NA carriers struggled to shift seats. Makes you wonder why lots of US passengers choose BA for redemptions over their own carriers if seats are so plentiful and cheaper.
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Old Mar 26, 2024, 6:25 am
  #19  
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Originally Posted by jp-mco
That’s really interesting. I never realised NA carriers struggled to shift seats. Makes you wonder why lots of US passengers choose BA for redemptions over their own carriers if seats are so plentiful and cheaper.
They don't. Delta and AA charge high fees, high miles on LON-NYC too.
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Old Mar 26, 2024, 7:28 am
  #20  
 
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Originally Posted by ademanuele
“£1200 surcharges now showing on BA and Virgin Atlantic redemption flights” reported by Head for Points, rather annoying!
Considering I can get an ex-EU TATL ticket in CW for around EUR 1,400 cash, why would I redeem for that? It makes the Avios effectively worthless. I've heard all the arguments about Avios flexibility and ability to get short notice redemptions and blah blah blah but the reality is that most normal redemptions are planned well in advance and rarely changed unless the airline schedules change.
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Old Mar 26, 2024, 7:36 am
  #21  
 
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Originally Posted by Tafflyer
Considering I can get an ex-EU TATL ticket in CW for around EUR 1,400 cash, why would I redeem for that? It makes the Avios effectively worthless. I've heard all the arguments about Avios flexibility and ability to get short notice redemptions and blah blah blah but the reality is that most normal redemptions are planned well in advance and rarely changed unless the airline schedules change.
For ex EU customers with fixed plans your are correct and who can travel when there are the sale prices on. A different story for us in the UK who don't have time or the enegery got do an ex EU shuffle and need to travel when there might not ebe a sale on.
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Old Mar 26, 2024, 9:02 am
  #22  
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Originally Posted by corporate-wage-slave
They don't. Delta and AA charge high fees, high miles on LON-NYC too.
Sometimes yes, sometimes no.




(AAdvantage only collects carrier surcharges for redemptions on BA and IB.)
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Old Mar 26, 2024, 9:33 am
  #23  
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Originally Posted by jp-mco
Thanks for the reply. So are you saying for American or Delta supply of reward seats outstrips demand?
You can't get AA and DL J award seats at "saver" prices. You can get them for 100-200k miles each way sort of pricing. Unless you are willing to wait to book until a week or less before departure.

BA, on the other hand, guarantees a fixed number of award seats on every single flight. But you pay surcharges... There should be no doubt in anybody's mind that those award seats would go away if surcharges were to go away.
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Old Mar 26, 2024, 9:58 am
  #24  
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Originally Posted by craigthemif
You can't get AA and DL J award seats at "saver" prices. You can get them for 100-200k miles each way sort of pricing. Unless you are willing to wait to book until a week or less before departure.
That may be true for DL, but it's a gross oversimplification when it comes to AA:

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Old Mar 26, 2024, 10:11 am
  #25  
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Originally Posted by guv1976
That may be true for DL, but it's a gross oversimplification when it comes to AA:
Why not show every single flight on AA from North America to Europe for the month of August, instead of cherry picking a few days / flights here and there to "prove" that saver awards exist?
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Old Mar 26, 2024, 10:16 am
  #26  
 
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Originally Posted by corporate-wage-slave
They don't. Delta and AA charge high fees, high miles on LON-NYC too.
Perhaps that might be a reason that American credit cards offer such big miles bonuses compared to those in the UK.
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Old Mar 26, 2024, 10:48 am
  #27  
 
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Originally Posted by ademanuele
“£1200 surcharges now showing on BA and Virgin Atlantic redemption flights” reported by Head for Points, rather annoying!
Geez almost the cost of a return club suite ticket to JFK when there is a sale going on!

I just wonder why governments and consumer protection agencies don't stop airlines from that rip off practice. They did it in Japan and Brazil.
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Old Mar 26, 2024, 10:54 am
  #28  
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Originally Posted by craigthemif
Why not show every single flight on AA from North America to Europe for the month of August, instead of cherry picking a few days / flights here and there to "prove" that saver awards exist?
Um, you were the one who claimed that one has to wait until a week or less before departure to get AA flights for less than 100-200K miles each way. And I thought that we were talking primarily about the JFK <=> LHR route. By the way, these are not priced at the old "SAAver" level, but slightly above that.

Here are a few more August data points for you:








On the other hand, would you rather go to BRU?



Or perhaps JFK-FCO nonstop?




With a dynamically-priced awards program like AAdvantage, there can be wide swings in pricing from one day to the next. But to suggest that one can only get a decent redemption rate one week before departure is just not correct.
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Old Mar 26, 2024, 11:21 am
  #29  
 
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Originally Posted by Tafflyer
Considering I can get an ex-EU TATL ticket in CW for around EUR 1,400 cash, why would I redeem for that? It makes the Avios effectively worthless. I've heard all the arguments about Avios flexibility and ability to get short notice redemptions and blah blah blah but the reality is that most normal redemptions are planned well in advance and rarely changed unless the airline schedules change.
I am based in AMS (so ex-EU by default) and looking to spend my Avios. But when trying to make a dummy booking 9 out of 10 times there is an issue (this flight can't be upgraded online even when searching via the Book and Upgrade feature on the website) and when I do find something the surcharge is prohibitive.

I am wondering what the best way is to use my Avios ex-AMS.
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Old Mar 26, 2024, 11:49 am
  #30  
 
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Originally Posted by guv1976
That may be true for DL, but it's a gross oversimplification when it comes to AA:
I’d flag on these same dates BA is pricing 160k Avios and £350 in surcharges. That feels comparable value to the AA flights you quote plus you can get that on any off peak date in the calendar, they’ll be atleast 4 reward seats available in CW on every BA flight when they first go on sale and lets not overlook the main advantage of course, you can avoid flying on American.
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