World-Wide

Thank You!!!

I did not know about the downgrades. What do you need now for a trip to Europe? I just want some nice deals like the 75K X 2 last year. ANYTHING lol

(Just missed the 60K United 1 waiting. And the offer is no longer public.)

amolkold

Before November, BAEC points were best used on partners like LAN and Cathay with their unlimited stopovers rule. It was 80K roundtrip for LAN business class to South America, so you could go to Lima, Easter Island, Santiago, and Buenos Aires all on one redemption. With Cathay, it was 100K rt for J or 150K for F (one of the best F in the world) with stopover in Hong Kong. Best of all, no fuel surcharges. Those possibilities are gone now.

The price of a trip depends on exactly what cities you want to go, and if you go non-stop or via a connection (connection = more miles) -- http://www.britishairways.com/travel...s#CalculatePod

A redeeming aspect of the card is if you spent $30K on it in a year, you'd get a 2-for-1 voucher, so you could book 2 award tickets on BA metal for the price of 1 (still have to pay fuel surcharges and taxes though).

AlohaDaveKennedy

Not finding BA so good for SA, but not bad for short hops out of UK to the isles and possessions.

mike2200

mike2200

Just used BA points to book a return to SMF (Calif.) on AA metal from SJU (San Juan) for 40k for two seemed like a good deal and no fuel surcharge

amolkold

I'm not saying there aren't good deals, I'm just saying it's not as exciting as before. Before Avios, for 40K in Y, you could book SFO-LIM-IPC-SCL-EZE with stopovers everywhere on LAN without fuel surcharges.

Also I'm curious how you got SMF-SJU for 40K, seeing as how the most direct routing would be SMF-DFW-SJU and the Avios calculator shows that as 22500 one-way (10K SMF-DFW and 12.5K DFW-SJU). AA charges 17500 one-way for that same route.

mike2200

I said SJU to SMF and yes it stops in DFW the BA price was 45k for 2, I am bad thought it was 40k . Was not booked in segments, I was merely showing what I thought was good value for BA miles considering we received 100k miles

amolkold

Oh okay, 2 one-ways. Gotcha.

Even though you didn't book in segments, BA charges you in segments. It's both a negative and positive of the program ... negative being that if you HAVE to connect (like an SJU-SMF itinerary), you pay more. I.E., AA would have charged you 35K instead of 45K on BA for the total itinerary, no matter how many connections you had. The positive being that if you have a very short, but expensive, flight (like NYC-YYZ), you pay a very small amount of Avios points if you fly directly.

I'm not saying there's no value to be had, I'm just saying it's not as exciting in terms of possibilities. Like 22.5K BA Avios for a SJU-SMF one-way (with AA charging less), vs. before with 20K BAEC miles for a one-way down to South America with unlimited stopovers. Spending less, yet visiting multiple spots in multiple countries.

Actually, for those of us who booked right as the changes were occurring, we were able to take advantages of the positives of each. I'll soon do my South America excursion, and it cost me 54K BA + 30K AA:
40K BA JFK-LIM (stop) - IPC (stop) - SCL in J (booked with old BAEC rules)
9K BA Avios LIM-CUZ-LIM in Y (booked with Avios, taking advantage of the short, expensive flights redemption)
5K + cash BA Avios SCL-LIM in Y (booked with Avios, although the price would have been similar before)
30K AA LIM-JFK (stop)-LAX in J

MJLouise

You need lots of cash to pay fuel taxes LOL.

Read here for tips on using the new Avios BA points

Banton

I got the 100K miles and have had a very hard time using them. Not only is the BA website slow and very little comes up, combined with the high surcharges, I'm ready to cancel. Perhaps use the miles on American or another partner? I'm trying to get to South Africa this summer. Any ideas?

mia

Questions about how to redeem BAEC points for travel to specific destinations is beyond the scope of the Credit Card Programs forum. Please search in the BA forum using the keyword "south america" for previous discussions or just click this link:


http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...tart-here.html

cliff1127

Sorry, really dumb question but can you explain what it means to "reallocate to a new card to churn"?

Do you mean I should apply for a new card, get approved for that one, and then cancel my existing BA card?

cliff1127

Also, just to clarify-- is there a way to call and inquire about switching my current BA card to a Chase Sapphire?

cliff1127

Bump

Smerri

This was great advice. I was going to close my BA card however I applied for the Freedom a few weeks ago (after BA in May and Sapphire Pref in August) it was an instant decline from Chase (even before a credit pull). I called for recon, said the Freedom would fit my needs better than BA and I'd be willing to close that in order to open the Freedom, she did the credit pull, said all set, got the same limit on my Freedom and the BA is closed. It was definitely worth keeping it open in order to open the Freedom.