[Now Dead]100,000 BA Avios Chase Card, $150 fee
Jun 1, 2012, 9:17 pm
#586
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,740
I am a newbie to Avios points and am going nuts trying to figure out how to use the first 50k points (x2, due to my wife's application), let alone the 50k for the next year.
I have read almost every post/blog as to how to maximize Avios to go to South America and also within the US and to look for availability on AA.com first and then search in BA.com. The problem is that the BA website is, to put it mildly, an absolute torture to look for any availability. Every time I need to search for partner availability, it involves first searching for BA flights then clicking on partner flights and then it comes up with no availability. Heck, it should have a choice to select partner flights right at the beginning. Each click results in ~10-20 secs of back-end activity before anything shows up on the screen.
I was hoping to look for good redemption options over Thanksgiving or Christmas and availability on AA.com does not show up on BA.com 99% of the time. Availability on Alaska Airlines doesn't even show up at all.
I guess next step is to call BAEC and check for each of my options but the sheer wastage of time in this whole process is mind numbing. I don't think I will be paying the $75 fee next year to get the other 50k.
/rant over. Sorry needed to vent
On a more sane note: does anyone know of a website which has access to the BAEC website and makes the search-for-partner-flights process faster? For example, let's me select nearby airports, shows grid of calendar dates etc?
I have read almost every post/blog as to how to maximize Avios to go to South America and also within the US and to look for availability on AA.com first and then search in BA.com. The problem is that the BA website is, to put it mildly, an absolute torture to look for any availability. Every time I need to search for partner availability, it involves first searching for BA flights then clicking on partner flights and then it comes up with no availability. Heck, it should have a choice to select partner flights right at the beginning. Each click results in ~10-20 secs of back-end activity before anything shows up on the screen.
I was hoping to look for good redemption options over Thanksgiving or Christmas and availability on AA.com does not show up on BA.com 99% of the time. Availability on Alaska Airlines doesn't even show up at all.
I guess next step is to call BAEC and check for each of my options but the sheer wastage of time in this whole process is mind numbing. I don't think I will be paying the $75 fee next year to get the other 50k.
/rant over. Sorry needed to vent
On a more sane note: does anyone know of a website which has access to the BAEC website and makes the search-for-partner-flights process faster? For example, let's me select nearby airports, shows grid of calendar dates etc?
Well, welcome to the world of award travel... You are not just newbie to Avios, you are newbie to award travel I am afraid... You aint see nothing yet to put it in a cliche...
No, AS cannot be booked online because, guess what? It does not show up on BA site. It has always been this way and BA has no plan to change it.
As for AA flights, only the Saaver availability would show up as this the only seats you can book using partner's "currency". Given you mentioned about Thanksgiving and X'mas the PEAK travel period, my guess is, what you see available on AA site probably are mostly AAnytime availability - Tough Luck - those cannot be booked by Avios, and they cost TWICE as many AA miles as the Saaver awards. You are very late to try to find availability for these 2 periods. People who need to travel in such periods have booked their seats as soon as the Saavers are released, about 330 days before travel dates.
Search AA forum on the Saaver award availability thread and you would have a better perspective. The posts around Nov 2011 to Dec 2011 would give you an idea how people booked their seats for THIS year's Thanksgiving and X'mas.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...dated-139.html
You do realize that award seats are subject to capacity control, right? So if you want to travel in the Peak period, you would need to stalk the award release LONG BEFORE just a few months out. Better luck in 2013.
On top of that, if the AA award involves connections, sometimes they do not show up on BA site. You would not want to book those with Avios anyway, as each additional segment would cost additional miles - therefore, an award JFK-LAX nonstop would cost LESS than JFK-DFW-LAX, even though both get you to LAX.
Finally, there is no substitutes for easier search on BA site. In fact, we AAdvantage users are GRATEFUL for the BA site which allows us to search for partner availability using AA miles as AA does not have such ability!
Last edited by Happy; Jun 1, 2012 at 9:29 pm
Jun 1, 2012, 9:43 pm
#587
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 1,860
Looks like you have not done enough homework before you apply for the card...
Well, welcome to the world of award travel... You are not just newbie to Avios, you are newbie to award travel I am afraid... You aint see nothing yet to put it in a cliche...
No, AS cannot be booked online because, guess what? It does not show up on BA site. It has always been this way and BA has no plan to change it.
As for AA flights, only the Saaver availability would show up as this the only seats you can book using partner's "currency". Given you mentioned about Thanksgiving and X'mas the PEAK travel period, my guess is, what you see available on AA site probably are mostly AAnytime availability - Tough Luck - those cannot be booked by Avios, and they cost TWICE as many AA miles as the Saaver awards. You are very late to try to find availability for these 2 periods. People who need to travel in such periods have booked their seats as soon as the Saavers are released, about 330 days before travel dates.
Search AA forum on the Saaver award availability thread and you would have a better perspective. The posts around Nov 2011 to Dec 2011 would give you an idea how people booked their seats for THIS year's Thanksgiving and X'mas.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...dated-139.html
You do realize that award seats are subject to capacity control, right? So if you want to travel in the Peak period, you would need to stalk the award release LONG BEFORE just a few months out. Better luck in 2013.
On top of that, if the AA award involves connections, sometimes they do not show up on BA site. You would not want to book those with Avios anyway, as each additional segment would cost additional miles - therefore, an award JFK-LAX nonstop would cost LESS than JFK-DFW-LAX, even though both get you to LAX.
Finally, there is no substitutes for easier search on BA site. In fact, we AAdvantage users are GRATEFUL for the BA site which allows us to search for partner availability using AA miles as AA does not have such ability!
Well, welcome to the world of award travel... You are not just newbie to Avios, you are newbie to award travel I am afraid... You aint see nothing yet to put it in a cliche...
No, AS cannot be booked online because, guess what? It does not show up on BA site. It has always been this way and BA has no plan to change it.
As for AA flights, only the Saaver availability would show up as this the only seats you can book using partner's "currency". Given you mentioned about Thanksgiving and X'mas the PEAK travel period, my guess is, what you see available on AA site probably are mostly AAnytime availability - Tough Luck - those cannot be booked by Avios, and they cost TWICE as many AA miles as the Saaver awards. You are very late to try to find availability for these 2 periods. People who need to travel in such periods have booked their seats as soon as the Saavers are released, about 330 days before travel dates.
Search AA forum on the Saaver award availability thread and you would have a better perspective. The posts around Nov 2011 to Dec 2011 would give you an idea how people booked their seats for THIS year's Thanksgiving and X'mas.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...dated-139.html
You do realize that award seats are subject to capacity control, right? So if you want to travel in the Peak period, you would need to stalk the award release LONG BEFORE just a few months out. Better luck in 2013.
On top of that, if the AA award involves connections, sometimes they do not show up on BA site. You would not want to book those with Avios anyway, as each additional segment would cost additional miles - therefore, an award JFK-LAX nonstop would cost LESS than JFK-DFW-LAX, even though both get you to LAX.
Finally, there is no substitutes for easier search on BA site. In fact, we AAdvantage users are GRATEFUL for the BA site which allows us to search for partner availability using AA miles as AA does not have such ability!
Don't forget the YQ!
I have come to learn that there are a few ways to use your BA miles, especially the 100k. But the most appropriate really is to just redeem a business class ticket for 80k to LHR. That way you have 20k left for a round trip SAAver award ticket for domestic US travel. You can fly budget airliners around Europe for like $150 round trip (im kind of jealous?!?!....their budget airliners are REALLY budget airliners). So using the Avios from LHR doesn't necessarily make sense despite it being home base for BA.
Funny thing. I just checked out a round trip economy LHR-DXB avios redemption. 40k miles......$510.58 in taxes. Cheapest flight on Kayak......$610
Gotta love BA! Making you work for those miles. What I am looking for is someone to point me to what other kinds of trips I can take with 100k avios (from ORD). For instance I seem to hit a "wall" about Eastern Europe. Anything beyond GVA/MXP is more then 98k mile round-trip business. I entirely believe my avios will not get me any business redemption on any airliner BUT BA. Any reward trips I look for on partners are quite expensive (not just AA and their 3x MileSAAver thing going on for domestic first). If I recall it was like 100k just to go economy from ORD-NRT.
Since you know the Avios program well can you give me some ideas on what to do with my Avios besides experience Club World on a flight from ORD-LHR?
And since you know quite a bit it seems, would you find rather fly Aer Lingus in to DUB to avoid YQ or would you rather pay the YQ and sit in the Club World seat? Those club world seats look fancy. Motorized privacy windows!!!!!! I will definitely play with my window until I burn the motor out.....jk
Jun 1, 2012, 10:11 pm
#588
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: MCO
Programs: AA 1MM, BA, UA, HH Dia, CC Gold, SPG Plat
Posts: 795
Jun 1, 2012, 10:22 pm
#589
Join Date: Sep 2008
Posts: 101
Most would say that avios are best for short haul US domestic travel (4.5k O.W.)on AA metal or West Coast to Hawaii on AA or AS (12.5K O.W.).
Jun 1, 2012, 10:40 pm
#590
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,740
I would not waste my avios for Intra-Europe Club World - the business class intra-Europe really is just a glorified coach seat but between the 2 seats you have a very strange "middle seat" that cannot be seated (very tiny) therefore it is "blocked" to give you some space which is virtually useless as neither one of you sitting on each side could make use of the space to enhance your own seat.
If you really want to experience premium cabin travel TATL on BA, and do not mind to pay the YQ that is more or less equal to a coach ticket on sale (and earns you miles), then yeah, using the Avios for a TATL trip in Club World may be worth it if you view it as paying for a coach ticket but travel in business.
That would NOT be my choice to use Avios though.
Avios is best to be used on Short Haul, SINGLE segment flights - be it in domestic US on AA or AS, or in Asia on CX or in South America on LAN, where intra-South America tickets are insanely expensive for foreigners, or intra-Africa would work well also. You dont pay YQ for domestic US, nor intra-South America. You do pay YQ (but not outrageously) on intra-Asia or intra-Africa. However since flights in those regions are not cheap, despite there are LCCs in Asia, the flights are still expensive when compared to the LCCs in Europe.
To give you some examples:
From MIA where I am, Avios would be great for Caribbeans if one wish to go, or Bermuda, or Eastern Canada.
From West Coast, Hawaii is a no brainer choice if you like Hawaii. Or up and down the West Coast on AS.
Intra-Asia, HKG-TPE R/T is only 9K Avios + $90 taxes and fees. A pay ticket often runs $300 if the ticket validity is longer than 7 days. Flights between Mainland China and Hong Kong are good candidates as well. Even routes between HKG and SE Asia are candidates.
Domestic Japan is also a very good value redemption. HND-CTS R/T is only 9K. I forgot how much is the taxes + fees - definitely cheaper than buying a ticket or taking a bullet train. (only up to the tunnel to Hokkaido, then you need to change to regular train - a very long train ride from Tokyo to Sapporo.)
Intra-South America the flights are insanely expensive for foreigners. Great to have Avios to redeem for LAN's flights on the cheap and no YQ to boot.
An FT friend has redeemed 9K Avios each for a r/t ticket between JNB and Victoria Falls that would cost $450 to buy... and he needs 5 tickets for the whole family...
Finally, if you have needs to travel to non-hub airports domestically and on a last-minute notice, then Avios is truly your money-saver in this scenario.
You also need to think outside the box, such as using other means (be it award or cheap fare) to position you to start an Avios redemption because each segment costs you additional Avios. Or, going from ORD to TPA on 7.5K then rent a car for a drive to MIA, your real destination where you would need a rental car anyway, instead of using 10K...
Lots of ways to skin the cat... ah, make the most out of your Avios.
Too many newbies do not want to spend time to really understand a program to find the optimal usage for their travel needs... It takes knowledge to know how to maximize what you have. Knowledge takes time and effort to acquire...
As a parting note on this off topic discussion, someone already posted this extremely useful calculator on this thread. I think I would repost this again.
http://www.wandr.me/Avios-Calculator.aspx
This would give you an idea on how much Avios would cost you on the SAME origin/destination but different routing.
If you really want to experience premium cabin travel TATL on BA, and do not mind to pay the YQ that is more or less equal to a coach ticket on sale (and earns you miles), then yeah, using the Avios for a TATL trip in Club World may be worth it if you view it as paying for a coach ticket but travel in business.
That would NOT be my choice to use Avios though.
Avios is best to be used on Short Haul, SINGLE segment flights - be it in domestic US on AA or AS, or in Asia on CX or in South America on LAN, where intra-South America tickets are insanely expensive for foreigners, or intra-Africa would work well also. You dont pay YQ for domestic US, nor intra-South America. You do pay YQ (but not outrageously) on intra-Asia or intra-Africa. However since flights in those regions are not cheap, despite there are LCCs in Asia, the flights are still expensive when compared to the LCCs in Europe.
To give you some examples:
From MIA where I am, Avios would be great for Caribbeans if one wish to go, or Bermuda, or Eastern Canada.
From West Coast, Hawaii is a no brainer choice if you like Hawaii. Or up and down the West Coast on AS.
Intra-Asia, HKG-TPE R/T is only 9K Avios + $90 taxes and fees. A pay ticket often runs $300 if the ticket validity is longer than 7 days. Flights between Mainland China and Hong Kong are good candidates as well. Even routes between HKG and SE Asia are candidates.
Domestic Japan is also a very good value redemption. HND-CTS R/T is only 9K. I forgot how much is the taxes + fees - definitely cheaper than buying a ticket or taking a bullet train. (only up to the tunnel to Hokkaido, then you need to change to regular train - a very long train ride from Tokyo to Sapporo.)
Intra-South America the flights are insanely expensive for foreigners. Great to have Avios to redeem for LAN's flights on the cheap and no YQ to boot.
An FT friend has redeemed 9K Avios each for a r/t ticket between JNB and Victoria Falls that would cost $450 to buy... and he needs 5 tickets for the whole family...
Finally, if you have needs to travel to non-hub airports domestically and on a last-minute notice, then Avios is truly your money-saver in this scenario.
You also need to think outside the box, such as using other means (be it award or cheap fare) to position you to start an Avios redemption because each segment costs you additional Avios. Or, going from ORD to TPA on 7.5K then rent a car for a drive to MIA, your real destination where you would need a rental car anyway, instead of using 10K...
Lots of ways to skin the cat... ah, make the most out of your Avios.
Too many newbies do not want to spend time to really understand a program to find the optimal usage for their travel needs... It takes knowledge to know how to maximize what you have. Knowledge takes time and effort to acquire...
As a parting note on this off topic discussion, someone already posted this extremely useful calculator on this thread. I think I would repost this again.
http://www.wandr.me/Avios-Calculator.aspx
This would give you an idea on how much Avios would cost you on the SAME origin/destination but different routing.
Last edited by Happy; Jun 3, 2012 at 10:09 pm Reason: correct airport code
Jun 1, 2012, 10:52 pm
#591
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: PHX
Posts: 4,787
I think everyone understands your point but you do not understand the sense of the community. This game is a marathon not a sprint. You cannot get worked up about whether every single deal you get is the perfect version of the deal.
Some of us bumped the bonus on the sapphire, some were too late. I was stuck on 800k lifetime AA miles watching everyone get 2 x 100k bonuses that I could not get because I had taken a measly 25k. Was bummed at the time, but that was 2.5 million points and miles ago. Just enjoy your 100k and move forward for the next offer. Looking backwards in this game or worrying because the other guy did a bit better than you is a waste of time and effort you can use for the next deal.
Some of us bumped the bonus on the sapphire, some were too late. I was stuck on 800k lifetime AA miles watching everyone get 2 x 100k bonuses that I could not get because I had taken a measly 25k. Was bummed at the time, but that was 2.5 million points and miles ago. Just enjoy your 100k and move forward for the next offer. Looking backwards in this game or worrying because the other guy did a bit better than you is a waste of time and effort you can use for the next deal.
Jun 2, 2012, 2:28 am
#592
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: SFO
Posts: 198
I think everyone understands your point but you do not understand the sense of the community. This game is a marathon not a sprint. You cannot get worked up about whether every single deal you get is the perfect version of the deal.
Some of us bumped the bonus on the sapphire, some were too late. I was stuck on 800k lifetime AA miles watching everyone get 2 x 100k bonuses that I could not get because I had taken a measly 25k. Was bummed at the time, but that was 2.5 million points and miles ago. Just enjoy your 100k and move forward for the next offer. Looking backwards in this game or worrying because the other guy did a bit better than you is a waste of time and effort you can use for the next deal.
Some of us bumped the bonus on the sapphire, some were too late. I was stuck on 800k lifetime AA miles watching everyone get 2 x 100k bonuses that I could not get because I had taken a measly 25k. Was bummed at the time, but that was 2.5 million points and miles ago. Just enjoy your 100k and move forward for the next offer. Looking backwards in this game or worrying because the other guy did a bit better than you is a waste of time and effort you can use for the next deal.
It's hard thinking how many points/miles my family and I left on the table in the past or the killer deals I missed, but hey, at least I'm in the game now...
Jun 2, 2012, 6:59 am
#593
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Berlin
Programs: BA Gold; Accor Plat; IHG Diamond-Amb; Meliá & HH & Marriott Gold
Posts: 5,447
That sounds like a very complicated way of getting from ORD to MIA (you wouldn't get the flights for 7,500 Avios, either). 
Many of Happy's tips are valid and valuable, though. Lots more can be found where they belong, in the excellent "Chase miles - start here" thread on the BA board.
Many of Happy's tips are valid and valuable, though. Lots more can be found where they belong, in the excellent "Chase miles - start here" thread on the BA board.
Jun 2, 2012, 2:22 pm
#594
Join Date: Jun 2011
Posts: 4
After receiving my card, I made a purchase right away, and my first statement was issued on May-28th. However, I didn't get the 50000 Avios. Interesting enough, my annual fee of $75 is posted on June-1st after the first statement. Should I be worried now, or should I wait for the next statement?
Any information will be greatly appreciated!
Any information will be greatly appreciated!
Jun 2, 2012, 5:06 pm
#596
Moderator: Chase Ultimate Rewards
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: SFO
Programs: UA 2P, MR LT Plat, IHG Plat, BW Dia, HH Au, Avis PC
Posts: 5,440
Jun 2, 2012, 6:32 pm
#597
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Worldwide
Posts: 12,949
The KVS Availability Tool is a text-based specialized web browser that could make the process faster, tho not necessarily easier. For example, if there is any BA availability in the cabin requested on that date, it won't show partners. But at least it will tell you it's not.
Jun 2, 2012, 10:06 pm
#599
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: SEA
Posts: 2,556
I am not sure. Haven't received mine yet - but earlier in this thread I saw this:
