A new data point:

Virgin Atlantic sale fares to London ranging from $2190rt NYC/WAS to $2750rt LAX/SFO plus $250 in taxes/fees.

So for 2 people flying from the West Coast that's roughly $6000 flying Virgin v. $1400+100k miles using the BA coupon. The ROR is .036 cpm, a bit less if you factor out the miles you'd earn on Virgin.

But just flying to London is the bare minimum value on these 2-for-1's. I imagine most people would look to play them on something far beyond LHR or even Western Europe. Africa, Middle East, Eastern Europe, maybe as far as India. (To whatever point that flying east through LHR no longer makes sense.)

Those are nice Virgin fares though. Don't most people consider Virgin's product superior to a typical business-class product? (Somewhere between J and F...)

Agreed. Clearly the 2-for-1s are better (or great?!) value for those who are travelling to India, Middle East or even Africa. And Virgin's upper class reputation ^

However, I'd bet there are many more BA cardholders who - like myself - don't have sufficient time (or in some cases, inclination) to visit these places and are more likely looking at TATL to Europe. Personally I'd love to visit India or return to the MidEast someday, but not with my toddlers (and that would require more miles ). So given the expiration date of the 2-for-1 (and anticipated devaluation of miles which is certain to occur over time) I think it makes sense to pull the trigger for C/F to Europe with a stopover in London. Or for those who have enough miles, cash them to fly a OneWorld partner to South America and junk the voucher.

Yeah, doing the BA Visa cards to rack up a couple hundred thousand miles and just go South America isn't a bad idea at all. We've sort of kicked that idea around as a backup plan to the 2-for-1's.

No doubt, the 2-for-1's are a bigger outlay of cash, as you're effectively buying the equivalent of two expensive coach tickets in order to sit in First Class. (The real value prop being specifically the F cabin and a full long-haul flight beyond LHR.) We're generally happy in biz, where another Oneworld partner and little cash outlay is an acceptable option.

We'll end up with two 2-for-1 certs. At the end of the day, we may only use one of them for BA F and may wind up in South America on partner awards with the rest of our BA miles.

Do you guys happen to know if you could use the Chase 2-4-1 for an itinerary combining two Zones, for the price of only the highest Zone?

ie ORD-LHR-JNB-LHR-IST-LHR-ORD? (180k in business)

Nope-tried and rejected.

You can transit LHR only once each way.

Hi,I like to get some advise. I have quite a few MR Points and I am not really interested in Gift Cards and such but my wife and I do travel a whole bunch. I am thinking about transferring all the MR points to BA using the 50% offer for future travel? Thoughts on this? I know some have advocated keeping the MR points for flexibility unless immedaite travel need but 50% seems too good to pass up. Also, I heard heard talk of miles Devalued over time, how likely is that?

I worked really hard to spend $30K during the first year I had the BA card and am well on the way to another $30K spent this year.

I knew all about the YQ from the beginning, and I found it annoying, but it didn't bother me much.

Last week, I was moments away from pulling the trigger on:

PHL-LHR-CPT
EBB-LHR(stop)-PHL

The cost was 180K miles plus $2800.

Then I thought about it a little more. Earlier this year I used 160K BA miles for a trip for two to Santiago and Easter Island with an all-in price of $190. I then realized that a similar trip with stops in Hong Kong, Bali and Tokyo would cost 200K miles plus ~$750.

It was at this point I decided to give up on the BA 2-4-1 vouchers.
Later in the week, I booked:

PHL-FRA-JNB-CPT
EBB-FRA(stop)-PHL

for 240K United miles plus $480 in taxes. The 60K extra miles I burned just aren't worth ($2800-$480= $2320 to me). Now I can save those 180K BA miles for another trip!

Using Vouchers,

I am going from SFO-LHR-AMS

then CDG to LHR to SFO

2 business class tickets for 100k miles and $1500 bucks.

It seems like a more reasonable deal from the West Coast to Europe, I suppose.
For me, with family in Frankfurt, it's even less desirable. I have to pay the exorbitant UK entry tax, followed by a separate LHR-FRA roundtrip.

It's great for some people, just not for me!

The BA 2-for-1 offer specifically requires $30k per year in spending on a Chase BA Visa card. (That's specifically what this thread is about.)

The value of miles ebbs and flows. Over decades, it probably "flows" in the devaluation direction in most programs. In the short-term, it can ebb or flow in either direction based on currency exchange rates, general paid and award demand for your particular route, and changes to the program's award chart.

(Miles don't always devalue. For example, my AA and UA miles are worth substantially more per mile today than they were in 2008.)

For general "Are BA miles at risk of devaluing in the near term, most likely due to a big change to the award chart?", the BA forum will be more helpful. I think the biggest criticism of BA in general is high award redemption fees - at least on their own flights - and exacebated by high entry taxes if you are heading to the UK.

Why a separate LHR-FRA? That can be included in the award. And you don't have to pay the really expensive LHR charges when connecting (from FRA in this case).

I was wondering that...you just have to get to a BA starting point in the U.S. and it's one normal 2-for-1 award to FRA that happens to connect at LHR.

Assuming "West Coast" means you can get one of the BA cities fairly inexpensively, it seems that you're still a decent candidate for the 2-for-1. (Although I still contend that the 2-for-1 gets better if you're going beyond Europe...preferably somewhere that isn't frequently awash in fare sales on multiple alliances like FRA is. )

We separate Frankfurt because we don't want it to be our final destination.
We want to do an open jaw trip into Cape Town and out of Entebbe, with a stopover in Frankfurt.

The only way to do that using a 2-4-1 coupon is:

PHL-LHR-CPT
EBB-LHR(stop)
LHR-FRA-LHR (paid ticket)
LHR-PHL