EMB195

wmaciej

Why not both? GUF covers round trip.

lancasteruk

I might be a bit late to the game with this one, but was looking to book flights via this fare from late December to January 2018-19 for me and the Mrs. Matrix suggests that lots of these are still possible (see screenshots) but I can't seem to get any of them to price via BookWithMatrix or direct through BA. Have I missed the boat or would a call to the BAEC line likely be fruitful?

Thanks in advance.

rossmacd

Call BA and book with the exact flight numbers and dates/times recited to the agent. You'll not have any issues.

mmxbreaks

That looks tasty.

I can't price that far in the future, though... what's the secret?

marcccus

Try out the "See calendar of lowest fares"-option ;-)

mmxbreaks

Ah yes, I was in multi-city where it doesn't seem to exist!

G2018uk

Found a deal for £1,176 with BA - AMS to BKK in march!

Is BA product that bad on the older 777? The alternative is Finnair for another £400

rossmacd

It is terrible. And best avoided.

Route via HKG, SIN or KUL for much better product.

G2018uk

ttep

anyone getting this to price during June/July?

Also - what is GUF?

Frequent flyer 101

Here you go: https://www.google.com/flights/#sear...AMS0BA444;sc=b

Loads of availability in June + July.

GUF is a Gold Upgrade Voucher that certain high status BA Executive Club members get when they reach a certain amount of tier points. You need to get 2500 in a year, so around 7x AMS-LHR-BKK-LHR-AMS in order to get one voucher which is valid for 2 people. The voucher enables two people to upgrade their BA journey to the next cabin. It is often combined with other vouchers for some pretty cool redemptions.

GGLwannabe

To add a bit more detail - at 2,500 BA tier points one is awarded a GUF2 which is good for an upgrade to the next cabin up for either 1 or 2 people travelling on BA. However such upgrades are only possible if there is Avios availability in the class to which one wishes to be upgraded.

At 3,000 BA tier points one gains admission to the top tier of earned membership - Gold Guest List (which I finally made a few years ago). At that time one receives 2 GGL redemptions, often referred to as jokers. A joker, when played, more or less guarantees that seats can be made available for oneself and up to 4 companions travelling on the same booking, even when there is zero Avios availability. A joker won't work however if someone else has already played their joker on the same flight, or if the class in which one is seeking to travel is already quite full and only the top level fare bucket is still available.

At 3,500 points one earns 2 x GF1, which can be used either for 2 upgrades for 1 person or one upgrade for 2 people.

Although BA business class sale fares from AMS to BKK have been (almost absurdly) low, I had disregarded them in my search for a low cost way of getting to the Far East in July, because the BA business product is so awful. It was only as I skimmed through this thread, it occurred to me that I was reminded that I could use a GUF1 plus a joker to ensure I travelled in F (which I continue to think is a decent product) on the long haul segments.

I found the precise combination of flights I needed on ITA Matrix, and BA GGL customer services were able to book them all for me without problem. The total cost even came in £25 cheaper than Matrix had priced it. My routing is AMS-LHR-SIN-BKK-HKG-LHR-AMS with 10 days in Singapore, plus one night in Bangkok, then a swift transit through Hong Kong (I believe that Cathay still interline one world luggage) to take the A380 back to London. I have booked the final leg back to Amsterdam for November at a cost of an extra €100, however this, with the return half of my positioning flight will allow for a 2 day winter mini-break, which beats either dumping the final sector and thus taking the risk of possibly having one's card marked, or continuing on to Amsterdam and then immediately turning around to come home. Total price paid was £1435.

mmxbreaks

Not the case. Use a travel agent and you can force it in, so long as the relevant fare bucket is available.
Also not the case. It's an initial 5,000TP to qualify, then 3,000TP each year following that hurdle.

GGLwannabe

Mea culpa, on both points!

Travel agents can force availability, but in that case the GUF holder must both pay and travel, whereas I believe, providing there is Avios availability (and the booking is made through BA), the GUF holder must still pay for the booking, but it is not necessary for them to travel.