BA redemptions….1 year on

Some of you may recall that this time last year I reported that we had had to plan a trip to the West Coast USA around Avios availability resulting in the family flying home on Dec 31st, rather than early in the New year. For 9 months,from the date we booked there was not a single seat in J or F available. Then, when we checked on this very day a year ago, we found that BA had released over 30 seats in F for the first 5 days of the New Year, with 14 of those on Jan 1st alone.

Having watched SFO LHR very closely for many months now, I can see that as of today there are again dozens of seats available in F from SFO to LHR over the first 5. days of 2013, when previously there had been none. On Jan 1st the are 15 seats available alone. On December 31st the are 8 with just one flight!

LAX has 9 on New Year’s Day again where none had been available before.

LAS has 4 split equally between Jan 1st and Jan 4th a route were availability is as rare as hen’s teeth.

PHX has 3, IAH has 4 and DFW 8 on Jan1st and a further 4 on the 2nd.

I have not looked at J or any other travel class or at other routines though interestingly AA to JFKand onward on BA was offered again all in F for Jan 1st.

What I find so frustrating about this level of last minute availability is not so much that it is last minute but that it is last minute and in such significant numbers. If it were one or 2 seats then the argument that BA were filling seats which had not sold, would be valid. However, given the sophisticated nature of their revenue management system it must be clear that seats in F from SFO and the other points, do not and will not sell on Jan 1st.

Why do they persist with this ludicrous system of releasing so many seats so close to departure when it is abundantly clear that they will not sell those seats and that they could be used by those wishing to redeem their points…..in advance.

The good news is that I spent about 20 minutes on the BAEC Avios website and it did
Not once return an error message…..must be a record.

Happy NewYear.

How do you know they haven’t had a big cancellation?

I think this post may make me very unpopular and it really does amaze me how thigs currently are.

One year on, longhaul redemptions remain challenging & you are made to feel lucky to be able to find the right flight, around the right date.

However, shorthaul into Europe, I seem to have a 100% hit rate. 9000 avios, or even just 4500 for one way, FULLY FLEXIBLE, FULLY CHANGEABLE, NO FEES FOR CANCELATIONS OR CHANGES – I have a near 100% success rate whether 1 day or 2 weeks before hand.

I play the game and sometimes purchase 2 or 3 flights until I know exactly the timing I need. The most expensive part of the trip is car parking at T5.

So, 1 year on, Longhaul still bad, shorthaul, avios should get an award!!

I need to go to Germany on Weds this week. £600 return in economy or 9000 + £20 in avios.

Papillion – as you may have seen I went to BKK through avios, but only managed to book and decide 24 hours before hand.

One other useful tip, is that I keep sufficient point or miles on Miles or More. Being able to book one way reward tickets works as well because if return flights are not available, I try to use Miles and More one way and Avios the other.

Whilst I appreciate it sometimes can be hard to get the seats on longhaul flights on redemption tickets in premium Cabins, I too have been rather succesful this year. Booked CW London City x2, CW JFK-LHR x4, F to SFO x2 and HKG in First x2, all on Avios, so I dont think I have done too bad. Yes it can be hard to find those seats and you need to be a little bit flexible on dates but I kept trying and so far always got what I wanted, most of them longterm and well in advance and some at short notice. Good thing as Gold Card holder is that you can change and cancel them for free. “Shorthaul” flights, always got what I wanted, in both, Club and Traveller. They can also be rather flexible with companion voucher bookings, ie.they held the seats for me during a lengthy delay with the BA Credit Card voucher issue, it was no problem at all for them to hold the seats for us.
Of course Airlines, not just BA, are not daft and release 14 reward seats in a Cabin of 14, especiallly on routes they can easily fill with full fare Customers, so they may only release 3 or 4! but if you put a bit of time and effort in the planning, you generally get what you want. I for one welcome last minute availability for reward seats as it can easily save ke a fortune at times.

So why not play BA at their game and book closer to the to the departure date or if you really need to get your booking guaranteed before try redeeming in club then upgrading closer the time either online or even at the airport (if it allows you).

I can’t see what the problem is here as BA’s long haul flights are the ones that make them the most money. So it’s only right they should make every effort to get a paying passenger on board as opposed to filling each plane with redemption bookings.

BigDog is there really an investigation going on with both the BBC watchdog and Which? I have tried looking on their websites and doing searches online but no joy. If this is “cynical behavior” by BA is true then sure this is a matter for the Office of Fair Trading Trading Standards or even the Serious Fraud office?