No availability of seats with Avios…
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at 14:35 by BRin1406.
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GlobalFalconCitationParticipantIs it just me or does there seem to be hardly any availability with Avios on BA? For example it seems impossible to get any Avios seats to anywhere in the US (except New York) if you want to travel in WTP or higher, which for a 12 hour flight you do want!
This seems to be a very odd way to treat customers who have Gold cards and are clearly very loyal to BA. Surely they should repay your loyalty as they say they will – with reward flights to destinations you want to visit!
I dont know if anyone else has experienced this, but if anyone knows of a way around it, it would be great to hear. Thanks in advance for your replies.
3 Jul 2014
at 23:34
AnthonyDunnParticipantHi,
This hoary old chestnut has been chewed over and spat out no few times in the past. The bottom line appears to be that long-haul CW/F availability is sporadic and frequently non-existent unless booked either a year in advance or at the last minute. Availability is substantially better on intra-European flights in either ET or CE – which might not be what you are after.
My BAEC Gold Senior Management had no difficulty with redemptions to Rome and other Italian destinations but our attempts to get anything to either Bangkok or Singapore in November (when I last tried) were laughable.
4 Jul 2014
at 00:23
Kamkura001ParticipantSame here! There is no availability to anywhere anytime, period! I am now questioning my loyalty to BA and my erroneous commitment of collecting Avios. It’s unbelievable that there will not be any redemption seats available on BA flights completely within reasonable period of time.
4 Jul 2014
at 02:54
MartynSinclairParticipantI have been wondering whether the BA computers are able to recognize individual passengers travel patterns.
My main avios destination is Frankfurt. Midweek, there is generally no availability problems, but weekends are now a big challenge with very few seats available. Dusseldorf is never a problem, which is my back up, followed by a 2 hour train journey.
Milan/Rome/Paris – plenty plenty availability…Managed to get a couple of trips down to Nice in July and August…
Frankfurt though is a strange one…. I have a list of the main messe’s and there are none on the weekends I need(ed) to travel…
Longhaul use of avios, I gave up a long time ago.
4 Jul 2014
at 07:40
Newtraveller27ParticipantI found first availability to ORD with BA only yesterday, that was lucky though as usually it is a nightmare!
4 Jul 2014
at 08:05
Charles-PParticipantI think most people accept that Avios Long Haul is best forgotten. I have simply stopped trying. Europe is not too bad providing the destination is not anywhere popular. For example Nice, Lisbon, Paris, Barcelona -all impossible but Berlin and Zurich never a problem.
4 Jul 2014
at 08:18
Newtraveller27ParticipantMaybe ba just wanted some nice pretty girls in first so left it open to me haha
4 Jul 2014
at 08:27
mkcol74ParticipantWhy not check out the BA Avios redemption finder tool?
http://www.businesstraveller.com/discussion/topic/BA-AVIOS-redemption-finder
4 Jul 2014
at 08:55
BA744fanParticipantBA long haul Avios seats are notoriously difficult to get unless you book 355 days in advance or are prepared to leave it until the very last minute in the hope there might be a late release.
Always worth looking at airline partners. For the USA try AA. I know from experience trying to find flights to HKG that there is often availability on CX in J when there is nothing on BA.
4 Jul 2014
at 08:59
1nfrequentParticipantThere is long haul availability but you have to book it months in advance. I’ve got a trip to Tokyo coming up at the end of the summer – booked in WT upgraded to CW. The availability showed up last October and I was checking multiple times each day to get it.
As others have said, availability for European flights is better, although I have noticed that even then, weekend availability seems to have declined over the last couple of months (starting around about the time BA introduced its special weekend fares – I’m sure that’s a coincidence).
The App that Mkol links to is very useful though.
1F
4 Jul 2014
at 09:06 -
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