[continentalclub]

You’re cynical 😉

Subjectively, I’d say that overall redemption availability on this route is actually quite good – and certainly rather better than it has traditionally been.

The OP’s challenge, generally, is that they are hoping to fly during a UK school holiday, and specifically that availability on the inbound leg has not been released or, more likely, has already been snapped up.

[VintageKrug]

There actually seems to be a redemption availability bonanza on at present.

Now, why might that be…..? 😉

[AMDGlobal]

Yeah – just managed to get 2-4-1 flying out Feb 13 back March 1 on Club. Now just need to get the kids on the flight…

[continentalclub]

That’s excellent news, AMDGlobal. Fingers crossed that you can ultimately get everyone booked on the same flight.

[CharlesRhona]

See my post of 9/3/10. Have just entered a dummy booking from ABZ-LHR-LAS with the return flight on 2/3/10. When I tried Premium Plus with an MFU to J (paying cash and MFU with 25K miles) the return flight arrived into LHR at 14.05 on 3/3 but the first available flight to ABZ was the 06.55 on 4/3. When I tried to book J using an Amex 2-4-1 the return flight to LHR was the same but I was given the option of the 17.15, 18.05 and 20.15 to ABZ on 3/3.

I would have thought that the cash/MFU option was more lucrative for BA and given that the seats on LHR-ABZ are basically all economy .(any time I have booked F or J redemptions before no preference is offered on seats for the domestic leg although lounge access is available – i.e. redemption passengers are usually seated towards the rear of the plane) I cannot understand why seats are not available on the domestic leg of such journeys for all redemption awards.

[CharlesRhona]

Vintage Krug / continentalclub – are you able to shed any light on the above comments given the exchange we had on 9th March earlier on in this thread?

[businesstrav]

I think you can’t book any flight more than 360 days in advance – suggest you call and check this with BA. I think it’s the same with online hotel bookings as well. Also when booking be prepared to be as flexible as you can with dates – and remember that even if the flights are all full when you want to travel, it’s worthwhile for you to keep on checking on a weekly basis, as more seats may become available, dependent on a variety of factors.

[continentalclub]

businesstrav: that’s not the problem in this case, although I think that CharlesRhona also has a typo in his post and does indeed mean 2/3/11 rather than 2/3/10.

Having had a very quick look, and now Charles has provided a little more information, there is assuredly no difference in mileage availability between ‘Pure Miles’ and ‘2-4-1’ redemptions for his intended dates of travel.

What Charles is comparing is not ‘Pure Miles’ vs ‘2-4-1’ but in fact ‘Miles For Upgrade’ vs ‘2-4-1’.

This latter interrogation is slightly more complex, and depends on underlying base fares (the paid-for World Traveller Plus component) having been loaded and remaining available, *as well as* mileage availability existing.

Unfortunately, neither KVS nor Expertflyer show fare buckets more than 330 days out, but I suspect that, at this stage, it’s something to do with fare buckets (not yet) being loaded for all the LHR-ABZ flights on 3/3.

Itineraries involving WTP and domestic connections can sometimes be a little quirky like this, not least owing to some crossover of fare bucket codes being used for different travel classes SH vs LH.

This is therefore a classic example of a scenario in which a call to BAEC should be able to assit, perhaps by them manually overriding the system and changing any available X or U or P seats to whichever bucket the system needs to allow your MFU.

No guarantees – but it’s worth a go!

[CharlesRhona]

Thanks for the explanation. I suspected that I was not probably comparing like with like and you are able to confirm that. It is not my intention to make my 2-4-1 booking yet as it is valid for 2 years and I have another about to arrive. If the same occurs once I try to book I will try telephoning.

[continentalclub]

Excellent; let us know how you get on when the time comes!

[kin3kin]

yes,i also come across this booking problem,lots of dates unavailable,or either no return seats with few months gapsor no connection flights,as i try to book london to sydney via singapore.why is this ?? is ba trying hard not to let us redeem our points/companion tickets??

[VintageKrug]

BA is not “trying hard to stop you redeeming”.

This is simply a quirk of the online booking tool.

As has been re-iterated several times in this thread, you are best advised to research these connecting flights individually to see redemption availability, and then call up and book (though sensible to avoid calling this week, unless very urgent).

[andycee]

I’ve booked a few upgrades with miles and a couple of Amex companion vouchers this year over the phone in order to get the domestic connections I wanted without any problem at all, for the sake of a £15 booking fee don’t get stressed out just give them a call.

Andrew

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