[Papillion53]

Dutchyankee – have a look at Raffles website http://www.headforpoints.com as he has extensive information on all credit cards and their benefits. You may know about the site already but thought worth pointing out. 🙂

It’s all very well having very last minute availability one-way outbound, but no use if you can’t find availability to get back! I would never go without having my return flights booked. I would hate to think how much it would cost to buy a one-way return from OZ in CW or F! But of course it’s great if you’ve already booked in Y and then can upgrade. But I wouldn’t take a chance on that either. Y to OZ, no way, not ever, never!

[dutchyankee]

Papillion53, I never heard of that site, so thank you very much indeed. I just went on it and it is extremely extensive, so plenty for me to read through over lunch. Thanks very much again, much appreciated.

[SergeantMajor]

I’ve never seen the point redeeming miles to Sydney.

It’s a terrific route to earn miles on.

Given the miles you fly, it’s among the most lucrative mileage earning routes in Club if you can get a fare around £2,500-£3,000 and especially so if you can upgrade to F using avios.

As I’ve demonstrated, it’s not that difficult to upgrade to F a few days before you fly.

[ANDREWYOUNG1]

Speaking of EK and QF – I’ve been looking to book a QF flight to DXB in F with Avios and ba.com show availability for the cabin but then when I go to book/see how much the taxes will be it says that it can’t be booked. I will get around to ringing EC about it but just wondered if anyone knew if there was some reason for it or if indeed there was a reason one couldn’t book QF to DXB ex-LHR.

[SergeantMajor]

Call in.

QF seems to be being difficult over redemption space, but once I called I had no problem booking QF1.

[ANDREWYOUNG1]

Thanks – it shows as available in F and Y but neither seem to be bookable on-line which just seemed strange. But I’ll give them a call to see what the problem is and presumably they’ll wave the ‘off-line’ booking fee.

[SergeantMajor]

I didn’t pay the fee. Now is a good time to call, avoid calling in at weekends, especially over a Bank Holiday!

[SimonS1]

A shame to see BAEC caught out and penalising its Scottish members.

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/transport/ba-apologises-after-scots-lose-out-on-long-haul-air-miles-offers.21945490

[SergeantMajor]

Terrific to see BAEC responding to customer feedback, offering an unreserved apology and fixing the issue:

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/transport/ba-apologises-after-scots-lose-out-on-long-haul-air-miles-offers.21945490

A spokesman for British Airways said: “Flights are normally avail­able for redemption with Avios 355 days before the departure date.

“However, we have identified an anomaly on our system where seats on some of our long haul flights have been released on the website one day earlier than short haul, leading to the issue experienced by the customer.

“The matter will be fixed as soon as possible, with the discrepancy resolved and the system reverting to releasing both long haul and short haul flights on the same day – 355 days before departure date. We apologise for any confusion this caused.”

[SimonS1]

“We have identified an anomaly on our system”

After it was identified for them by unhappy customers and the regional newspaper. Embarrassed into doing something in other words.

[fatbear]

Simon S1

All airlines make mistakes or have problems that need to be fixed.

What would you have liked BA to have done differently once they were made aware of the issue ?

[Gibraltar]

SergeantMajor / VK, obviously you jest (don’t you…?) isn’t it perfectly obvious why people redeem miles to Sydney?
A clue… Sadly some of us poor folk can’t afford £2,500-£3,000 pounds per person on (sale) club tickets. Whereas £800 each in fees and taxes on a 2-4-1 is much more manageable…

[Swindoneric]

On the “Scots being penalised” issue above, when Mrs Swindoneric and I have booked transatlantic redemption flights, we’ve rarely, if ever, been able to book connecting domestic redemption flights at the same time. I have simply booked LHR to (eg)NY flights and then added the domestic flights at a change cost of £60 each (but no extra avios over and above those required for the transatlantic redemption flight).

Mildly irritating when you are fairly certain that avios seats are going to be available on the connecting flight at some point but we have generally been on an Amex 2/4/1 voucher in F or sometimes J and so £120 extra is less than life or death I guess. Has anyone else been in the same scenario/

[SergeantMajor]

What’s impressive is just how much availability actually exists, as outlined on the previous page, on a route which some misleadingly state has zero availability.

You can reduce the cost further by using the 10% shareholder discount or paying with certain UK credit cards or using codes (such as those issued at Taste of London) which get a further 10% off the ticket price.

For those frequent travellers who play the game, we know that the value in avios for a Gold cardholder travelling to Sydney and back is considerable (nearly 53,000 avios).

If you qualify on an elilgible fare, you can double dip with the onbusiness scheme, further adding to the value received.

That equates to a value of between £600-£1250 depending on how you redeem. That makes the ticket cost easier to stomach.

As you pay the taxes etc. anyway, the net actual “cost” of the flights comes to a more reasonable sum and you extract value from the frequent flyer schemes, as well as getting greater flexibility.

I can usually get a roundtrip to Sydney for what I would personally calculate at £1500 “net” cost in First or Club, and that’s terrific value. YMMV.

[MartinJ]

VintageKrug in disguise, why is it so difficult to admit that availability is poor on LHR to SYD? As many people said seats released a few hours before travel are absolutely useless to most people and therefore, for all intents and purposes, nonexistent. We may wish to argue whether the poor availability is something that may be excused but there is absolutly no doubt about the fact that this route often has not a single premium seat available for months in a row. Unlike BA Virgin is honest enough to tell their customers about blackout periods.

[Author]

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