[BigDog.]

afraid am disagreeing Canucklad. Purely from a personal perspective Vancouver is imo the most desirable place on earth to live or visit. Whistler up the road in winter, wreck beach in summer, fairly laid back people, gorgeous scenery yet eclectic. Hope to get over to Duncan next summer.

[canucklad]

Wreck Beach BigDog… you do surprise me ; )

[Bath_VIP]

Tim,

I don’t know the answer, I am taking my info direct from the BA site.

http://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/executive-club/tiers-and-benefits/gold-benefits

Canucklad, I have seen the same issue with flights to Texas i.e. a redemption on a BA flight which is shown on the AA site but not the BA site. The solution is to call the Exec Club and they will make the booking for you. Others on this site have done this apparently.

[Ah,Mr.Bond]

Unlike other carriers that are interested in rewarding their frequent customers with an attractive programme, the Avios set up is only there to mop up unsold J or F class seats at the last minute. At best you may find availability 3 days in advance if there are a number of seats remaining on that flight that BA hoped they would have sold…… rather than offer a couple of reward seats on every flight in the first instance [which is what others like EK do]
This is of course utterly useless for those of us trying to cash these things in on a well planned longhaul trip. Even if you are lucky and flexible enough to get out, you will never get back.

[Stamford]

Tim2sms

Unfortunately, you can’t use the Companion Voucher for priority reward (i.e. double Avios) booking.

Link :
http://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/executive-club/modalContent/avios/collecting-avios/credit-cards/uk/credit-card-companion-voucher-terms-conditions.html

Paragraph 29 – “Companion Vouchers cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer or promotion, including Priority Reward (Gold Executive Club membership benefit)”

[canucklad]

Cheers for the info Bath_VIP, at least if you’re flying to Texas, you’re generally heading in that direction. I’ll probably phone them and cost out my options….

The trouble is I have no inclination to fly south into a desert just to back track north into a BC winter!

Sadly there are no One World carriers that fly direct to YVR.
I’d love to see CX do a LHR-JFK sector allowing me to fly CX via NY. Alas that’s not going to happen anytime soon : (

[flydrive]

Canucklad, I’m also planning a trip to YVR on avios. What I’ve done before to the NAmerican West Coast is buy PE and then wait til they release the seats for upgrade. They invariably become free 2-6 weeks before departure. This way you’ve locked in a seat for the dates you want, and so long as you are willing to slum it in PE if it doesn’t work out (especially hard if you need 2 seats). This may become tricky for YVR with the demise of first, depending on whether they open up those seats for Business. It is a great deal with minimal avios, but you do shell out £1200 for the PE flights these days. And you can’t use your amex voucher. I have concocted a way around this, though, where you CAN fly CX. You can book LHR – JFK on BA using the voucher, and then JFK – YVR on CX. They have flat bed business seats for 25,000 avios one way JFK – YVR. You end up spending more avios than a amex voucher direct, but there is a lot more availability (at least for Jan-Feb, when I’m thinking of going). Something to consider if you don’t mind the stop in NYC. There also seems to be more availability to Calgary, and it’s on the 787, but you have to then pay an extra £120 or so to get from YVR there. Some food for thought – just don’t take the seats I’m thinking about!

[FRANCESCABARNES]

Spooky……you must have got the seat for ORD that I cancelled which actually took me weeks and weeks of trying different routes and dates as I wanted to get to DFW and that was the only flight I could find…..not what I wanted as I then would have had to purchase the ORD to DFW ticket which are running at stupid prices. In the end that’s the reason I cancelled and actually purchased a Business fare from Dublin to DFW costing a mere £1600 as opposed to £3200 from LHR!!!..

[seasonedtraveller]

I have just booked with BA, transatlantic in WTplus and immediately tried to upgrade both sectors to CW using Avios.
Despite the CW cabin being wide open in both directions, surprise surprise – there is NO availability for Avios upgrades nor is there anything available for my Gold upgrade voucher for 2.

[BA744fan]

seasonedtraveller – I would have checked CW availability before booking WT+, knowing how limited premium cabin reward seats are on BA.

[LuganoPirate]

Friends of ours who stay 3 months in Cape Town from mid December usually book their free Avios flights in January. But then only one of BA’s daily’s to CPT has availability – the most inconvenient one (for them) of course!

[seasonedtraveller]

@BA744fan

I have a travel budget for the year.
I can generally use it to suit me in terms of premium seating etc but I have to ensure I do not go over the annual amount.
2 weeks ago, BA ‘fleeced me’ for a missed connection, to the tune of £2,000 – that comes straight out of my budget.

In this case, I needed to book WT+ to get back on track.

Sorry if this is waffling but I just wanted to point out the lack of availability for Avios & Gold upgrade even though the call centre told me that CW is, quote “wide open on both sectors”

[maxgeorge]

When I still thought my Avios could actually get me to LAX or SAN in F or J, I would watch the screen announce ” We’re checking availability – We won’t be long” and think it should more realistically read “We’re checking availability – There won’t be any”.

I should nonetheless be grateful to BA. I now fly AA or NZ out of LHR, or EI out of Dublin.

I have been well pleased with the improvement.

[Xuluman]

Ugh. I have earned these points. They should be treated as any revenue ticket.

Making it nigh impossible to redeem the points is not a working system.

[NameRemoved-18/12/14]

Same holds true for Economy redemption tix. I am looking for a o/w flight in early September from either MIA or JFK.

I think it would be better to buy a return flight ex US.

[Author]

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