N1cky

Ah, that's why. I'm looking for 3 seats. Thank you so much for your help. I can't believe how difficult and frustrating the BA site is, everyone else's seems so much easier.

petitefrancaise

Hope you get something !

There's a coursera course with Chris Guillebeau and someone else on how to do all this. I might just do it.....

Glad to hear you got the BA card, I applied but it came back with needing a look which doesn't sound hopeful.

petitefrancaise

N1cky, the american airlines one is much better....

tonrob

This.

BA's award search engine on their website is shit.

BAEC has access to AA award redemptions that is equal to everything to see in the Award MilesAAver category on AA's site. Therefore to find BA availability on AA look on AA's site.

You will still need to call BA to book, and BA award prices will be the ones you pay (so ignore the number of miles required and amount of co-pay stated on AA's site search results).

This kind of thing unfortunately applies across various airlines. Often you need to look elsewhere first. The places that are best to look vary over time and with the situation you're in, so Google can help (e.g. "Best way to find BA award availability" or similar. If you add the term "boadingarea" to your search you will access the collective wisdom of a broad family of travel blogs). In the last I have had to use ana.com to find availability on Thai which I then booked with United miles.... You get the drift.

tonrob

Avianca (Brazillian airline) are offering status matches until the end of November. Could be a good way to get status on a Star Alliance airline if you currently hold status with a non-Star Alliance partner.

I'm Gold with both BA and Virgin Atlantic, so thought I'd give it a punt. You need to navigate through a Portuguese-only sign-up page to join their programme to begin with, but this wasn't too difficult.

This blog entry I found explains what to do from that point on.

I'll let you know whether it works. I sometimes fly Lufthansa economy on short hops in Europe, so this would be good for getting lounge access instead of hanging around by the gate.

tonrob

Apparently loads of AA Award space has just opened up to London from various cities across the US. Probably won't last long at all (possibly wasn't intentional on their part...?).

Details.

Bookable with AA and BA.

tonrob

Good article on pros and cons of hoarding miles/points for future trips versus spending them as quickly as possible in case programs devalue.

tonrob

Turkish airlines award availability temporarily "wide open":
Great Deal: Turkish Business Class Awards WIDE OPEN - One Mile at a Time

tonrob

Temporarily increased to 50K until 17th Nov. Details here.

AMEX personal card bonuses are currently "once per lifetime", and while 50K is an increase from recent offers, historically it has gone higher (I got 80K when I signed up, although that was a couple of years ago). Delta miles are more difficult to accrue than they used to be since SunTrust hobbled its Delta Skymiles debit card.

tonrob

It was too good to last. See here for news that short-haul redemptions in North America will suddenly cost a lot more from February. Avios still a good option in certain circumstances.

petitefrancaise

Tonrob...
I've got BA avios and Lufthansa miles and more but I'm flying to Sydney on qantas. Is there any way I can use the lufthansa miles to upgrade my seat?

Thanks!

tonrob

Sell them on the black market and use the cash? That's about it, I'm afraid.

Watch those LH miles too. They expire 3 years from earning, regardless of any account activity in the interim.

petitefrancaise

you sure about the LH miles? OH seems to think that so long as you do something with the account, then you keep them. So, for example he's had a couple of united flights and put them on his LH account.

tonrob

There are a couple of exceptions for elites and credit card holders though (which this was a good opportunity to remind myself about).

Good explanation here.

How many are you sitting on?

tonrob

Use Avios, hardly any fees, much better seat than BA. Just booked 2x BOS-DUS one way for 120K and $11.

Wide Open Business Class Europe Awards With No Fuel Surcharges for American and Even BA Members! - View from the Wing