Maz

I need to vent a bit, just ignore me.

I've just been researching the best way to get from Chicago to London (why oh why can't I go direct to Stansted or Gatwick without going via Denmark & Austria?... but that's a different rant).

American Airlines is the cheapest of the big carriers, but I flew with them in April and they sucked! Ick. Never again.

I like United well enough, and they're the "hometown" airline here in Chi-town so I like to give them some business, but their flight times weren't compatible with what we were looking for.

My fave to fly with is British Airways. I will always choose them if possible now that Virgin dropped this route ( ), but figured it was about time we got air miles. Not a silly idea, right? Well, my travel agent (I do a bit of preliminary research then she does all the legwork and usually beats the special prices on the web ) put the tickets on hold, and went researching the "fee" that BA charges to start getting air miles. Ay carumba!! The tickets were just shy of $1,000 each, and the fee to sign up for air miles was the equivalent of another ticket! :scared:

Stuff that. I'll still fly BA, I much prefer them, but I'm a tad peeved that I'll not be getting air miles. GRRRRR!!!!

OK vent over.

anotherlimey

I take it you tried Orbitz.com, Expedia and all those?

I had to book with Canada Airlines for an October flight, they were the cheapest at ~$640.

-tom

Maz

Yep tried all of those. My travel agent always manages to get cheaper than the cheapest web "specials" I can find. I call her after I've done a bit of research first. Plus I'd rather she have the commission, KWIM?

Anyway, it completely depends on when you go, too. I went for under $500 in April. But it's twice that per person in early July. I hate that manipulation by the airlines.

evoal2003

And tried traveljungle.com ????

Manc

I've flown most carriers out of ORD and BMI are by far the best of the lot.
with United a distant second.

BA are a complete bag of toss in my opinion.

franc111s

Sorry I appear silly but what do you mean. It does not cost anything to sign up for Airmiles. If you are talking about upgrades then the tickets to upgrade are more expensive but that's not abnormal and if you use the BA site, and shuffle with the dates - you can get awesome deals.... (I have over 600,000 airmiles !!!)...

I have travelled with BA for the last 7 years (from Atlanta) and only have good things to say about them. Unlike the budget airlines, BA will go out of their way to fix problems. They are very customer service friendly. Sometimes in the US their personell are a bit slow but a quick call to UK HQ and every problem I've had is solved in a heart beat.

BA rules the waves IMHO - but we all have different experiences.

Also, I use British Airways VISA and clocked up tons of miles over the years.... (well my wife does ).... I use it for everything - it adds up, even a $4 cup of coffee. I'm like the queen and carry no cash

Bob

$200 a ticket, I couldn't care mate

scrubbedexpat099

What fee to sign up for Air Miles, you just do it on their web site for nowt. Well that was what I did.

snowbunny

American Airlines and BA are airmile partners. Are you sure you're not talking about converting AA frequent flyer miles into BA miles and then paying the difference?

There is never a fee to sign up for any frequent flyer programme that I am aware of. (There is usually an annual fee to get a *credit card* that gives you miles.)

If you are looking at booking now and flying over in the summer, then yes $1000 per ticket is about the going rate. You are trying to book too early if you want a cheaper fare.

Maz

1. Yep I'm sure.

2. Aah there is and there isn't. There's not a flat "fee", per se, but you must buy a "premium economy" ticket (sounds like an oxymoron to me!) which would have been an extra $500 per ticket

3. My travel agent still managed to beat BA on their online price.

I just applied for their Visa. I have a couple of minimal balances I can transfer onto it to get more miles, and I'll just do it that way. I'm buggered (can I say that here? ) if I'm paying the equivalent of a third ticket to have the honour of signing up!

snowbunny

Yes, if you get a deeply discounted fare, the miles will not count -- but that is true whether or not it's your first flight or your hundredth.

I flew last summer on a discounted economy far and it counted......

scrubbedexpat099

Me too. Always bought the cheapest and never heard of any ticket that did not give you air miles, now I know there are some that you can not upgrade.

But I would take any saving vs miles anyway.

AdobePinon

They used to have a restriction that you couldn't be a British citizen. Have they done away with this now?

franc111s

You are getting confused with Tier points as well. Tier points (that go towards gold and platinum) are only on full fare tickets...

Then Airmiles, some real cheap seats don't get any airmiles but come on, do the math, these tickets are cheap and non-refundable for a reason. I don't care then about airmiles. The American Airlines suck and getting worse when you try to use em because they give them to everyone just for sneezing. You can't uppgrade much anymore unless you are platinum on Delta.... If you fly that much on such a shit airline, you deserve the upgrade IMHO.

I think $1250 + 25,000 airmiles for business class is the deal of the centure - IMHO.

Englishmum

Going slightly off topic I was chatting with one of the check-in staff at BA in Newark a couple of days ago, a really nice Englishwoman. I asked her what they do about allocating the emergency exit seats which are always allocated at the airport (as when my mum flew with Virgin, at the JFK check-in desk they were telling people that they could have them if they were willing to pay $75 extra!).

She said that they try to save them for tall people as the legroom is so small in economy. I'm just under 5'2" so I've got no chance next time I fly then!