Why I have started checking British Airways reward seats on aa.com

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• Bullfrog says:

  23 Jun23 June 07:05

  Agreed !

  Two months ago, I wanted to book a New Years Day flight from Heathrow to Miami with BA in First.

  The BA website would only offer January 2.

  I checked AA & got a BA flight in First, using up some 62,500 AA miles & $ 356 which was cheaper than any BA option.

  Job done !

• James67 says:

  23 Jun23 June 07:22

  Hi Raffles, two points to add. Firstly, BA usually has availability (even for non elites) that boths shows and can be booked on BA which does not show on AA and cannot be booked even via AA call centre paying the fee. Thus it seems BA has a few advantages for its own members booking via its own web ste. Secondly, on AA site you can view a whole month availability at a time. The button is on top right of weekly dare and the three travel classes. It is not perfect though as it shows the lowest available class on each day. So if economy is available you then thave to click a specific date to check if J or F is also available. Cheers.

• PGW says:

  23 Jun23 June 08:58

  On the whole I agree that the AA site is easier to check awards in all cabins at the same time.

  However not all airlines are covered (Cathay & Malaysian are notable examples). I’m also puzzled about your Etihad comment. I’ve never seen EY availability on the award search.

  • Rob says:

    23 Jun23 June 09:40

    I was assuming EY was there, apologies …. perhaps it is one of those ‘you need to call for availability partners’

• Vlad says:

  23 Jun23 June 09:45

  Does anyone find that BA site will show some dates available (I was looking for flights in the very near future, i.e. in the next week or two) and allow you to click them, but once you do, it goes to check availability, and comes back saying none are available on those dates, even though it specifically showed those dates as having flights available on the dates selection screen? Find this very annoying, and it effectively renders the site (in this particular situation) useless. Perhaps it only affects flights in the very near future… Haven’t tried it with dates further ahead.

• PGW says:

  23 Jun23 June 10:05

  No apology necessary – thanks for my morning fix of very helpful stuff.

  Yes, you do need to call AA for EY availability.

• richie says:

  23 Jun23 June 10:26

  bit off topic but does anyone have any ideas for me. i will have 200,000 avios in my household account when the tesco bonus comes along. im just wondering what to do with them… any ideas. (theres 2 of us -so 100k each) open to any suggestions.

  • Rob says:

    23 Jun23 June 13:17

    Best 100k routes (in terms of ‘miles flown’) are Cape Town and US West Coast (San Fran, LA, Vegas etc). As you can come back from a different airport, and it is easy to get one-way car rentals in California, a driving holiday there is always good fun. San Francisco, down the coast road to LA, through Death Valley to Vegas, then up to Yosemite National Park (if looping) or stop in Vegas and come back from there.

    • richie says:

      23 Jun23 June 13:41

      i did that highway one trip in 2008 for my 21st. and my fiance is polish so usa visa is quite a complicated process. asia is more attractive i have just been looking this morning at berlin to phuket-air berlin with a stop in uae then back from hong kong with ba on the a380 , or possibly cathay. this way mimimises the taxes a lot as well

      • Rob says:

        23 Jun23 June 14:38

        Yes, that would be a result, especially (in business) as you should get the new fully flat AB seat.

        • Janes67@ says:

          24 Jun24 June 03:53

          How does Berlin to Phuket wirk? Is second leg from AUH not an Etihad flight? If this is possible I would like to explore it too. Richie could route HKT HKG via KUL with MH take advantage good hotel deals in KUL overnight to see the city and then experience MH a380 to HKG.

        • Rob says:

          24 Jun24 June 09:18

          Yes, on certain flights an AB plane goes on to Phuket. Not sure if you need to book this as two redemptions (Berlin/Dusseldorf to Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi to Phuket) or if it would book straight through. (You won’t save Avios by booking straight through, now that BA charges by individual flight.)

          Tax etc shown here https://headforpoints.com/2013/02/03/avios-redemption-university-lesson-6-lowering-taxes-by-redeeming-on-airberlin/

        • James67 says:

          24 Jun24 June 12:06

          Thx Raffles, I will explore further. I am trying to figure the cheapest route from UK to SE Asia using BA avios. I’ guessing this wit RFS to TXL might be best option for minimising cash while RFS to HEL followed by HEL to BKK on AY might offer best compromise on avios required traded off against tx and fees. However, the new AY Helsinki to Xi’an route comes in at under 4000 miles so provides interesting possibilities.

• samir says:

  23 Jun23 June 13:47

  i have 150,000 BA avios miles but am at the lowest level and never find availability on BA flights. When I called about going to USa this summer thay told me nothing was available for the whole of July and August. Can I book Avios on AA as it may be easier to book there or does it have to be with BA? Any other ideas to book on One World Carriers?

  • Rob says:

    23 Jun23 June 14:37

    Where in the US?

    Loads of oneworld options – American Airlines, airberlin and Aer Lingus. Last two also charge substantially less in taxes – see my articles https://headforpoints.com/2013/02/03/avios-redemption-university-lesson-6-lowering-taxes-by-redeeming-on-airberlin/ and https://headforpoints.com/2012/12/20/saving-taxes-by-redeeming-avios-to-the-us-on-aer-lingus/

    Aer Lingus must be booked on the phone and doesn’t show online.

    • ABC says:

      24 Jun24 June 03:00

      Use qantas or United to see Air lingus availability.

      • Rob says:

        24 Jun24 June 09:19

        It is not a perfect match with what BA can access. Qantas also always overstates the number of Aer Lingus seats available, showing 9 when it will never be more than 2 in Business.

• Marco says:

  25 Jun25 June 11:33

  Dear Raffles,
  Can someone with a basic AAdvantage account immediately reserve a seat when making an online rewards flight reservation on AA, or is this a privilege reserved solely for AA frequent flyers? (As is the case for Silver/Gold Tier members on BA.)

  • Rob says:

    25 Jun25 June 12:11

    Don’t know, but BA is very much the odd one out with its current policy. Anyone?

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