Fly BA plus other oneworld airlines? US Airways has the ideal promo for you

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• Jo says:

  30 Mar30 March 07:03

  Do redemptions count or only full price cash tickets?

  • Sandgrounder says:

    30 Mar30 March 08:12

    I would imagine they really shouldn’t but nothing would be lost by changing your FF no. after choosing seats etc.

  • Rob says:

    30 Mar30 March 12:20

    Presumably cash tickets – although you would have nothing to lose by crediting a redemption to them, just in case.

• Phillip says:

  30 Mar30 March 07:44

  Don’t forget TAM also joins OW formally tomorrow.

  • Rob says:

    30 Mar30 March 12:19

    True. I haven’t given that much attention because it isn’t one a lot of people use, but I will do something in a couple of days. Bigger piece on US Airways tomorrow.

    • Londonbus says:

      30 Mar30 March 20:30

      TAM now makes South America a whole lot more do-able on Oneworld…

    • Phillip says:

      31 Mar31 March 06:55

      Agreed, but the reduced/non existent Fuel Surcharges are great. LHR-GRU in business is 60,000 Avios and £213 compared to BA’s 60,000 Avios and £393. Of course, my favourite redemption on TAM is JFK-GRU in FIRST at 75,000 Avios and £1!!!!

      • Phillip says:

        31 Mar31 March 07:02

        Also, flying out of Madrid or Frankfurt on TAM, only costs £22 or £55 respectively one way in taxes for redemptions in business. Even better than AB!

  • John says:

    30 Mar30 March 12:32

    Wonder if there is any substance to the rumours of QF leaving.

    • Raffles says:

      30 Mar30 March 15:50

      Would be surprised. Emirates is not in an alliance so they won’t be following them anywhere. The EK relationship is also not going too well by all accounts. Why leave oneworld to be alone?

      • Phillip says:

        31 Mar31 March 06:58

        I think the recent changes to the QF Frequent Flyer, slashing the tier points earnt by flying with partners, particularly BA, CX and QR are an indication that they have no plans of leaving the alliance, but will try and make it unattractive for their members to fly other airlines particularly where QF flies the route.

• Singing Dwarf says:

  31 Mar31 March 11:17

  I wonder what the cheapest combination of flights would be, in order to hit the 25k bonus….

  • Phillip says:

    31 Mar31 March 19:05

    Depends on flexibility and time to spare – if indeed subsidiaries count, I would go with a routing along the lines of:

    LON-BCN (BA)
    BCN-MAD (IB)
    MAD-FRA (LA)
    FRA-VIE (HG)
    VIE-DUS (AB)
    DUS-LCY (BA CF)

    With the right combination, I reckon it can be had for £350-400. For example, you can get VIE-DUS-LCY on one ticket for £90.

    • Rob says:

      31 Mar31 March 21:11

      Very clever! I will try to work this into a post later in the week.

    • pazza2000 says:

      31 Mar31 March 23:14

      Really, that cheap for all of these segments? Certainly interesting…

      • Phillip says:

        1 Apr1 April 06:48

        LGW-BCN can be had for £45, while BCN-MAD for £39. The only issue is, if this will be a mileage run, you need to look for a date where most of those sectors are available at their lowest price.

• Phillip says:

  1 Apr1 April 09:37

  I also managed to get 6 airlines for £380 over 16-19 May as follows:

  LGW-AGP (BA)
  AGP-MAD (IB)
  MAD-FRA (LA)
  FRA-HEL-BUD (BE Nordic and AY)
  BUD-TXL-LHR (AB/BA)

  If someone wants to plan a trip around Europe by June this is one great incentive to see a load of places and get a bonus at the same time. Each of the above sectors need to be booked separately to get the price, apart from those I listed together (AY/BE and AB/BA).

  You can play about with Iberia and Iberia Express given that they will be classed as two separate airlines. Air Berlin and Niki often have connections that can get you from one airline to the other and the same with Finnair and Flybe Nordic. That’s already 6 airlines before you bring in BA. Remember that prices in Southern Spain are very competitive as both IB and AB have strongholds. IB express also fly from Madrid to Dublin so a short BA hop to come back to the UK. You can easily hit 5 airlines from just doing UK-Spain.

  The big question is, do award tickets count???

  • shorthauldad says:

    3 Apr3 April 14:50

    Are we certain that IB and IB Express count as separate airlines for the purposes of this promo?

    • Rob says:

      3 Apr3 April 15:30

      No. The wording is poor, when I first got it I couldn’t decide if affiliates were separate. I doubt it, though – I doubt US could tell BA Cityflyer from a BA flight for example.

      • shd says:

        4 Apr4 April 11:46

        In fact, more broadly, do we have any idea if what counts is purely the operating carrier?

        If I book a BA operated flight via an AA codeshare, will that credit correctly as BA (for the purposes of this promo)?

        What about an AA operated flight sold as a BA codeshare?

        • Rob says:

          4 Apr4 April 12:09

          Rules seem pretty clear that it is based on operating carrier, and this is – more broadly – what you find with oneworld in general when it comes to promotions and miles earning.

          To confuse things, Star Alliance often bases promotions on marketing carrier ….

• shorthauldad says:

  3 Apr3 April 13:25

  Do we think that an IB marketed flight operated by VY would NOT count towards this promo?

  • Rob says:

    4 Apr4 April 12:08

    Technically it shouldn’t because Vueling is not an affiliate of Iberia and it is based on operating carrier.

    • Phillip says:

      4 Apr4 April 13:28

      There is a clear note in the T&Cs that if the operating carrier is not a member of OW then it doesn’t count, regardless of the marketing carrier, and Vueling is not a member of OW.

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