When another British Airways ex-Europe trip goes wrong ….

Last weekend I ran two stories by Head for Points readers (here and here) who had booked British Airways long-haul flights starting elsewhere in Europe.  This saved them huge amounts of money, but for one reader it had not been entirely trouble free.

Some readers commented that the ‘trip which went wrong’ did not go badly wrong.  It was, after all, only the last leg back to Dublin which was a problem.

Reader Anto sent me his own story of a British Airways ex-Europe trip which went wrong.  This was potentially a far more messy situation, albeit that the problem was one of his own making!

As Anto explained:

“A few weeks ago, I was travelling to Phoenix, AZ to visit my sister for her graduation. When booking the tickets, I found to no surprise that it was significantly cheaper to fly ex-EU than ex-UK.  As I was going to be playing gigs in Chester and Manchester either end of the trip, it made sense to fly out of Dublin and back into Manchester via Heathrow each way.

The (economy) flights were ticketed through American Airlines.  However, all of the flights were on British Airways planes except for one leg on US Airways (Phoenix to Newark) on the return journey. As I was only travelling with carry-on luggage, I booked myself a little £25 Ryanair flight from Manchester to Dublin to connect to the British Airways flight from Dublin I had booked.

Unfortunately, things got a little ‘messy’ after the gig in Chester, and I missed the flight to Dublin. Oops.

In the back of a cab racing me to Manchester airport three hours after I should have been there, I frantically searched for last minute flights to Dublin so I could make the connection. There were none. On arrival at Manchester, I ran to the American Airlines ticket desk and explained my predicament.

The AA staff were very sympathetic, and spent about forty minutes trying on their systems to somehow reticket me on a flight I could actually catch. This included phoning their call centre in the USA, who explained that because the ticket was originally booked in euros (being ex-EU), it simply wasn’t possible to reticket in sterling. All this time, I was watching the clock, aware that as soon as the gate for my flight from Dublin to London closed, the rest of my ticket would die. Not good.

After the American Airlines ticket desk admitted defeat, they suggested that I try the British Airways ticket desk a few feet away. The staff there were quite busy but, after I explained the situation to them, set about industriously poking at keyboards and picking up telephones. I detected a definite professional rivalry on the part of the BA staff (“Well, if it’s an American ticket, why can’t they just… *rolls eyes* anyway, let’s see what we can do…”), which I’m pretty sure worked to my advantage.

After twenty minutes or so of button bashing, the member of staff helping me managed to find a way to put me on the next Manchester to Heathrow flight, in time for my onward journey to Phoenix, albeit at a further cost of £200 (economy). At this point, as you may imagine, I was quite happy to pay.

I’m not sure of exactly what mechanism they used to swap out the Dublin to Heathrow sector of my ticket for this new one.  She assured me that it was quite unusual and that I should check at every airport I visited, on departure *and arrival* that I would be able to check in for the next leg of the journey.  This did not help my nerves much at all.

As it transpired, the ticket was just fine, and the rest of the trip went very smoothly; I even managed to grab a shower in the Galleries lounge in Terminal 5 thank to my airberlin Gold card, gained via a status match from Aegean!

The moral of the story is: don’t miss the first flight of your multi-leg ex-EU trip. I definitely got lucky – this story could have had a much, much sadder ending.”

Thanks Anto.  I think you were very lucky to get away with this one, to be honest!

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (March 2025)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

Get 5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, and the standard card is FREE. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review

There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 8th April 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Business Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to 120,000 points. You receive 80,000 points when you spend £12,000 within three months and a further 40,000 points if you spend on the card between Month 14 and Month 17. Points convert 1:1 into Avios and many other programmes. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 8th April 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Business Gold is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 60,000 points. You receive 40,000 points when you spend £6,000 within three months and a further 20,000 points if you spend on the card between Month 14 and Month 17. Points convert 1:1 into Avios and many other programmes. Click here to apply.

American Express Business Platinum

Up to 120,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

Up to 60,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.