New British Airways First and Club World sale launched, for travel into 2017

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• Anon says:

  4 Mar4 March 05:59

  Rob – no mention of the BA 30% bonus on buying Avios, or are you saving that for the wknd?

  • Raffles says:

    4 Mar4 March 07:10

    Was flying back from Ras Al Khaimah yesterday (on tube from LHR as I type) so squeezed for time.

• James says:

  4 Mar4 March 06:31

  Plus Abu Dhabi is also operated by a B789 and thus is a bit nicer in first (although Dubai gets the 789 too soon on one of the daily flights).

  • Raffles says:

    4 Mar4 March 07:11

    Doing this in 3 weeks!

    • James says:

      5 Mar5 March 01:11

      Do tell us if it’s any good – I am looking for a way back from Perth and I could potentially take that flight back from AUH (in conjunction with an EY 789 in J). Other options include SQ A350 J (favourite) and VS 789 J.

• Paul says:

  4 Mar4 March 06:45

  Some of those fares are ludicrous if targeting leisure passengers. £1700 plus yo JFK in cramp world is mad. Ex EU and AA have nothing to fear from the latest DFS style BA sale.

  • Globetrotter7 says:

    4 Mar4 March 09:25

    Woke up on the wrong side of the bed today did we?

    • Lostantipod says:

      5 Mar5 March 22:41

      Not sure I disagree with paul. Over £3800 “sale price” for LHR-SYD return in CW is more than I ever pay any airline to get to SYD unless I am travelling at very short notice ( at least, on the dates I searched, which reflect when I usually go there) And anyway, I would not swap Etihad’s inflight experience in J for BA if the price was the same.

      • Rob says:

        5 Mar5 March 23:54

        BA ex Oslo is permanently under £2,000

        • Alan says:

          10 Mar10 March 10:57

          Agree – best long-term deal going for travel to Oz! Great availability and options from elsewhere in the UK to get to OSL (e.g EDI on Norwegian), plus nice place for a wee citybreak! Saves you almost 50% vs ex-UK pricing.

• Dave says:

  4 Mar4 March 06:55

  Your part-pay-with-Avios rate is wrong – they’ve doubled it as well for the sale, so I saved £100 for 7,500 avios on a CE return yesterday.

  • Raffles says:

    4 Mar4 March 07:09

    Thanks. Will update later. BA did not update the table online in that case.

    • Mikeact says:

      4 Mar4 March 07:48

      I was looking to send my daughter to Vancouver, checking part pay with Avios shows £50 (and this is doubled ??)

      • VP says:

        4 Mar4 March 10:27

        I see the save £200 option for 30K avios (£100 for 15K) on a Club World booking for Mumbai.

        • Dave says:

          4 Mar4 March 10:53

          According to the Ts & Cs page, the double rate is only for fares from the luxury sale, so it will depend if the destination is included in the sale – I don’t think Mumbai is.

          Sorry – didn’t realise that restriction when I made my first comment – I was just going by what I’d saved on my CE flights booked yesterday!

  • Dave says:

    4 Mar4 March 08:27

    still showing as 15,000 for me

• Polly says:

  4 Mar4 March 07:15

  F to AbuDhabi is the about the best there is, not the best we have seen, ESP for a family in school hols. Way too expensive..

  • idrive says:

    4 Mar4 March 12:48

    Dubai OT:
    A friend of mine has just invited me to join her as she is traveling for work and wants to extend to enjoy some warmth over the weekend. I have never been to Dubai and I am wondering:
    -Is there a problem in sharing the room with her (not my girlfriend!)
    -Any hotel on Jumeirah beach should be good? anyone has been at the Radisson Blu Residence, Dubai Marina? ideas for redemption?
    I am also looking for flight redemptions, it seems so far that AA is probably the best choice, but I have to research more…thanks!

    • Rob says:

      4 Mar4 March 13:52

      Cheapest redemption option is airberlin into Abu Dhabi and then a taxi.

      No problem sharing a room in a hotel, there is a problem in a private house.

      Redeemable hotels are not the best choices (unless you have Jumeirah points) but various options. Habtoor is Marriott Autograph, SPG has a few options on the beach and there is a Hilton. The Hilton is connected to an Executive Apartments property. Grosvenor House (SPG) gives access to the Meridien beach resort I think. The new Doubletree (private beach) is meant to be good with Hilton points. Waldorf-Astoria on the Palm if rolling in Hilton points but bad reports.

      InterCon at the Marina should be a modest walk to the public bits of beach down by The Walk but I don’t know exactly where it is.

      • Danksy says:

        4 Mar4 March 15:08

        Or if you don’t mind an hours ride to RAS there’s the waldorf or the hilton next door. When I stayed a few months back we got the premier suite at the hilton despite booking a cheap room on cash rate 😀

        • Rob says:

          4 Mar4 March 18:33

          I was at the Waldorf this week

    • James says:

      5 Mar5 March 01:14

      Or use AA miles to book etihad and use the free chauffeur

• Stuart says:

  4 Mar4 March 07:45

  I’m wary of booking sale fares now. At the weekend my partner and I were downgraded from Club Europe and offered only £15 each. We had booked the tickets in the October flash sale.

  • Mike says:

    4 Mar4 March 08:57

    £15 each, really ? Did you take it ? This is an involuntary downgrade. If BA downgrades your flight of travel you are entitled to a refund on your ticket. This is 30% for Category 1 flights, 50% of Category 2, 75% of Category 3. Now it is not entirely clear in the Regulations as to whether that is the whole ticket, including unaffected sections of that ticket. Therefore the range of options varies from 75% of the whole ticket (out and back) as purchased, down to 30% of the implied cost of the sector affected (which could be a relatively small amount of money if that sector is a small add-on to a long haul journey). However the CAA has advised that their interpretation is that the whole ticket is used to calculate downgrades, not just the affected leg; equally we know of situations where BA only compensated the effected leg. Also note that you may be entitled to further consumer protection: for example if the Regulation’s compensation was less than the amount paid the upgrade (such as an airport upgrade) then there may be scope for a challenge under contract law.

    • Jon says:

      4 Mar4 March 10:29

      Do you know whether the same would apply for Avios bookings – I.e. would they be expected to refund 75% of the Avios paid? (And taxes/surcharges etc?). And any idea how that would work with a 241 voucher? I’ve been downgraded from First to Club on a longhaul redemption…

      • David says:

        4 Mar4 March 13:09

        yes, I had the same to me downgraded from first to business using avios and 241

        • Jon says:

          4 Mar4 March 21:09

          Out of interest, what compensation did you get? I assume the best case scenario would be 75% of the Avios + 75% of the tax/surcharges component, either x2, or x1 for one person plus return of the 241 voucher. Did you get that (or anything close)?

    • Genghis says:

      4 Mar4 March 11:58

      Good post Mike.

      • Mike says:

        4 Mar4 March 14:33

        This is a great piece of work from Corporate Wage Slave – Ambassador BT forum Flyer Talk. It covers everything you need to know about compensation, duty of care and downgrades etc. It’s definitely worth a read.

        http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/british-airways-executive-club/1735482-2016-ba-compensation-thread-your-guide-regulation-261-2004-a.html

        • Jon says:

          4 Mar4 March 21:08

          Thanks Mike – that’s really useful.

    • Stuart says:

      4 Mar4 March 13:31

      Thanks for this info. I will give BA a call.

  • The_Real_A says:

    4 Mar4 March 09:59

    The irony is thats probably a fair valuation of the on-plane benefits of club europe.

    Mike – nice explanation of downgrade protection.

• Dave Barron says:

  4 Mar4 March 08:20

  Off topic – Rob, my Axex Gold has new offers showing. Hilton spend of £250 gets £50 back (expires 31.5.16) and Accor spend of £250 gets £30 back (expires 30.4.16) Hopefully of use to fellow HFP readers and worthy of a mention!

  • Dave Barron says:

    4 Mar4 March 08:21

    That’s Amex not Axex!

  • Alan says:

    4 Mar4 March 08:43

    Was mentioned in comments a couple of days ago, but sadly many of us don’t have it on our cards!

    • Johnnycl says:

      4 Mar4 March 18:16

      Worth checking again – I had a spend £150 at Hilton get £25 credit appear on another card today.

      • Alan says:

        10 Mar10 March 10:53

        Sadly nothing on Plat, Plat AC, SPG or BA cards! Poor show from Amex, although TBH would be too late now if it did show up as I’ve already booked lots of flash sale rates!

  • Mike says:

    4 Mar4 March 09:01

    I normally don’t like these off topic comments. However, on this occasion, it’s much appreciated as I missed out on the last Hilton offer. Checked my account and it’s there – thanks for flagging it up.

    • Brian says:

      4 Mar4 March 11:41

      Why don’t you like off-topic comments? They don’t hurt and are very often of great use to many readers. The reader comments are a source of information that nicely complements the actual articles (and often lead to further articles, when Rob deems this worthwhile). They’re generally flagged as OT at the outset, so you can always ignore them.

      • Mike says:

        4 Mar4 March 14:16

        I don’t normally like them as it detracts from the intended subject matter. However, I did go onto explain that, on this occasion, it benefited me. I appreciate not everyone has the same opinion, I was just expressing mine. Maybe I’ll change my opinion now after the £50 Hilton saving.

        • sandgrounder says:

          4 Mar4 March 15:27

          Further OT- apols to those who don’t approve! This may have been flagged before, but I have today received a targeted email offering 3k MR points for adding a supplementary card holder to my PR Gold (open for around 2 months). Anyone applying for this card in the near future may wish to hold off from adding a supplementary at application time.

        • sandgrounder says:

          4 Mar4 March 15:28

          0/10 for observation- I have been well beaten to this one. Wrist-slap to me for not reading the whole thread first! 🙂

        • Nick says:

          4 Mar4 March 17:42

          Doh….I applied and was approved on line yesterday for PR gold with wife as a supplementary card holder.

• pR says:

  4 Mar4 March 09:09

  Dates in April and May LGW-MLA for £218rtn. This route is 80TP each way. With £100 off for 7500 that’s 160TP for £118. And earns 5000 back if you’re already Silver.

  • Lumma says:

    4 Mar4 March 09:42

    Marrakech is another that gives you 160tp and there’s loads of dates where it’s £239 return (or £139 & 7500 avios) slightly more expensive but more avios back and a more interesting destination than Malta.

    • pR says:

      4 Mar4 March 10:11

      That’s true!

    • harry says:

      4 Mar4 March 18:08

      So a nice example of your Avios being worth 1.333p each

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