Bits: interesting Iberia / Avis deal, 1950’s British Airways amenity kits

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• Markc62 says:

  10 Jul10 July 09:16

  For BA holidays, try using their Customise my trip function BUT enter the flight details to and from the SAME destination. I didn’t book but did a dummy booking 2 – 3 days ago and got a good price for a ten day trip to Madrid but only one hotel night at the end of the trip and 9 other nights I was going to book myself in various other cities. The only reason I didn’t book is because we postponed until next year. But I did book Gatwick-Venice-Athens-Heathrow and booked a hotel for one night in Athens, for a 19 day trip, It was good value but only a little cheaper than booking separately BUT it means I only paid £100 deposit instead of paying in full. I don’t mind losing £100 if plans had to change. Better than paying in full for non refundable flights.

  • Polly says:

    10 Jul10 July 09:37

    Mark, that’s very useful to know, so effectively you are gaining flexibility in booking, and still allowed to add on just one night. Good to know…that’s where we really value our avios flexibility with family Dublin trips. Don’t have to keep cancelling flights as plans change, just hope avios availability is there when we need it. Each to their own….

  • Anna says:

    10 Jul10 July 09:49

    Every time I’ve tried to book a trip with less than the full duration stay/ car hire in the past 3 years I’ve been told I need to pay the full amount up front! What am I doing wrong?

    • Anna says:

      10 Jul10 July 10:18

      This is really odd. I did a dummy booking via “Customise your trip” for 7 nights in Madrid with a 2 night hotel stay and got the option of paying a deposit, however several searches for long haul destinations all demanded full payment up front. Has anyone managed to book a long haul trip with a hotel/car for only part of the trip and just had to pay a deposit?

      I did wonder if the website was just playing up, but I was told some time ago by a CSA that I couldn’t pay a deposit only on a trip to my preferred (long haul) destination unless I also booked a hotel or car for the same duration.

• wayne sam says:

  10 Jul10 July 09:19

  Just tried the Avis, Iberia comp. From a rental in June so I don’t expect the awarded 1000 avios to be credited in the next 6-8 weeks. The rental was in Spain but pre-booked in Uk. Via BA.

• Planenuts says:

  10 Jul10 July 09:31

  By chance off to Amsterdam in Sep, so booked the car this morning. Didn’t risk using my BA Account opted for Iberia Plus instead but was instantly informed I had won 18000 Avios – thanks for the tip.

  Mal

  • Cate says:

    10 Jul10 July 09:34

    Don’t you have to complete by July 31st?

    • NickS says:

      10 Jul10 July 14:09

      Ive just checked the Ts & Cs and they say 1. You must be resident in Spain and you must collect the car by 31st July but they allow you to complete the rental by end August….but my booking is for September (and I’m not resident in Spain – my IB plus account has a UK address so guess my award wont now happen??? though strange that ive been allocated the 18000 avios bonus when it appears I am not eligible in the first place on either count as I only made the booking in July but wont start it till september you would have thought the system might have picked this up??? Now not holding my breath that I will ever get the bonus!!!

• Cate says:

  10 Jul10 July 09:32

  Thanks for the tip on Avis. Shame, just going to miss it but at least they do regular incentives so may do better next time 🙂

• Richi Jennings says:

  10 Jul10 July 10:24

  It’s being reported on FlyerTalk that this is yet another BA IT bug, and that you can still book 1-nighter packages by phone

  • Richi Jennings says:

    10 Jul10 July 10:25

    http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/28541151-post2.html

    • Anna says:

      10 Jul10 July 10:38

      So it’s a bug in the booking process but BA customer services told me it was a new policy?! I think at this point I am actually going to write to them and demand clarification!

  • Anna says:

    10 Jul10 July 10:34

    I’ve been playing around with the system a bit and it’s allowing me the option of paying a deposit with a multi-stop trip, but not with a single destination such as Bermuda. It’s good to know this option may still exist for future reference! I was definitely told that it was no longer the case by Customer services though, which is very annoying if it turns out I was given the wrong info.

    • Anna says:

      10 Jul10 July 11:22

      I’ve put a post on Flyertalk as well to see whether anyone has a definitive answer. If true, it means that I’ve been experiencing this “glitch” for 3 years and also been lied to by BA!

• Andrew says:

  10 Jul10 July 10:31

  The other negative change is the loss of ability to book a holiday from a regional airport.

  Any attempts to do a search on a holiday from Edinburgh or Glasgow results in an error and defaults back to Heathrow.

  • Anna says:

    10 Jul10 July 10:36

    What an absolute shambles – or is it a ploy to make you book separately and have to collect and re-check your bags?!

  • Dave Barron says:

    10 Jul10 July 10:51

    Yeah noticed that too. Can’t book BA holidays from Newcastle anymore either. Clearly yet another BA IT failure after their recent “improvements”. BA is becoming a farce. How hard is it to get this right? Or is it the next stage of rebranding to London Airways?!?

  • Alan says:

    10 Jul10 July 13:10

    Quelle surprise on that front sadly – all the low fare finders, etc. rarely worked except ex-LON either. Stupid on their part though, will both lose them business and tie there phones up more.

• ant says:

  10 Jul10 July 10:42

  Not sure what i am doing wrong, as i also have a booking for next week done via Avisba website. But when i put in the reservation no and press submit it tells me the reservation number is not correct or does not qualify.

  • Nils Krumrey says:

    10 Jul10 July 11:25

    That website seems to be a bit flaky (continuing the trend of shoddy IAG IT). I had a completed booking from this month (booked directly pre-paid with Avis UK but credited to BA) where it wouldn’t accept the reservation number, so I thought I’d try the rental agreement number even though it is a digit short. Because I had left the last digit filled in from my previous attempt with the reservation number it actually accepted that and I supposedly won 1000 Avios. That number was definitely NOT valid.

    We’ll see whether it posts 🙂

• Robbie says:

  10 Jul10 July 11:16

  I tried two Avis bookings one is my regular monthly rental and is not credited to any FFP and the other was for a weekend rental that was for the 30th June to 2nd July (Which I thought may be enough in July to count and was credited to BA) neither one worked but at the same time neither one rejected. On clicking submit it simply reloaded the page but gave no message of any time.

  Sorry I couldn’t help to explain it but I guess either my bookings are not qualifiable or the website is not working at the moment – I may try again in a few days.

  • kwisstan says:

    10 Jul10 July 12:10

    I have “won” 500 avios for my rental last week, the original credit was BAEC. Rental was ordered on 2nd July and rental period was 3rd until 7th.

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