BA confirms new Club World dining to JFK from Friday …. without Bollinger

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• T says:

  30 Aug30 August 14:01

  O/T
  My wife and I have reward seats booked to the US in October, using one of our BA AmEx 2-4-1s.
  There is a chance I may have to be out in the US for work the week beforehand anyway (i.e. work paying for the ticket) – but this won’t be confirmed until very close to the time.

  Is there a way to book my wife a regular (non 2-4-1) reward seat on the same flight? So that:
  – If work pays my ticket, we can cancel the 2-4-1 seats and she flies on the regular reward seat
  – If work trip doesn’t happen, we can cancel the regular reward seat and both fly on the 2-4-1

  Thanks in advance!

  • pauldb says:

    30 Aug30 August 14:56

    I’m not sure what you’re really asking. Yes of course you can book a regular reward seat for her, if there’s availability.
    Is your 241 a one-way: the issue will be for the return leg if you want to cancel the outbound.

    • pauldb says:

      30 Aug30 August 14:57

      … and what ever you ultimately cancel will cost you £35pp (avios returned as long as 24hrs in advance).

      • Genghis says:

        30 Aug30 August 15:05

        What I would probably do due to the uncertainty is to keep your 241 booking as it is. If it turns out that you will be travelling out the week before, cancel your 241 booking and hope that the flight goes back into reward inventory and book again for your wife. I’m not too sure whether the 241 can be uncoupled from an existing booking and your taxes refunded?

        • T says:

          30 Aug30 August 15:12

          Thanks guys. Apologies if first request wasn’t clear. I suppose the real question is ‘will the system let me book 2 seats under the same name (one as part of the 2-4-1, one as a regular reward seat) on the same flight’? Albeit one of those two seats would be cancelled a week before departure.

          Genghis’ option sounds like the simplest (albeit with a low level of risk attached).

        • pauldb says:

          30 Aug30 August 20:38

          Ah sorry – I didn’t realise you meant a second seat on the same flight (thought she might join your work flight). I believe that can cause problems but not really my area!

• Ben says:

  30 Aug30 August 14:26

  OT: OK, so the purchasing of Avios has got me thinking about value per point – as Rob continually talks about. I have a table of recent redemptions and I base the VPP on the cost of the same flights as I’m talking, if I were to book them there and then. However, I’m wondering whether I should have two baselines: one for the same flights and one for the cheapest alternative.

  The reality is that I bought the Avios due to some CX bookings made that would have been very costly otherwise (upwards of 7.5p per Avios – based on same one-way, CX flight departing HKG; so inflated cost). But I would never have paid that for the flights. I also may book in a class higher than I’d normally travel too.

  So maybe I should have a range for VPP from cheapest option to actual flight. Or maybe I’ve overthought this and I should get on with some real work…

  • Andrew* says:

    30 Aug30 August 14:32

    I think the agreed view is that it should be the cost that you would have been prepared to pay.

    i.e.
    I’m using 80000 Avios (plus £100 of taxes) for 4 ppl to fly in J from HKG to SIN on Cathay.
    Purchased as cash tickets that would cost a couple of thousand pounds I think, which I wouldn’t pay.
    If I didn’t have the Avios option I’d have used AirAsia or Jet Star at a cost of three to four hundred pounds…

    • Stu_N says:

      30 Aug30 August 16:00

      I work around 1.5p/ Avios floor value. Rarely use Avios for flights in Europe as the cash fares are generally affordable and it’s the way I maintain BAEC Silver and keep the Avios topped up. I guess if faced with £400+ return to London vs 9,000 Avios and £30 Reward saver fee I may think rather differently.

      Notionally I’ve got upwards of 5p for Avios (F to Hong Kong with a 2-4-1, and CX one-ways from Hong Kong to Tokyo) but I’d never spend £12k on flights to HKG. I also have a Cathay F from HKG to TYO which was £3,120 cash or 40k Avios = 8.1p/ Avios but then if I wasn’t on Avios I’d be paying about £700 return for CX or JAL Premium Economy. So by that measure it’s really 1.75p/ Avis, but Cathay First experience is (almost!) priceless, and we had the Avios so, why not…and as a tertiary consideration it still meets the floor value.

      I guess it’s purely personal but if Avios rich I’d tend to use Avios for less than 1.5p, especially for a big redemption. If I needed the tier points I may be more willing to pay cash regardless.

      • Rashad says:

        30 Aug30 August 23:14

        have you booked these flights with BA? as noted below return per person makes 40,000 Avios, would you elaborate where did you book 4J flights for 80,000 Avios?

        • Genghis says:

          31 Aug31 August 05:03

          As Baz Cutters notes below, 4 singles: 40k / 2 x 4 = 80k?

    • Rashad says:

      30 Aug30 August 16:53

      excuse my confusion I’ve just looked up HKG to SIN on Cathay and it’s 40000 Avios + £ 51.70 per person.
      How did you manage too get flights for 4 for 80,000AVIOS plus taxes?

      • Barry cutters says:

        30 Aug30 August 17:53

        4x One way ?

        • Rashad says:

          30 Aug30 August 18:29

          above is return price in Avios and Taxes

        • Ben says:

          30 Aug30 August 19:24

          It was specifically TPE-HKG-SIN in J that has a crazily inflated value (amongst other CX redemptions) that made me wonder. But if transiting HKG I’d always ensure that I’m on OneWorld carriers, which would push the price of flights up. Interesting stuff! My wife disagrees (although is happy enough when we’re actually lying down on the plane!).

        • Andy says:

          30 Aug30 August 20:30

          HKG to SIN is 20k avios in business, each way.

• Charles says:

  30 Aug30 August 15:49

  Just wondering if the catering will also be improved on the early morning LHR-JFK service (8.30am), which used to be basic breakfast as 1st meal. Any insight on that?

• mike says:

  30 Aug30 August 22:53

  The AA Flagship Lounge at JFK has a trough (literally) of Bolly if you need your fix.

• Kathy says:

  31 Aug31 August 08:54

  I wonder what the special meals will be like?

  I flew Air NZ to LA last month – their vegan meals were rather nice, even came with dessert! They had soy milk for tea. And I got a hot breakfast and they offered me a croissant with it. In contrast, United’s meal was fine on the way out and curry (which I hate) on the way back, with no dessert option or soy milk available, and breakfast was a tiny amount of fruit and some fig rolls.

• Kenny says:

  2 Sep2 September 00:34

  Sounds and looks like the same old average food, nothing special

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