My pick of the best long-haul flight deals in the British Airways sale

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• aliks says:

  1 Jan1 January 05:47

  On sale for 5 weeks? Sounds less like a sale, more like a discount for early booking of summer holidays.

• Rachael says:

  1 Jan1 January 08:02

  TBH I am not sure I ever want to fly BA again. Having literally arrived from Singapore I had to abandon my husband and son as their redemption booking left them stranded at the airport. To cut a long story short BA had only taken half the taxes unbeknown to us and he couldn’t check in as Singapore handlers didn’t know what the problem was. After frantic calls to the UK BA we found the unpaid tax problem, we paid the fee and was able to board the flight with literally 5 mins to spare.
  How on earth can you do an on line redemption without paying taxes ?!!!

  • TripRep says:

    1 Jan1 January 08:22

    With BA anything is possible/believable..

    Happy New Year to one and all from Oz, will be keeping my fingers crossed for the rtn of my 241 redemption…

  • Mikeact says:

    1 Jan1 January 09:34

    I had something similar a few years back. We were travelling down to Aus when at Heathrow check-in, we were told that we hadn’t paid the fees for an internal Award Aus flight. I had no idea how this could be but of course,paid up. At Melbourne check in some weeks later we were denied boarding due to a note in the system about unpaid fees…the lady was happy to call London but of course they were closed. Luckily I had the Heathrow receipt with me and and after numerous internal calls,we were allowed to board.Very frustrating, but we weren’t going to let it spoil our holiday ! (And never heard another word.)

  • Nick says:

    1 Jan1 January 11:39

    How on earth can you plan to fly a long route such as Singapore without checking your booking is all in order and has a proper ticket attached?! Yes BA is frequently crap, but passengers need to take some responsibility for themselves too!

    • Will says:

      1 Jan1 January 16:42

      If I make a booking with an airline online, am billed the requested amount, and am issued a PNR then I expect to turn up to the airport and to be able to check in.

      I don’t think that’s unreasonable. I’d see it as the airlines obligation to bill for any unpaid taxes prior to departure.

      At a guess you probably don’t check the amount of taxes you paid for your flights against the local jurastictions tax rules every time you fly, just like the rest of us.

      • Leo says:

        1 Jan1 January 17:11

        +1

    • Rachael says:

      2 Jan2 January 07:02

      We did. We had the BA app and tried to checked in and saw the seats but it said there was a problem,please come to the counter to check in. All above board our end but we can’t mind read and nor could the check in staff who had no idea what the problem was and had to call London for the answer.

  • Chsrlie says:

    1 Jan1 January 11:50

    I had a similar issue, with unpaid taxes of £0 (yes £0!) on a redemption booking. I booked to fly to LA and was ticketed as normal, I later changed this to San Francisco via telephone, there was no change in taxes, but had to pay the change fee. Backoffice failed to process the booking fee because the change in taxes were left uncalculated. I discovered all this at the airport and was told I could not fly, and unfortunately didn’t have enough time to resolve this with Exec club until the next day.

    After the trip I successfully claimed compensation due to denial of boarding under EU 261.

  • CT says:

    1 Jan1 January 13:15

    You say you had to abandon your husband and son and they were stranded at the airport. You then say you were able to board the flight. It sounds like you are making stories up!

    • Chsrlie says:

      1 Jan1 January 14:51

      I’m guessing the OP checked in, and boarded the plane, whilst father and son were left at check in to sort out the mess but fortunately made the flight with 5 mins to spare, so the abandonment was temporary.

    • Rachael says:

      2 Jan2 January 07:04

      No staff told my other son and me to go so we left and boarded the flight and 2 mins to spare saw them sitting in seats 2 rows in front.

• Westers says:

  1 Jan1 January 09:10

  Who did you use for the Abu Dhabi transfer? The cheaper flights and 787 make sense over DXB. Also do they have child/infant seats

  • Rob says:

    1 Jan1 January 10:00

    Walk out of the airport and pick a taxi. They have van taxis and normal ones, all perfectly safe. If you need a child seat you are better asking your hotel to arrange a transfer for you, although that will be a bit more than £40.

    • Benedict says:

      2 Jan2 January 20:21

      Didn’t see any normal cabs in the queue in October, only vans.

• Johntypop says:

  1 Jan1 January 10:09

  Just bagged LHR to ORD in First for a bargain price, reduced or on sale who cares when it’s only 200 quid more each way extrabto fly first!

• Zoe says:

  1 Jan1 January 10:32

  Slightly OT we just booked the decent Qatar deal to Canberra. I am currently blue with just a couple of BA flights but my year ends in March. Am I right in thinking if I have flown 2 BA flights (do they have to be cash?) then once our outbound tier points go through I’ll be bronze? Then 2 more BA flights and our return flights from Canberra will make me silver? We go in May.
  I’m slightly confused if flights on Iberia count?
  Also how long will Silver last? Do I then go back to blue?
  I have tried looking on the BA site but it’s not clear. Thanks in advance.

  • LondonFoodie says:

    1 Jan1 January 11:07

    There are better experts here, but from memory, you need 4 BA segments for Silver. Iberia and code share flights on BA symbol count as BA flights.
    Again, if my memory serves me right, once you qualify for Silver you have one year of Silver and then one year to retain Silver. What’s I’m not sure is whether you will have until March or until May. I think with me each time I requalify it moved my year end.
    Some more detail on the segment requirement here https://loyaltylobby.com/2017/08/30/british-airways-executive-club-beware-of-the-4-segment-requirement-to-obtain-gold-silver-status/

    • Polly says:

      1 Jan1 January 11:17

      TP year end always stays the same, and the card expires the month after your TP a year ends…Zoe needs to start all flights after her current TP year ends…just clarifying, that’s all…

  • Polly says:

    1 Jan1 January 11:12

    Hi Zoe,

    Do make sure you fly your 4 x ba metal sectors within your TP year, ie after end of March. That way your TPs from the OZ trip will get you silver, but you then only need the 4 sectors on BA, IB or EI, but they must also have a BA flight no. So, depending on when you can fit in the 4 sectors, presume you will be booking positioning flights…even a HBO sector counts.
    Once you obtain silver, you hold it for the remainder of that TP year, PLUS a soft landing of a further year, to the expiry date on your BA SILVER card which is often different to the end of your TP year end date. They usually extend the actual silver card to the end of the month AFTER your TP year ends. Enjoy the trip!

    • Zoe says:

      1 Jan1 January 11:40

      Thanks for all the quick replies. So Polly are you saying I’ll have Silver till approx end March 2019 then a whole extra year as a ‘soft landing’?

      • Nick says:

        1 Jan1 January 11:46

        No, you’ll have the rest of the year in which you flew as silver, then the whole year after. Your ‘soft landing’ will be a further year at bronze before falling to blue again.

      • Polly says:

        1 Jan1 January 20:18

        Thanks Nick, l understood my soft landing was the 2nd year as silver…forgot all about the bronze soft landing! think l meant Zoe to understand that the year she obtains silver ie starting with her new TP year after March 2018, she has another year as silver until card expiry date eg just after March 2020. Or when. Her BA silver card expires. Then she becomes bronze?
        So yes basically Zoe if you obtain silver in 2018/2019 TP year, it will last until your card expires in 2020. So worth getting the 4 x sectors within the correct TP year.

        Don’t know anything about Air Nostrum, an IB expert might chip in on that one?

    • Nick says:

      1 Jan1 January 11:44

      Almost right Polly. The 4 qualifying flights can be
      – Anything with a BA flight number (so includes AA and EI if codeshare)
      – Anything operated by IB with an IB flight number (so doesn’t have to be codeshare)

      • Leo says:

        1 Jan1 January 13:37

        Also Iberia Express with an IB flight number – I didn’t expect this at the time but it credited as qualifying.

      • Zoe says:

        1 Jan1 January 14:41

        Would Air Nostrum with an IB flight number work? I’m looking to perhaps use my Easter trip to Spain for the qualifying flights, on the BA site I can not seem to force it to show the indirect routes to Alicante or Valencia (both via Madrid mainly). I can see them on the Iberia site but if possible would pay with BA amex for a few more Avios. Thanks again for all the great help…

• Tom Murray says:

  1 Jan1 January 10:50

  Re the SA prices to JNB and CPT, we want to do a trip out there later in the year flying in to JNB and out of CPT. In anyone’s opinion (who may know better than us as mere occasional pax pawns in the game), do SA fares in CW or WTP get ‘cheaper’ in the coming months. We also have a 241 to use and are silver but I will prob lose my status as I didn’t travel as much as usual last year – unless I do a couple of quick 160 short haul runs before April.
  Grateful for any opinions on the SA fares later in the Autumn.

  TM

  • Rob says:

    1 Jan1 January 11:18

    You rarely see deals on SA on BA. Qatar Airways DOES do good deals out of Europe, around £1200 at times. The ‘problem’ is that South Africa is a beautiful overnight direct flight on BA – you can get a full nights sleep and, with no jet lag, kick off the next day at full speed. Go on Qatar via the Middle East and you won’t be getting much sleep due to the change of plane half way.

    Add in both Virgin and SAA dropping Cape Town in recent years and you can see why the BA flights are always full and why they are rarely reduced. Avios seats are also very difficult to get to CPT. JNB is easier but still hard.

  • Genghis says:

    1 Jan1 January 11:42

    Seems t-355 required for CPT avios bookings. A friend of mine booked recently on the phone. The operator noted that some other person was trying to also get the same seats on the phone at the same time so even online at midnight GMT you need to be lucky.

  • Chris A says:

    1 Jan1 January 11:56

    Were it not for the fact that you have a 2for1 to use, it would be worth keeping an eye on prices from EU cities like Paris, Dublin, Brussels and others. I often see BA flights starting there and connecting with the LHR flights for several hundred pounds cheaper than just booking the LHR flight.

  • Paul says:

    1 Jan1 January 19:38

    BA AMS-JNB or CPT readily available for approx £1550 club, pop over to the Netherlands and back, then sit on the same plane from Heathrow for about half price. Of course it will cost you about 4 hours, but well worth it in my book.

• Cate says:

  1 Jan1 January 12:21

  We also need to compare this against Iberia’s current 25% off awards on some routes. Prudent to check Iberia’s website to see if you can bag something similar but cheaper in avios and fees.

  Oh and a Happy and points prosperous New year to everyone!

• Optimus Prime says:

  1 Jan1 January 12:33

  I’m also waiting for the Qatar sale.

  Do their offers apply to just return tickets and not to multi-city?

  Asking because I noticed that flying from some european cities to Narita and coming back from Haneda has shorter stopovers in Doha.

  • Rob says:

    1 Jan1 January 12:42

    Open jaws usually ok

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