Book British Airways to North America in First Class from £1,700

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• Paddy says:

  29 Mar29 March 07:20

  Apologies, this is completely off topic – does anyone know whether Club World seat selection charges get refunded when upgrading the reward flight to First using more Avios?

  • Guy H says:

    29 Mar29 March 10:29

    I was in that situation last year with my HND-LHR J reward ticket (on a 241). I had to specifically ask but when I upgraded my flight to F they refunded the seat charges.

  • Jonathan says:

    29 Mar29 March 10:42

    Yes – I do this when I’ve upgraded from WT (exit row or not). You need to fill in a form at the bottom of this page https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/information/seating/seating-changes-and-refunds

• Anna says:

  29 Mar29 March 07:23

  OT – does anyone know what the criteria are for getting into American Airlines Admirals lounges? We have 4 economy flights with AA inside the US this summer. I can’t find any reference to them via Priority Pass or Amex Platinum so I imagine you need to be travelling in Business or First, or have very high status (we’re only Blue)?

  • Rob says:

    29 Mar29 March 07:29

    BA Silver or above. Priority Pass should have an alternative lounge (and one which won’t charge for most food or drink as AA would).

    • Anna says:

      29 Mar29 March 07:38

      We’re flying in and out of Charlotte Douglas in North Carolina which only seems to have AA lounges. It’s a busy AA hub apparently so I thought there would be more lounges but apparently not! Also DCA (Ronald Reagan) only seems to have a Delta lounge which we also can’t access.

      • Lady London says:

        29 Mar29 March 15:58

        It’s a nice airport apparently with good food options.

  • Rob says:

    29 Mar29 March 07:35

    Even AA status pax in Economy don’t get access – you are expected to pay. But under oneworld rules BA members must get in!

  • Anna says:

    29 Mar29 March 07:40

    Thanks – I think it’ll just be cheaper to buy breakfast in the terminal!

    • Kevin says:

      29 Mar29 March 13:24

      I’ve been to an AA Lounge in Charlotte. I wouldn’t pay for access unless I had a very long layover.

  • Mike L says:

    29 Mar29 March 08:06

    Last year we had to show our onward BA F tickets at Atlanta to get into the lounge. We were on separate Biz (avios) tickets from Atlanta to Miami but this did not qualify for lounge access on its own. We were blue at that time.

• Susan says:

  29 Mar29 March 07:26

  If Amex Plat already gives access to the next door plaza premium lounge I’m curious as to the rationale for opening an Amex lounge in Melbourne – although the more liberal guesting rules could be useful surely that is a straight additional cost for Amex with no great financial benefit.

  • Rob says:

    29 Mar29 March 07:28

    Agreed, it is a bit odd – unless they were paying Virgin so much ….

    • guesswho2000 says:

      29 Mar29 March 10:30

      One thought on this, there’s a lot of Amex cards here which provide limited access, and they all have annual fees. The Platinum fee is $1250 per year, and they may be trying to entice people to upgrade.

      For eg, my Amex Explorer is $395 per year, I can enter the Amex lounges twice per year for free. The email they send me announcing the lounge opening included a big old advert to upgrade to Platinum.

      Maybe they’re also trying to poach customers from QF/VA – Amex also offer partner cards for them, including lounge access for their respective pax. Interchange has recently been capped here, so there’s that potential issue too. Although I don’t think Amex cards are affected here in the same way as in the UK (as in the BA Amex being capped – I don’t think the same will apply to directly issues Qantas Amex cards, although it does to a NAB/ANZ/etc. QF Amex, which have now gone).

  • mark2 says:

    29 Mar29 March 08:02

    The Amex Centurion lounge in Seattle was amazing; in a completely different league from Plaza Premium.

  • Alan says:

    29 Mar29 March 08:59

    Plus PP already give two restaurant options in MEL.

    • Liz says:

      29 Mar29 March 09:46

      This is great for us as we will be passing through MEL twice in the next couple of months. Will be able to guest my sister and brother in law to the Plat lounge.

• Jamie says:

  29 Mar29 March 07:35

  OT there are so many good deals here from BA.. any news of any deals for Mel to LHR?

• Lewis says:

  29 Mar29 March 07:41

  Wonder if it gets any cheaper if you use BA holidays to throw in a hotel or hire car

• steve says:

  29 Mar29 March 07:51

  I see no future for HEX when crossrail opens, both cheaper and goes into central london.

  • Tim says:

    29 Mar29 March 09:08

    HEX have track access rights for another decade or so (after all BAA paid for most of the branch line to the airport). I expect that once they have expired, it may be deemed that an enhanced Crossrail service to the airport is sufficient and that the two HEx Paddington platform are better allocated to commuter or Intercity services which will once again be bursting at the seems, the breathing space from Crossrail having been used up.

    • Michael Jennings says:

      29 Mar29 March 12:39

      The agreement with Network Rail guaranteeing track access expires in 2023. This announcement states that Great Western have agreed to take over and manage the service until 2028, so in effect this means that the deal has somehow been extended for five years. I think this is the key point.

      There are four parties involved here: Heathrow, Network Rail, Great Western, and TfL/Crossrail. TfL have made little secret of the fact that they would like the Heathrow Express to be replaced with more Crossrail services going to the airport. Heathrow Airport has always said that they want the premium Heathrow Express service to continue.

      This announcement says that Heathrow have agreed with Great Western to extend the service until 2028 under Great Western management, so have Heathrow found a way to do a deal with Great Western that means that Great Western’s track access deal with Network Rail will apply, and TfL can be bypassed?

      Presumably some more details of the story behind this will come out before too long.

    • Lady London says:

      29 Mar29 March 16:02

      I suspect any ‘breathing space’ will be taken up immediately just like the M25 was when it opened. (I am thinking of the section M40-M4 in particular). Once it opens new demand will fill it.

  • Tim says:

    29 Mar29 March 09:09

    I’d also add that HEx is experimenting with dropping their fares and cutting costs – getting GWR to manage the service is presumably connected with this.

  • IanMacK says:

    29 Mar29 March 09:42

    HEx deserve what’s coming – just been overcharging business travellers for far too long.
    Yes, HEx is a quick and very frequent service but the prices are just too high.
    More and more offers appearing – certainly for weekend travel and ‘pairs’
    Unless I have a strict time schedule I just use the Tube – yes it gets busy but so …

    • Lady London says:

      29 Mar29 March 16:07

      If only someone would sort out the big rip-off that is known as the Stansted Express too.

• Leo says:

  29 Mar29 March 07:52

  I guess this is an ok deal if you live near INV or want the TPs. I just don’t think BA F is that impressive. I wouldn’t schlep to Inverness just to get into the F cabin TBH.

  • Rob says:

    29 Mar29 March 08:42

    Personally agree but some may like to wrap a little Scottish trip around it.

  • BP says:

    29 Mar29 March 09:58

    It’s only 3 hours from Glasgow, so it could work for some of us!

    • Anna says:

      29 Mar29 March 15:11

      I love Scotland and try and go every other year so at some point would definitely consider it. Is there any way of knowing when these offers come up other than from HFP?

    • Leo says:

      29 Mar29 March 20:52

      No I wouldn’t even bother with the extra 3 hours…

  • Darren says:

    29 Mar29 March 12:49

    Other regionals are showing good prices in CW. £1200ish to NYC on BA.com haven’t checked TA’s yet. But thinking of switching a reward flight to cash.

• Save East Coast Rewards says:

  29 Mar29 March 09:14

  The Gatwick Express being run by the Southern franchise hasn’t worked particularly well. They now have trains with the same ironing board seats as Southern, just in red. The only positive I can see is if the fares are reduced to be closer to Crossrail but the Gatwick Express still remains charged at a premium despite being run by the same company that operates Thameslink and Southern

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