Why are British Airways Singapore redemptions pricier via Iberia – and are there others?

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• Sam says:

  19 Jul19 July 05:32

  Yes having checked with Iberia Plus over the phone they confirmed that a HKG-TYO business class return costs 45000 avios (and with higher tax) compared to the normal 40000 avios. This flight cannot be booked on Iberia so I had no choice but to move these avios to my BA account.

  • Sam says:

    19 Jul19 July 05:32

    *on Iberia’s website

• Adam says:

  19 Jul19 July 06:33

  ICN-LHR prices more expensively on Iberia by about ~15,000 Avios one way.

  • Rob says:

    19 Jul19 July 09:35

    Thanks

• the real harry1 says:

  19 Jul19 July 06:35

  O/T IB 90K – reports over on FT that you can now price up/ & book partner flights using your promo points – this was widely reported as not working yesterday & some were blaming the new look IB portal. Some were blaming IB ring-fencing the 90K promo points, making them only bookable on IB metal (which didn’t seem that likely to me but got me a tad concerned).

  Using the old IB portal, ie the flight search box you get when you log in, I just priced up some dummy flights in Europe from LHR and also LHR-New York, and could successfully price up BA and AA flights alongside IB.

  Not that I pressed the ‘buy’ button.

  • Sam G says:

    19 Jul19 July 06:44

    Hi Harry – can you describe how you are accessing the “old portal”

    Was your account an existing account or a new one ? My existing account works fine, but I just checked my partners new account and I still get an error on pricing BA flights

    • the real harry1 says:

      19 Jul19 July 06:58

      log in
      use flight search box on left, input flight
      click ‘using Avios’
      click search
      takes you to another search box with same search details you just input
      click search again

      • Sam G says:

        19 Jul19 July 07:05

        That’s the same one I’ve been using (I’d already been bypassing their awful new big button thing – there is a link to this “old” booking portal from that too) – that’s where you get the error – when I click “view” on the flight to see the price on the new account I get – “An error has occurred. We apologize for the inconvenience and ask you to please try again after a few minutes. If the error persists please contact us.”

        Calling in eventually managed to get something booked though

  • Tracy says:

    19 Jul19 July 06:56

    Sorry but I am a bit late with the questions about the promo, been on holiday for 2 weeks and missed all the chat. Anyone still waiting on bonus avios posting? I received mine ok but OH has received nothing for flights on same booking, no flights showing in his IB account and can’t add his iberia plus number to any of the bookings….phoned the customer service number who told me to contact the clasica email address. One flight is in 6 days time…..

    • Sam G says:

      19 Jul19 July 07:06

      Add the IB FQ number via BA Manage my booking (not sure if you actually have to do this but I did just to be sure) and then send the email confirmations to clasica with a copy of the passport – responses are quick now

      • Tracy says:

        19 Jul19 July 07:16

        OH has had no requests to send passport or email confirmations, his account is over a year old….

      • Tracy says:

        19 Jul19 July 07:25

        Just tried to add his IB number to the booking via BA and got the message “Sorry, we are unable to find this Executive Club number for passenger ………. . Please enter a valid Executive Club or Avios Programme membership number.
        This is very strange as we can log into his IB account but can’t add an Iberia plus number to any bookings……

      • the real harry1 says:

        19 Jul19 July 07:33

        @Tracy – do you mean your OH was on the same booking as you to get 9000 points each? No problem, that works (2 people on same booking to get 2x 9000 points). BIG IF – IF you included his IB FF ID number at the time of booking.

        If you didn’t include his IB number at the time of booking, OH won’t get any points.

    • the real harry1 says:

      19 Jul19 July 07:30

      No points awarded yet is quite commonly reported elsewhere, but it seems that they are getting (finally) awarded right now – for new a/cs as well. Advice would be to wait & see. Or you could pro-actively email IB CS with scans of booking confirmations & OH passport, the address to send them is on the Flyertalk IB 90K threads.

      How do you mean one flight is in 6 days’ time? That you (Tracy) have booked a reward flight but that OH hasn’t? That doesn’t sound a likely scenario, ie the 6 days’ time bit, so presumably you mean something else?

      • Tracy says:

        19 Jul19 July 08:19

        @the real harry1, I made 6 bookings for 2 people on the same booking, myself and OH and put both my IB number and his IB number in the booking. The email confirmations have both IB numbers. However, I have received my bonus avios but he has not received his. These bookings are showing in my IB account but not in his and I cannot add his IB to the bookings. One of the bookings is due to fly 25th July 2018, we are both on the booking.
        Separately, I booked a flight for just me, I have received avios etc. I booked a flight for just OH, he received an email confirmation with his IB number included, this is the only flight showing in his account but it has no IB plus number attached to it and I cannot add it…..very peculiar as it is in his account

      • the real harry1 says:

        19 Jul19 July 08:47

        Then you have no real problem in anticipating all the bonus Avios for OH. I’d just wait & see as people ARE getting their points, just slowly. If (say) 2 weeks went by with no points, you might want to chase it up as I mentioned above.

        Getting OH’s IB number on the 25th July flight. You can do this at check in. Or try now using the Finnair or Royal Jordanian MMB sites. Or ring up IB CS. Or you can get them retrospectively if all else fails.

      • Matthew says:

        19 Jul19 July 10:46

        I have received mine this week. I have a new account and was asked to send in passport details and flight confirmations. Interestingly enough only 7 of the 10 bookings had my IB number stored on them online despite being logged in when making all of them.

        On Tuesday I received 63000 avios, I assume for the 7 with the IB number. I was going to send an email chasing for the other 27000 but they appeared in my account yesterday. Seems like they are just working through a rather large back log.

    • Kevin H says:

      19 Jul19 July 12:05

      @Tracy
      I would take trh1’s suggestion and be proactive here.
      We had exactly this scenario and emailed a copy of the passport and the bookings in question with a note to say that you have your AVIOS and he does not – despite being on the same booking (and with both IB account numbers showing).
      The missing AVIOS were added yesterday – just a few days after the (latest) email I sent, as above.
      Good luck!

      • Tracy says:

        19 Jul19 July 18:15

        Will do, thanks

• James says:

  19 Jul19 July 06:40

  OT: Need some wise advice please. I have been tasked to book 5 seats for family to Australia for next January 2019. Having seen on this blog how many times people get ex EU cheap business class tickets I would love to surprise them with this option or the very least find premium economy at a reasonable price so I have a few questions please, which I will number to make it quick to reply thanks
  1] – Is there a certain time of the year these ex EU seats become available?
  2] – I have looked at flying Norwegian premium economy to Singapore coming in at £1,100 return and then Scoot biz (premium economy) from Singapore to Sydney allowing them a day there each way coming in at £672 so £1,772 in total. Do these two airlines specifically Norwegian ever discount PE and if so is there a certain time of year to expect this?
  3] – Am I taking a huge risk waiting for sales in September to book if both options above fail. I can currently book economy from Belfast to Sydney return for £935 and PE for £1,900 (on one ticket with eithad or BA). Ex Dublin is surprisingly £500 more expensive. Is this good value or should I hold out to sale in September?

  • Andy E says:

    19 Jul19 July 07:10

    No answers but I didn’t think Etihad did PE
    If you don’t go business ex-EU, With the prices that close for the PE option I’d go BA: easier transfer, likely better service than Scoot Biz and of course the Avios

  • Sam G says:

    19 Jul19 July 07:12

    I live in Singapore and have to say I (quite suprisingly) haven’t seen the Norwegian premium product discounted all that much – especially on the overnight/weekend type flights that I would be looking at. January is a busy time for Asia travel so I wouldn’t expect much discounting but nor will prices really change that much until quite near the time so I wouldn’t be in too much of a rush

    Have you checked ex-Oslo ? I saw some pretty good prices from there recently to Aus on Singapore airlines business class

    That said I recently got my dad booked STN-DXB-SIN – PER-DXB-STN for 600 quid on Emirates which is as good a Y product as you’ll get and for him he wouldn’t be fussed with the hassle!

  • Tas says:

    19 Jul19 July 07:27

    James – have you checked Google flights? I’m not sure of your dates but prices are around £1200 for PE and from £1700 In business starting from Paris, Stockholm, Oslo etc viewing the whole month on Google with various outbound options. Melbourne is sometimes cheaper than Sydney and an easy hop on Qantas via Avios.

    • James says:

      19 Jul19 July 07:52

      Thanks for everyone’s comments. Tas could I be doing something wrong with google flights ? Or is there a secret method of using it to find those £1200 and £1700 flights you mentioned. For the life of me I cannot find anything close to those prices. Dates are very flexible the only stipulation is going out in January and staying mind 22 days up to 25 thanks again for your help ????

      • Tas says:

        19 Jul19 July 08:36

        Alternatively you could use the BA Amsterdam to Bangkok in business for £1286 offer as a starting point. Or there is a Paris to Kuala Lumpur flight in premium for £880 on BA. Malaysian airlines frequently have cheap business deals from KUL to Perth for £400-£650 return. Plus there are lots of Avios options using Cathay, JAL and Malaysian as well as on the BA Singapore to Sydney leg.

  • Michael C says:

    19 Jul19 July 07:36

    Hey James – with BA, you may well be able to stop off in SIN if that’s something your family might enjoy.

  • Alan says:

    19 Jul19 July 07:57

    If you can push the budget a bit more from £1,900 then BA routinely have Club World available from Oslo to Sydney (via LHR and SIN) at around £2,500 – been like that for a few years

• Darran says:

  19 Jul19 July 07:12

  I was pleasantly surprised when booking MAD-LAX to find that Iberia have brought LA into zone 6, the same as BA from LHR despite it being in zone 7 distance wise from MAD.

  • Marcw says:

    19 Jul19 July 08:48

    Has been like that since the route started. Bizarrely, SF is in a higher band, although the distance from/to Madrid is shorter.

• Chris says:

  19 Jul19 July 07:30

  Not sure iof anyone has any thoughts on the below:

  The flights I am looking at are the same amounf ot Avios (HKG – LHR 90k Avios), but for some reason the ‘taxes’ total 262.50 EUR through IB, but only 33.50 GBP through B.A. I thought Airlines weren’t allowed to charge YQ/Carrier surcharges out of HKG??

  Thanks, C

  • Choons says:

    19 Jul19 July 09:33

    It might be an IT thing, so you may have to phone to book it, or maybe it only comes down at the final payment stage. You could of course book it and then try to reclaim the funds, but good luck with that!

    Has anyone found a way to book ‘experiences’ with avios on the Iberia site? I just get cars and hotels.

• Josh says:

  19 Jul19 July 07:54

  Off topic, but I haven’t seen a bits in a couple of days;

  I’m flying from Heathrow terminal 3 with Sri Lankan Airlines on Monday evening (9:30) and am trying to figure out how early I can show up and check in for a bit of lounge hopping, anyone got any ideas?

  Thanks

• Aliks says:

  19 Jul19 July 08:30

  Josh,

  T3 is great for lounge hopping. The Qantas lounge is excellent, and the Cathay Pacific is just downstairs. My only problem with T3 lounge hopping is that the food is so good, I want to eat 2 meals, before getting on the plane!

  I would aim for a full 3 hours . . .

  • Josh says:

    19 Jul19 July 08:51

    Thanks Aliks, definitely looking forward to sampling everything, do you know how early I could arrive?

    I have no other plans for the day so the earlier the better I think, just not sure what time they’ll let me bag drop and go through security

    • Lumma says:

      19 Jul19 July 09:55

      It would depend when Sri Lankan airlines allow you to bag drop. When flying BA you can drop off your bags from 5am and spend as long as you want in the lounges; you can go through security whenever you want if you have a boarding pass. I turned up at 1pm for an 8.30pm flight a few weeks back and had a great afternoon

  • Roger1* says:

    19 Jul19 July 10:14

    I’ve benefited from the other OW biz lounges at LHR T3, and good they are, too. What’s the score with OW F lounges at T3?

    Mrs Roger and I jumped at the recent BA LHR-CPT F promotion. Which OW F lounge is better for departure? Which OW F lounge is better for breakfast? (We’re due to arrive back at 04:45 🙁 ) I think I should be looking at AA for breakfast?

    We’re BA Silver, btw. Thanks.

    • Genghis says:

      19 Jul19 July 10:23

      Cathay F departure.
      AA is only arrivals lounge.

      • Roger1* says:

        20 Jul20 July 07:46

        Thanks, Genghis.

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