American Express pushing a ‘buy Avios’ bonus – worth it?

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• Sam Wardill says:

  10 Jul10 July 05:09

  What was BA’s policy in the event of strike cancellations last time? I have four Club World seats from Sydney to Singapore on 14th (Qantas Rewards) and one First seat on 16th (Avios Reward). Might they re-book me onto another flight? Are they likely to allow me to cancel without penalty (albeit the penalty is minimal). If they cancel within 14 days will they pay compensation?

  • Shoestring says:

    10 Jul10 July 07:16

    yes
    yes
    no – because they will (I think successfully) argue that a BALPA strike *is* extraordinary circs, with it being near-impossible to produce replacement pilots out of thin air

    • Radiata says:

      10 Jul10 July 07:52

      I seem to recall flyertalk discussions noting that strikes no longer necessarily exempt from EC261 compensation as not deemed to be extraordinary circumstances.

      Had a quick look and the BA compensation wiki states, in respect to a 2018 update: “The big development this year was the ruling from the CEDR that strikes that take place within a particular airline are not extraordinary circumstances. The case being Helga Krüsemann and Others v TUIfly GmbH, case C-195/17 and others.”

      • Shoestring says:

        10 Jul10 July 08:00

        hasn’t been tested with BALPA (pilots)

        with cabin crew, it is relatively easy to draft in staff from elsewhere, one coffee cup is pretty much the same task fleet-wide

        pilots? are you going to magick them out of the ether?

        • TGLoyalty says:

          10 Jul10 July 09:07

          I would argue that the reason there is a strike is of BA’s making and that the fact they can’t magic up staff is not an excuse for not compensate you for messing up your travel plans.

      • AJA says:

        10 Jul10 July 08:05

        I agree. Also you could argue that the strike is happening because BA and the pilots cannot agree on salary, which is a normal operating issue. BA also has 2 weeks notice to find replacement crew, the fact that it might be extremely difficult for BA is not extraordinary. I don’t believe crew shortage is seen as an extraordinary issue. It’s an operational scheduling issue.

        • Shoestring says:

          10 Jul10 July 11:19

          I don’t buy it

          pilots are trained/ certified for specific aircraft and can’t just turn up & fly a different plane

          + we all know there are pilot shortages industry-wide

        • Russ says:

          10 Jul10 July 12:16

          There is a glut of pilots. Problem is there are aren’t enough senior pilots actively flying as they’re being pulled in to do training.

  • Charlieface says:

    10 Jul10 July 14:30

    It’s their failure to manage staff relations, definitely within their power to negotiate, which they haven’t. I don’t understand why airline staff strikes have ever not been open-and-shut cases

• Chrisasaurus says:

  10 Jul10 July 05:13

  Any thoughts on the site till scale of disruption if strikes do go ahead (assuming BALPA only?)

  Based on prior experience, is it worth avoiding booking on BA that week starting the 5th? Or are they likely to manage to fill in with what’s left and some leases?

  • BJ says:

    10 Jul10 July 06:42

    If the pilots strike…massive!

  • AJA says:

    10 Jul10 July 07:58

    The pilot strike is potentially very disruptive , I think nearly all their pilots are members of BALPA.

    Call me cynical but this strike is timed to coincide with school holidays and also the start of the A350 test flights to Madrid which everybody is looking forward to. It would be very embarrassing to BA if those flights are targeted and potentially throw out the schedule for introducing the planes on their routes in October/November as they wouldn’t have sufficient training.

    • Polly says:

      10 Jul10 July 10:14

      Think Ryan Air massive issues, with pilot holiday scheduling couple of years ago…think similar scenario ahead here. Shame it’s right in the middle of family holidays tho, of course they must go for massive impact…awful. Feel sorry for folks with one flight a day routing..or anyone affected obviously..

  • Rob says:

    10 Jul10 July 08:35

    There are different strategies. Strike means no pay, so ‘all out’ makes no sense.

    However, striking every other day – for example – has roughly the same impact as BA can’t have people stranded, so the other legs get cancelled too, although some short hauls would go.

• NigelthePensioner says:

  10 Jul10 July 06:22

  Arrive back from MIA on 5th Aug…….

  • Michael C says:

    10 Jul10 July 06:40

    …or ARE you?!

  • Shoestring says:

    10 Jul10 July 07:18

    should be OK

• BJ says:

  10 Jul10 July 06:51

  They’ll crow loudly about their grievances but in private I doubt BA or Marriott will lose any sleep over fines on this scale, a miniscule hike in YQ /rates will soon recoup their losses and go unnoticed.

  • Aliks says:

    10 Jul10 July 08:26

    If they could get away with a miniscule rise in YQ, with no impact on the business, then surely they would have done that already.
    More likely the shareholders and employees will take a hit in terms of reduced shareprice, reduced dividends and fewer pay rises.
    These levels of fine really do produce changes in behaviour by middle management – which is where the problem usually lies.

  • Rob says:

    10 Jul10 July 08:33

    Airlines and hotels are generally price takers and not price makers.

  • marcw says:

    10 Jul10 July 08:42

    The market sets the price, not the airlines.

• David L says:

  10 Jul10 July 07:01

  What’s the earliest they could ever strike? Got some award tickets booked on the 6th, would I be safe if I rebooked these to the 4th that also has availability, we’re flying back for a wedding so absolutely can not be delayed.

  • BJ says:

    10 Jul10 July 07:14

    5th August I believe, unless the timetable of the ballot changesd since I last read about it.

  • Shoestring says:

    10 Jul10 July 07:20

    4th looks to be fairly safe vs 6th (not very safe! given current information)

  • Rob says:

    10 Jul10 July 08:32

    4th is safe. Depends how quick the letter goes in after 22nd as 14 days notice required.

    • Kipto says:

      10 Jul10 July 09:44

      Flying from LHR – Larnaca on 6th August 🤔

• Claire says:

  10 Jul10 July 07:07

  Do we think its likely to be a series of 1 day strikes. I have a club flights booked to Washington on the 14th and come back from atlanta on the 31st. Less of an issue for returning if delayed.

  • jane says:

    10 Jul10 July 07:25

    see you on that flight on the 31st (hopefully, if we get out on the 11th !)

  • Shoestring says:

    10 Jul10 July 07:28

    I think BALPA play pretty hard, eg see https://www.ft.com/content/1a98b3ce-e07a-11dc-b0d7-0000779fd2ac – don’t have a heart attack just yet, it’s from 2008:
    [Balpa, the UK pilots union, on Thursday said that BA pilots had voted 86 per cent in favour of strike action in a 90 per cent turnout. The union represents 3,000 of BA’s 3,244 pilots. Balpa said the strike would be the first by BA pilots since 1980 and would “effectively ground BA worldwide”.]

    So maybe something a bit more devastating than 1 day strikes.

• Paul says:

  10 Jul10 July 07:14

  My Amex 50% bonus runs till July 22 instead of July 15 so could be specific to individuals

  • BJ says:

    10 Jul10 July 07:18

    50% bonus for what Paul? Seems like I’m missing out on something.

    OT; Clubcard Virgin autoconvert bonus…more posting today for anybody still missing them.

    • Shoestring says:

      10 Jul10 July 07:29

      & don’t forget to switch back your Tesco auto convert choice

      • BJ says:

        10 Jul10 July 07:41

        Already done, I’ve only collected 134 clubcard points so far this quarter, my lowest ever by a long long way!

        @Paul, I’ve since realized you mean the 10k bonus avios on 20k purchase.

        • Shoestring says:

          10 Jul10 July 07:53

          65 points on one a/c

          but fingers crossed for a +20% Virgin conversion

  • AJA says:

    10 Jul10 July 08:10

    My offer on the 50% bonus Avios for spending £335 to buy 20000 also has an expiry of 22 July according to the email reminder I got this morning.

• Shoestring says:

  10 Jul10 July 07:38

  Point made previously: with Section 75 protection (UK credit cards, purchase over £100), you have the right to buy a replacement flight & charge it to your credit card co. Eg you bought 3 tickets out to your place in the sun: second half August, IB90K Avios redemption, >£100 paid on credit card (me!).

  Strike gets announced, flights cancelled & replacement date offered is no good. You can go into the market and buy some more appropriate replacement flights (credit card will refund later), even if they are now C£600 each, it’s peak August at short notice. Plus duty of care.

  Unfortunately S75 protection of this sort doesn’t apply to charge cards. Though I think S75 *will* apply to points redemptions where the £ amount is under £100, you paid at least £1 on a credit card, the equivalent £ fare was over £100, if you bought (say) 2x tickets @£55 each ie £110 in one transaction, you’d still be covered.

  • AJA says:

    10 Jul10 July 08:36

    Interesting point about the redemption fares. Fees for RFS redemptions for CE are £50 each so £100 for 2 pax but I notice that they get charged separately on my BAPP statement. Does that count as they are bought at the same time?

    • Shoestring says:

      10 Jul10 July 11:26

      immaterial as nobody will be arguing the cost of each CE flight is under £100, you only have to pay £1 towards the purchase on the credit card to be covered by S75, the rest could be paid in cash or points or whatever

      but FWIW I think 2x HBO cash flights, paid on 1 transaction by you >£100 but billed as 2 separate flights by the airline, each >£100, would still be covered. You might need to involve the Ombudsman!

      there is ombudsman precedent where the airline has argued each ticket was £100) therefore S75 not applicable – airline lost. But I don’t think any other airline adopts BA’s practice of billing multiple tickets (bought together) separately.

      • Harry T says:

        10 Jul10 July 17:19

        KLM bills tickets separately when bought on the same card in a single transaction.

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