British Airways launches flights to Portland, Oregon – with lots of Avios availability

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• John M says:

  18 Dec18 December 17:05

  Agreed that Crater Lake is a must see! It’s absolutely breathtaking.

• Lady London says:

  18 Dec18 December 17:37

  My favourite place in the US too, ditto Pacific NW.
  The city itself if not quite what it was a few years back.
  Unlike most US cities, it has excellent public transport including from the airport.

  If this is BA, taxes and fees will be too high for me though. I wish there was a way around that.

  PDX is a Delta stronghold. Even AA is not strong there. I wonder how BA is going to handle ground staff without other operations there…. or is there more to this.

  • marcw says:

    18 Dec18 December 17:58

    They just hire some company to do it for them.

• Freddy says:

  18 Dec18 December 17:44

  Like the added detail on the actual destination, gives some travel inspiration!

• Spaghetti Town says:

  18 Dec18 December 17:51

  After reading the whole article i noticed rhys has written it.

  I looked at the bottom picture and thought, surely that’s not rob!?

  • Doug M says:

    18 Dec18 December 18:56

    I think mostly the writing style is a give away. Rhys uses some odd phrases. I don’t get it 100% right, but sometimes I think it’s quite obvious.

    • Spaghetti Town says:

      18 Dec18 December 19:17

      I agree, but for some reason this time i didn’t pick it up

      • Lady London says:

        18 Dec18 December 23:08

        I struggle to tell Sinead’s writing apart from Rob’s.

        • PAL says:

          18 Dec18 December 23:45

          I quite like that Jamie who did some reviews . Rhys uses plenty of exclamation points usually!!

        • Doug M says:

          19 Dec19 December 09:51

          That’s definitely an age thing.

• Michael says:

  18 Dec18 December 18:03

  Most importantly it’s a gateway to Bandon Dunes! Not as easy as flying into North Bend but does mean no United flight from SFO to Oregon. EDI-LHR-PDX 👊

  • Will says:

    19 Dec19 December 08:28

    Absolutely! If you live in the Edinburgh area though you’ve far better courses on your own door step.
    I might visit Bandon when the new course opens next year to check it out and this flight will be handy.

    • Michael says:

      19 Dec19 December 09:09

      I’m a member of one of the East Lothian courses. The Bandon courses compare favourably to the best links courses I’ve played in the U.K. Apart from age you wouldn’t know you were playing in the PNW. Absolutely phenomenal resort, I can’t wait to get back in hopefully 2021.

• Riccatti says:

  18 Dec18 December 18:51

  BA surcharges for US flights are killing the fun.

  • Doug M says:

    18 Dec18 December 19:00

    I’ve not been interested long enough to know. But was there a time when Airmiles provided free flights the way hotels points provide free rooms.

  • Lady London says:

    18 Dec18 December 19:00

    Especially as BA snuck them up to skyhigh, around last quarter last year, and did not even announce it.

    We’d been waiting for a hinted devaluation all last year till then, wondering when it was coming, when British Airways snuck it in anyway by hoisting all Transatlantic taxes er… British Airways “carrier Greed” co-pay required to use your avios, without telling anyone. I think it was quite a while before anyone realised that this was in fact the devaluation.

    • Harry T says:

      18 Dec18 December 20:22

      @Lady London, has the increase in BA charges pushed you towards collecting other air mile currencies than Avios? For me the European RFS flights with capped taxes look like the best value but there’s precious little of those in the North – limited to a few flights out of Edinburgh and Manchester.

      • Peter K says:

        18 Dec18 December 20:55

        It can still be worth traveling the 3.5+ hrs to the London airports even from the regions (sadly) rather than flying from a nearby airport. Prices to some destinations I’ve looked at can run up to £400 when you include extras like hold luggage. Club Europe for Avios +£50 or even avios +£1 make for a very good saving and a better inflight experience.

      • Lady London says:

        18 Dec18 December 22:57

        Even the Americans value BA for RFS.
        If BA harmed RFS they would have to come up with something genuinely compensatory. Or there is really not much reason to prefer BA to collect in.

        To answer your question @Harry T : For transatlantic, yes the massive increase in “taxes” by British Airways on award bookings, has indeed made me switch collecting to another currency for flights. That currency is called “the Pound Sterling”. Anyone would be absolutely nuts to use avios transatlantic, with some of the deals for cash that have been happening. The only good reason I can see to buy your transatlantic ticket with avios is if flexibility is needed. You are seriously mathematically challenged if you will pay £400 in taxes plus a wodge of avios for a ticket that is regularly available £230-£300.

        KLM is offering nice flights from UK regions but I believe they are still pricey. The jury is out on the earn/burn ratio as and when KL/AF and Virgin share miles to earn/burn. @Shoestring has always been hopeful, but I am not. I will buy him a drink if the amount of miles needed for shorthaul award flights as and when KL/AF share with Virgin happens, is not outrageous – as is now, for KL/AF members.

        Btw: AF/KL have also been leading the way on cheap cash fares transatlantic for some while now. When BA offers these deals that keep coming up, usually it’s just following those.. LH has also been trying hard price-wise transatlantic (often, by putting you on AC flights). All of which adds up to keep your avios in your pocket on those routes.

        I had my socks knocked off about a week ago when Air Italy (formerly Meridiana) sent out an offer of 50% avios for transatlantic award routes. Taxes did not seem too high. Air Italy is also an avios airline. I looked and looked but there is still no way to transfer avios to or from Air Italy. Unlike as we can with Aer Lingus and Iberia, who also use avios. If there was a way to, I’d already be on a plane on that offer. One to watch.

    • Riccatti says:

      19 Dec19 December 03:08

      It came to the stage that I’ve bought a cash PE Transatlantic flight for the price cheaper than BA “taxes” on a premium econ flight!

      • Lady London says:

        19 Dec19 December 10:53

        Exactly. Most of my comments relate to Y /nearly PY too.

        If you’re travelling in J of course the charges are better value but even in J BA’s charges are now “pushing it” transatlantic.

        And who would do First on BA transatlantic for Avios? I only did it because Iberia messed me around cancelled the Y flight I had booked and wouldn’t give me a reliable re-route. (This was the 90k.) The only award seats left were F seats. A waste of Avios but it was Christmas and I had limited time to do the trip.

        • Tom says:

          19 Dec19 December 14:10

          Often do First on Avios.

        • Lady London says:

          19 Dec19 December 15:02

          Depends on how many you can print I suppose.

        • JRC says:

          19 Dec19 December 15:50

          For a couple it’s normally a no brainier to do first on a 2-4-1 regardless of end destination. Excl new suite, first smashes BA biz in every way. Proper lounge at LHR, seat and food/beverage on board and general ambience vs 8 across zoo. I used to live in Singapore and on SQ I agree, their biz has made first redundant and been reduced to 4 seats on most flights except a380.

• QueenOfTheSky says:

  18 Dec18 December 19:57

  This is the best news I’ve had all year! OH lives in Portland so have currently been connecting through SFO or SEA with an Alaska redemption which is a major PITA, often missing connections which cuts into our time together. Delta have been prohibitively expensive and their seasonality is annoying, not to mention their ageing 767 on this route. I cannot wait to book into CW in the 787 and arrive in style, refreshed and no stress 🙂

  • Lady London says:

    18 Dec18 December 23:02

    Me too. I’ve been doing the route same as you. I love AS but I hate changing in US airports. The best route I found so far was SEA then drive. I will definitely be on a flight to PDX sometime soon with British Airways, but not with avios.

    Of course let’s see what British Airways does with the route long term… There are many many routes BA has tried for a few years and dropped. And it is a Delta stronglhold. If AA is come to back up BA there, it could get interesting. But otherwise it will have to make BA a lot of money to be continued longterm.

• Alex W says:

  18 Dec18 December 21:12

  Seattle and Vancouver not too far from Portland also.

  • Lady London says:

    19 Dec19 December 11:05

    Btw Amtrak rail fare can be insanely cheap up and down that coast if you book far, far ahead. $25-$50 one way. Lines can run all the way SFO to yvr and in between. one train company is outrageously unreliable and late, and weather can affect the lines, so have a backup plan. Read thé reviews of each train carefully.

    If flying via Seattle there is a train stop on that main Pacific coast line just outside of Seattle that is a really short cheap Uber or Lyft ride to thé airport. Think you can hire a car very near too. Saves lots of time schlepping into SEA.

    Bolt bus to/from Portland highly regarded and lots prefer it to the train. Can be very economical. Ok even overnight apparently (as buses go). I haven’t tried it yet but will prob do soon.

    • Doug M says:

      19 Dec19 December 13:40

      The Coast Starlight. I did San Jose to San Diego this year on that and whatever the train after LA is called. Amtrak is an experience, but you need to be aware it’s an awfully slow way of getting anywhere. We were due into Santa Barbara at around 7PM I believe, but arrived after midnight. So my evening in Santa Barbara turned into a check-in sleep leave of no benefit whatsoever. The trains are comfortable, but typically they seem to average about 40mph. Much slower than driving or flying.

      • Lady London says:

        19 Dec19 December 16:48

        I think Starlight is the one with a bad rep. The other one seems to perform.

    • QueenOfTheSky says:

      22 Dec22 December 00:25

      Amtrak Cascades is the regular daytime service running from Portland to Seattle and Vancouver. Incredibly cheap and similar timing to the bolt bus. However, beware that it is a lottery getting a nice train, my most recent Amtrak was a filthy run down train, grimy with unbearable toilets but at $27 for a 4 hour trip I wasn’t expecting much. My first time taking that route I had a much nicer train with a national park ranger giving a talk on the local wildlife and geology as we passed through the Puget Sound! It was wonderful.
      Bolt bus is also a great economical option, very similar to the National Express. Free hold bag, comfy modern coaches with free WiFi and charge ports (US plugs only) at every seat. Friendly drivers too.
      For trips < 3 days I hire a car and shoot down I5 from Seattle (although Friday traffic can be a pain) but anything longer I'll take bolt bus or Amtrak Cascades.

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