Good British Airways World Traveller Plus flight deals from Switzerland to North America

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• George says:

  3 Feb3 February 13:36

  OT – I have a reward booking arriving in Madrid at 0605 on a Sunday morning. I’m looking now at a 0815 flight out to Heathrow (also operated by Iberia) for cash. Is there any way to get Iberia to tie the bookings so I can stay airside and check my luggage to destination? Or is it smarter to keep both tickets separate and hope I can get through T4S in time?

  • Shoestring says:

    3 Feb3 February 13:47

    I don’t think you can re-arrange it prior to flying – but some out-station agents can be quite helpful in booking the luggage all the way through so worth asking

    bit tight in Madrid!

    • Riccatti says:

      3 Feb3 February 15:05

      @Shoestring

      You really have not used IB enough. That outstation agent will be harshly disciplined for checking your luggage though, and all their third-party ground handing have firm instructions.

  • marcw says:

    3 Feb3 February 13:48

    You won’t be able to link/tie separate bookings. Remember that IB flights from MAD to LHR depart from T4 and not T4S (IB and Spanish airport operator have some few gates at T4 main terminal for non-shenghen flights, used exclusively by IB and IBExpress).

    Is 2h10 min enough for a immigration, collecting baggage and check-in again? If flight is on time then it’s likely you have plenty of time. The key here is that check-in for your LON flights closes 45 min prior to departure. So as long as you have checked in before 7:30, all good!

    • ChrisC says:

      3 Feb3 February 15:17

      Except OP does not have 2 hrs 10 mins. They have 1 hr 25 mins as IB bag drop closes 45 mins before the flight. And I’d allow some extra queue time as well.

      • Callum says:

        3 Feb3 February 19:31

        When I showed up at the airport 15 minutes before takeoff, Iberia let me take my full sized suitcase through security and then stowed it in a cupboard somewhere when I got to the plane. They then did the same on my connection (it was only 60 minutes so not enough time to go and check it.

        Maybe I was just really lucky, but they didn’t blink an eyelid either time, so if you end up missing the bag drop deadline it’s worth a go!

  • Lady London says:

    3 Feb3 February 13:55

    Personally I think that’s too tight.

  • Riccatti says:

    3 Feb3 February 15:02

    All previous posters wrong in certain ways, except the Lady 🙂

    At least one Iberia MAD – LHR does goes from T4S in Madrid.

    No Iberia outstation will check through your bags on several tickets, they will not even say sorry and you be lucky if the supervisor not start yelling at you for even making a request.

    If you want flexibility, have buy British Airways flight and fare that is changeable on the day. You have to manage that booking online yourself, and yes you have to take your bags and present yourself at check-in in MAD. If airport agent will not see booking change you have made on ba.com (eg., from 10 am to earlier 8am) — ask them to keep updating (and keep updating).

  • TGLoyalty says:

    3 Feb3 February 18:38

    Buy a later connection this is way too tight and they won’t check through your luggage.

    A flight a couple hours later will probably only mean an hour or so in the lounge and so much less stress.

  • George says:

    3 Feb3 February 19:14

    Thanks all for your advice – I will book a later flight and save myself the stress.

• Richard says:

  3 Feb3 February 14:17

  OT: Where else can you fly back to the UK from for next to no Fees/taxes? I know Hong Kong is very cheap but is there anywhere else like that?

  I am Avios and Virgin points rich but cash poor!

  • marcw says:

    3 Feb3 February 14:24

    RFS? There are plenty of interesting EU destinations.

  • Hanif says:

    3 Feb3 February 14:50

    Brazil, – Sao Paulo / Rio De Janeiro

  • Peter says:

    3 Feb3 February 14:53

    US to Europe (e.g. AMS, DUB) on Delta with Virgin Miles (not UK). Fees of about $6.

    • Mikeact says:

      3 Feb3 February 20:14

      And definitely US to the UK on Delta..I have eticket in front of me….€11.

      • Lev441 says:

        3 Feb3 February 22:27

        Which route did you find that for?

  • Lady London says:

    3 Feb3 February 16:10

    Brazil

  • Lady London says:

    3 Feb3 February 16:24

    Out or back : move your avios to Iberia and book from Iberia Plus.

    Read Robs articles first that cover this though so that you don’t get bitten on some of the rule differences but they are fairly clear.

  • Mikeact says:

    3 Feb3 February 20:11

    Delta, from the US, around €11 charges per person…..but not all flights.

    • Rob says:

      3 Feb3 February 21:28

      Aer Lingus long haul from Dublin, booked via BA and not avios.com, is about £75 tax return

      Iberia long haul from Madrid, booked via Iberia and not ba.com, is about £175 tax return

      Delta one-way from US to Europe (except the UK) is $5.60 tax for the one way

  • Riccatti says:

    3 Feb3 February 22:35

    Brazil has new regulations, Resolution 400/17. Apparently the new regulations “forgot to mention” YQ type of fees, creating a legal uncertainty whether the old regulations should apply in that regard, or that there is no policy on that subject altogether.

    The prevailing opinion, there should be no YQ but some airlines re-introduced surcharges. I had strange experience with British Airways — full YQ on departures from Brazil (one-way) charged now in Feb 2020 (and how it was in past) but there was September 2019 period of no YQ charged by ba.com, only airport charges! (which was correct). I am certain of this as I actually made and held a First class booking.

    • pauldb says:

      4 Feb4 February 10:02

      avios.com will charge you the “right” way: just £21 fees GRU-LON J.

    • pauldb says:

      4 Feb4 February 10:07

      My understanding is that BA treat the ban as being on tickets departing and BOOKED in Brazil. If you book an ex-Br cash fare on ba.com there is no YQ but by contrast a BAEC booking is always booked in your account home country (charged in GBP) therefor with YQ.

  • pauldb says:

    4 Feb4 February 09:56

    Japan is cheap, about £100 J back to LON.

    And, harder to make use off, New Zealand. If you could book a QF feed on to BA at SYD (or maybe just on to QF) the fees *should* be modest. If it’s bookable on one ticket, some sort of VA/VS combo seems to have low fees from NZ, and even from Oz.

• Tony says:

  3 Feb3 February 14:35

  Travelling to Kiev or anywhere in Ukraine, can it be done on avios or Virgin points?

  • Rhys says:

    3 Feb3 February 14:42

    Yes, most likely from the 13th Feb now that is has been announced that the earn and burn partnership with AF/KLM is going ahead

• Harry T says:

  3 Feb3 February 14:58

  It seems to think I’m already registered when I try to sign up.

  • meta says:

    3 Feb3 February 15:21

    Same.

  • TGLoyalty says:

    3 Feb3 February 18:39

    +1 and can’t see any other references to the promo so maybe a little early?

• CC says:

  3 Feb3 February 16:11

  OT Does anyone know roughly how long it takes for hotel accounts to be opened via enrolment on amex platinum? Melia was done next day but the rest have been sitting there pending for nearly a week. Terms say 6 – 8 weeks but is it really that long? Platinum services wont chase it up.

  • Grant says:

    3 Feb3 February 19:54

    It won’t be far off. Trick is to open the account manually yourself and then add membership details to the revelant page on the Amex website to get the status updated.

    • CC says:

      3 Feb3 February 20:44

      Thanks. Actually Radisson and Marriot literally just went through so hopefully Hilton will be soon.

• Shoestring says:

  3 Feb3 February 16:15

  Post Office Travel Money Card comes with an £11.20 bonus (Premium), can be paid in Avios. Not as good as the £15 I got a while back but that’s never been repeated.

  You can order online – minimum £50 – the prepaid Mastercard arrives next day in the post in the currency of your choice. It can be used like any credit card to pay bills you might have in a foreign currency; also can be withdrawn at ATM though there’s a fee.

  Basically: free Avios though obvs check you are OK with the exchange rate when you order (was perfectly OK when I did it). Over 18s only.

  • Tony says:

    3 Feb3 February 17:01

    Can you do this more than once?

    • Shoestring says:

      3 Feb3 February 17:22

      not tried yet, did 3x (self/ wife/ son) all to the same address & it wasn’t a problem

      ISTR it looked hopeful you could get a repeat in by changing some details they might check to stop duplicates

  • MattB says:

    3 Feb3 February 17:50

    Think it’s only £8 odd on standard membership, is there a delivery charge for the card?

    • MattB says:

      3 Feb3 February 17:55

      I assume there be cash advance fee if buying with a credit card?

    • Shoestring says:

      3 Feb3 February 18:21

      no delivery charge

      upgrade to Premium? £11.20 vs £8 – this pays 50-60% of the fee

• Lady London says:

  3 Feb3 February 16:19

  Oh look, there’s another IHG promotion.

  I swear IHG is just throwing mud at the wall in the last 6 months or so and seeing what sticks.

  Now they’re trying to gauge the effect of incentivising nights…. last time it was stays.

  Trouble is, once Accelerate and points breaks are gone I’m struggling to see the USP of IHG. There’s only 1 left for me now and 2/3 other programs are in the queue for my nights ahead of IHG.

  If they’re not careful IHG will end up incentivising mostly nights they would get anyway. Such as corporately compelled bookings. There’s better reasons being provided by other chains to put discretionary nights with other than IHG.

• Secret Squirrel says:

  3 Feb3 February 19:07

  OT:
  I purchased 2x items using my BA Amex today which has qualified spend for a 241 Companion voucher. My Q is, one of items I decided to cancel online today but will the transaction process still & qualify then refund?

  • TGLoyalty says:

    3 Feb3 February 19:27

    That will depend on the retailer. Lots only pre auth the card to actually charge on shipping.

  • Rob says:

    3 Feb3 February 21:31

    Yes, voucher remains

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