An Avios flight redemption bonanza to parts of Asia …. if you’re up for travelling at the moment

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• Secret Squirrel says:

  18 Feb18 February 19:48

  Is the avios transfer points system not working at present? Used it successfully a few weeks ago but not letting me transfer points to BA tonight?

  • Rob says:

    18 Feb18 February 19:54

    Someone told me the other day that Avios to BA was not working … is your BA account a household one? Seemed to be a restriction.

    • Secret Squirrel says:

      18 Feb18 February 20:01

      Yes, a HH account which only a few weeks ago was not an issue. Thanks, I’ll undo the account & give it another go.

      • Yorkieflyer says:

        19 Feb19 February 07:51

        If this is true then it’s a real nuisance as I would need to remove Mrs Yorkieflyer and then couldn’t add her back for 6 months? Arbitrary changes like this are really unreasonable

        • Secret Squirrel says:

          19 Feb19 February 11:42

          If you do dissolve your HH account, do not worry too much as I’ve dissolved & reinstated a few times in the last year.

• Clive says:

  18 Feb18 February 19:56

  They need to drop the amount of Avios to entice people.

  • Rob says:

    18 Feb18 February 20:06

    Give it time …

    • Russ says:

      18 Feb18 February 20:20

      I think that could go at least two ways. Wouldn’t be surprised to see some spectacularly cheap fares coming to entice people to fly, maybe with nice hotels thrown in as the chains are feeling the pinch. Probably be non refundable though but this is where your article fills the gap. Be interested in your thoughts Rob on how to keep airline/hotel elite status for those whose travel has been significantly curtailed.

      • Rob says:

        18 Feb18 February 20:33

        Difficult question, which of course will depend how things pan out. I would suspect if your travel history has a lot of China and HK in it (possibly Japan and Singapore too) then requests not to be downgraded will be looked at positively.

        • Russ says:

          18 Feb18 February 20:54

          Thanks Rob.. Looks like we’re just going to have to sit it out…..

        • The Original David says:

          19 Feb19 February 04:11

          Come to Asia for a mattress run, is surely the answer! I’m jumping between Accor and IHG properties in Thailand right now for between £25-£40/night, and then getting a good chunk back in points. Should have Accor Gold and IHG Plat all tied up before the end of March…

        • Alex Sm says:

          19 Feb19 February 13:23

          My partner won 2 nights stay at a 5* hotel in Shanghai (valid until end-May) and we don’t know what to do. This was before Coronavirus and we were contemplating to go but now probably not…

      • lebron 23 says:

        19 Feb19 February 15:28

        hyatt auto-extending status for 12 months if you have address in asia

  • Marcw says:

    19 Feb19 February 06:35

    The fees…. That’s the problem.

• Rob says:

  18 Feb18 February 20:32

  Yes, seems to be.

  I know what you mean though – I was looking at Barbados for August this week and there is loads out and none back.

  • Secret Squirrel says:

    18 Feb18 February 20:50

    Recently booked to BGI, outbound good availability but inbound terrible?

    • Rob says:

      18 Feb18 February 21:06

      Yes. I tried to find a way back via Miami but no joy there either.

      • Anna says:

        19 Feb19 February 06:49

        NYC? It’s a longer connection but usually CW return leg guaranteed and a nice city break add-on to a trip. And the new lounge at JFK is very decent.

      • Lady London says:

        19 Feb19 February 11:17

        Or try the old trick of booking your way back toa region eg ncl

  • Chrisasaurus says:

    18 Feb18 February 21:08

    Works for me!

  • Lady London says:

    19 Feb19 February 11:15

    Virgin miles on AF or KL ? from US, another island or via South America perhaps also considering IB via MAD for return?

    Don’t laugh if South America is ridiculous geography is not my strong point.

    • Lady London says:

      19 Feb19 February 12:44

      reasoning is historically France and the Netherlands ‘own’ bits of the Caribbean so there should be some flights.

      • Bagoly says:

        20 Feb20 February 04:54

        I think you missed out ‘ed’ at the end of ‘own’ 🙂

  • Alex Sm says:

    19 Feb19 February 13:24

    Can you stay there for a while?

• John W says:

  18 Feb18 February 20:46

  Totally agree – I have been watching for flights in May for sometime – I can find plenty out but not many back – Same for Cyprus in September – Loads going out – hardly anything coming back ! – Surely this is a strategy – We have X number of reward seats available !

• Axel says:

  18 Feb18 February 20:52

  I’ve been following Singapore as a destination for a month or so, think more is opening up through Star Alliance.

  My partner also mentioned the lounges in Changi were dead (quiet) yesterday.

  Expecting next March’s Kris Flyers deal to out match Avios

  • Russ says:

    18 Feb18 February 20:57

    Agree. Think we can expect availability opening up across the board plus, those airlines who traditionally don’t open J and F class to partners may now take a view.

• Mikeact says:

  18 Feb18 February 22:07

  I don’t think this is unusual at all, (more flights out than back.) This seems to have been the case for ages….I posted a question about this on FlyerTalk probably some two years or so back and never did get to the bottom of it. That’s one reason I always, usually, book one ways out and back…..seems to perhaps bring up more availability, sometimes . Or even through Avios.com, where availability can be different. Likewise, looking via other OW carriers can Qantas, Cathy etc, can show anomalies. I had to call BA last year, as I found a couple of redemption seats I wanted, but weren’t showing on BA.
  More to the point, I don’t have any BA status these days, so I guess I only ‘see’ basic availability, whereas you guys probably have access to far more seats. At least we have Club seats direct to LAX next week, thanks to a Lloyds voucher..coming back? We’re on Delta, just a few Dollars each in charges, which makes the overall cost, there and back, pretty painless.
  (Be nice though, to get a complementary Silver card !!)

• Mark says:

  18 Feb18 February 22:24

  I’ve been praying for 2 CW seats before Xmas to come up, currently booked into WT and CW return to KUL, happy fly into HKG, BKK, SIN or upgrade my KUL flight so fingers crossed something comes up.

• LetBAgonesBe says:

  18 Feb18 February 22:39

  I am planning a trip to Shanghai in May.
  No amazing deal hotel-wise, despite the fact that for example W Shanghai reception told me that the I was looking to arrive, they would have only 1 other person checking in.

  I wonder if luxury hotels will eventually drop prices or they just leave it as it is.

  • Will says:

    18 Feb18 February 22:48

    Depends how much pain they’re under and how much cash the chinese government hands out in stimulus to keep everything open.

    Stock market is shockingly resilient given what the downside risk could be if this is the start of a pandemic.

    I’m not saying it is, just that once upon a time the spivs would have priced that in, but now it would appear we’re invincible. Irrational exuberance?

  • Marcw says:

    19 Feb19 February 06:32

    I believe they are closing down hotels and reshuffling clientes un the open ones. Probably a measure to protect average room rates.

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