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Hi, I have long reviewed posts and read the articles : thank you.
I have (maybe) a complex situation to try and get the best from points and companion vouchers.
Scenario ;
Looking to be organised and book 355 days in advance for flight to US next year (World Cup).4 persons
Not in London so open to using/not using BA to do internal UK legs
OUT to SFO from LHR
IN from JFK to LHR
(Driving and internal US flights for a few weeks).I have 2 companion vouchers and a bunch of points (400k) and I am Silver status.
Would really welcome some advice….what should I do to get best bang for my buck?
Dave
This doesn’t sound tricky on the surface… With two vouchers and 400k Avios you have enough to do the trip in business with 4. Availability gone from New York really shouldn’t be an issue. San Fran is not normally a super competitive destination either so with a year’s lead time you should be able to achieve this on BA. Whether you’ll have a better experience or more interesting time using Lingus or Iberia is the interesting question though…
Hi, thanks for your reply. That’s good to hear. I’m thinking of calling BA to get a plan set. Pretty sure will just do BA tbh. Any view on whether it’s a sound idea to fly in and out of different locations? (We could do an internal back to SFO if helped).
I’m glad you think it’s not too tricky.
Taken a while to accumulate and just don’t want to make a rookie mistake and waste points needlessly.
Again, input appreciated: thank you.
Dave
I would suggest looking at the daytime flight from NY back to London as it’s a short journey to do as an overnight.
However, as noted Aer Lingus might be worth a look especially as you would clear US immigration and customs in Dublin. Gawd knows what it’ll be like getting into the US by next summer. However I don’t know how easy it is to get 4 award seats in business on Aer Lingus.
Good point… while BA releases 4 club seats per flight, I think EI and IB only release two per flight? That would muck up all 4 of you traveling together and if your companion vouchers are under the same name then you won’t be able to split into two pairs either. So it may well be BA is your only sensible option?
Pity, because pre-clearance in Dublin is pretty slick really.
BTW, you’re talking about an open jaw booking. There’s no need to return to SFO if that’s not convenient but you can’t book this online for the companion voucher, so you’ll need at least one phonecall to BA to book this.
Assuming the world cup doesn’t spike reward seat demand, you might be able to call BA and book the whole thing in one go once the return flights are released. However it would be safer to try booking your outbound flights online at midnight GMT T-355 and later call BA to add your chosen return flights to the booking. There are fewer SFO flights (1 777, 1 A380) that JFK flights (8 777s!) so you want to make sure you secure all 4 on a fight at or near your ideal date. For the better seats you want that 777 flight over the A380 too.
You don’t have enough Avios to book the return flight online and can to get the 50% Avios later.
Hi, thank you for the input/information above.
Is it always better value for points to go business?
Considering putting 2 youths in economy and 2 adults in business.
Is there any virtue in this or is it always better to reap the value of points by going business?
Business almost always gives best value/point howeveves esp for the NY-LHR leg PE isnt bad esp if you arent likely to sleep or if you can sleep standing up or if you spend the whole time chatting or playing games
Are you ‘wedded’ to SFO? You could also consider Vegas & LAX to give you more options (& have a relatively straightforward drive to San Fran from either of those)?
Considering putting 2 youths in economy and 2 adults in business.
Is there any virtue in this or is it always better to reap the value of points by going business?
All travellers on the same booking must be in the same cabin, so splitting into Business and Economy isn’t possible.
(This would work if the companion vouchers were earned by different people, with those two taking one other with them in two different cabins – but this doesn’t sound like it’s the scenario here.)
Are you ‘wedded’ to SFO? You could also consider Vegas & LAX to give you more options (& have a relatively straightforward drive to San Fran from either of those)?
Thanks a good shout if the OP wants an adventure.
The drive up the Pacific coast highway from LA to SF is lush… but so is spending a few days hopping along the national parks in the Sierras (Yosemite, Sequoia etc). So even if your plan is to hire a car and roadtrip a bit, doing the round trip along California makes sense to me.
I know nothing about football so no idea how this would work with there games, but I would consider flying into LAX, driving up the PCH, do SF (streetcars, Alcatraz, golden gate bridge), then Yosemite, Sequoia and then round to Arizona (via Vegas if you must) for the grand canyon. If you’re still up for road tripping from there you could continue on route 66, though I’d personally head north to the national parks in Utah then cross the Rockies into Denver… and then it might be time for a fight towards the east coast.
Hi, really good suggestions. The companion vouchers are Amex and I have one and wife has one.
Not totally wedded on SFO so will look at options.
Current plan is to start west and we will drive Route 66 to Kansas. (There is tonnes of games on and we are just aiming to be at stadiums on dates : no idea what games they will be.) Being Scottish I’m just hoping we get there!
I’d be fine with a day in vegas and a drive the other way!
355 days is next Saturday 0000 for the outbound flights so I think I will book those on their own, then the homeward.
Our road trip ends in Kansas and couple internal flights and we will be in NYC for a few days so the NYC plane/flight/airline options are great.
Just note that as we’re in BST, the tickets release at 1am UK time. Good luck getting them!
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