Avios/£ for SYD with 2-4-1 + Barclays vouchers, and J -> F GUF2 or GUF1?
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Can anyone advise the number of Avios and £ payable for a LHR-SYD redemption in J with a new-style Amex 2-4-1? As I understand it, the ‘base’ option is 250k Avios return off-peak, but there are also other options involving other amounts of Avios and cash. I haven’t ever played the wacky races in the small hours of T-355, so I haven’t been able to see all the options.
Also, what would be the number of Avios payable if such a redemption were made (for one person) with a Barclays Upgrade Voucher – I understand there’s no choice here and it has to be the highest Avios and least cash option? Is it at all possible to make a booking over the phone for three people with both a 2-4-1 and a BUV, or would that require two separate bookings and thus need a nominated person to be on the phone to another agent at the same time in order to be sure of getting one of the 4 seats at T-355?
Finally, can anyone also advise on the amount payable to upgrade either redemption to F using a GUF2 or GUF1 respectively?
Thanks!
290000 Avios + £ 1,500.00
270000 Avios + £ 1,700.00
250000 Avios + £ 1,960.00
196000 Avios + £ 3,200.00
170000 Avios + £ 4,800.00
125000 Avios + £ 6,400.00
All the above are off peak for two pax in J using an Amex 241.
With Barclays voucher 160,000 Avios + £750 off-peak for one pax.
You would need two separate bookings so I imagine you would need two people on the phone to maximise your chances.
No clue on the Gold upgrade vouchers although I suspect it would be an unpleasant number given Rob’s below article.
https://www.headforpoints.com/2022/12/22/gold-upgrade-vouchers-british-airways-avios/
Don’t use a 241 to travel to Sydney with BA! It’s a massive number of Avios, the 789s will take a while to be fitted with Club Suite and even then you will get poor service/food for c.24 hours. No thanks! Additionally, the current sole flight arrives in Sydney at 06.55am which is no fun after that long flight. QR and many others have morning departures from London with late afternoon/early evening arrivals in Sydney or other Australian cities (and no extra journey time) which will set you up much better for the holiday.
Don’t use a 241 to travel to Sydney with BA! It’s a massive number of Avios, the 789s will take a while to be fitted with Club Suite and even then you will get poor service/food for c.24 hours. No thanks! Additionally, the current sole flight arrives in Sydney at 06.55am which is no fun after that long flight. QR and many others have morning departures from London with late afternoon/early evening arrivals in Sydney or other Australian cities (and no extra journey time) which will set you up much better for the holiday.
Appreciate that, and I’m in no way committing myself to this. I just wanted to explore the different options.
QR is 180k rtn per person (assuming off-peak) so 540k Avios total. The 250k 241 option above + 160k with BUV would add up to 410k. I’m probably only just going to reach 410k in time for T-355 for my intended dates (and that’s having gone for the 200k Avios subscription), so going with QR just isn’t really an option unless we split up, or I bought more Avios at the ripoff “purchase” rates.
I’d much rather use my 241 or BUV on QR but I can’t see that being an option anytime soon.
Have you played around with dates to see if the new-style 241 opens up more availability? This may be more likely if you try starting from one of the regions.
Have you played around with dates to see if the new-style 241 opens up more availability? This may be more likely if you try starting from one of the regions.
My BAPP is sitting just under the £10k threshold, as I only want to generate the 241 shortly before I am ready to book with it (I want to retain maximum flexibility in case my plans change for whatever reason).
Looking at EF, most of the dates I search return I0 for the BA15/16, and none return anything close to the I8+ that I understand is required to trigger additional 241 availability.
241 availability isn’t the issue though, as I plan on playing the wacky races on the appropriate morning of T-355.
Have you played around with dates to see if the new-style 241 opens up more availability? This may be more likely if you try starting from one of the regions.
But he needs 3 tickets, the Barclays voucher won’t open extra availabilies. Unless there is one reward and extra avilabilities or they split up.
I know, but if 1 seat appeared at some point which could be booked with the upgrade voucher, there could well be “extra” availability which wouldn’t show on SeatSpy or via a standard search.
Or the upgrade voucher could be used for PE. Depends how desperate OP is to get to SYD.
Don’t use a 241 to travel to Sydney with BA! It’s a massive number of Avios, the 789s will take a while to be fitted with Club Suite and even then you will get poor service/food for c.24 hours. No thanks! Additionally, the current sole flight arrives in Sydney at 06.55am which is no fun after that long flight. QR and many others have morning departures from London with late afternoon/early evening arrivals in Sydney or other Australian cities (and no extra journey time) which will set you up much better for the holiday.
Each to their own but I disagree. We went 4 years ago, service and food were very good and the saving against cash tickets, even on an alternative airline, was about £4k. Club suite is better but the old CW is perfectly OK.
The above figures are eye watering – finally flew this in Club on a delayed 241 / 50% avios ticket, last September (originally booked May 2021). 125k avios + 1.2k all in if I remember correctly for me and OH.
I felt old style CW was perfectly suitable, particularly for comfort sleeping when getting 7J/K. Particularly on the return, felt very fresh. Good if not amazing service both ways. CS on that length probably would have felt a bit claustrophobic and antisocial if a couple after a while.
I’ve secured 4x club world return Avios seats lhr-Syd for Easter next year. Using companion vouchers and being short of the full number of Avios I still had to pay £6500 taxes and fees. The cash fare was about £24k. So I think it’s ok… not the best value but it is club world for not much more than economy cash fare price. I’ll keep an eye out for any amazing cash business deals over the year but doubt I can beat this.
Can anyone confirm whether it’s necessary to have Avios availability in J (either ‘normal’ or the additional availability unlocked through the Amex 241) if you want to make a new F GUF2 booking (i.e. not just upgrade an existing J booking)?
If not, that affords you considerably more flexibility as you are then only dependent on A class availability, which is plentiful (there seems to be A6 for most dates at T-355).
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