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So have my BC BA upgrade voucher and looking at the best way to use. Annoying need to start my journey from London but stay in Glasgow as it will not let me book from Glasgow as shows no tickets and looking at others on here you can call them but having to use alot more points for the flight to london.
Anyway, i have seen London to LAX return in WT+ upgraded to CW for 66k avios and around £850 for the taxes etc so was planning on a 2 week holiday in February 2023. 11 hours flight so not bad to experience CW for the first time.
Is there any other tips to get the best bang for my bucks? I am travelling alone and am a regular traveler all over the world so not to fussy on where.
Thanks in advance
Alos, needs to be after january, not bothered about length but at least 2 weeks. May is out as i am in Dubia for almost the full month
Alos, needs to be after january, not bothered about length but at least 2 weeks. May is out as i am in Dubia for almost the full month
California for two weeks sounds great save that as everyone is reporting, everything is just so expensive in the US. It was already very expensive before covid but inflation in the hospitality industry is much higher than the official 10%, plus the poor exchange rate make the US terrible value.
It rather depends what you want in terms of holiday but Mexico, Turkey and even Japan (¥ has fallen more than £ vs $) offer much better value.
Alos, needs to be after january, not bothered about length but at least 2 weeks. May is out as i am in Dubia for almost the full month
California for two weeks sounds great save that as everyone is reporting, everything is just so expensive in the US. It was already very expensive before covid but inflation in the hospitality industry is much higher than the official 10%, plus the poor exchange rate make the US terrible value.
It rather depends what you want in terms of holidays but Mexico, Turkey and even Japan (¥ has fallen more than £ vs $) offer much better value.
Yeah, i noticed even the hotels in LA were crazy prices since i was there pre covid. Turkey is not a long flight plus been there this year already but Japan sounds like a good shout as never managed to get there when i have been on that side of the world.
Cheers for taking the time to answer
Japan is out as unable to find available dates in CW only WT+ but have also looked at Mexico and is roughly the same price, avios and flight time in CW so i will consider this when choosing.
@Duggie, you can call to book from GLA, or from INV to save on APD if you can make that work for you. Agree with JDB, California is awesome, and so many great two week itineraries you can put together there. My favourites would be the coast from LA to SAN Francisco, with side trip to Yosemite. San Francisco North to Lassen and Shasta. If wine is your thing ignore Napa in favour of San Joaquin Valley like the locals do. How about into Denver out of California or vice versa, takibg the California Zephyr between the two?
@Duggie, you can call to book from GLA, or from INV to save on APD if you can make that work for you. Agree with JDB, California is awesome, and so many great two week itineraries you can put together there. My favourites would be the coast from LA to SAN Francisco, with side trip to Yosemite. San Francisco North to Lassen and Shasta. If wine is your thing ignore Napa in favour of San Joaquin Valley like the locals do. How about into Denver out of California or vice versa, takibg the California Zephyr between the two?
Thanks! I never new about the INV trick. So calling BA to get a INV-LAX should allow me to use the BC upgrade voucher then and would it change the amount of avios i pay? Whats the saving of APD roughly if i do it this way (will not let me check a moved loads of avois to Nectar).
Cheers
@duggie1982 – the upgrade voucher has caused a few issues! People here have been told by BA CSA’s that they have to pay the higher avios price for a domestic connection but also that this can be added on as usual with just the tax for the connection payable, so it looks like it depends on the agent and you may need to HUACA.
I agree with @BJ that California has so many amazing options – if you’re going outside peak summer Joshua Tree is an easy drive from LA and worth seeing. We have a road trip to Florida over Xmas and New Year but thankfully we’re staying mostly on points in suite-style accommodation with kitchenettes so have an alternative to being gouged in a restaurant every night!
@Duggie, I’ll just ignore your questions @Anna already addressed. Regards INV, just do dummy searches on BA for 1 passenger without voucher for your various destinations of interest. There should hopefully be at least one available day for each sometime in the next year that will let you check avios plus fees required. Most flights to USA, and Japan, will require you to take the 7am departure from INV so you need to factor in hotel costs plus train to Inverness plus taxi to airport if not staying at Sourtyard at the airport. Unless you can get a cheap hotel deal you will not likely find it worthwhile. If you are lucky you will save around £200/couple all in. Note that since Tokyo went double daily I don’t think the 7am connects with the earlier flight from LHR to HND so there is quite a few hours layover in T5 until the next one.
Thanks guys, gives me a few options to look at. My family stays in kent with my step sister (who is BA cabin crew) stays near gatwick so can always drive down or train and stay a few days before for a visit so 2 birds with 1 stone and all that.
Been to LA a few times but only a couple of days at a time but i loved it so my gut is guiding me to there or Vegas as have driven between twice and it was great.
@NorthernLass – do i book online and then call to add the domestic connection? Also do you know what the tax would be?Thanks again.
There’s a thread on here with various experiences (probably under the BC avios card section). IIRC, a reader in Scotland called and got the domestic connection added, and wasn’t charged any extra for it. Anyone who calls and tries to do the whole thing in one go seems to get quoted the stupid amount of avios.
I suppose you could call and see what the agent says; if you get asked for max avios for the connection then make the long haul booking online then call again to add the domestic.
Let us know how you get on – we need as more data points on this!I managed to book CW flights from Glasgow to Tokyo in June this morning with a new style companion voucher including the domestic connection directly through the BA site without having to speak to anyone and it didn’t cost any more avios, I think not being able to book domestic connections sometimes is due to avios availability on those flights as in the past I have had to phone BA to add that leg of the journey later as seats become available. I was pleasantly surprised how little faff it was this time.
Sorry ignore that last post, just realised the thread is about the upgrade vouchers rather than companion ones!
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