Forums › Frequent flyer programs › British Airways Executive Club › Limited number of first class flights
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Hey all,
Was hoping for a thread for this in here but I couldn’t find anything
I’ve just upgraded to the premium Amex to try and get one first class flight before me and my wife try for kids (for first class is not happening! But two is a maybe)Anyway, in lookingat the locations on seat spy, it’s seems most don’t have first class tickets or there’s only one ticket available.
So, anyone here manage to get two first class tickets??? Any tips? How to get two return?
Thanks very much
Well, first you need to look at the routes BA actually fly F on, not as many as they once did.
I’ve had best luck on US Eastcoast, BOS,JFK, PHL etc.
As you’re probably aware, BA does not guarantee any available reward seats in First Class currently.
Anecdotally, there are some routes where a limited amount of seats are released a long way in advance (the US east coast as Alan says). On others, seats may only appear a week or two before travel.
There’s a good article on HfP about FC redemptions, which you should be able to find if you google it.
For my first FC redemption, my wife and I had to get a little creative. There were no seats to our desired destination (NYC) on our preferred dates, so we flew to Boston, spent a night there, then rode the Amtrak down. A great way to arrive, which I’d thoroughly recommend.
So, anyone here manage to get two first class tickets??? Any tips? How to get two return?
Thanks very much
Yes, I’ve managed to get two seats to Tokyo (on JAL) and two seats back from Tokyo (on BA) in the past few weeks. The way to do it is to be persistent and keep looking, several times a day if needed. In both cases the flights were originally old Club World on a BA 787-9, hence I was keen to upgrade if possible!
If you want to delve deeper, there are a few more tips:
* Study the release schedule if you’re able to book a year out. It’s relatively common, for example, for the last flight to New York to have two First seats available. You would then have to either book the return (probably Club World) later on and phone for a refund of Avios (if you used an Amex 2-4-1 voucher), assuming you have enough Avios to do that, or phone just before midnight to snag the return flights.
* Keep an eye on loadings on your dates of interest via ExpertFlyer (which allows one free trial per email address you may have). The BA flight, for example, stayed at F7 (i.e. 7 seats available in First), then 4 weeks out three came up for Avios.
* SeatSpy can be useful if you set up an alert, but it only scrapes the BA site at intervals – so you may get alerted after the seats have already gone.
* Consider alternative airlines if you have the Avios. JAL are great at releasing First seats to Tokyo closer to the time, for example, which is why I switched my BA flight to JAL – that morning when I checked 4 First seats appeared on the day I was flying out, 2 on the day before. It was well worth the extra Avios and £70 cancellation fee to rebook.And yes, as Alan above says your best chances are on routes with several flights a day, or planes like the A380 (which has 14 seats rather than the 8 on the 787 and refurbished 777s). You are, in effect, waiting for BA’s computer to think it’s not going to sell the seats for cash, and that’s more likely the more seats that are available!
I’ve had F redemptions to JFK, BOS, IAD and most recently MEX. These are all regularly available. There are rarer options, like SIN, but it’s a matter of keeping watch for them appearing. You can set up an alert on SeatSpy, however it’s not the fastest or even the most accurate, so needs confirming via ba.com.
As you can see there are F seats but they are rarer than hens teeth. When this site first started getting 4 seats in F on all sorts of routes was relatively easy and cheap. The loss of the 747 fleet pretty much ended F as a redemption though.
To be fair F was and still is the best business class in the sky and from other forums it seems this hasn’t changed.
What must always be remembered is that the BAEC is not so much a reward programme as a raffle. So unless you can dedicate your life to finding seats or investing in unreliable tools it will be a matter of luck.
A SeatSpy search for the middle fortnight in October (the maximum search period now), shows at least 2 F seats to MEX, BDA, JED, BAH, IAD and BOS.
I personally don’t feel that F is worth it on an overnight flight, so would book CW or PE for any relevant sectors. This may need to be done separately though, as it can mess up the surcharges.
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