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Hi, I’ve managed to book (delicious) long haul 1st class seats a couple of times in the past with BA voucher and avios.
I can’t see reference to them now in the descriptors for release of seats for companion voucher bookings on the BA site or the forum posts.
Did I miss that BA have removed them? I’m referring to the vouchers earned from the Amex BA premium plus card.
Still there if you can find them. However, you are only likely to see them on A380 routes where there is still a 14-seat F cabin. The refurbished 777 fleet only has an 8-seat cabin and a many of the other newer aircraft have no F at all.
Definitely still about though. We got 4 x A380 F back from Dubai at the end of October.
Just before Xmas I managed to book F (for one person) to and from Mexico City for the second half of June 2024. Looking around that general area, I’ve also seen availability for Houston and Dallas Fort Worth
A quick look on the Ba app, lots of 2x first seats available to a range of destinations. Whether those destinations and date combos work for you is another question
I’ve also booked outbound to MEX in F recently. 94k avios plus £483 for 2 of us starting in DUB with the 241!
East Coast USA is also often good for F redemptions, and those cities are well placed for onward connections. I’ve done BOS and IAD in the past 2 years.
Many thanks all. Helpful tip on the plane type, I’ll keep it in my sights.
Ps We’re off to Thailand, returning from Singapore, in Feb. Business Class thanks to avios and voucher.
Did LHR-IAD and BOS-LHR a few months ago with Avios and 241. But I think only 8 F on the 777, so it’s always going to be hard to find. I think the A380 had 16. Club stretched forever…….
I’ve found decent availability for JNB, IAD, DFW because they’re A380 destinations by keeping an eye on RFF.
There’s a bit of First return availability to Santiago in June/July. However, I’m guessing at that time if year it may be a bit …Chile?
The 787-9 is, I believe optimised for the very long flight and happens to have F cabin.
I’ve also booked outbound to MEX in F recently. 94k avios plus £483 for 2 of us starting in DUB with the 241!
East Coast USA is also often good for F redemptions, and those cities are well placed for onward connections. I’ve done BOS and IAD in the past 2 years.
Hi, how is this possible…I thought the use of 241 had to originate in the UK? I would love to know how to do it from non-UK. Please let me know, thanks
I’ve also booked outbound to MEX in F recently. 94k avios plus £483 for 2 of us starting in DUB with the 241!
East Coast USA is also often good for F redemptions, and those cities are well placed for onward connections. I’ve done BOS and IAD in the past 2 years.
Hi, how is this possible…I thought the use of 241 had to originate in the UK? I would love to know how to do it from non-UK. Please let me know, thanks
The T&Cs for the 2-4-1 vouchers changed (in 2021 I think?) to allow you to start outside the UK even on BA metal. This together with the ability to use on Iberia and Aer Lingus metal (hence the ability to start outside the UK) and the increased availability on BA (roughly I class inventory) and the ability to use as a solo traveller makes keeping the BAPP card worthwhile.
I’ve also booked outbound to MEX in F recently. 94k avios plus £483 for 2 of us starting in DUB with the 241!
East Coast USA is also often good for F redemptions, and those cities are well placed for onward connections. I’ve done BOS and IAD in the past 2 years.
Hi, how is this possible…I thought the use of 241 had to originate in the UK? I would love to know how to do it from non-UK. Please let me know, thanks
The T&Cs for the 2-4-1 vouchers changed (in 2021 I think?) to allow you to start outside the UK even on BA metal. This together with the ability to use on Iberia and Aer Lingus metal (hence the ability to start outside the UK) and the increased availability on BA (roughly I class inventory) and the ability to use as a solo traveller makes keeping the BAPP card worthwhile.
Thanks AJA. How can a flight on Iberia say from Madrid to Havana be booked using a 241 voucher? I can’t get it to work on the BA site as Havana does not come up as a valid destination. And is there an easy way to search for availability as seatspy doesn’t include Iberia?
You will need to search on the IB website (you need an IB Plus account for that, even if with no Avios). Their search engine is not that bad. Just look outbound and inbound separately.
Maybe also search MAD-Havana. Then call BA and I would personally book MAD-Havana / Havana-MAD-LHR to reduce the taxes/fees. You can then book a flight to Madrid the day before (or well in advance) and visit the city.
I’ve also booked outbound to MEX in F recently. 94k avios plus £483 for 2 of us starting in DUB with the 241!
East Coast USA is also often good for F redemptions, and those cities are well placed for onward connections. I’ve done BOS and IAD in the past 2 years.
Hi, how is this possible…I thought the use of 241 had to originate in the UK? I would love to know how to do it from non-UK. Please let me know, thanks
The T&Cs for the 2-4-1 vouchers changed (in 2021 I think?) to allow you to start outside the UK even on BA metal. This together with the ability to use on Iberia and Aer Lingus metal (hence the ability to start outside the UK) and the increased availability on BA (roughly I class inventory) and the ability to use as a solo traveller makes keeping the BAPP card worthwhile.
Thanks AJA. How can a flight on Iberia say from Madrid to Havana be booked using a 241 voucher? I can’t get it to work on the BA site as Havana does not come up as a valid destination. And is there an easy way to search for availability as seatspy doesn’t include Iberia?
Not sure why we have Iberia questions in a thread about first class, but well,
If you want to go to Havana you will have to call BA, unfortunately as IB does not publish any API data seatspy or any others will not work.
There are some long threads (and articles) about the current possibilities with the 241, no need to rehash here.
But I think someone did say that you have to input the full word Havana to get it to come up!
I’ve also booked outbound to MEX in F recently. 94k avios plus £483 for 2 of us starting in DUB with the 241!
East Coast USA is also often good for F redemptions, and those cities are well placed for onward connections. I’ve done BOS and IAD in the past 2 years.
Are you booking on BA and travelling DUB-LHR-MEX? That seems like an incredible deal, I’m keeping an eye on Mexico as a possible honeymoon destination in a couple of years and saving up Avios for a once-in-a-lifetime redemption. Does starting in Dublin massively reduce taxes?
Yes it does, mainly because there’s no UK APD (as long as the connecting flight is less than 24 hours after the first one, I think). On award flights this only really gives an advantage in F, which doesn’t have RFS so surcharges are still very high (would have been about £1100 from LHR for 2). So you can take advantage of this to MEX, but not to, say CUN, which (AFAIK) doesn’t have F. I’m planning a mini break in Dublin as well, as otherwise I couldn’t really justify the extra hassle of repositioning to DUB. But we’ve still saved several hundred £’s as I’ve used IHG points for 2 nights in Dublin and one at LHR before the long haul (need a good night’s sleep to get the full benefit of F!)
Thanks for the tip – that’s definitely something to consider, although we’d probably spend the cash difference on a couple of days in Dublin anyway!
I did take that into account, but using points for hotels means that we’ll spend nowhere near the £600 we saved, and we do want to see Dublin in any case. For positioning, I’ve booked MAN-DUB on Aer Lingus, which was 4k avios plus £56 each. It was close between redemption and cash, but the avios booking is more flexible and includes checked bags.
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