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Hi all
I have a healthy avios balance of 400k plus 2 vouchers but I can’t find a BA flight I want to use them on.
Ive noticed that when I search on BA it only brings up routes via London and not partner routes that are easier/faster.
For example Barbados it will take me via London from Manchester and not bring up the Aer Lingus Manchester to Barbados direct flight.
However, if I search on Aer Lingus it won’t bring up avios pricing as my balance is 0. I have found this on Finnair too. The only other airline my avios shows up on is Qatar.
I have accounts with all the airlines and have linked them. I know I can’t transfer to IB for 90 days.
So my two question are for the more direct flights do I need to search on the partner airline sites directly?
And
Do I need to transfer my avios to each respective scheme firstly so it allows me to search reward/avios flights?
It seems really convoluted but currently I cannot get an idea of what the avios cost/reward seat availability is per airline as it won’t bring that up as an option to search or check?
I want to check costs of Barbados via Aer Lingus, Maldives via Qatar, South America via Iberia as their Manchester connections are more convenient.
Thanks in advance!
If you can’t see MAN-BGI on EI, it’s because there’s no availability.
QR availability should mostly show, although it appears on QR’s website a few days earlier so may be snapped up – you only need a QR account to search there, you don’t need to transfer avios (though it’s fairly easy now).
IB availability *should* show, however I’ve found pricing discrepancies between BA and IB sites. BA also doesn’t seem keen on the Iberia Express MAN-MAD route and often doesn’t show the same availability/price as IB.
But for MAN-MAD it’s very cheap to book a cash ticket – if you keep this separate from your long haul connection, you’ll save money on the surcharges.
Rob’s done articles on the different airlines, e.g.
https://www.headforpoints.com/2020/04/17/how-to-book-low-tax-avios-redemption-flights-on-iberia/
Now I appreciate your incredibly high standing here, on FT and anywhere else informed FFs congregate @NorthernLass but unless QR has changed recently I’ve never been able to search reward flights due to having a zero balance in that account & despite my BA account being linked to it.
Good to know if this is now the case as it’s been frustrating numerous times. Admittedly my obstinace in refusing to just transfer them in then back out is a factor but I’ve always refused to do so as that, to my understanding, was the entire point of linking accounts
My Qatar account is linked to my BA account. I can search for reward flights on Qatar without transferring any avios across.
I’ve had a QR account for nearly 2 years and have always been able to search for reward flights regardless of avios balance. As with IB, if I click through the booking page, I then get the message “You do not have enough avios to make this booking.”
I’ve had a QR account for nearly 2 years and have always been able to search for reward flights regardless of avios balance. As with IB, if I click through the booking page, I then get the message “You do not have enough avios to make this booking.”
That’s interesting. I have also been able to see flight availability but I’ve never gone as far as booking as the flight options always seem to be double Avios. I thought it originally was supposed to be possible to book via QR if you had zero Avios in QR but enough Avios in your BAEC account. I thought it was supposed to automatically draw the Avios across.
I thought it originally was supposed to be possible to book via QR if you had zero Avios in QR but enough Avios in your BAEC account. I thought it was supposed to automatically draw the Avios across.
I posted about this recently. I had sufficient avios in BA and none in QR. The avios were pulled from BA to QR, but the booking failed. A PNR was issued but no e-ticket. The booking then disappeared completely. After 48 hours the avios were automatically refunded.
QR live chat indicated that because it took a few extra seconds for avios to be pulled from BA, this caused the payment authorisation from my credit card(s) to time out or something like that.
I have had no problems redeeming on QR (using the same credit cards) after manually transferring avios over.
Thanks for that explanation @John. Good to know as I would not want the reservation to be cancelled as happened to you.
QR does seem to be working on their app for me but they are all the flex tickets do double the avios.
However, I can’t search Aer Lingus or IB at all it doesn’t give me the option as my balance is 0 there so I can’t even get an idea of availability or avios cost.
In this case would I need to transfer my balance first?
BA pricing won’t be lower – I just think (IIRC), QR will show flexi availability which doesn’t show up via BA.
The issue with QR redemptions can be that they get snapped up 12 months out before they appear on BA, and by that time there are only flexi seats left, which don’t show on BA. I know to get J seats on MAN-DOH you need to be on the ball as soon as they’re released, or hope that more appear over time.
I have 6 avios in my IB account and have no problem getting avios pricing to show, so maybe you just need more than a 0 balance? If I was after specific QR seats, I’d transfer the avios in beforehand so I could jump as soon as availability appeared.
I will trial that when I can move points to my IB after 90 days.
I think i am going to go for South America with BA- ideally i wanted to arrive into sao and leave out of rio but I don’t think the online search allows that- only a straight return. I can do 2 x 1 way but want to use my companion voucher on the full trip!
You can, have a look at the long “booking the return with the 241” thread!
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