New British Airways Club World (£1,500) and First sale – travel until September 2016

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• James67 says:

  30 Oct30 October 09:19

  BKK seems to be a notable absence; the 772 almost always full in ever class IME, probably time they switched it back to a 774 or a 773. SIN, KUL and HKG all available but little point as there are better airlines at cheaper prices,

  • CV3V says:

    30 Oct30 October 10:10

    Yup, I have a 241 redemption for March in CW to KUL and although I am happy with that I watching out for a circa £1k flight to KUL which would then allow me to cancel the redemption flight and save the avios for a future F redemption. (Note, circa £1k flight doesn’t apply to the use of China Airlines, China Eastern et al.)

    This looks a great sale, but it’s in BA CW! If I am handing over cash then I’d rather wait for a QR sale, or see if BA do a repeat of the offer last year (2 business tickets for £2015, departing from UK).

    • James67 says:

      30 Oct30 October 10:39

      Might be an idea to look out for Finnair sale seats to Krabi, Phuket or Saigon for about £1100, have a few days there and then get to KL with Air Asia or MH zone 1 J redemption. With AY starting to receive their a350s I’m guessing every Asian longhaul will shortly be a330 with the full flat Swiss style seats at the very least. I was checking out their regular fares from EDI to BKK and they are £1800-2000 so hopefully will hit £1100 in a sale. Schedule BKK-EDI does not work unfortunatdly but they route it via HKG on CX connecting to their overnight flight from there. Will just havd to wait and see if the need for the CX sector throws a spanner in thd works of sale fares from EDI.

      • Polly says:

        30 Oct30 October 14:08

        Simmo and CV , we did just that recently, actually cancelled our BA F using a 241 to KUL, to go to HKT on MAS on avios, for the recent QR J sale, around £880 pp ex CPH. Will use it next year to SEA on F instead. Great value, and felt the same as BA F, though much more spacious feel and way better food and lounges. Dreamliner on all 4 sectors. Of course you have the layover, but that’s ok too. On our way back early for a funeral, we were put up in a great 5 star hotel, limo each way etc, all on QR. So now we have done both long and short layovers, it’s def a plan every second year to do this and obtain silver, with sectors on BA to gain it.

• pointsarb says:

  30 Oct30 October 09:46

  Sorry slightly o/t: I have 2 BA 241 vouchers expiring in June 16 which are currently redeemed for 4 F’s to YYZ in April. Does anyone know if I booked 4 of the Dub-Mia seats in this sale and cancelled my redemptions above, would I have to take some BA flights to somewhere by June 16 or can I actually kick the flights in to 2017 using the vouchers as long as I actually book the redemption seats before the vouchers expire in June 16?

  Thanks!

  • CV3V says:

    30 Oct30 October 10:02

    The latter, the voucher expiry date isn’t the ‘fly by’ date, it’s the last date on which you can purchase a redemption ticket (for any future available date). You did well to get 4 seats in F, if you give them up now will you be able to find again in the future when you want to use? Good value cash sales versus a good redemption in F and future redemption availability on a route you want.

    • Chris says:

      30 Oct30 October 10:31

      100% incorrect
      T&C’s
      Outbound travel must take place before the expiry date on the Companion Voucher however inbound travel can take place after the expiry date of the Companion Voucher.

  • Polly says:

    30 Oct30 October 14:44

    Pointsarb I would be inclined to hold your bookings, as quite close in time to the expiry date for use. Then, the following year grab the ex EU sales on offer on either BA or QR for a LH trip earning TPs and avios. Just rotate the years, possibly be silver status, then ready to use two more 241 vouchers in F the next year, if you have gained them. That’s our strategy anyway. And use avios to position for flights in the EU on RFS. Really works well for us now. Just great we have QR in One World now, helps ESP with this travel planning.

• pointsarb says:

  30 Oct30 October 10:33

  @cv3v thanks, points noted and very valid! When I booked the F’s there were 8 on the outbound and 6 in, was surprised myself at the availability!

  • CV3V says:

    30 Oct30 October 13:26

    Would also depend on when you did the redemption. If booked pre devaluation then it represent even better value when compared against current redemption rates and I’d be inclined to keep it as in future F redemptions will cost substantially more. I like Polly’s strategy which is to keep the 241 for F redemptions and then cash tickets for business class sales (from which you would then earn a scoop more avios to put towards an F redemption).

    Note Chris’s comments on voucher expiry, everyday a school day.

• Frez says:

  30 Oct30 October 10:37

  How can selecting a holiday make it cheaper? When I do this it prices up the flights first, then takes me to the hotels page, which is always going to add something to the cost.

  • Rob says:

    30 Oct30 October 11:08

    BA has a ‘secret’ price list for flights which are only sold to travel agents and must be wrapped around a flight or car. They are called IT fares. When you add a hotel, BA gives you the cheaper IT price and adds on the hotel cost – which can be cheaper than buying the flight at the regular rate.

• Joe says:

  30 Oct30 October 10:43

  For those of you that have been doing this for years: please can you tell me how these fares compare to what it cost say 5 years ago? Have we always been able to book long -haul business flights at 1500, or is it a relatively new development?

  • Rob says:

    30 Oct30 October 11:06

    New (hence the sharp fall in BA sales in the financial results put today). Anything under £2k was seen as a great result 5 years agp, which inflation would have made nearer £2,250 today – and you would have gone ex EU to get that.

    • Joe says:

      30 Oct30 October 11:48

      Great. One way to see this is that they are devaluing the points we hold, but increasing (significantly) the value of the cash we hold. Cash is a super-flexible points system accepted by all airlines and hotels on all fares and room types, with no blackout dates and no availability restrictions. You also have a wealth of booking options for cash fares, and they pay full tier points/avios/hotel points, and you get full status recognition with no concerns. So basically, I think it’s a great trade-off!

    • Simon says:

      30 Oct30 October 12:17

      What does the “ex” in ex-EU stand for ?? I know what you are saying, but what is the wording?! has been annoying me since I started reading your site!

      • Marly says:

        30 Oct30 October 13:10

        it means from, e.g., ex-Dublin means from Dublin, starting from to be clearer 🙂

      • Alan says:

        30 Oct30 October 13:18

        It’s a prefix (I believe originally from Latin), meaning ‘out of’ or ‘from’. Obviously the UK is in the EU however in this context it is referring to other European locations apart from those in the UK 😉

        • harry says:

          30 Oct30 October 18:05

          1. a prefix meaning “out of,” “from,” and hence “utterly,” “thoroughly,” and sometimes meaning “not” or “without” or indicating a former title, status, etc.; freely used as an English formative: exstipulate; exterritorial; ex-president (former president); ex-member; ex-wife.

          Origin Expand
          < Latin, combining form of ex, ē (preposition) out (of), from, beyond

    • RK says:

      30 Oct30 October 14:28

      Raffles, do you think the current sale with some £770ish fares from DUB-MIA in CW is one of the cheapest ever for TATL on BA(that is not a mistake)? I remember even a year ago £950 ex DUB was seen as a great deal. I wonder how much lower they can go.

      • Rob says:

        30 Oct30 October 16:11

        Hard to see how you can get much lower, frankly! BA must be using some weird marginal cost logic to the pricing of these.

        That said, lets imagine that a pax plus luggage averages 125 kg. What is the marginal fuel burn on a total flying time of 20 hours for 125 kg? You also need to strip out from the £770 all of the airport charges etc, the book value of the Avios earned and the catering cost, plus lounge access at DUB and MIA which is an external cost to BA.

• Kai says:

  30 Oct30 October 10:45

  If I fly LCY-DUB and then DUB-LHR-PVG, will BA be able to check my bags all the way through PVG at LCY?

  • Rob says:

    30 Oct30 October 11:04

    No

• pointsarb says:

  30 Oct30 October 11:26

  @ Chris. Thanks for heads up!

• Chris London says:

  30 Oct30 October 11:52

  Hi Guys,

  quick question: I want to book DUB – LHR – PVG Return, however, on my way back, I would like to stay in London, not continuing my journey to DUB as the end destination. Will I still collect all Tier points from PVG – LHR on my flight back and only lose few points for the last bit from LHR-DUB or will I loose the entire 250’ish tier points for the flight back?

  Thanks a lot!
  Christoph

  • Chris says:

    30 Oct30 October 12:09

    only the unflown segments

  • Simmo says:

    30 Oct30 October 12:20

    Should be only the last segment.

    But remember, that you might struggle if checking in baggage to get the check-in person to stop the baggage at london.

  • Joe says:

    30 Oct30 October 12:35

    Should only be the last segment, but you won’t make any friends at BA for doing it (assuming you manage to get your luggage checked through to LHR rather than DUB)

  • Polly says:

    30 Oct30 October 14:30

    Christoph, IMPORTANT, please note if you have not booked yet, use the multi city tool. Make sure your final leg is from LCY to Dub not LHR to DUB. That way your bags will definitely be tagged to London. And then you can possibly miss that final sector to Dub,,and then you are “stuck in London” if that is your plan!

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