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Background: Got my first (economy) companion voucher from my free BA Amex card.
I’ve not bothered with reward flights previously, as I’ve never managed to find availability, so I have a fair few points.
Decided it might be worth trying again to use this voucher to do a short/mid haul to Europe.The only option I get starting from MAN is London.
If I start from London, lots of European options come up.
How do I get it to show me options into Europe starting in Manchester?
Or, does this mean that there are no reward seats MAN to LHR on the same days that there are reward seats from LHR into Europe?Thanks in advance for any assistance rendered.
Where are you looking? If you use their reward flight finder it only shows direct flights.
Go to do an actual booking using the voucher and it should show connections – it certainly does for me starting in EDI. Sometimes due to.something called ‘married segments’ it can show more availability.
If you need to check likely date availability you can have a play with the 2 separate routes in reward finder first.As above, you need to start booking an actual flight to see availability. Additionally, when you get to the page where it asks you if you want a stopover, say yes and put in either the same day, or the next day if you want to stayover at LHR the night before your connection (this can be advisable if you don’t have a lot of flexibility and wriggle room to avoid disruption). You’ll then see all available flights on your route, listed separately.
Personally I don’t book many short-haul redemptions any more as, unlike with long-haul ones, you have to pay for the MAN connection, which can be as much as the international leg. BA has some pretty good cash prices if you book far enough out and know you won’t need to cancel, which make using avios a poor option, especially when you factor in that the RFS fees will be £70pp return. (I just booked MAN-LHR-VLC for £108, saving my avios for a better-value redemption).
With the economy 241 voucher, for example you could get 2 return flights from MAN to NYC or DXB for 50k avios plus around £200.
Tbh…and I’m gonna get shot for saying it but a cash fare going direct MAN-EU seems better with EZ/Ryanair over transferring at LHR. MAN-VLC is ryanair.
Why would you get shot?
Plenty of people on here fly with the likes of easyJet and Ryan air.
Tbh…and I’m gonna get shot for saying it but a cash fare going direct MAN-EU seems better with EZ/Ryanair over transferring at LHR. MAN-VLC is ryanair.
It’s what sensible people do. Pay a few quid extra to sit upfront and have reserved overhead bin space, it’s much cheaper when you factor in that you’re going to lose at least 4 hours and up to an overnight stay at LHR, and that’s if BA don’t screw you around on the unreliable shuttle.
We were planning to return on Ryanair, but they’ve now canned the VLC route for the winter! (And there’s no indication as to whether it’ll be back next year – another issue with LCC routes, up here, anyway).
We often do BA on the outbound to take advantage of status benefits and a quick connection at LHR, whereas transiting is just a misery on the way home and we just prefer to be home as quickly as possible on an LCC. There’s nothing wrong with mixing and matching.
LCC routes are often on awkward days/times, and get constantly mucked around (just had a notification moving a Ryanair flight by half a day which really messes up our plans!). So while using BA can be more onerous, they tend to make fewer changes, and in the case of reward flights, have a lot more flexibility.
Thanks for the info and advice.
I will try to find reward flights using the techniques advised.I agree that there are usually better alternatives to BA, connecting through LHR, and am only looking on the off chance that the voucher makes it cost effective.
Thanks again.
When you travel is a big factor. It’ll be much more cost effective to use avios to get to the Med in August, for example, than paying the eye-watering rates the LCCs demand!
We always route from Man via Heathrow (we live in Leeds but the connection was canned a few years ago). I generally use seat spy or reward flight finder to find the flights I want from Heathrow (or just what is available). I then book from Manchester and usually there are always reward seats that I can then add as a connection to the outbound from Heathrow. As others have said, I probably wouldn’t do a short European trip this way, instead trying to find a route from Leeds / MAN, and therefore save my avios / voucher for a long haul trip – the only time we have done it this way is, like Northernlass says, when it was school holidays and the flights were eye watering yet cheap and available with avios.
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