BA Club bargains to Hawaii
Discussion
A slight aside chaps...obviously I might be a bit slow in realising this... but have folks seen how much cheaper, both relatively and literally, Biz & First are currently?
Ive been doing some playing - based on St Lucia and Barbados as that is where we have been looking - and come to a few conclusions.
For St Lucia currently it is essentially £480 return to change from Premium to Business/Club World. From biz to First its another £1500 OR 50,000 Avios return.
For Barb its more like £900 return to change from Prem to Biz, but only £1200 to go upto First.
The point here is that basically everybody and their dog has 50,000 Avios, which basically makes it £480 plus £20 or so in extra taxes to go from Prem to First return to St Lucia.
That is beyond dirt cheap on my value radar!
Ive been doing some playing - based on St Lucia and Barbados as that is where we have been looking - and come to a few conclusions.
For St Lucia currently it is essentially £480 return to change from Premium to Business/Club World. From biz to First its another £1500 OR 50,000 Avios return.
For Barb its more like £900 return to change from Prem to Biz, but only £1200 to go upto First.
The point here is that basically everybody and their dog has 50,000 Avios, which basically makes it £480 plus £20 or so in extra taxes to go from Prem to First return to St Lucia.
That is beyond dirt cheap on my value radar!
DJRC said:
A slight aside chaps...obviously I might be a bit slow in realising this... but have folks seen how much cheaper, both relatively and literally, Biz & First are currently?
Ive been doing some playing - based on St Lucia and Barbados as that is where we have been looking - and come to a few conclusions.
For St Lucia currently it is essentially £480 return to change from Premium to Business/Club World. From biz to First its another £1500 OR 50,000 Avios return.
For Barb its more like £900 return to change from Prem to Biz, but only £1200 to go upto First.
The point here is that basically everybody and their dog has 50,000 Avios, which basically makes it £480 plus £20 or so in extra taxes to go from Prem to First return to St Lucia.
That is beyond dirt cheap on my value radar!
The catch is...can you get the avios availability????? Ive been doing some playing - based on St Lucia and Barbados as that is where we have been looking - and come to a few conclusions.
For St Lucia currently it is essentially £480 return to change from Premium to Business/Club World. From biz to First its another £1500 OR 50,000 Avios return.
For Barb its more like £900 return to change from Prem to Biz, but only £1200 to go upto First.
The point here is that basically everybody and their dog has 50,000 Avios, which basically makes it £480 plus £20 or so in extra taxes to go from Prem to First return to St Lucia.
That is beyond dirt cheap on my value radar!
At 3 weeks notice whatsmore! Offski to St Lucia tomorrow in Biz on the Avios. Hurrah DJRC said:
A slight aside chaps...obviously I might be a bit slow in realising this... but have folks seen how much cheaper, both relatively and literally, Biz & First are currently?
Yes, some interesting deals out there, and you can be creative with routing if you need to return to one of the outstations. For example, I have been looking at Dublin to Miami, returning to Edinburgh for about £1,030 in business class. For the terms of the ex-DUB fare sale one should return to Dublin, but you can get round this if you don’t mind dropping the last segment.Routing would be.
Outbound-
DUB-LHR-MIA
Returning-
MIA-LHR on Day XX ( overnight flight, arriving next day)
LHR-EDI on Day XX+1 ( Or, replace EDI with your regional airport of choice, NCL, MAN, ABZ etc )
LHR-DUB on Day XX+2
Now, traffic can be terrible getting from Edinburgh to London, and wouldn't it be a shame if one didn't make it in time to get the flight back to Dublin!
The choice is therefore:
£2,100 Each EDI-LHR-MIA-LHR-EDI
Or
£1,030 Each DUB-LHR-MIA-LHR-EDI ( dropping the last segment ).
A sizeable saving in my book.
I've just checked some flight options and can see cheap flights to Bangkok if I book on the main BA site. If I log in to the Executive Club part of the site and do a search for the same flights it still quotes me in Euro but is double the price. I take it BA have sussed that I am based in the UK so will price accordingly?
I want to book via club site to get air miles and tier points - but I suppose that's the price for getting the flights so cheap - no ability to claim points or miles. Anybody with any solutions ?
I want to book via club site to get air miles and tier points - but I suppose that's the price for getting the flights so cheap - no ability to claim points or miles. Anybody with any solutions ?
Caterbroon said:
I've just checked some flight options and can see cheap flights to Bangkok if I book on the main BA site. If I log in to the Executive Club part of the site and do a search for the same flights it still quotes me in Euro but is double the price. I take it BA have sussed that I am based in the UK so will price accordingly?
I want to book via club site to get air miles and tier points - but I suppose that's the price for getting the flights so cheap - no ability to claim points or miles. Anybody with any solutions ?
can you just book the flight then call the airline and give them your FF number?I want to book via club site to get air miles and tier points - but I suppose that's the price for getting the flights so cheap - no ability to claim points or miles. Anybody with any solutions ?
jamoor said:
can you just book the flight then call the airline and give them your FF number?
I did wonder about that - there is also an option to add a FF number to a booking on-line after the event. Not sure what would happen though - could they then change the price of the booking? It's all worked ok for us. I have read that in the US people have had loyalty points confiscated etc. where they've made a habit of doing this. I don't do enough long distance flying for that to frighten me...
ETA - Fortunately as the positioning plane was small the flight was smooth. My wife is scared of flying and my daughter not keen on turbulence. A bad first flight would have been a problem.
ETA - Fortunately as the positioning plane was small the flight was smooth. My wife is scared of flying and my daughter not keen on turbulence. A bad first flight would have been a problem.
Just a quick update; these cheap business class flights from Dublin are back on in the current BA sale. I have used them twice this summer, first to Miami (Dublin-LCY-JFK-MIA) - £930 , and then on a trip to Hawaii (£1150) and they really are great value. I appreciate that they are not for everyone but I don't mind travelling and much prefer having the ability to sleep in a "bed" on a long flight.
On the Miami trip we went via JFK as I really wanted to try the London City business class only flight (32 seat/beds) on the Airbus A318 which I thought was fantastic, especially the pre-clearance in Shannon. When we were away BA cancelled the JFK-LCY flight so after a quick call re-routed us on a direct flight to LHR, and swapped the Dublin leg for a flight to Edinburgh (where we live) by way of an apology for the inconvenience.
I suppose it comes down to whether you have the time or the inclination to get to Dublin; for us it was a £20 Ryanair flight from Edinburgh which was worth the £1000-1500 saving (each).
On the Miami trip we went via JFK as I really wanted to try the London City business class only flight (32 seat/beds) on the Airbus A318 which I thought was fantastic, especially the pre-clearance in Shannon. When we were away BA cancelled the JFK-LCY flight so after a quick call re-routed us on a direct flight to LHR, and swapped the Dublin leg for a flight to Edinburgh (where we live) by way of an apology for the inconvenience.
I suppose it comes down to whether you have the time or the inclination to get to Dublin; for us it was a £20 Ryanair flight from Edinburgh which was worth the £1000-1500 saving (each).
Mr Trophy said:
Tim, also from Edinburgh.
Is there a special link? Can only book from Belfast?
HiIs there a special link? Can only book from Belfast?
You can either use the BA website by selecting Ireland as your destination or by using this website (you can't book though) - http://matrix.itasoftware.com
I have posted below the fare rules taken from the flyertalk website (which is excellent for tips and tricks) -
British Airways (BA) ILN8S4T1 DUB to US
Doesn't seem to be seasonal restrictions in travel dates.
Cheers
Tim
Example prices:
DUB-HNL £1,177
DUB-LAX £1,153
DUB-JFK £995
Quote:
RESERVATIONS FOR ALL SECTORS ARE REQUIRED AT LEAST 28 DAYS BEFORE DEPARTURE.
Quote:
TRAVEL FROM INBOUND TRANSATLANTIC SECTOR MUST COMMENCE NO EARLIER THAN THE FIRST SUN AFTER ARRIVAL AT TURNAROUND.
Quote:
STOPOVERS NOT PERMITTED ON THE FARE COMPONENT.
Quote:
VALID FOR TRAVEL COMMENCING ON/BEFORE 19JUN 16.
Quote:
TICKETS MUST BE ISSUED ON/BEFORE 22SEP 15.
Quote:
CANCELLATIONS - ANY TIME - TICKET IS NON-REFUNDABLE.
Quote:
CHANGES - ANY TIME - CHARGE EUR 300.00 FOR REISSUE/REVALIDATION.
//CHANGES BEFORE OUTBOUND DEPARTURE//
1.WHEN THE FIRST FARE COMPONENT IS CHANGED THE
ITINERARY MUST BE RE-PRICED USING CURRENT FARES IN
EFFECT ON THE DATE THE TICKET IS REISSUED
THE ITINERARY MUST MEET ALL RULE PROVISIONS OF THE
NEWLY TICKETED FARE I.E. ADVANCE RESERVATIONS/
TICKETING DEADLINE/MINIMUM/MAXIMUM STAY/BOOKING
CLASSES/SEASONALITY ETC....
2.WHEN THERE ARE NO CHANGES TO THE FIRST FARE
COMPONENT BUT OTHER FARE COMPONENTS ARE CHANGED
THE ITINERARY MUST BE RE-PRICED USING
HISTORICAL FARES IN EFFECT ON THE PREVIOUS
TICKETING DATE OR USING CURRENT FARES IN EFFECT
ON THE DATE THE TICKET IS REISSUED-WHICHEVER IS
LOWER.
THE NEW ITINERARY MUST MEET ALL THE PROVISIONS
OF THE NEWLY TICKETED FARES
//CHANGES AFTER DEPARTURE//
THE ITINERARY MUST BE RE-PRICED USING HISTORICAL
FARES IN EFFECT ON THE PREVIOUS TICKETING DATE.
THE NEW ITINERARY MUST MEET ALL THE RULE
PROVISIONS OF THE NEWLY TICKETED FARES SUCH THAT
THE RECALCULATED FARE COULD HAVE BEEN USED FOR THE
NEW ITINERARY IF PURCHASED ON THE ORIGINAL TICKET
ISSUE DATE.
Gentlemen, thank you very much for all the info in this thread. Managed to get flights to Australia for the family for £3,090 going from Dublin rather than £4,960 flying from Edinburgh! I had no idea flying from Dublin would save so much.
When we return to LHR I was wondering about forgetting the last leg and getting an Easyjet flight back to Edinburgh. In Sydney on the way back, can I ask for our luggage NOT to be checked all the way to Dublin?
When we return to LHR I was wondering about forgetting the last leg and getting an Easyjet flight back to Edinburgh. In Sydney on the way back, can I ask for our luggage NOT to be checked all the way to Dublin?
keith333 said:
When we return to LHR I was wondering about forgetting the last leg and getting an Easyjet flight back to Edinburgh. In Sydney on the way back, can I ask for our luggage NOT to be checked all the way to Dublin?
You can ask at check in if they will short check your bags; what I do to eliminate any risk is to choose a different London airport for the Dublin leg so that you are guaranteed to get your bags back (i.e. If I am arriving into Heathrow, then I would book LCY-DUB).Lots of discussion here on short checking - http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/british-airways-exe...
Edited by tim0409 on Wednesday 26th August 21:20
Edited by tim0409 on Wednesday 26th August 23:17
Thanks Greg - just reporting back with our experience;
We were 3 pax with an economy price of LGW - MCO (Orlando) of £1200ea in economy in August.
We got a price of Dub>LGW, LGW>MCO, MCO>LGW, LGW>Dud at £800ea in Business and booked that.
The LCY>Dub was £50ea BA.
We had no probs checking in baggage at MCO for LGW only on the return leg.
Result for us!
We were 3 pax with an economy price of LGW - MCO (Orlando) of £1200ea in economy in August.
We got a price of Dub>LGW, LGW>MCO, MCO>LGW, LGW>Dud at £800ea in Business and booked that.
The LCY>Dub was £50ea BA.
We had no probs checking in baggage at MCO for LGW only on the return leg.
Result for us!
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