BA Miles flights- 50% off! ( all cabins)

[The_Banking_Scot]

Hi,
For those with BA miles, BA today has started offering 50 % mileage reduction for all routes ( subject to availability) for a full miles booking

ie First Class rtn UK-USA ( normally 150,000 miles) now 75k miles ( Club down from 100k miles to 50k miles):ok:

plus C £400 taxes.

Need to book by 28th November.

Although today the website is slow.

There is no need for a special link the reduced mileage automatically appears when booking.

Regards

TBS

[barry lloyd]

The website is not just slow - it's not reacting at all! I've tried five times since Friday pm to get on the site without success.
If they're going to do this kind of thing they might at least give you the chance to participate.

[Seat62K]

Is this a genuine offer rather than a computer glitch showing incorrect numbers of miles? I haven't received an email from the Executive Club about it and a cursory look at ba.com reveals no information whatsoever.
(I agree, ba.com is slow right now. Can so many be trying to book? How did they find out?!)
If the offer is genuine it may have something to do with the fact that BA now counts redemption tickets as passengers carried and would appear to indicate that forward bookings are looking bad (i.e., it's better to get some revenue rather than fly empty seats around).

[mcgoo]

Thanks for the tip off, I had a flight booked for January in premium economy, 75,000 airmiles and £346, just cancelled it and booked again and got club world for 50,000 airmiles and £305.

[The_Banking_Scot]

Hi Seat62k,

It is a genuine offer (until 28th Nov)

When you first log in ba.com genrates the " system busy message " but if you keep submitting the info the system comes up with dates then flights after 5 or 6 attempts.

Regards

TBS

[Gordon17]

Yes, it's a genuine offer. I've got 2 returns London to Vancouver in World Traveller Plus for 37,500 miles, thanks to the offer and an Amex Companion Ticket Voucher.

[barry lloyd]

Is this a genuine offer rather than a computer glitch showing incorrect numbers of miles? I haven't received an email from the Executive Club about it and a cursory look at ba.com reveals no information whatsoever.
(I agree, ba.com is slow right now. Can so many be trying to book? How did they find out?!)
If the offer is genuine it may have something to do with the fact that BA now counts redemption tickets as passengers carried and would appear to indicate that forward bookings are looking bad (i.e., it's better to get some revenue rather than fly empty seats around).

It's genuine enough, and I (as a lowly blue card holder) received an e-mail last week. Still can't get on the website though, it's obviously a popular offer. It also means that when the upturn comes, far fewer FFs will have miles left, and they'll have to pay more!
I'm sure you're right about the forward bookings - some extra revenue from 'security charges' is better than nothing!

[Seat62K]

Many thanks, The Banking Scot, for alerting me to this offer! I don't know why I did not get the email.
I've just booked a return trip to the US in Club for less than £400 plus 50000 Miles. It's a pity the fuel surcharge is still so high.
The booking process was fraught with lots of waiting plus "try again" messages. I did wonder if I'd ever get to the end of it.
I'm tempted to make at least one more booking but it might be wiser to hang on to the Miles for the present. Ah, decisions, decisions....
Once again, TBS, thanks!

[The_Banking_Scot]

Hi ,

No problem Seat62K.:ok:

Are you sure you do not want to try F to the US ( or Cape Town) for only 25k more? ie £75k miles

You could also buy 19k miles direct from BA for c £300 I think.

Regards

TBS

[k3lvc]

Call me a cynic but having gone through the process yesterday for a MAN-JFK return in Business I can do it for 50,000 miles for the pair of us (with AMEX ticket) vs the 100,000 in 2008 but the money has gone up from GBP438 in April 2008 to GBP718 at current rates.

What are the bets that BA announce the reduction of fuel surcharges on 1st December once the offer's finished.

[Munnyspinner]

:ugh:I think this is another BA scam. I have been trying the website since the offer was announced and keep getting bounced due to "high volumes of internet traffic". However, I have been able to book 3 other BA flights with real money - no problem in the meantime. Hmmmmm, doe wee Willy W really think his pax are that stupid? ...Obviously.

I would have thought BA need the revenues to offset taxes and fuel surcharges. Otherwise the world's favourite airline will be in even more dire doo doo!

Having once been a proud gold card exec. club member and regular BA flier I wonder if it is now time to offload by 236,000 remaining BA miles? This will give me a freebie every week for a year - if only I could get on the Bl**dy Awful website - shome hope! How many others out have experienced this problem, which only manifests itself apparently when BA want.

[Seat62K]

These redemptions generate income as opposed, presumably, to flying empty seats (I assume BA's yield management know what they're doing) so I can't believe it's in the airline's interest to make it difficult to book.
I think the fact that the system has been slow is a matter of volume. I made two redemption bookings: the second, made very early in the morning, was very much quicker than the one I made during the afternoon.
I, too, wouldn't be surprised if the fuel surcharge is reduced once this promotion has ended. C'est la vie. The way I see it is I have two return trips in Club World to North America for a total of less than £800. That has to be a bargain.
By the way, I was surprised at how wide availability was, even to popular destinations like Hong Kong and Sydney. 100,000 Miles in Club to Sydney - I found that very tempting!
The Banking Scot: yes, I did think about First, particularly on routes with no 747 flights. On the other hand, one of my sectors will be flown on a very busy day, on which I've been "unvoluntarily" upgraded to First in the past. Although a great experience, I'm not sure whether it's worth the 50% extra in terms of Miles. Thanks for the suggestion, though.

[The_Banking_Scot]

Hi,

Today has been an expensive day mile wise!:(

(1) A CW return EDI-LHR-YUL rtn ( 50k) in May for my mum to visit my sister whi is emigrating to canada soon.

(2) 3 F tickets EDI-LHR-PHX rtn ( 225k) for me and my parents:ok: for our summer holiday to the states ( I go for 2 weeks, mum and dad for 6 weeks:)

Still got a lot of miles though and at half price , too good an opportunity to pass up:ok:

Regards

TBS

[JAR FCL]

BA are very expensive, even the offers are tough to take. If they go pear shaped, more routes for everyone else.

[AircraftOperations]

It doesn't suit an airline (or any other institution with points cards for that matter) for their clients to have too many miles built up as it is hard for the company to plan for the occasions when their clients might want to use them.

This may just help BA clear some of the outstanding miles from passengers' accounts whilst getting bums on empty seats.

[Scumbag O'Riley]

Have given this some thought over past few days, we have got 571,000 miles in household account and all they seem to be doing is build up (mrs on another trip so another 11k to come in shortly).

Looked at burning some to go to some far off beach in club or even first, but they still want £1100 in hard earned cash. That's real money, not these miles which are essentially worthless as we never have chance to spend them anyway.

So, we will probably just wait until their deceptive surcharges come down and pay less cash and use more miles. If we use miles at all, should be some good deals coming along on all airlines, and miles tend to be very restrictive in dates, which is expensive in itself.

[k3lvc]

OK so I was a few days wrong with my guess of surcharges reducing on 1st December - they held out until 17th Dec

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