 Poster: A snowHead
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@jedster, I didn’t think those legs had been released yet?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@jedster, there’s 2 things going on...
1. The site is flakey and does this from time to time (did it to me at 6.30am today but was fine by 730).
2. You are probably trying to book for flights that aren’t released yet. You can check by doing an initial booking for earlier dates but not going through to the end (I.e. getting to “select flights” stage and cancelling). Give it another week and the half term return leg will be released.
Despite my comments earlier about booking early, I’m sure you’ll be ok leaving it a few weeks to book the half term flights. I just like to select the best seats which is an added benefit of very early booking!
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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@snowdave, thanks but I've tried what you suggest on earlier dates with the same results
tried it 10 times this evening and still getting the try again in 15 mins message - seems pretty dodgy
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Yeah, it was very problematic yesterday evening as well, but eventually worked ok this morning for me to book mine.
To be fair to optiontown, ba’s own website has been very troublesome today which might be part of it.
Edited to add - I’ve got 24 flights booked with them for next season, so clearly the website glitches haven’t put me off yet!
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@jedster, playing up for me again this morning - if you need something urgently it’s worth calling or emailing them, they’ve always been responsive in the past.
However, bear in mind the flight release schedule is t+355 so no point trying to book anything beyond about 17 Feb 2020 at present.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Slight problem is Heathrow is the only place they seem to fly to from Edinburgh
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| snowdave wrote: |
@jedster, playing up for me again this morning - if you need something urgently it’s worth calling or emailing them, they’ve always been responsive in the past.
However, bear in mind the flight release schedule is t+355 so no point trying to book anything beyond about 17 Feb 2020 at present. |
+1 my sister was having trouble selecting the flights for her son as his passport had expired so the website wouldn’t let her do it. She phoned them up and they were able to get them booked.
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I got through on the phone today and- sod's law - finally got access to the website as I was speaking to them.
Point take about t+355.
If the website goes down just when I need to book HT flights (about 4 days time) and they don't sort it out by phone then I'm going to raise merry hell via AMEX!!!
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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BTW on the T+355, it's funny that their website is good at "greying out" dates where your pass is not valid or returns before your outward leg but doesn't greyout dates that haven't been released yet. The BA site greysout unrelaased dates.
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@jedster, they won’t sell out for half term in the first few days, it took months to sell out this year. What usually happens is that BA starts the official price at £400 each way (that’s the current price of a oneway outbound for the first Saturday of half term), then reduces over time. As a result, the only people who book that early are avios users and a handful of flight pass holders.
The optiontown site is by no means a triumph of IT!
Which pass option did you go for?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Sat-sat (15-22 Feb) flights now available and website working well this morning. Sunday 23 return flights go on sale overnight tonight.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Secured 3 Avios flights at 0001 for our half term return
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If anybody is also looking for car rental for half term I also booked yesterday a Grand Picasso (Automatic) through Auto Europe for £226, which I thought was a decent price for a large vehicle.
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You know it makes sense.
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@muppet, Avis and budget direct prices also quite good, tho without the free cancellation that you get from the brokers.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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This seems crazy - so let me get it straight in my head...
I'm looking at Heathrow-Geneva, for 4pax. 16 flights (2 return trips) is coming in at around £1349 total, with 6 month booking window, bookable over 90 days in advance.
This would give me 2 trips and could include Christmas/NY, Feb Half Term or Easter hols. Clearly could be booked up, but in reality, I'd be booking very early, so is there any reason why I couldn't get Feb half term and also Easter on this deal?
Seems a cracking deal to me.
Any thoughts, or confirmation that, in theory, my figures are right?
Cheers
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Poster: A snowHead
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@SHAP, this is what we did for this season. We have flown our Half term flights and have the Easter ones booked and go in 5 and a bit weeks!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@NickyJ, Thanks. Seems to go to be true, given that half term on it's own is around £400pp min, and BA are much higher. £1349 for 2 peak season trips looks like a winner.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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@SHAP, yup, that’s why I flagged this opportunity! I’ve used 16 flights this season, and have booked 24 for next, for some, I’ve paid more than the normal price, but for others I’ve paid massively less.
The real bargains are the Gatwick - Geneva flights, which are much cheaper then Heathrow. Furthermore, if it’s useful for you, it’s about £30-40 more per person for fully flexible flights, which is great if your plans change. I’ve paid about £1600 for 24 fully flex flights for 4 different people. Three holidays for the price of one!
I used the flights for Xmas/new year and Feb half term this year. There’s no blackout dates and full availability. If there’s an economy class seat available on the plane, irrespective of price, you can book it.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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It does look a good deal in principle.
What happens in the event a flight is cancelled. Assume you have to seek a refund from Optiontown not BA ?
But then do then optiontown refund you cash or re-credit you the flights - but then you may not be able to reuse your re-credited flights within your booking window and you could end up having paid for flights you couldn't use ?
I ask from practical experience of BA cancelling my 8am flight from LGW-LYS on the day. They offered an alternative later that evening to GNB but it didn't make sense (I had overnight hotels booked in LYS and car hire that I could cancel but not switch, and re-booking car hire for pick up later that day in GNB was 3-4 times the normal price). In the event I took a refund and drove down via the tunnel, but I wonder what would have happened if I'd been using a flight pass ?
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@snowdave, Thanks very much. Gatwick is indeed cheaper - would save around £240. Not too worried about fully flex as we'd be stuck with school hols, but it's a pretty attractive option. £1109 for 2 return trips, hard to beat that I think.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Just to update on my experience so far. I did have problems getting on to the website yesterday. I spent a lot of time waiting on the phone for service too. When I finally got through, I didn't get quite the flights I wanted because they had sold out. This did make me a little grumpy! That said, it will only cost us an afternoon of skiing. I paid about £1350 for 18 flights LHR-GVA (4 fliers, over 3 months from dec 26, 2019, booked 90 days in advance). The 3 returns I have now booked would have cost £2400 on BA website. The remaining 6 returns therefore have cost me -£1000! I'll use 4 returns Boxing day/NY period and 2 more for a weekend TBD. The process is a bit painful but looks really worth the effort. I must of course make sure that I don't forget to make the other bookings 3 months ahead!
BTW I looked at car hire for HT immediately. I've booked a focus estate from GVA swiss side for the week for £215 that seems excellent value for money to me. Mind you, there was a Ford Galaxy for £286 which is an excellent deal if you need a lot of seats. Both Budget via rentalcars.com.
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@Gazzza,
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What happens in the event a flight is cancelled. Assume you have to seek a refund from Optiontown not BA ?
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I don't think that is right. As soon as you book flights you have bought a certain BA ticket class that obliges them to get you on an alternative flight if they cancel just like normal
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@jedster, which route / flights had sold out?
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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I haven’t seen anything LGW GVA that’s yet sold out for half term, so would also be interested to know.
Edited to add - just checked LHR GVA as well and can’t see anything sold out either. They are nearly all at full fare currently, so £8-900 return per person (!).
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All booked, LGW GVA out on 15 Feb, back on 23. All flights available at this point, nothing sold out.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Quote: |
@jedster, which route / flights had sold out?
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was the late flights back from GVA to LHR on Friday 21st
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Bought spurs for next year, and done this one with my parents making it even cheaper each. Halfterm flights are confirmed and second set ready for Easter again (though my parents will probably use theirs a bit later and do a spring visit to Italy. Rather naughtily they are charging £5 credit card surcharge.
It looks like they have added a field for gender which wasn’t there before and set every person to male as field can’t be null- fine except that field can’t be accessed via the edit screens! I created everybody else as new people but selected myself as I had changed my gender within my profile already... that is a separate gender field to that of me as a passenger! Had to phone them up spend a while convincing them what was wrong and they now say they have corrected it.
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Is it new or was it a case that I just didn’t notice it last time, only having 24hrs to add all the people to the flight pass?
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You know it makes sense.
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@NickyJ, I’m pretty sure that was the case last year, unless you take the “freedom option”.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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| snowdave wrote: |
| @NickyJ, I’m pretty sure that was the case last year, unless you take the “freedom option”. |
Obviously just missed it 
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Poster: A snowHead
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Just been on to BA app to check something and noticed that the flight we are booked on to Turin for half term is no longer returning when you search for it. Glad we got the the seats booked early!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@NickyJ, is that because the flight has been rescheduled or because it’s sold out already?
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| snowdave wrote: |
| @NickyJ, is that because the flight has been rescheduled or because it’s sold out already? |
Sold out already! To be fair I didnt reduce the number of people down to just one it was still left as out family of 4
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Just done this (for the first time) with friends too and, other than it being one of the worst thought out websites I've ever used, it worked.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Returning today from Venice on flightpass booked flights, only downside seems to be you can’t do free same day flight time changes.
We’re booked on the last flight tonight and will be able to take an earlier flight but the website refers you to your travel booking/agent for changes.
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@simonbaddeley, reading t&c O think you can change the flight (leg) for £20 per person (nb this is from memory so do check!) but obviously need to do so through Option City
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@simonbaddeley, yup, you opted for the cheaper tickets which don’t allow changes (I think in common with a BA basic fare). If you’d bought the more expensive ones you can change whenever you want, subject to availability. There’s lots of other BA tickets with the same restriction, e.g. the short haul leg of a long haul booking.
@NickyJ, is right that you can make some changes for a fee, but realistically if you think you’ll make changes, i think it better to spend about £40 per person more for the fully flexible flight pass. That has the added benefit (for those who care) of more tier points towards your BA status. One passenger with status on the booking is enough to get free seat selection and double baggage allowance for the entire party, so can be very worthwhile.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Thanks @NickyJ, @snowdave, it is a little deceptive as on the manage my booking page it does say same day time changes are allowed and free, it’s only when you click through that you’re referred to your agent. I did call optiontown up to check but they just quoted their standard ticket terms and the agent seemed to be struggling so gave up and settled for 4 hours in Venice - a general stroll around, early dinner and a water taxi to the airport wasn’t too much of a hardship!
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@snowdave, compared to 90days in advance verses the flexible, using the route we have purchased for next year it is more than double the cost?
@simonbaddeley, hard life
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FAQ
