 Poster: A snowHead
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I am contemplating converting my Tesco clubcard points to Avios points to get some half term flights. However before I do that I want to find out what it would really cost me and if there are any available. Is there a way I can do that without signing in?
I have got a number avios points required for business class which I recall somebody on here saying it isn't worth using them for normal seats? Is that correct But don't have quite enough points for the 4 flights I would need, so I would need to pay £25 + taxes etc but don't know what those actually are but I also don't know if I would get any seats?
What else do I need to know?
Thanks
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I've only used Avios points to get money off some off-season Genoa flights. From what I've read the chances of using Avios for half term flights are vanishingly small. But I'm no expert.
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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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Half term ? Good luck @NickyJ. That's not meant to be unhelpful, just that IME, flights that you can book using Avios on any high demand routes or at peak times are pretty rare.
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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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@NickyJ,
I have both an Avios and BA executive club account. You can transfer Avios freely between accounts. It seems to me that sometimes flights are available on one but not the other.
I don't know of a way of checking availability without trying to book. As @Timberwolf suggests, availability at peak times seems very limited. I have been lucky enough to get them for mid-week at Christmas, and I think last Easter was on Avios as well.
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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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This is what I feared, which is why I don't want to buy the Avios points and discover they are useless!
If anybody could check Heathrow to Sofia?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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You can set up a BA exec club account online and check flight availability even without having Avios. You'll probably need that at some stage anyway to manage your bookings, so might as well do it now.
Assuming you're looking at 13 Feb out and 20 back then there's no availability in economy. There are 2 club seats out on Sun 14th and back Fri 19th or Mon 22nd but nothing back in any class sat/sun.
Seats are released 355 days before. For LHR/GVA most of them had gone within a few minutes of release at half term. Then again, last season they released more nearer the date and I snaffled a few.
You do have to be quite disciplined - my most recent one required getting up at 6am after trying from midnight to 1am to call various overseas BA offices!
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BA releases award seat availability each day around about 1.30am. If you are trying to get seats on popular holiday routes during school holidays staying up late and then hitting refresh repeatedly around that time frame is the best way to get tickets.
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@snowdave, thanks for looking, and we are a family of 4. Oh well. We can get good prices for Mon - Mon on Bulgarian air but that will mean taking girls out of school for 1 day. At least it is below the report / fine threshold, I guess.
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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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@rob@rar, how does that work? Presumebly the don't do that every day on every route ?
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@NickyJ, they do, on a rolling basis. As snowdave said, BA release award seats 355 days out. So if you are fixed to a set date, such as the Saturday of half-term, the best strategy is to work out 355 days prior to this and then start checking for seats to be released any time from about 1am onwards. It's complicated by the fact that return seats are also released 355 days out, so you need to work out a strategy for getting those booked as well. It's a pain, but for some routes (Orlando in school holidays, for example) all the reward seats are usually snapped up within a few hours of being released, no more than a couple of days. Other routes with high capacity, JFK or BOS for example, have much more availability and don't need so much or a rigmarole to get award seats in school holidays.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I think its now midnight that seats get released, at least it has been for me the last few times.
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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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Ah I understand now,thanks for the clarification.
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| snowdave wrote: |
| I think its now midnight that seats get released, at least it has been for me the last few times. |
Good to know. I spent several days on the spin last year staying up until 2am waiting for First seats to Miami to be released for August this year. Got the seats we wanted eventually, with a little bit of date jiggling, but it seemed like a slightly mad way to do business!
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You know it makes sense.
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I had some BMI Diamond Club points which got transferred over to Avios points a couple of years ago when BA took over BMI. I got an email from BA last week saying that my Avios points were about to expire next month. As I didn't have any plans for booking a BA flight in the near future rather than just lose the points I was able to use them to order a crate of 12 assorted bottles of wine, which arrived very promptly yesterday. I've just tried one of the bottles, and it wasn't at all bad. Better than just losing the points for no benefit! 
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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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@Alastair Pink,
Avios don't expire if you keep earning them, BA tier point do though.
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Your Avios stay with you as long as you collect, spend, purchase or share at least one Avios every 36 months — any longer and your Avios will expire and be removed, so remember to take action before those three years are up. There are lots of simple ways to ensure you'll never lose the Avios you collect.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Since British Airways closed most route from the rest of the UK to become effectively London Airways my avios started acculalting a quite a rate, but Monarch and Flybe now honour them and have lots more availabilty. I have used them for a weekend in Rome. Flybe had quite a lot of availability to Chembery this winter but their flights just wern't confenient.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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booked 4seats lhr denver direct return fights for next feb using my avios and only had to pay the tax. saved me about 2K so i am well pleased - only got a few avios points left now though. I did book this before the BA changes to avios points and each seat was 50,000pts and under the new scheme it is only 42,500 for the same flight - i did however get the last 4 seats that were available when i booked so i cant complain to much.
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FAQ
