James has a request and suggestion I think would make a great blog topic. He wants to talk about ways to use our new found BA miles. Here is his email and please feel free to post your suggestions in the comments section for everyone to see…
I haven’t been reading much…because there just haven’t been the number of promos out there. Hope all is well with you. Was thinking it might be nice to see what inventive deals people had come up with for BA miles.
Want to go “last minute” to Hawaii to take advantage of shoulder season weather or spring break? Thought I’d give a heads up for those who took advantage of the BA Visa offer… American Airlines is now charging 22.5k for one-way “peak season” travel to and from Hawaii, which ends in late August. BA charges 17.5k miles each way in economy all year. There isn’t a whole lot of availability from the east coast to, say LIH, but dates abound for west coast connecting cities thru LAX are much better. You can find availability on aa.com for each direction at the 22.5k level, then logon to your BA account at the BA.com Executive Club homepage to book with BA miles by typing departure and destination airports. When a message comes up saying “British Airways does not fly all or part of this route”, click on the “Include Partners” button, and partner flight information for AA flights should appear. There are no additional fees (above what AA would charge online) for doing this, and unlike American, there is no 1-21 days out booking fee per ticket. (7-21 days: $50 for 1st ticket, $25 for add’l on same res.; 1-6 days: $100 for 1st ticket, $25 for add’l. on same res.).
For our family of 3, it would take 30,000 more AA miles than BA miles to make this trip before August. If we wanted to travel within 21 days, it would cost an extra $100-$150 dollars.
I’d love to see other deals for BA miles as well, rather than read through the 100+ page FT thread.
Also love that BA miles could be used on AS for airfare to Alaska where airfares from the west coast are running $550+
Keep posting!
James
And another tip from James:
Need an award flight to Bermuda? Looks like BA considers Bermuda within North America on their award chart – AA does not – yet another 10k round trip savings in coach (25k vs 35k) or Business (50k vs 60k).
http://www.britishairways.
