In late June I wrote about the glitch whereby the British Airways Executive Club website wasn’t showing Avios award space for travel on American.
That was a real bummer, given that British Airways has a distance based award chart, and one of the best uses of Avios is for short-haul travel on American. Shorthaul travel on American starts at just 4,500 Avios one-way, which is a heck of a value.
To me there were two things that were especially disappointing about this “glitch:”
- It wasn’t fixed for weeks… which is a long time
- There was no notice on the BA website about the glitch, so unless you’re “in the know,” you had no way to even know there was a glitch
The space was technically bookable through the British Airways Executive Club call center. However, the agents typically couldn’t initially see the correct space as being available, since it didn’t come up automatically. Instead it required manually going in and trying to find the flights. Sometimes this required hanging up and calling again, which can be a challenge, given British Airways’ horrendous hold times.
Anyway, there’s finally some good news — American award space using Avios is once again bookable through the British Airways website.
As you’d expect, British Airways Executive Club members should have access to the same amount of saver level award space that American makes available to their own AAdvantage members.
That’s great news, and truly long overdue.
(Tip of the hat to View from the Wing)
It may just be me, but this seems broken again. Has anyone used it recently? I see saver awards on aa for domestic travel but they don't show up on the ba site using the same airports/dates/classes. I also don't see aanytime awards on the ba site for another trip.
hey lucky unrelated but do you know of a list where delta offers awards at 10k like nyc-clt tpa-atl and others
@ dov bennish -- I don't think an actual list is published, unfortunately.
Hi Ben, question on a slightly tangential topic: I recall that when BA devalued their award chart earlier this year, they promised to offer at least 2 award seats (business class) on every flight when the booking window opened. I've been checking on many of their west coast - LHR flights (e.g., LAX, SFO) and this is definitely not the case. I wonder if you've noticed any positive changes in their award availability since the...
Hi Ben, question on a slightly tangential topic: I recall that when BA devalued their award chart earlier this year, they promised to offer at least 2 award seats (business class) on every flight when the booking window opened. I've been checking on many of their west coast - LHR flights (e.g., LAX, SFO) and this is definitely not the case. I wonder if you've noticed any positive changes in their award availability since the devaluation occurred? It doesn't seem to have improved substantially and the vast majority of their available biz or 1st class award seats that I see seem to be from east coast cities.
@ Tom T -- Great question. Hmmmm, I have been seeing space on most flights 355 days out, though it seems to get snagged up before the American booking window even opens. Are you looking for space using Avios or AAdvantage miles? I'll do some further research, but for the most part it does seem like they're making those two seats available.
Hi Ben,
You are my favorite travel blogger.
If you do not include author signatures in your article titles going forward I will unsubscribe and I'll be a former reader.
"You are smoking some serious crack" if you do not think your readers can recognize the difference between your polished easy-going fluid and funny prose relative to the new authors that you have taken under your wing.
@ John T -- Thanks for reading and for the feedback. Out of curiosity, how are you accessing the site/articles? On the main page of the blog (before we even have to click on an article) you can see who it was written by.
Hi Lucky,
Thank you for the question.
I receive emails: "FeedBlitz ; on behalf of; One Mile at a Time " which do not include bylines.
FT was fun for awhile but like drinking from a fire hydrant. Your blog has been fun, like drinking pure water from a tap. Your distillations save time and entertain me, helping me avoid "off" or smelly water sources (time wasters).
I'll go ahead and unsubscribe to the emails and just visit your blog occasionally.
@JW HPN
AA business in 2 class cabin always shows up as first pricing for Avios, so it's practically never a reasonable price.
Now how can I book domestic business class on an AA regional jet that's pricing as 1st class in Avios? Because of the distance, it's pricing at 30k Avios one way. which for a NYC-ORD direct flight is not a good use of points.
@ JW HPN -- Since American codes it as first class, you're unfortunately out of luck. There's no way to pay the business class price.
Now kindly ask them to add Alaska flights to their online booking capabilities.
actually like i mentioned previously awards were bookable on AA/US on another version of BAs site and also on the us version if the correct cookie was forced. They just fixed their latest cookie that helps display space. My guess is because of phantom seats that have been sold on flights that were not available on AA(as I have observed obviously)