Questions and Answers

Hi Lucky and forum,

Me and my family is going to relocate London – Dallas in June-July this year. It was decided to fly in Business class to make this experience more pleasant.
So now I’m wondering what could be the best option.
My thoughts were about buying Avios for cash and take a reward flight on BA. It will cost about 130k avios + GBP 680. The question is what is the best option to buy avios apart from directly buy 100k for GBP 1,615 (I have the rest 30k already)? Are you expecting any sales of avios like the one in December last year?

Other options are always welcome!

Regards,
Mario

Mario, could you position your family to Dublin? There are some excellent fares out of Ireland if that’s an option for you, and then you can just pay cash for tickets.

I made a dummy booking from Dublin to Dallas in July, and actually a return flight in December (assuming maybe you’d go back to London for the holidays?). Roundtrip, that’s only GBP 1800.

I know it may seem backwards to position to Dublin, but at that price it’d be hard to beat for me.

Welcome to the States!

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Welcome [USER=3102]@Elmari0[/USER] – [USER=1436]@rickyw[/USER]’s suggestion of flying out of Dublin is a good one. Yes, it’s an extra stop but you’d actually be earning miles on the flight for the same amount of money (or less) than purchasing the Avios and paying the taxes/fees that go along with it. But I guess it depends on your particular situation.

[QUOTE=”rickyw, post: 30169, member: 1436″]Mario, could you position your family to Dublin? There are some excellent fares out of Ireland if that’s an option for you, and then you can just pay cash for tickets.

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Thank you for your reply [USER=1436]@rickyw[/USER]. I’m not sure to be honest if this could be an option for us.
Just few things to consider: We are non UK/EU nationals and will probably require a visa to change flight in Dublin (however I’m not sure here, may be you know?)

Also I’ve checked that direct business London-Dublin 1 way is GBP 366 so together it comes as GBP 1902 vs. 65k avios (could be bought for 1049.75) + GBP 389 fee = GBP 1439. So the difference looks quite substantial. Maybe I’m not taking something into account? Miles earned for the flight? Return ticket value? – Just don’t see it as my home city is Moscow, so not sure travelling to London could match my plans.

I was too quick to redeem my companion voucher as we are planning to have a trip back home on economy one way and return in business. However the flight is in May only so potentially I could cancel and redeem the voucher for this more expensive transcontinental flight what do you think?

[QUOTE=”rickyw, post: 30169, member: 1436″]

Welcome to the States!

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Many thanks!
May I ask what site is the best for searches like this? I’m using Skyscanner.net is it the same thing or not?

[QUOTE=”MidSouth Skier, post: 30172, member: 184″]Welcome [USER=3102]@Elmari0[/USER] – [USER=1436]@rickyw[/USER]’s suggestion of flying out of Dublin is a good one. Yes, it’s an extra stop but you’d actually be earning miles on the flight for the same amount of money (or less) than purchasing the Avios and paying the taxes/fees that go along with it. But I guess it depends on your particular situation.[/QUOTE]

Thank you so much! How much miles could I acquire for this kind of flights? I was under impression that if i’m booking via 3rd party sites I’ll not actually collect any miles 🙂

It would depend on what fare class you booked and what airline(s) you were flying and where you were crediting the miles. Am curious as to why you’d book via a 3rd party site? The general rule is not to do that unless you’re saving a ton of money exactly because you may not earn miles and it’s also more trouble in case of irregular operations.

Also, if you’re considering flying on award tickets you need to be flexible with your dates/times. Some flights have very few award seats in premium cabins so you need to keep that in mind especially if you’re going to need more than two seats.

[QUOTE=”Elmari0, post: 30185, member: 3102″]Many thanks!
May I ask what site is the best for searches like this? I’m using Skyscanner.net is it the same thing or not?[/QUOTE]

That was found via Google Flights, which then directed me straight to the British Airways site.

Regarding positioning to Dublin, I don’t personally see any value in booking business class. It is just over a 1 hour flight, so the extra benefits aren’t really there for me. AerLingus regularly has $50 one way tickets to Dublin. For one hour, I’d ‘rough’ it in economy at that price 😉

But yes, you are correct. I assumed you had family in London, so at some point you would want to return there even for a visit. If that’s not the case, then it may not make as much sense. But yes, the miles earned could be substantial depending on where you credit and what fare class you end up booking.

The tickets are not as cheap, but I just looked at Dublin to Dallas in June, returning Dallas to Moscow around Christmas and it is around $2,500 USD. That’s not a bad price either.

For many reasons these days, Dublin is just a great place for cheap, premium cabin tickets (regardless of where you end your journey, as long as you start in Ireland). And since it’s a quick one hour flight from London, I thought it might be a good option. Not trying to dissuade you from redeeming those miles, but as Mid-South points out, you’re limited by availability. Paying cash opens up a lot more options if it’s in your budget

[QUOTE=”rickyw, post: 30191, member: 1436″]Regarding positioning to Dublin, I don’t personally see any value in booking business class. It is just over a 1 hour flight, so the extra benefits aren’t really there for me. AerLingus regularly has $50 one way tickets to Dublin. For one hour, I’d ‘rough’ it in economy at that price 😉
[/QUOTE]

Agree 🙂
The only question: is it possible for me to position to Dublin without a visa? Assume I would have to pass the border?

One more question: return flight is always cheaper than one-way. Could I buy a return and skip 2nd flight?

What kind of passport do you have? Most European passports wouldn’t need a visa for Dublin.

And yes you can buy a return and ‘throwaway’ the return. You just won’t earn any miles for it at all. But please do NOT this often!

[QUOTE=”David W, post: 30238, member: 29″]What kind of passport do you have? Most European passports wouldn’t need a visa for Dublin.

And yes you can buy a return and ‘throwaway’ the return. You just won’t earn any miles for it at all. But please do NOT this often![/QUOTE]

Mine is Russian. Have just checked, as I’m res in UK I’ll need Irish visa, however it will be free of fees. So maybe it worth to apply just in case.

Russia nor the UK is listed as needing a transit visa to pass through Ireland

[URL]http://www.inis.gov.ie/en/INIS/Pages/Transit%20visas[/URL]

Hi again MidSouth Skier / Rickyw / David W,

[QUOTE=”MidSouth Skier, post: 30187, member: 184″]The general rule is not to do that unless you’re saving a ton of money exactly because you may not earn miles and it’s also more trouble in case of irregular operations.[/QUOTE]

I’ve found combo flight by BA which costs $6767 on official site, while Expedia prices exactly the same as $6086. If I’m going ahead with Expedia does that mean that I’m not eligible for any avios and won’t be able to change my meal type even if I’m business passenger or maybe there are some options?
Does it worth trying to call BA and ask if they could price match this offer as the booking is quite costly?

Thank you so much!

Hi [USER=3102]@Elmari0[/USER], have you considered positioning yourself to Moscow? I am not sure how many people are travelling with you, but a round trip from DME-DFW costs circa. $2,400 (GPB 1,900) per person in Lufthansa/United business class. That way you could use the inbound leg for your next holidays in Moscow.

I used Google Flights too, which redirects you to Lufthansa. [URL=’https://www.google.de/flights/#search;f=SVO,DME,VKO,ZIA,JQO,XRK,ZKD,2G1,2G3,2G5;t=DFW,DAL;d=2017-07-06;r=2017-12-24;sel=DMEFRA0LH1449-FRADFW1LH438,DFWIAH0UA3614-IAHFRA0UA46-FRADME1LH1452;sc=b;q=moscow-dallas’]Here is the link of the where the flight price is coming from[/URL].

Good luck!

[QUOTE=”Elmari0, post: 30303, member: 3102″]Hi again MidSouth Skier / Rickyw / David W,

I’ve found combo flight by BA which costs $6767 on official site, while Expedia prices exactly the same as $6086. If I’m going ahead with Expedia does that mean that I’m not eligible for any avios and won’t be able to change my meal type even if I’m business passenger or maybe there are some options?
Does it worth trying to call BA and ask if they could price match this offer as the booking is quite costly?

Thank you so much![/QUOTE]

You would still earn Avios for the flight…. are you able to see the fare class code on Expedia?

The only downside to booking through Expedia and not direct with BA is it may be more difficult to change your ticket in case of irregular operations during your trip. But, I would assume as a paying business class customer, those issues would be minimal. Usually it’s only bad on super discounted economy fares, in my experience

[QUOTE=”Ben Holz, post: 30304, member: 1601″]Hi [USER=3102]@Elmari0[/USER], have you considered positioning yourself to Moscow? I am not sure how many people are travelling with you, but a round trip from DME-DFW costs circa. $2,400 (GPB 1,900) per person in Lufthansa/United business class. That way you could use the inbound leg for your next holidays in Moscow.

I used Google Flights too, which redirects you to Lufthansa. [URL=’https://www.google.de/flights/#search;f=SVO,DME,VKO,ZIA,JQO,XRK,ZKD,2G1,2G3,2G5;t=DFW,DAL;d=2017-07-06;r=2017-12-24;sel=DMEFRA0LH1449-FRADFW1LH438,DFWIAH0UA3614-IAHFRA0UA46-FRADME1LH1452;sc=b;q=moscow-dallas’]Here is the link of the where the flight price is coming from[/URL].

Good luck![/QUOTE]

I’m considering to fly directly from London, however I’ve already bought London – Moscow return flight for May. So my idea is to connect this 2 legs with the final LHR-DFW. I found that the price is quite ok ($6086 for 2 of us)
Alternatively I found direct flight for $5100 for 2.

Now I have to decide what has more value for me: $1000 vs (50k avios + companion voucher + upgrade to business for 1 leg of our Moscow flight).

To be honest I think companion voucher expiring in Jan 2018 could represent a lot of value, however I have no idea how to extract this value being positioned in Dallas… May be you could advise?

[QUOTE=”rickyw, post: 30306, member: 1436″]You would still earn Avios for the flight…. are you able to see the fare class code on Expedia?

The only downside to booking through Expedia and not direct with BA is it may be more difficult to change your ticket in case of irregular operations during your trip. But, I would assume as a paying business class customer, those issues would be minimal. Usually it’s only bad on super discounted economy fares, in my experience[/QUOTE]

Expedia says Business under each leg of the flight. Thank you for the explanation!

Do you know what is the cost for you to upgrade the London to Moscow route? From looking at [U][URL=’http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2015/09/20/upgrade-british-airways-avios/’]this post from Tiffany[/URL][/U], I [I]think[/I] that it would cost you 20,000 Avios per person. That would sum up your total cost to 90,000 Avios. [URL=’http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/value-miles-points/’]Ben values Avios at around $0.013[/URL] (though you may find them more or less valuable), in which case that would translate into $1,170 and the companion voucher.

Do you think it’s worth it to spend the extra 40,000 Avios on a 5-hour flight? If so and if I were in your position, then I would probably go with the $1,000 option. However, if not, I would go with the 50k Avios + companion voucher.

Nonetheless, you should consider what use you would give to those miles in the near future and if the value you would otherwise extract from them would be worth it. But since you don’t intend to travel to the UK, I would just pay the miles and voucher.

P.s. someone else can chime in to give their opinions

Can’t tell if you’ve factored in the taxes/fees you’ll have to pay when you use the voucher but didn’t want you to forget that.

Oops, didn’t… BA seems to charge ≈$80 in surcharges per ticket in Y.

Right and it can be $400-450 in premium cabins.

[QUOTE=”MidSouth Skier, post: 30337, member: 184″]Right and it can be $400-450 in premium cabins.[/QUOTE]
London – Moscow is still treated as European route by BA so they charge flat GBP50 fee for return in business.