Award seats on BA using QFF points

[RooFlyer]

Haven't tried this for a while, so way out practice.

I was looking for a Business Award seat using QFF points on BA LGW-ACE and return LPA-LGW in June (destination is the Canary Islands).

Using my BAEC log-on, it shows 4 biz seats on outbound, and 2 on the inbound (unfortunately my avios balance is low). The Qantas web site errors out (again), so I called. I think I got Hobart and they said no seats for those dates +/- at least a week.

@Mattg or @JessicaTam , if BA shows availability, would you usually expect that availability to show up for Qantas FF as well?

Should I call again?

Do you know if the call centre can tell the difference between no seats being made available to Qantas, and 'available seats all gone'?

On a slightly related note, do you know if Alaskan awards are going to be expanded across OneWorld anytime soon? I have heaps of Alaskan miles, but it currently wants to put me on Air Lingus and quite expensively.

 

[Mattg]

No, those seats won't be available to book as QFF awards. This is why:

British Airways Limits Partner Access to Reward Seats

British Airways is now only releasing a small subset of award availability on its own flights to members of partner airlines.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

 

[Mattg]

On a slightly related note, do you know if Alaskan awards are going to be expanded across OneWorld anytime soon? I have heaps of Alaskan miles, but it currently wants to put me on Air Lingus and quite expensively.

On this question - Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan has expanded its award seat offering to all Oneworld airlines. It's quite possible there's just no availability on the routes you're looking at for the same reason that QFF doesn't have access to the seats.

 

[Princess Fiona]

Haven't tried this for a while, so way out practice.

I was looking for a Business Award seat using QFF points on BA LGW-ACE and return LPA-LGW in June (destination is the Canary Islands).

Using my BAEC log-on, it shows 4 biz seats on outbound, and 2 on the inbound (unfortunately my avios balance is low). The Qantas web site errors out (again), so I called. I think I got Hobart and they said no seats for those dates +/- at least a week.

@Mattg or @JessicaTam , if BA shows availability, would you usually expect that availability to show up for Qantas FF as well?

Should I call again?

Do you know if the call centre can tell the difference between no seats being made available to Qantas, and 'available seats all gone'?

On a slightly related note, do you know if Alaskan awards are going to be expanded across OneWorld anytime soon? I have heaps of Alaskan miles, but it currently wants to put me on Air Lingus and quite expensively.

In my experience BA restricts some Awards to their own FF program.
As an example I redeemed Avios for CE flights at a brilliant redemption rate 20.8 cents per Avios.
These awards weren’t available to book on either QF or AA

 

[RooFlyer]

Thanks both.

Arrrgh. Must get my avios balance up - I was going to take a subscription earlier this year but chickened out.

As an idle exercise, I compared the cost of buying avios (with no bonus) Vs buying the fares.

LGW-ACE, LPA-LGW
Business fare GBP670
Avios fare 51,500

To buy 50K avios - GBP899.

Wow. I didn't appreciate just how bad the value buying avios from BA without a bonus is. Even though they say 'top up', offering up to 200,000 avios is hardly a top-up.

 

[Princess Fiona]

Thanks both.

Arrrgh. Must get my avios balance up - I was going to take a subscription earlier this year but chickened out.

As an idle exercise, I compared the cost of buying avios (with no bonus) Vs buying the fares.

LGW-ACE, LPA-LGW
Business fare GBP670
Avios fare 51,500

To buy 50K avios - GBP899.

Wow. I didn't appreciate just how bad the value buying avios from BA without a bonus is. Even though they say 'top up', offering up to 200,000 avios is hardly a top-up.

Have you considered crediting to BA instead of QF ? (Edited )
I send all my low earners for QFF to BAEC instead eg DOH to Europe .

 

[aaa99]

Finnair is currently having an avios sale. And I am pretty sure you can transfer the Avios then to BA avios at 1:1.

Buy Finnair Plus Avios For 50% Off (1.14 Cents Each)

The Finnair Plus program is offering a 50% discount on purchased Avios. Is this a promotion that's worth it? Here's the math.

onemileatatime.com

 

[RooFlyer]

Finnair is currently having an avios sale. And I am pretty sure you can transfer the Avios then to BA avios at 1:1.

Buy Finnair Plus Avios For 50% Off (1.14 Cents Each)

The Finnair Plus program is offering a 50% discount on purchased Avios. Is this a promotion that's worth it? Here's the math.

onemileatatime.com

Thanks! That's good value and now cheaper than cash fare.

Have you considered crediting to BA instead of QF ? (Edited )
I send all my low earners for QFF to BAEC instead eg DOH to Europe .

No, but I must!