British Airways Limits Partner Access to Reward Seats

[AFF Editor]

British Airways Limits Partner Access to Reward Seats is an article written by the AFF editorial team:

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

You can leave a comment or discuss this topic below.

 

[levelnine]

Interesting development. Alliances are becoming more and more segregated when it comes to award seat releases, it seems.

 

[Princess Fiona]

My newly minted BA Gold is going to come in very handy then !!!

 

[ChrisMars]

This industry trend is a terrible news and step backward for the oneworld alliance. No matter which currency and program you use, this trends makes it harder and harder to book around the world awards, or awards that requires connections with different airlines.

 

[SydneySwan]

It is getting harder and harder to book a OWA.

 

[Fifi2207]

It is getting harder and harder to book a OWA.

I second that having just spent 120 minutes on phone the last two days trying to get to and from Europe ( anywhere anyway!) for August24
I see flights phone up and Hobart can’t see same availability - so annoying.
Surely new CEO must sort this as points is part of their balance sheet! Europe is a no go zone in business rewards.

 

[levelnine]

I wish BA would drop the cost of their SYD-SIN-LHR J seats to the same cost as Qatar redemptions to Europe. 144K Avios + $600+ taxes simply isn't competitive.

 

[Ecco]

Qantas flights AU-US premium seats are virtually non existent on AS.
Not surprised that BA are doing this. I bought a whole lot of Finnair miles and then some on a BA subscription. Happy about this development.

 

[Fifi2207]

I wish BA would drop the cost of their SYD-SIN-LHR J seats to the same cost as Qatar redemptions to Europe. 144K Avios + $600+ taxes simply isn't competitive.

Qantas flights AU-US premium seats are virtually non existent on AS.
Not surprised that BA are doing this. I bought a whole lot of Finnair miles and then some on a BA subscription. Happy about this development.

This industry trend is a terrible news and step backward for the oneworld alliance. No matter which currency and program you use, this trends makes it harder and harder to book around the world awards, or awards that requires connections with different airlines.

Today the Qantas rep in Hobart told me Qatar are no more for reward seats

 

[henrus]

I’ve actually got no problem against this. Yes it’s annoying but other airlines across oneworld have been doing this (including Qantas) so I agree with BA and don’t see why their members should suffer.

As a newly minted QF platinum the differences are clear, I can see a lot more QF award space and have been able to request and successfully get award seats in the cabin/flights I actually want. You’d be annoyed as a BA Gold (OWE) if people who’d acquired Qantas points over 5 years of supermarket shopping and haven’t been on a plane in years beat you to those guaranteed seats.

 

[andye]

It was always pretty hard to get value on BA with QF points anyway. Hefty carrier charges and no reward flight saver option

 

[SYD]

Yet, apparently there’s a shedload of BA seats SYD-SIN.

BA club suites for SYD

How'd it go? No win here! Hasn't even come up on my activity statement in any form...

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

I can replicate the availability searching 4x premium seats. There’s a drop off over Dec / Jan as you’d expect but they seem to come back from late Jan.

 

[Fifi2207]

I’ve actually got no problem against this. Yes it’s annoying but other airlines across oneworld have been doing this (including Qantas) so I agree with BA and don’t see why their members should suffer.

As a newly minted QF platinum the differences are clear, I can see a lot more QF award space and have been able to request and successfully get award seats in the cabin/flights I actually want. You’d be annoyed as a BA Gold (OWE) if people who’d acquired Qantas points over 5 years of supermarket shopping and haven’t been on a plane in years beat you to those guaranteed seats.

Whoa, you’ve been really lucky in regards to requests. I’ve been platinum ( solely through flying) for 11 years and could count on one hand reward seats opening. Today the customer service in Hobart explained it all to me. Must be a Qantas seat sale on. Must be economy and premium still left for sale and ONCE sales seats are gone no more requests accepted.

 

[Danger]

This industry trend is a terrible news and step backward for the oneworld alliance. No matter which currency and program you use, this trends makes it harder and harder to book around the world awards, or awards that requires connections with different airlines.

I agree. This is another sign that alliances of old are no longer what God intended. Perhaps Emirates and Etihad have had it right all along.

 

[NamarrgonFlyer]

Only could find AF Business from Sao Paulo to Singapore via Paris for May next year on QF Rewards.

Should be heaps of Qatar OW availability!

What a shambles!!

 

[Mwenenzi]

Has anyone, with QR avois/status, checked if Qatar QR frequent flyers have the same lesser award availability compared to BA frequent flyers?

British Airways Limits Partner Access to Reward Seats is an article written by the AFF editorial team:

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

You can leave a comment or discuss this topic below.

From the article

How to get British Airways Avios

Australians can access British Airways Avios, albeit in a roundabout way.

Other than crediting Oneworld flights to Executive Club, one option is to buy Avios. British Airways sells Avios with regular discounts available, as well as via subscriptions.

If you have American Express Membership Rewards points, you can also now convert those into Qatar Airways Privilege Club Avios. You could then transfer your Qatar Airways Avios into your British Airways Executive Club account at a 1:1 ratio.

Diners Club Rewards and CommBank Awards points, as well as Citi Rewards points earned with a Citi Prestige card, can also be transferred to Qatar Airways Privilege Club.

The avios ff currency is used by BA, IB, IE & QR.
In 2024 AY will start to use avios. But the detailed t&c's yet to published.
Avios, but not status, can be transferred from 1 airline ffp to another airline ffp, subject to t&c's.

In Au can avios on many fights. But check the fare booking class and t&c's's.
Fly QF credit to BA. Crediting to Qatar QR far less rewarding.
Fly VA credit to QR, then transfer 1:1 to BAEC.

 

[jase05]

Very happy to have dropped QFF and moved to BAEC
The IAG/Avios crew are starting to put a nice little cartel together
I figured something must be going on as trying to burn some of my remaining QFF points in the ME and awards started dropping off a couple of weeks ago yet plenty of availability on QR and BA.

 

[Mwenenzi]

Very happy to have dropped QFF and moved to BAEC
The IAG/Avios crew are starting to put a nice little cartel together
I figured something must be going on as trying to burn some of my remaining QFF points in the ME and awards started dropping off a couple of weeks ago yet plenty of availability on QR and BA.

Have you/can you regularly fly the required 2-4 BA-IB flights for BA status?
IB ffp does not have the "own" flights rule.

 

[jase05]

Have you/can you regularly fly the required 2-4 BA-IB flights for BA status?
IB ffp does not have the "own" flights rule.

We try to get to Europe every second year at worst. When we can’t I’ll look at ADL-SYD-SIN on BA or like this year I’ll just drop a level which is no biggie

 

[mt4789]

Seems fair, QF did the same to BA many yonks ago. If every OW partner does this then it will be very difficult to book OW redemptions. Is the writing on the wall for the Oneworld multi-partner redemption pricing?