Avios account closure

makemdano

Caz3121 wrote: »

this will be due to the flight times. There appears to be 2 flights a week
Saturday outbound leaves late enough for you to fly down from NCL and connect
Saturday return arrives back too late to connect
Wednesday outbound leaves too early from LHR to get there same day
Wednesday return is fine to connect back to NCL
Alternatively you would need a hotel in LHR or other arrangements to get there
Should be 15,000 Avios + £35 each if you qualify for RFS (same price for going NCL-LHR-OLB or just LHR-OLB)

Yes that's the issue so whichever option I take I need an overnight stay which adds to the cost and inconvenience. Apparantly you have to have the connecting flight booked for a time within 24 hours of the departure of the 2nd flight and due to the separation you have to book over the telephone. Another inconvenient (though understandable) disadvantage is that you have to collect your hold luggage and check it in the next day, unlike same day transfers which are loaded "plane to plane".

On a positive note, after raising the closure issue with Avios customer service, they have extended my closure date to March which takes the pressure off completely.

One thing to come out of all of this is a much better understanding on my part of how all this works so thanks for all the advice and comments. Either I put up with the idiosynchrasies or move to London!!

callum9999

makemdano wrote: »

Yes that's the issue so whichever option I take I need an overnight stay which adds to the cost and inconvenience. Apparantly you have to have the connecting flight booked for a time within 24 hours of the departure of the 2nd flight and due to the separation you have to book over the telephone. Another inconvenient (though understandable) disadvantage is that you have to collect your hold luggage and check it in the next day, unlike same day transfers which are loaded "plane to plane".

On a positive note, after raising the closure issue with Avios customer service, they have extended my closure date to March which takes the pressure off completely.

One thing to come out of all of this is a much better understanding on my part of how all this works so thanks for all the advice and comments. Either I put up with the idiosynchrasies or move to London!!

On Avios.com yes, on BA.com no - the gap between flights in London can be almost a year long (and done completely online - I left a 6 month gap on my last redemption).

Double check that it's not going to mess up the expiry date first (I wouldn't imagine it would, but I've never transferred avios that have had their expiry extended), but you can transfer them to BA.com for free.

You'd then however have to earn something in your BA.com account to get the reward flight saver though. Do you have anything left in the TCB account that could be transferred?

Caz3121

makemdano wrote: »

so whichever option I take I need an overnight stay which adds to the cost and inconvenience.

you can leave on a Saturday and return on a Wednesday without the need for any overnights
this means you can do 4 nights away, 11 nights away etc...not ideal but it is an option

Roger1

One element that the OP seems to have overlooked is that the life of Avios is only 3 years unless extended by further debits/credits - compare this with the life of Tesco Clubcard points which is just 2 years and is not generally extendable.

By converting Clubcard points to Avios, the OP has extended the effective life of his/her Clubcard points to up to 5 years.

Mine don't last so long.

makemdano

You'd then however have to earn something in your BA.com account to get the reward flight saver though. Do you have anything left in the TCB account that could be transferred?[/QUOTE]

I do have TCB left so can follow that up thanks

makemdano

Caz3121 wrote: »

you can leave on a Saturday and return on a Wednesday without the need for any overnights
this means you can do 4 nights away, 11 nights away etc...not ideal but it is an option

11 nights would be OK, yes

makemdano

Roger1 wrote: »

One element that the OP seems to have overlooked is that the life of Avios is only 3 years unless extended by further debits/credits - compare this with the life of Tesco Clubcard points which is just 2 years and is not generally extendable.

By converting Clubcard points to Avios, the OP has extended the effective life of his/her Clubcard points to up to 5 years.

Mine don't last so long.

Yeah, ditched the Tesco CC long ago in favour of a cashback CC. Never shopped at Tesco much anyway, ASDA & Sainsbury's nearer and Asda much cheaper. Shop around at Lidl & Aldi as well

Voyager2002

makemdano wrote: »

All this is besides the point though. How is it right that an organisation can have over £700 (in buying terms) of my collateral on their books and just delete me without any kind of notification?
It just does not seem fair. Shouldn't they notify customers in good time so that we can take steps to resolve the problem?

Anyone else in the same boat?

I have faced this two or three times...

BA have always emailed me a couple of months before the expiry date to warn me to take action to save my points. I have done so, once by ordering a case of wine through their website (supplied by Laithwaites), once by booking a reward flight (obviously making the booking before the expiry date).

I think you must have an over-active SPAM filter, and should check in case you are missing other important emails.

makemdano

Yes, I clean out my spam and junk regularly so the mail won't be there now.

All of my points above will soon be rendered irrelevant as the 42000+ points won't get me anywhere after 28/4 - it will cost me 18000 just for the connecting flights to/from Heathrow. This is effectively a massive devaluation. Haven't checked yet to see if transferring the points to BA will change this but I expect not.

jpsartre

As long as you book before 28/4 you will pay the lower rate.