BA Avios flight availability - seem far fewer?

macdoB

As BA announced that the cost of BA avios flights is going up (by about 10% each for number of points and cash) I looked at the Avios flights available - it seems to me that although they are being up front about increasing their costs....they may be reducing availability by quite a bit. Am I alone in thinking this or have others noticed too?

silvercar

For very popular routes you need to book as soon as they become available. Some people are online at midnight 355 days out, just waiting for reward seats to show online. For other routes, you can book as late as the day of the flight!

Otherwise its a game of watch and pounce.

Cheslea2010

I gave up with Avios after using them for a number of years. I now convert my CC points to cashback which goes much further on somewhere like Expedia. Avios have totally lost their way.

silvercar

Cheslea2010 said:

I gave up with Avios after using them for a number of years. I now convert my CC points to cashback which goes much further on somewhere like Expedia. Avios have totally lost their way.

Having just booked business class return to South America for next October at a saving that values an Avios at about 5p, I’m going to disagree with you.

Ballard

I’m still very happy to collect Avios. BA are not the best carrier, but Avios are easy to collect and I have a decent flexibility as to when I go away. My feeling is that if you’re looking for somewhere like Tokyo or New York you’ll probably need some luck. Heading for South America has been fine for me a few times, particularly with Iberia being an option. 

MyRealNameToo

silvercar said:

For very popular routes you need to book as soon as they become available. Some people are online at midnight 355 days out, just waiting for reward seats to show online. For other routes, you can book as late as the day of the flight!

Otherwise its a game of watch and pounce.

High tier holders also get priority access over the more occasional flyer. 

As soon as they are released and last minute tend to be the best two areas of availability but it's very dependent. As long as you can be reasonably flexible on your dates etc I normally can book something that meets needs but absolutely if you are fixed to a particular flights on a fixed date in both directions it can be hard - even more so if you want First rather than Business or PE