Showing posts with label British Airways. Show all posts
Showing posts with label British Airways. Show all posts

June 25, 2017

Save 10% on British Airways Flights

I've had the British Airways Chase credit card off and on for a few years.  The card proved to be valuable last year when I finally redeemed a Travel Together Ticket for a 2-for-1 ticket in first class to  Dubai.

Another benefit of the card is 10% discount on British Airways flights.  While not earth shattering, you only have to book one flight a year to make the $95 annual fee worth it.


I was working on flights to London for a couple family members and BA ended up being the best flight option.  I was able to use the 10% discount which ended up being better (in this case) than the AARP discount.

Booking with the discount was a breeze.  Here's the landing page to get started.  Note that the purchase must be put on the BA card.  The 10% discount was automatically added to my cart by clicking through from this page.  Good news is that you'll receive 3x Avios points for paying with the Chase BA card - a nice rebate on top of the 10% and the miles earned from the flight.

Here's a hypothetical booking showing an upcoming first class flight with the 10%


My strategy has been to acquire this card, earn the bonus, and then cancel.  It's not subject to Chase's 5/24 rule meaning you can get the card every 24 months.  With the year hold period after sign-up, that effectively means you can get the card (and the bonus) every 3 years.  I set things up such that Emily and I are 18 months off cycle so one of us should always have the card active.  You never know when you need 10% off a BA flight!

December 31, 2016

Review: British Airways First Class 747-400 London to Dubai

Introduction
Planning & Booking
British Airways First Class 747-400 Denver to London
British Airways Concorde Room LHR
British Airways First Class 747-400 London to Dubai
JW Marriott Marquis Dubai
Al Maha Desert Resort & Spa Dubai
Park Hyatt Dubai
Hyatt Capital Gate Abu Dhabi
Etihad Airways First Class Lounge & Spa Abu Dhabi
Etihad Airways First Class 777-200LR Abu Dhabi to Los Angeles

British Airways BA 107
London (LHR) to Dubai
November 21, 2016
Aircraft:  747-400
Seats:  1A/1K

After a shower and breakfast in the Concorde Room, we headed over to the gate where boarding had already commenced.  We headed down the extremely long jetway and met the smiling crew as we stepped onboard the aircraft.  I knew immediately that this was going to be a great flight.  The crew happily showed us to row 1 and offered up the storage closet for our carryon bags so that we would have more room at our seats.  Lead cabin crew member Jenny introduced herself and insisted that she bring over the Champagne to kick our holiday off right.  The crew also offered Arabic Coffee prior to pushback.


Pajamas, amenity kits, and slippers were distributed prior to takeoff which I thought was a nice tough for a 6 hour dayflight.

December 30, 2016

Review: British Airways Concorde Room LHR (2016)

Introduction
Planning & Booking
British Airways First Class 747-400 Denver to London
British Airways Concorde Room LHR
British Airways First Class 747-400 London to Dubai
JW Marriott Marquis Dubai
Al Maha Desert Resort & Spa Dubai
Park Hyatt Dubai
Hyatt Capital Gate Abu Dhabi
Etihad Airways First Class Lounge & Spa Abu Dhabi

We made our way from Terminal 3 to Terminal 5, cleared security, and used the "Millionaire's Door" to the Concorde Room.  All of that took about 45 minutes so we only had an hour and change until we needed to leave the lounge for our flight to Dubai.

LHR Millionaire's Door
The "Millionaire's Door" is off to the right after exiting security on the same level.  We missed it during our last visit and consequentially added another 15 minutes of walking/searching to our transit.

Review: British Airways First Class 747-400 Denver to London

Introduction
Planning & Booking
British Airways First Class 747-400 Denver to London
British Airways Concorde Room
British Airways First Class 747-400 London to Dubai
JW Marriott Marquis Dubai
Al Maha Desert Resort & Spa Dubai
Park Hyatt Dubai
Hyatt Capital Gate Abu Dhabi
Etihad Airways First Class Lounge & Spa Abu Dhabi
Etihad Airways First Class 777-200LR Abu Dhabi to Los Angeles

British Airways BA 218
Denver to London (LHR)
November 20, 2016
Aircraft:  747-400
Seats:  5E/5F

In the fall/winter, the flight leaves at 5:45PM so we had a great day in Denver packing and getting ready our trip to Dubai.  We had lunch at Denver's Union Station before hopping on the RTD A-line train to the airport.

Train to DEN
We live about a mile from the station and it's such an improvement to be able to take the train vs. drive/park/Uber.  The train is relaxing in the way that a car ride isn't.  

We pulled into the airport station around 3:30PM and headed up to check-in for our flight.  We were carrying on so check-in took <5 minutes and we soon had boarding passes all the way to Dubai.

October 23, 2016

Return to Al Maha: Introduction

Introduction
Planning & Booking
British Airways First Class 747-400 Denver to London
British Airways Concorde Room
British Airways First Class 747-400 London to Dubai
JW Marriott Marquis Dubai
Al Maha Desert Resort & Spa Dubai
Park Hyatt Dubai
Hyatt Capital Gate Abu Dhabi
Etihad Airways First Class Lounge & Spa Abu Dhabi
Etihad Airways First Class 777-200LR Abu Dhabi to Los Angeles

I'm still in the middle of writing trip reports from our RTW adventure in August, I'm getting excited about our next trip and wanted to get the introductory post out.  We spent a couple of days at Al Maha  last year and vowed to return as soon as possible.  Of all the hotels we've been around the world, Al Maha is the most unique, special, and we've both lusted after returning for a year.

Al Maha Desert Resort & Spa Dubai

September 24, 2016

Using a British Airways Travel Together Ticket One-Way

The British Airways Chase Credit Card offers a 'Travel Together" ticket upon spending $30,000 in a calendar year.  This means you can book two people in any class of service for the price of one.  There are a couple of catches.  First, travel must originate in the US.  Second, the ticket is good for two years.  Third, the cardmember earning the ticket must be one of the passengers.  And the biggest catch is the you must pay the taxes/fuel surcharges on both tickets.

So you're essentially booking an award ticket for two for half the miles.  I earned a travel together ticket back in late 2014 which was slated to expire in early December.  If you do it right and book a first class ticket, the benefit is worth 200,000+ British Airways Avios.  Not a bad deal for putting $30K in spend on one card.


One of the biggest complaints about the ticket is finding roundtrip award availability.  I probably would have had no trouble had I booked further out but just started looking for a November trip a couple of weeks ago.  While I wasn't able to found roundtrip availability that matched dates we could travel, I was able to find a day that worked for us on the outbound.  

I actually had no idea that you could book the travel together ticket as a one-way!  I found availability on the direct BA flight from Denver to London (which is great so we don't have to position anywhere) and from London to Dubai.  I was able to search, book, and ticket everything online!  

The total price for both first class tickets was 153,000 Avios and ~$1,550 in taxes.  Even better, American Express is currently running a transfer bonus for Avios.  With the bonus, I transferred 90,000 Membership Rewards points which became 108,000 Avios.  Combined with my Avios balance, that was enough to book the ticket.  So the actual ticket cost 135,000 Avios/MR points - not a bad deal for 2 in the pointy end of a 747 all the way to Dubai.  


Especially considering the cash cost is running north of $12,000 per ticket!

Obviously we need to find a way home but with more options and less restrictions, that shouldn't be a problem.  Stay tuned as the trip comes together!

April 17, 2016

How to Book Cathay Pacific First Class Award Tickets

Here at ATRP, we spend considerable time writing abut how to earn miles and points.  Using those miles and points to actually book award tickets and hotel nights with points is where the real fun begins.  I get a lot of questions about booking Cathay Pacific first and business class award tickets using American AAdvantage miles.  This post is a step-by-step guide to search for award availability using British Airways' search engine.  Since American doesn't actually show Cathay's availability online, this is the easiest way to find flights with open seats.

Cathay Pacific 777-300ER at LAX
Once you find availability, you'll need to call American Airlines to actually book the flight.  Having the availability on hand will make the transaction MUCH easier.

May 30, 2015

Review: British Airways Concorde Room LHR (2015)

Introduction
Planning & Booking
British Airways 747-400 First Class Denver to London
British Airways Concorde Room LHR
Waldorf Astoria Amsterdam
Andaz Amsterdam
Park Hyatt Paris-Vendome
Singapore Airlines A380 Suites Class Frankfurt to JFK

Once off the plane, we took the train to the main pier of terminal 5 and clear transit security.  There was a fast track line but it seemed longer than the regular line.  10 minutes and a couple of pat downs later, we were back in the terminal searching for the Concorde Room.  It wasn't the easiest lounge to find.  Down a set of escalators, to the far end of the terminal, back up another set of escalators...and we had arrived.

BA tails on the way to the gate
The lounge "dragon" who looked at our boarding passes on the way in pointed us towards the Galleries lounge (business class and alliance first class passengers) and said we could not enter the Concorde Room.  I knew she was wrong and pushed...and she relented.  It didn't hurt that we already had a cabana reservation and could prove it.

Review: British Airways First Class 747-400 Denver to London (2015)

Introduction
Planning & Booking
British Airways 747-400 First Class Denver to London
British Airways Concorde Room London Heathrow
Waldorf Astoria Amsterdam
Andaz Amsterdam
Park Hyatt Paris-Vendome
Singapore Airlines A380 Suites Class Frankfurt to JFK

This was going to be our first longhaul trip from our home airport (DEN) which was pretty exciting.  Given the departure time (8:50PM) we had the entire day to relax and pack for our week in Europe.  And we needed it because I was feeling under the weather until the early afternoon.  Once packing was complete, we had a couple of snacks and cocktails at our favorite neighborhood restaurant.  We grabbed an Uber Select (no X's available) for $62 flat rate to the airport.

We arrived around 6:30 PM and checked in.  No pre-check for this flight.  We spent an hour or so in the Terminal A Admirals Club which is fine.  We were able to get a seat at the bar and relax for a bit.


Prior to boarding, we snapped a few pics of the beast that would take us to London.

BA 747-400

May 16, 2015

British Airways 747 - Row 1

Prior to departure, I'll double check our seat assignments to see if anything "better" has opened up.  Initially we had selected the first row of "couple seats" on BA's 747 service from Denver to London.  That's row 4 in the image below.  Row 4 means no window for either of us and considerable foot traffic in the aisles as the galley and lavatories are both behind the first class cabin.

BA 747 - courtesy of Seatguru.com

Typically, BA reserves row 1 for elites and then opens the seats up for the masses a few days before departure.  We must be lucky because I checked the other day and both seats in row 1 were open!

Seatguru has these seats as yellow because of the closet in the middle and the lack of overhead bin space.  But I'll take those two downsides for the chance to sit even further forward then the pilots.  The two "curved" windows also provide an opportunity to look a bit forward while flying - something both of us have had on our travel bucket list.

April 19, 2015

Introduction: A Week (Euro) in Amsterdam and Paris

Introduction
Planning & Booking
British Airways 747-400 First Class Denver to London
British Airways Concorde Room London Heathrow
British Airways A320 Club World London to Amsterdam
Waldorf Astoria Amsterdam
Andaz Amsterdam
Thalys Comfort 1 Amsterdam to Paris
Park Hyatt Paris-Vendome
Sheraton Frankfurt Airport Hotel
Singapore Airlines A380 Suites Class Frankfurt to JFK

While I am still working on the trip report for our Long Weekend in Vancouver, I figured I might as well mix it up and post the Introduction to our May trip to Europe.  We're inside a month from departure and starting to piece together the final components to make the trip as awesome as possible.  Over the past 2.5 years, we've taken 6 long-haul trips.  Of those trips, four have been to Asia, one to Europe, and one in the middle (Dubai & Istanbul).  So we have really neglected Europe for no reason other than it is easier to get to from Denver and we'll probably be more likely to go with a kid.  But with the Euro basically crashing (thus the clever trip report series title) against the dollar and the addition of British Airways First Class service direct from Denver we decided a week in Europe would be pretty fun.

Euro to USD 5 year chart

We wanted to start the trip somewhere relatively close to London so we could get in at a decent hour. I've yet to visit Amsterdam and Emily hasn't been for many years.  We both love walking around cities and Amsterdam is a VERY walkable city.  Add in the mix of water (boat trips yay!) and history and it was an easy choice.  We'll start our week with a few nights in Amsterdam at the Waldorf-Astoria and then Andaz which are only a few blocks away from each other.

Originally we were going to fly over to Vienna from Amsterdam but decided that 3 cities in 7 days was just too much.  So we're going to take the train from Amsterdam to Paris which is only a 3.5 hour  ride.  Given the Euro, tickets were really quite reasonable.  Only $85 each for Comfort One (Thalys' equivalent of first class).  It will certainly be a different experience and should enable us to maximize our time on the ground in both cities.

Routing courtesy of the Great Circle Mapper - almost 11,000 miles

We'll then spend four nights at the Park Hyatt Paris-Vendome which is something we rarely do.  From everything I have read and heard from people, this is a very special property and one that we want to enjoy for as long as possible.  Paid rates were north of $1,000 USD so I was very glad to be able to get all four nights with a combination of points and free nights from the Chase Hyatt Visa.  We plan to enjoy Spring in Paris and do a day trip out to Reims for some Champagne tours and tasting.

Singapore Suites beverage service

We'll then take a quick hop on Lufthansa (in Economy!) to Frankfurt where we'll spend the night at the Sheraton at the airport.  Our flight the next morning departs at 8AM to New York.  We'll be taking Singapore Airlines' fifth freedom service from Frankfurt to JFK in Singapore Suites!!  This is a hard redemption to get especially for two seats so we were both excited to be able to fly across the pond in real style.

I'll try to post the Planning & Booking segment prior to departure.  Follow along on Instagram, Facebook, and the blog as we spend a week in Europe in May!

January 6, 2015

British Airways Travel Together Ticket in My Account

One of the best benefits of the Chase British Airways Visa is the "Travel Together Ticket."  You earn the ticket after spending $30,000 in a calendar year.  The ticket enables you to book two award tickets in any class for the price (miles) of one.  You must pay the taxes and fuel charges.

I had been working on meeting the spend requirement and did so at the very end of the year.  It took some tricks (Amazon Payments which is unfortunately dead) but I got it done.  Anyway, I received the email that I would receive the ticket in my account shortly.  I checked over the weekend and there it was.


While we already have a pair of BA tickets booked for this year, we'll definitely get great value out of the ticket.  It's good for two years so we have all of 2015 and 2016 to use it.  As an example, let's say you wanted to fly from Denver to London in BA First over Christmas.  Normally, you'd pay 300,000 Avios and $2,509.  With the travel together ticket, you'd save 150,000 Avios.  I value them at around $.02 so the certificate would be worth around $3,000.  Yes, it sucks to shell out $2,509 in taxes and fees but ultimately you'd pay more than that if you were straight away buying two coach ticket to London.


If you don't already have the card, you should definitely consider the Chase British Airways Visa especially if you can swing the $30,000 in 2015 spend to earn the Travel Together Ticket.  The current promotion waives the annual fee (normally $95) for the first year and offers 50,000 British Airways Avios after $2,000 in spend in the first 90 days.

October 25, 2014

British Airways First Class Booked

Earlier in the week, I wrote about British Airways up-gauging the current 777 Denver service to a 747 with a first class cabin.  As it turns out, award availability in first was/is fantastic and I booked two tickets for a trip to Europe next May.  I have yet to read (beyond local press in Denver) much about the change in equipment and because of that, there is tons of first class availability.  For comparison sake, I have looked periodically at the DEN - LHR flight in business class and very rarely seen availability so this is a welcome change that probably won't last once more people figure it out.

Anyway...our original plan was to start in Vienna flying Austrian Airlines business class from New York...but this is way better - less flying time and a better product.

BA First Class

BA's award chart is distance based so the further you go, the more expensive (miles wise) the ticket gets.  We are starting the week in Amsterdam so flying DEN - LHR with a layover and then a quick hop over to AMS came out to 84,000 Avios and $495 in taxes.  I didn't have quite enough Avios to book both tickets so I booked the other on American for 62,500 American miles and $495 in taxes as well.

October 22, 2014

British Airways 747 Coming to Denver!

British Airways announced yesterday that they will be up-gauging the current daily 777 Denver - London (LHR) service to a 747 in March of 2015!  This is awesome for several reasons:


1)  Denver International Airport will see additional 747 service - the only current 747 at DIA is Lufthansa's Denver - Frankfurt flight and equipment varies by day
2)  This represents an increase in capacity of 23% - more award seats anyone?
3)  I've been working on earning the BA "Travel Together Ticket" and I would love nothing more than to redeem it for this flight

British Airways 747 Seat Map Key

But the biggest news is that the 747 will add first class service to the Denver market.  The current 777 service provides three classes (business, premium economy, economy) but doesn't have first class.  Very exciting!

Courtesy of seatguru.com - BA first on the 747

I am kind of surprised to see BA adding capacity on the route but it must be doing well and there must be demand for first class for them to make the swap.  I'll keep you posted as award availability becomes available.

October 11, 2014

What's in My Wallet - October 2014 Edition

This is the next post in my periodic series outlining the cards in my wallet and my rationale for spending on each.  I try to be as purposeful (and organized) as possible about the cards in my wallet and when each one comes out.  The best analogy is really a swiss army knife.  You want to have a handful of tools for different jobs and understand which tool to use for a specific job (purchase).  This will help you maximize your earning on spend.

Here are the four cards (in addition to my debit card) in my wallet this month:

1)  Starwood Preferred Guest American Express

I put half of my non-bonuses everyday spending on this card and the other half on my Chase BA card.  Starwood points are among the most difficult to earn yet the most valuable.  Putting non-bonuses spend (i.e. non dining and entertainment which go on the Sapphire card) is a great way to earn incremental Starwood points.

2)  Citi Executive AAdvantage World MasterCard 

I've already earned the bonus on my first of these cards.  I'm working on the second at the moment and should be complete in October.  After I complete the minimum spend on this card, we'll have earned 327,500 American Airlines miles from these cards this year.  We'll be using the miles to help us get home from Hong Kong later in the year.

3)  Chase Sapphire Preferred Visa Card 

No minimum spend needed on this card.  Just my workhorse everyday card earning 2x (actually 2.14X when you include the annual 7% dividend) on travel and dining. This card is also linked to my United dining program account.

4)  Chase British Airways Visa Signature Card 

I've already met the minimum spend on this card as well as the incremental bonuses (25,000 points after spending $10,000 and another 25,000 points after spending $20,000 in the first year of card membership).  I am now working on reaching $30,000 of spend this year in order to earn the British Airways Travel Together Ticket which is basically a 2 for 1 certificate.

April 13, 2014

One Credit Card Signup Bonus Can Get You to Europe

One card I consistently put spend on is the British Airways Chase Visa.  The current offer provides 50,000 Avios after spending $2,000 in the first 90 days of cardmembership.  The $95 annual fee is not waived for the first year.

The current is offer is good but you can do better

But from time to time, Chase and British Airways sweeten the offer.  Last November, I applied and was approved for the card with this offer:

  • Spend $2,000 in the first 90 days and receive 50,000 Avios
  • Spend $10,000 in the first calendar year and receive an additional 25,000 Avios
  • Spend $20,000 in the first calendar year and receive an additional 25,00 Avios
  • $95 annual fee which was not waived for the first year
  • Earn 1.25 Avios for each dollar spent
  • After spending $30,000 in any calendar year, receive a "travel together" ticket which is essentially a BOGO.  The certificate can even be used on an award ticket!  This benefit effectively "doubles" your mileage balance

I have hit the first two thresholds earning 75,000 bonus Avios already.  Let's look at a hypothetical example of someone who applied for the card on January 1st.
  • Total spend of $30,000 in a calendar year earns 37,500 Avios
  • Bonuses earn 100,000 Avios
  • Travel together ticket doubles the effective balance to 275,000 Avios

Yes, you will still have to pay the taxes/fees if you redeem the travel together ticket.  But 200,000  Avios gets you two (2) roundtrip business class tickets from the US to Europe.  Taxes and fees will probably set you back around $1,000.  In this example, you would have enough points to get you to Europe and back and an additional 75,000 Avios.  From one card!

My bet is this offer comes back later in the year.  I will be sure to post when it does.  In the meantime, I am still working on getting to $30,000 in spend on this card using a couple of tricks I've laid out previously.  If you want to go to Europe in style, this is one of the best all around cards to help get you there.