No US Flights Using BA Avios
 

I have been checking a one way route from many airports near Denver for August. Previously I could find some flights although most were first class, but in the last ten days, there is almost nothing available. Am I missing something?

Limited supply, high demand.

... and probably too late too.

Actually I think that there was a problem with BA since AA had flights on points, but they no longer do. I am holding an AA flight for $ and will purchase it tonight as the one-way fares today have doubled. It was more than just being too late, there were many flights available about ten days ago and all of a sudden, there were none or only one, and it was not a direct flight and there has been no availability since.

From Denver, BA only has one flight daily to London, and it is always full. To use Avios you need to book, at the very latest, 9 months in advance.

Agree...<< limited supply, high demand and, too late >>.

I have held a lot of avios for a number of years - in all my travels, I have yet to find a way to redeem them for anything: travel or upgrades. Every time I look, there is never availability, domestic (US) or foreign (Europe, Asia)

I had an abundance of Avios a few years ago. I used some for domestic flights on American and the rest were used to pay for hotels. Although they can be hard to use for flights they are surprisingly easy to use to pay for hotels.

I use Avios a lot.

There's better availability to Europe on BA flights via London than on any of the US-based carriers. Unfortunately, that availability comes with BA's onerous "fuel" surcharge.

But my favorite way to use Avios is on short flights within the US. A flight from Boston to New York City or Washington DC costs only 4500 Avios plus $5, and there's usually great availability during the week.

Actually my flight was from Denver to Dallas. After checking for over a week, I gave up and bought tickets. There was just no availability.

Okay - I figured if I can't use my 100,000+ avios for any flights EVER, after trying for years, I would follow the advice given here and try for a hotel for our upcoming trip to NYC in a few months.

Can't even get on to the webpage to book a hotel on the BA website. Just hangs up forever - at different times of day, different browsers, even different computers.

I am so over British Airways. I will NEVER fly them again, never use their credit card, nada.

I have two other reward cards, and have easily booked travel - both flights as well as upgrades. Have also used one for a hotel with no problems.

>>Can't even get on to the webpage to book a hotel on the BA website. Just hangs up forever - at different times of day, different browsers, even different computers.<<

scdreamer, I find the BA website to be extremely glitchy. One particular day I was getting error message after error message (finally gave up and phoned them) and it asked if I wanted to complete a survey. Absolutely.

I rated their website the lowest on just about every question, then they have the nerve to ask if I considered myself to be adept at using the internet!

Gave up and bought the AA tickets. Not using the BA credit card much anymore since US flights are so difficult to book with Avios.

Whenever I use my Avios in the US I get American Air but I book at least 4-5 months in advance

I have good luck using BA avios (miles) for flights. I think the secret is to start searching 6-9 months in advance and to be flexible with dates.

Just to give a few examples from 2015: in January I used BA avios to fly business class from San Francisco to Hong Kong to Bangkok and return to San Francisco on Cathay Pacific. I had to change my dates twice in the months before my trip and always found available seats on dates that worked for me. I also used BA avios to book connector flights on Alaska Airlines to San Francisco from Portland and return. Lots of availability on Alaska.

In June I used BA avios for three tickets (for daughter, granddaughter and myself) Portland-Dallas-Tampa and return on American Airlines to visit family in Florida.

In March I used BA avios for two seats (for hubby and self) Portland-Palm Springs and return. Again on Alaska.

In July I traveled Portland-Las Vegas with BA avios reward on Alaska, then Las Vegas-London-Stockholm on BA in business class with BA avios reward tickets. Then Stockholm-Doha-Bangkok with Qatar Airways in business class, again with BA avios award tickets (business class seats in Qatar's B787 and A380 are fantastic! Pajamas too!). Home from Bangkok with BA avios award tickets on Cathay Pacific again, Bangkok-Hong Kong-San Francisco. Then San Francisco-Portland on Alaska, again with BA avios award.

In October my husband and I are flying Denver-London-Helsinki on BA business class avios award tickets, plus using a 2-4-1 certificates from Chase. This means two people fly but pay the number of avios for one award ticket. We will be in Helsinki, St Petersburg, Latvia and Estonia for 11 days, traveling by ferry and train. Then we fly on to Bangkok on FinnAir in business class, BA avios awards again. After several weeks in SE Asia (visiting with family and 3-year-old granddaughter) we fly home, again with BA avios business class award seats, on Cathay Pacific to Tokyo and JAL (Japan Airlines) to San Francisco.

As I see it, BA avios awards allow me to travel in more comfort (long-haul business and/or first class) and much more often than I could afford to do without them. I could report many more success stories over the past soon-to-be 20 years. I first joined the Executive Club and began collecting avios in 1996. The brilliance of collecting and redeeming BA avios, to me, are the many, many opportunities to use avios for flights on all the One World partners, making it possible to fly just about anywhere, just about anytime. If you have a little patience and flexibility, that is:-)

And when you have family - and granddaughters - spread across the US and around the world, as I do, I have lots of patience and make flexibility a priority in order to see them as much as I possibly can!