Tag Archives: British Airways

a close up of a logo

How Right (or Wrong) Were My 2018 Travel Predictions?

Good afternoon everyone.  In mid January 2018, I wrote My Unlikely, But Entertaining 2018 Travel Predictions.  I did not look at that post until yesterday, so it was fun to look at the predictions I had made.  I will go through my 2018 predictions and see how well I did.  Since my memory is not that great, please correct me if I am wrong on any of these.  In a few days, I will share my probably equally as unlikely but equally as entertaining 2019 travel predictions, so check back for that post.  Without further ado, here were my 2018 predictions and the results:

Airlines

  • After the Virgin America merger, Alaska Airlines will add new routes to Mexico, Canada, and the Caribbean (Correct! According to Alaska Airlines’ website, they did add several new routes of Mexico City from SFO, LAX, and SAN.  Unfortunately, there were no new routes to Canada or the Caribbean.)
  • Delta Airlines will introduce cash and miles award tickets, then American Airlines and United Airlines will follow suit (Wrong!  Looks like none of the big 3 airlines added “cash + miles” award tickets.)
  • Southwest Airlines will increase their Transfarency by automatically keeping track of travel funds in each account (Wrong!  You still need to manually track your travel funds.)
  • JetBlue will add new routes along the West Coast and maybe to Hawaii (Wrong! JetBlue did add new routes along the East Coast, but nothing new on the West Coast.)
  • Singapore Airlines will allow you to book United Airlines awards online (Correct!  Singapore Airlines added the ability to book award flights on United Airlines in February.)
  • British Airways will bring back the 4,500 Avios award price in the United States (Wrong!  Sadly, the 4,500 British Airways Avios pricing band is still not available in the US.)

Continue reading

a close-up of a logo

December Buy Miles/Points Promos: Avianca (125%), AA (120K), BA (50%), Hilton (100%), UA (85%), AS (50%), Choice (20%) & IHG (80%)

Good afternoon everyone.  I was working on my Buy Miles & Points Page and found a few new offers.  Always check the math to make sure that buying miles & points makes sense for you.  Do not buy miles & points speculatively unless you have a use in mind.  With that said, here are the 8 promos that are ending in December. First up, Avianca Airlines is running a 125% bonus, depending on the number of Avianca LifeMiles you purchase.  Offer ends on December 12.

a screenshot of a website

Continue reading

blue letters on a white background

Airline Buy Miles/Points Promos Ending Soon: United, Southwest, JetBlue, British Airways, American, Avianca & Virgin Atlantic

Good evening everyone.  Since Black Friday and Cyber Monday are right around the corner, several airlines are running buy miles/points promos now – 2 even end tonight!  I have all the latest offers on my Buy Miles & Points Page.  Always check the math to make sure that buying miles & points makes sense for you.  Do not buy miles & points speculatively unless you have a use in mind.  With that said, here are the 7 promos that are ending in November. First up, United Airlines is running a mystery offer with up to 70% bonus miles, depending on the number of United Airlines miles you purchase.  This offer ends tonight – November 20.

a person holding a gift box

Continue reading

a close-up of a logo

Creating a British Airlines Household Account? Here’s What You Need to Know!

Do you remember the first time you used British Airways Avios? I do! And for me, that was also when they took their special place in my heart. And a special place in my award booking world as well! I use British Airways Avios for short haul domestic flights, getting me from the states to Europe or within Europe. I realized that not a year goes by without me using British Airways Avios. When I found out about being able to pool Avios among family members, I became an even bigger Avios fan girl because this really simplified award bookings for me. It created more value to my stash of Avios as well. Did you know that British Airways allows pooling points among family members? It’s called a Household Account!

Benefits of Creating a Household Account

Creating a Household Account allows you to redeem Avios from any member of the household to create an award booking. So if you don’t have enough Avios for an award, but a member of your household does, you can pool points. Of course this works both ways. If you find a Household Account too restricting, you don’t have to have one to move miles between accounts. For a fee, British Airways does let you do this. And you can book one-way award redemptions, so if you don’t have enough Avios in your account for a roundtrip award, someone else can book one leg for you. But maybe a Household Account WOULD work well for you! Let’s take a closer look at how Household Accounts work. Continue reading

a close-up of a logo

Flights to Cuba & El Salvador: Thinking Outside the Box

I’m well versed in flight options from the US, but when it comes time to plan trips between different regions, I have to think about my options a little more.  My boyfriend and I decided to plan a trip to El Salvador for the end of May, but I was going to Cuba right before as part of the last class for my MBA.  He was able to snag great flights on Delta for only 14,500 miles roundtrip during one of their sales. Unfortunately, I was locked in to flying to Cuba with my class – which, thankfully was a cheap $90 flight that I wouldn’t have used miles for anyway.  I decided it would make way more sense to fly directly from Cuba to El Salvador than to come back to the US first. As usual, I checked cash prices first. I was looking at around $300 for the one-way flight… ouch.

That’s when I turned to using miles. Flyermiler, one of my favorite tools, showed that I could book with Avianca LifeMiles for only 10,000 miles! It also showed that United would cost only 10,000 miles, but that’s not actually correct. United charges 12,500 or 17,500 miles for an economy class flight, depending on routing.  Luckily for me, I had some LifeMiles, so I was able to get a killer deal on my flight to El Salvador!

a screenshot of a map

Continue reading