REVscene - Vancouver Automotive Forum

Hondaracer · 05-25-2011, 06:40 PM

going to be flying from YVR to Heathrow in late june, anyone had experiances with them?

i belive we will be on a smaller plane going there, then the 757 on the way back?

s300ae · 05-25-2011, 07:04 PM

ive flown with them 4 times now. very friendly and helpful, and lot easier to understand than KLM (flown twice) or Luft (flown twice). no complains yet. if you get a chance to stay in london for a few days, its well worth it.

Hondaracer · 05-25-2011, 07:28 PM

yea, me and my dad will be staying in london for 4 days on the way home, going to Finland, Estonia, and Russia [st. Petersburg]

taking KLM from london to Helsinki i believe

Hehe · 05-25-2011, 09:44 PM

I think BA is pretty good.

On the flight I took to London, they overbooked and I got on their business class...

Staff were very friendly and even that I wasn't a revenue customer in business, they still offered an excellent service. Top notch.

bcrdukes · 05-25-2011, 10:16 PM

BA was great on my flight but if I could have chosen a different plane, I would have. Service was top notch. I haven't flown with BA for a while only because I collect Aeroplan/Star Alliance.

blkgsr · 05-27-2011, 05:02 PM

i flew on one of BA's 747 back and forth from London, food was good for once (curry on the way home was delicious, i had two)

Hondaracer · 05-27-2011, 05:24 PM

does anyone have any experiance in getting upgrades through their visa?

currently I have the Infinite Avion, and my dad, who booked the flights on BA with his infinite avion used his points, I plan on phoning the visa reps and inquiring about potential upgrades/freebies since i will be flying BA on his miles all within the family/infinite avions, just wondering if anyone has ever gotten anything via their visa's in terms of upgrades?

RFlush · 05-27-2011, 05:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

does anyone have any experiance in getting upgrades through their visa?

currently I have the Infinite Avion, and my dad, who booked the flights on BA with his infinite avion used his points, I plan on phoning the visa reps and inquiring about potential upgrades/freebies since i will be flying BA on his miles all within the family/infinite avions, just wondering if anyone has ever gotten anything via their visa's in terms of upgrades?

Why didn't you just book a higher class initially with the award flight? I am not sure how the Avion works, but did you have to transfer points to BA Miles first, or was it direct through RBC Rewards?

Regardless, you won't get an upgrade through your visa. You will only get it if you use your points in RBC Rewards or BA Miles, nothing to do with Visa company itself.

Hondaracer · 05-27-2011, 05:46 PM

yea i gotta ask my dad what he did, because it looks like you can transfer the avion points to BA's executive club which is like 1.5 points that goes towards business class

the flight was retardedly expensive though compared to what we could have booked it for just paying cash so i doubt it would have been worth it for the business class points program, i'll have to ask him though and see what happens

RFlush · 05-27-2011, 10:37 PM

Best to check out FlyerTalk, they will be able to answer your question more accurately.

Oscar_Binswood · 05-28-2011, 04:45 PM

Very friendly staff. Flew on their 747 a few months ago. Movie selection was pretty good.

urban.boi · 05-30-2011, 10:57 AM

BA is pretty good, flew with them a lot since they are part of One World. collecting my sector points

if you booked thru Visa points you are not eligible for upgrades as the ticket you get is a different code. But are you in BA Executive Club? and do you fly a lot? if you don't u are better off just buying tickets thru RBC rewards. the 1.5 reward is for when you J class that you pay with cash and not thru any redemption awards.

Hondaracer · 05-30-2011, 08:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RFlush

Why didn't you just book a higher class initially with the award flight? I am not sure how the Avion works, but did you have to transfer points to BA Miles first, or was it direct through RBC Rewards?

Regardless, you won't get an upgrade through your visa. You will only get it if you use your points in RBC Rewards or BA Miles, nothing to do with Visa company itself.

transfering points was the case, no perks through RBC

health insurance with the infinite avion is pretty good, 15 days unlimited with no deductable, and an extra 5 days was only $26

urban.boi · 05-31-2011, 02:32 AM

oh we get health insurance thru Avion? i never looked into it, i only used it to store the points and when I need to travel I transfer it into the my marco polo acct so the points don't expired. thanks for the info on health insurance!

RFlush · 05-31-2011, 05:00 AM

Ya the Avion Infinite is quite a good card with it's extras. Curious, does the flight delay cover the holders resident country as well when departing? Also, does the luggage insurance, both delay and lost, cover resident country? Lastly, will the insurance (all of them) cover the spouse and or other people who have purchased a ticket with your credit card?

Thanks for the answers!

Such a pity that they don't offer any lounge access for being a "travel" card and also no extra points for foreign currency purchases, but still great nevertheless.

urban.boi · 05-31-2011, 04:47 PM

^ yes Infinite flight delay/luggage is all covered in resident country as well as departing.
Not sure about the insurance, never actually checked or had to use it.

There are lounge access for couple of the "travel" cards;
American Express 'The Platinum Card' will get you access into the lounges.

but if you fly a lot, just stick with one carrier and rack up the sectors points (cathay for me) and even if you fly in econ, you are still allow into the lounges if you are in a certain tier of membership.

Hondaracer · 05-31-2011, 05:33 PM

the delay is the only thing that is covered with the basic card insurance [IE. not paying anything additional, just using basic coverage] if there is more than a 4 hour luggage delay you have up to $500 for clothing and toiletries

But.. when i paid for the extra 5 days, i had the option of "basic" which was just the normal unlimited medical coverage for the additional 5 days, or for $3 more, i got everything, luggage, flight cancellation, etc. etc.

krazynuck · 05-31-2011, 09:57 PM

I used BA from London to Lisbon

although a short flight service was some of the best I have had....The flight was close to being sold out however most people did not want the free food they were handing out and the flight attendants offered remaining WHOLE serving meals for free....unlike air canada where anything extra costs an arm and a leg i thought this was a nice touch....highly recommend

syee · 05-31-2011, 10:17 PM

I've only flown BA once 2 years ago. Vancouver to Heathrow and back was on a very old 747. How did I know it's old? It's still got ashtrays in the armrests and restrooms. (although screwed shut) Heathrow to Tel Aviv was on newer 757.

Service was pretty decent. Probably on par with AC or United for their International flights.

Hondaracer · 06-25-2011, 04:59 AM

the 747 from YVR to heathrow was really bad..

i'm sure for smaller people you might be ok, i'm a little bigger guy and it was superrrr uncomfortable.