Trying for preferred flight with flyer miles

My husband, Jim, and I have been accumulating miles with the British Airways Chase Visa card for several years. Recently, I spent time trying to obtain business- or first-class seats to London using my miles plus one companion voucher for Jim (who has bad knees). 

We had been able to use miles in 2013 to fly to South Africa, but it was difficult. A very kind British Airways representative helped me find and book the flights. 

We thoroughly enjoyed the high quality of service and the very comfortable first- and business-class seats that reclined as beds. Also, the British Air lounge in Terminal 5 at London’s Heathrow Airport was top-notch. Even though we had to spend half a day there on several occasions, it was a pleasure.

This year, however, finding available seats for a trip to Amsterdam in September was a nightmare. We started looking almost a year ahead. The amount of time we wasted on this was simply incredible. 

We eventually resorted to using an agent at www.bookyouraward.com, but the flight to London they found originates on Sept. 3 in Houston, which is not ideal.

What I found very irritating were the phone recordings I heard while waiting to speak to a British Air representative (I once waited on the phone for over an hour); the recordings, as well as the email newsletters we received, encouraged the use of miles for flying, hotel rooms, rental cars, etc., when I couldn’t even get a flight! Trying to get through was like having a part-time job that was very frustrating and stressful but with no remuneration. The result was always, “Try again tomorrow.”

We spent over $30,000 last year  and, thus, earned a companion voucher. Although we like that the British Air Visa card does not charge foreign transaction fees, we have stopped using that credit card for the above reasons.

BETTY DOERKSEN

Santa Rosa, CA

ITN emailed British Airways (2 Park Ave., 11th Floor, Jackson Heights, NY 10016) copies of Ms. Doerksen’s letters and received only an automated reply. Ms. Doerksen sent a version of the above letter to British Airways on June 10 and, after receiving automatic replies, was sent a letter from a Customer Relations representative on Aug. 6. She wrote the following to ITN.

The British Airways representative wrote that, even though they were sorry for our disappointment in not being able to redeem our Avios frequent-flyer miles for flights departing from San Francisco, their only recommendation was that we book well in advance and avoid busier days, like Fridays, Sundays and holidays, saying they have a limited number of seats available for purchase by travelers using Avios. 

He went on to say that they are always reviewing their redemption offering to their customers and to keep checking on the availability of seats.

So I continued to check daily online for more convenient flights on which I could purchase tickets with Avios. One thing I noticed was that business-class seats always seemed to be available two to four days from the date on which I was checking. We started packing in case we had to leave on a moment’s notice, which would not have been ideal but was doable for us.

Avios members have a special website. I was checking availability on particular dates, one at a time, but then I found that, after it said no seats were available, I could click on “calendar available” and it would show what seats were available over a large block of dates. If none were available, the calendar would just appear blank, but at other times certain dates would be highlighted — much easier to check.

Finally, on Aug. 21, I saw that there were business-class seats open on a flight from London to Seattle on a later date although nothing satisfactory for the outgoing flight, so I called British Airways (30-minute wait this time) and talked to the most friendly agent I have ever encountered. 

For the first 10 minutes of our conversation, Laura was very empathetic and we just got to know each other. By that time, when she checked for better flights, business-class seats happened to show on her screen that Jim and I were more than happy to take. 

Our outbound and inbound flights would now go through Seattle, which we can access from our hometown (Alaska Air has twice-daily service from Santa Rosa to Seattle). We would depart on Aug. 31, four days earlier than the Houston flight would have been.

We had to pay ticket-change fees ($76 each) and additional taxes ($55 each). Normally, British Air adds a charge of $25 for using a live agent to do the booking, but Laura waived the fee due to my inability to find anything on my own online. 

The Alaska Air flights were an extra expense, of course, and we now had three unscheduled days in London, but who couldn’t love a 3-day layover in London!? Jim spent 8½ hours on the phone and computer to make those additional arrangements. 

After Laura booked the Seattle/London flights, she and I continued conversing about traveling in general, and she made me feel like a good friend. 

In fact, of all the times I have spoken to British Air agents (once I had gotten through), all have been the friendliest, most polite people. Nevertheless, because of all of the difficulties that we endured, we have stopped using our British Airways Visa card. 

We now use a Capital One Spark Business Visa Signature card; the account requires using the name of a business. This is a 2%-cash-back card that charges an annual fee of $59 but charges no foreign transaction fees on purchases. — B.D.