Video Blog Post: Master British Airways Award Clinic
We have until this coming Wednesday, November 16, 2011 to use our British Airways Executive Club miles before they turn into Avios points. For British Airways and short-distance flight awards, this new program is generally a neutral or slightly positive change.
However, if you want to book one of the incredible South American/ Asia awards that I've covered over and over again, you need to do it by Wednesday. So I put together a 13 minute video explaining the basics of getting the most out of BA miles and I'm here this weekend to help you all burn as many miles as possible! As always, I'd love for the TPG community to come together and help one another out so we can squeeze as much value as possible out of our British Airways miles.
So, to get things started, please comment with any recent stellar redemption you've made using your BA miles and any tips/tricks that helped you book it. I'd love to have a constant flowing discussion helping people think creatively about the many ways BA miles can be valuable. As I mentioned in the video, I've received tons of reader emails asking for specific help and as much as I want to respond to each and every email, it would be more beneficial to ask your questions in this open forum so others can learn from the responses as well.
Also, please make sure you read through my 10 part series on using BA miles, which should be a good primer, "even if you are a frequent flyer."
General tips, Post 1 – Booking BA Awards, Post 2 – Booking Partner Awards, Post 3 – Oneworld Alliance, Post 4 – Taxes and Fees, Post 5 – Household Accounts, Post 6 – Companion Ticket, Post 7 – Using ExpertFlyer for Partner Award Availability, Post 8 – The Art of the Stopover, Post 9 – Leveraging Miles and Cash Redemptions, and Post 10 - Using Qantas.com to Find Oneworld Award Availability
And whenever you redeem, feel free to Tweet me your redemption and hashtag it with #burnbabyburn. Let the games begin!
[card card-name='Premier Rewards Gold Card from American Express ' card-id='22035076' type='javascript' bullet-id='1']
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