British Airways Removes Award Space From ExpertFlyer
The bad news keeps on coming from ExpertFlyer. After last week's revelation that Star Alliance searchability on the site had become much more limited with award search and seat alerts for airlines like ANA, Asiana, EVA, Lufthansa, South Africa, Thai, United and US Airways and a dozen more completely gone, as well as the fact that both Delta and United have revoked its ability to search their upgrade inventory (elite upgrades for Delta) the site has also just announced via this FlyerTalk thread that British Airways has hidden their award inventory once again. ExpertFlyer had just added BA earlier this month, but apparently that function was not to be long lived.
Though this certainly isn't good news, I don't think it's really that serious either. British Airways recently dramatically improved the award search function on its site, so it's a lot easier than it used to be to search award inventory both on BA itself as well as many Oneworld partners, and American Airlines' is also a good search tool for BA awards since you can view awards by class a whole month at a time using the site's calendar function. Qantas.com.au also has a great Oneworld search engine where you can search an entire month at a time and by class. So there are still plenty of good options here.
The one real piece of bad news is that you won't be able to set ExpertFlyer award seat alerts so that if hard-to-find award availability space opens up (like BA first class from LA to London) you can be notified and book it before anyone else has the chance.
While I still think it's a very useful tool because it gives flyers access to upgrade and award availability on a number of airlines, it's discouraging to see one airline after another (or a dozen at a time) preventing ExpertFlyer from letting subscribers search their award inventory, and I hope that the site is somehow able to turn this trend around. In the meantime, there are still plenty of airlines you can search on the site, but it looks like we'll have to do a little more legwork to nail down certain awards for now.
Check out these posts for more information on ExpertFlyer:
Using ExpertFlyer to Search Award Availability
Delta Elite Upgrade Space No Longer on ExpertFlyer
United Pulls Upgrade Inventory from ExpertFlyerMore Limited Star Alliance Award Availability on ExpertFlyer
[card card-name='Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card' card-id='22125056' type='javascript' bullet-id='1']
TPG featured card
at Capital One's secure site
Terms & restrictions apply. See rates & fees.
| 5X miles | Earn 5X miles on hotels, vacation rentals and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel |
| 2X miles | Earn unlimited 2X miles on every purchase, every day |
Pros
- Stellar welcome offer of 75,000 miles after spending $4,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening. Plus, a $250 Capital One Travel credit to use in your first cardholder year upon account opening.
- You'll earn 2 miles per dollar on every purchase, which means you won't have to worry about memorizing bonus categories
- Rewards are versatile and can be redeemed for a statement credit or transferred to Capital One’s transfer partners
Cons
- Highest bonus-earning categories only on travel booked via Capital One Travel
- LIMITED-TIME OFFER: Enjoy $250 to use on Capital One Travel in your first cardholder year, plus earn 75,000 bonus miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within the first 3 months from account opening - that’s equal to $1,000 in travel
- Earn unlimited 2X miles on every purchase, every day
- Earn 5X miles on hotels, vacation rentals and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
- Miles won't expire for the life of the account and there's no limit to how many you can earn
- Receive up to a $120 credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck®
- Use your miles to get reimbursed for any travel purchase—or redeem by booking a trip through Capital One Travel
- Enjoy a $50 experience credit and other premium benefits with every hotel and vacation rental booked from the Lifestyle Collection
- Transfer your miles to your choice of 15+ travel loyalty programs
- Top rated mobile app