Airline Merger: BMI and British Airways

In March of 2012 IAG partners’(parent company of British Airways and Iberia Airlines) bid to purchase British Midland International (BMI) was approved by the European Competition Commission.

On April 20th 2012 the acquisition was completed.

With the completion of the British Midland International purchase, BMI is no longer a member of the Star Alliance.

Let the Airline Merger rumors on frequent flyer programs begin!
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Guide to Avios Part VII: Household Accounts and Travel Together Ticket

Welcome to another edition of my Guide to BA Avios Points!

In Previous Editions we discussed:

Part I: Partner Award Flights

Part II: Short-Haul Award Flights

Part III: Long-Haul Award Flights

Part IV: Avios & Money Pay Option

Part V: Avoid High Taxes & Fees

Part VI: Qantas.com Partner Award Search

In this, our seventh installment, we will cover everything you need to know about using Househould Accounts (HHA) and The Travel Together Ticket.

Household Accounts

Do you day dream about exploiting your children’s Avios balances to take a trip with the wifey to Hawaii?

Then you need an Avios Household Account!

It is as easy to set-up as it sounds and it makes sense for families.

It is free, up to seven people can join and anybody 18+ can redeem Avios for an award flight.

Intrigued? Let us see how to Keep your Household in order:

There can only be one head of household and Everybody in the Household Account is required to have the same permanent address.

That sounds like a logical definition of a household but we all know airlines never do anything that is logical. So this must be a typo (its not).

Why do you want to group your VIP bankroll of 100k Avios with your friend who who only has 24 Avios?

When Booking a redemption Avios will be taken equally from all accounts in proportion with their balances.

Small fries get a fair percentage equivalent of their balance equal to what the big timer would have to sacrifice.

This means that the guy with the short stack is mooching off the guy with the big bankroll.

Now, obviously if you agreed to be in a Household account with this person it is assumed you knew this before hand.

Don’t look at me, it’s not my fault all of your friends are slackers.

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Guide to Avios Points Part IV: Avios & Money Pay Option

Welcome to another edition of my Guide to BA Avios Points in this third edition we will cover everything you need to know about long-haul award flights redemption value.

Previous Editions Were:

Guide to BA Avios Points Part I: Partner Award Flights

Guide to BA Avios Points Part II: Short-Haul Award Flights

Guide to BA Avios Points Part III: Long-Haul Award Flights

Guide to Avios Part IV

A feature that I personally LOVE about the Avios Points is the Avios & Money payment options. You can select from one of six combinations that allow you to choose how to maximize your Avios Points.

I love to use this option to the max when I buy my Avios Award Flights JFK-EZE on American Airlines.

This Avios & Money option is available on one-way and return itineraries on British Airways and franchise operated flights:

Aer Lingus, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Finnair, Kingfisher Airlines and LAN Airlines only. Codeshare flights are excluded.

There is also no class of service restriction; Economy, Premium Economy, Business and First are all eligible.

I will run through some examples of the Avios & Money options for an International flight on British Airways for all four class of service.

The Roundtrip flight route will be DFW-LHR-CDG .

I picked it because it is a central US departure from oneworld hub and Paris is a frequent destination for Americans.

The taxes & fees are very high for flights to the Euro Area from the U.S. on British Airways, American Airlines and other oneworld alliance carriers.

But remember this is an analysis of the Avios & Money payment options and the analysis of the taxes/fees associated with Avios Point redemption is the subject of the next Part in this “Guide to Avios” series.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/vx_qAaFDYMo[/youtube]

I will start with economy and work my way to a First class Avios & Money options as well. Read it all or only the type of award you are interested in booking. It is your choice.

This is meant to paint a picture of how the Avios & Money option works for all flights.

Now we can compare the standard Avios Point redemption to the other options to see which provides the best return per Avios Point value. To do this we take the difference in taxes/fees and divide that by the difference in Avios Points.

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