We gave up on BA on the way over

We've always liked BA, and have tons of Avios stored up. We used to have a high status on their rewards program, but got demoted two levels; we don't know why, but we lost our lounge privileges. We're looking at BA for our trip next spring, but we're looking at other airlines, as well.

I will say that when everything was cancelled in 2020, we had no trouble getting a full cash refund. That's a big point in their favor.

We flew BA for years. My former company had a corporate account so a lot of the business travel I did was with them and I racked up tons of Avios. I am still trying to spend them!!! But this was just getting to be too much. We are taking them on the way home but going over will now take Swiss direct. Saves the Covid test (as of now, not sure if Switzerland will change this) and just requires doing the Swiss PLF. plus eliminates 2 plane changes.

Smart move. We're wishing we could do the same, but we paid $, not miles...we leave 8/7, and have had to totally rebook SFO/LHR/ZRH twice in the last 6 days due to cancellations of AA/BA. Rebooking wouldn't be so bad if not for the 4 hour waits to talk to someone!
Extremely stressful.
Good luck and have a great trip!

You too! You’ll beat us over by a couple of weeks. We used all mileage so I was just done. Yes, the hold times have been tough.

Kathleen, pls keep us posted.
After BA canceled and we rebooked the outgoing, I don't know why they haven't contacted us to rebook the return flight, as it's currently not even flying.

cchapin, I've flown to SFO for a direct Swiss Air in the past, [paid for a Southwest flight] and found that easier than driving thru LA traffic! Glad you will have a great flight over, and hope all of our trips happen!

Regarding Avios, we have found that sometimes it's better to use them for hotels, instead of flights.

Safe travels!

We “normally” have about a 2 hour drive to LAX but we will leave probably 6 hours before flight time just to be on the safe side. This is a night flight so that helps. Fingers crossed Switzerland doesn’t decide to clamp down between now and then.

Good tips on using Avios for hotels.

Good luck to everyone!

We just booked a Swiss flight from LA direct to Zurich. It was
expensive

Buying a one way ticket across the atlantic usually is. You might have saved a bit of money by booking a return ticket from Swiss instead of a one way.

I think you'll be a lot happier with Swiss Air. Our current flights from Chicago to Zurich on Swiss have been scheduled since March with zero changes (so far).

Also, when we had to cancel our original flights for April 2020, we had no troubles. While others were complaining about long wait times on hold and no cash refunds, my wait time on hold was 5 minutes and I had a credit back to my Visa within a week.

Plus, I think a nonstop flight is well worth the additional expense.

And I'm keeping my fingers crossed for no entry changes at the Aug. 11 meeting or after.

Cchapin, I know you booked your original flights with BA miles (Avios) but did you book it as two one-ways or round trip?

I asked because normally if you book RT, and do not take the outbound leg, the airline would cancel the return leg as well. But maybe this is OK because it was BA that canceled the original outbound flight? Or maybe you book it as 2 one-ways——that is what I do to bet our BA flights with Avios. Booking one way at a time is easier and a surer way to get the flights I want.

They were basically two one ways. One went through DFW then LHR to get to Geneva (the one we ditched), the return goes from CDG to LHR to LAX.