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How I booked a ticket during British Airways IT meltdown
Yesterday I wrote about how BA bumped my fare bucket from discount business ” I ” to full fare ” J ” on the long haul portion of my trip from Stockholm to Los Angeles. I’ve become a bit jaded when it comes to finding last minute award space and had waited to the very last minute to get from England to Stockholm to start my journey back to LA ( The idea behind this was that I could route to Stockholm from Manchester or London, spend a night in Stockholm, and then fly back through London on a great fare in business.) What I wasn’t expecting was a MASSIVE and COMPLETE failure of one of the biggest airlines in the world.
I’d been tracking SAS flights from Manchester, BA flights from LHR, and felt confident we would find a way to get to Stockholm on May 29th. On Saturday the 27th I was looking for award space and something happened. BA went down. I thought it was a website glitch or bad internet connection. Then the tweets started coming in on my phone. BA, as a whole, from the website to the luggage belts – WAS DOWN. My girlfriend and I were without tickets to Stockholm 48 hours before we were supposed to leave and now…the easiest and cheapest way to get there…wasn’t working. To make matters worse…the only award flights from Manchester to Stockholm via SAS were overnights that would put me in Stockholm after I was scheduled to leave to fly back to London. Uh Oh.
For the rest of Saturday and Sunday the BA site was completely down.
The only way I could find space was on expertflyer. Early Sunday morning they were showing avail…
Soooooo, while en route to pick up a cake for a Christening…I called BA.
The US line was down.
The British Line was down.
I found this number: +44 03444930748
I called it and 33 minutes and 55 seconds later I had a ticket booked 2 ticket with Avios while flights were being cancelled and standby lists expanded. Where there’s a will….there’s a way.
Less than 24 hours later…we were kicking it in the BA First Galleries Lounge at Heathrow thanks to our One World Emerald Status. I may have insta-storied it. @zacharyburrabel
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Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card went through a major refresh in 2026 adding new bonus categories, travel protections, statement credits, and remains one of the best travel starter cards in the market. It earns Premium Ultimate Rewards that can be transferred into over a dozen partners many of which are US based including Hyatt, Southwest, United, IHG, and Marriott. Note that Hyatt is now a 4:3 transfer partner
Welcome Offer
Earn 100,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account openingÂ
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
Earn
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travelâ„
- NEW ACCELERATED EARN CATEGORY: 3x points on gas and EV charging
- NEW ACCELERATED EARN CATEGORY: 3x points on vacation homes at top brands
- Cardmembers will earn 3x points on vacation homes at these top brands: Airbnb, Vrbo, Plu Guide, HomeAway, Homestay.com and Vacasa.
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- 2x on all other travel
- 1x on everyday purchases
- 5x points on Lyft rides Earn 5x total points on eligible Lyft rides including ride share, bike and scooter rides and subscription and membership products through September 30, 2027.
- 5x total points on Peloton equipment Earn 5x total points on eligible Peloton equipment and accessory purchases over $150 through December 31, 2027.
Benefits and Credits
- $100 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travelâ„
- NEW: $120 Global Entry, TSA PreCheck or NEXUS fee credit Cardmembers will receive one statement credit of up to $120 every four years as reimbursement for the application fee charged to the card.
- NEW: Complimentary Apple TV subscription for one year
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Complimentary DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees & lower service fees for a min. of one year when you activate by 12/31/27. Plus, a $10 promo each month on non-restaurant orders
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:Â
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.Â
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is great starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex®  and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Chase Ink Business Cash® , Chase Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into the Sapphire Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee remains quite low at $95 a year and if you use the $100 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travelâ„ you’ll wipe out that annual fee every year. It has great bonus categories and other useful statement credits to enhance your travel.
One thing that is a bummer is Chase lowered the transfer ratio to World of Hyatt from 1:1 to 4:3.Â
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