How to get a ‘free’ domestic Avios redemption with an overseas reward

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• William says:

  31 Oct31 October 06:45

  I travel between London and Belfast at least once a month. By using this trick, I nest a free flight to a mainland Europe destination within my domestics, all booked as a Reward Flight Saver. This gives me two (>£120) return flights for only 9,000 Avios & £35.

• sandgrounder says:

  31 Oct31 October 07:09

  I will be travelling down south on the train for my Easter trip to the US as there were no connections left when I booked, and I refuse to pay £130-odd extra to add one on for two people, one way. Only book these if you really will use them please. Some of us need them.

  • czechoslovakia says:

    31 Oct31 October 09:20

    +1

  • trickster says:

    31 Oct31 October 09:40

    here here

• avidsaver says:

  31 Oct31 October 07:10

  Rob, is there a maximum length of time allowed for the stopover?

  • signol says:

    31 Oct31 October 07:44

    I successfully booked one and travelled 6 months after the first leg: http://signol.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/2014-03-edinburgh-daytrip-ba-vs-vs.html?m=1

    • avidsaver says:

      31 Oct31 October 08:10

      Thanks for the info signol says – very interesting!

  • Andrew says:

    31 Oct31 October 11:27

    12 months

  • Rob says:

    31 Oct31 October 16:43

    No.

• JQ says:

  31 Oct31 October 07:10

  I thought that with long-haul no extra Avios are required, but you still have to pay the LHR and regional airport charges, which may be substantial (relatively) unless the regional airport is JER

  Sometimes you will get availability to a regional airport but not to LHR so then the choice is between booking and paying slightly more (if youhave no domestic trip planned) or waiting to see if anything else becomes avaialble.

  • Lady London says:

    31 Oct31 October 14:02

    Conversely regional avios is often better than just to London, I think BA really is trying to help the regions.

• Tim_T says:

  31 Oct31 October 08:03

  “What I don’t know is if its possible to ring BA (as the website can’t handle it) and book London – New York – London – Edinburgh as a standard Avios points reward with a BA Amex 2-4-1 voucher.”

  Yes you can as I have this for summer 2015, out from LHR return to MAN via LHR with 241. I did have to pay a few pounds extra in APD for the domestic leg.

  • oyster says:

    31 Oct31 October 08:17

    Did you have to pay extra for the offline booking?

• gate4loungek says:

  31 Oct31 October 08:13

  Re booking London-New York-London-Edinburgh using Amex 241, I can confirm that this is possible. I’m currently sitting on LGW-TPA-LGW-EDI in C booked using a 241. I can’t get the EDI-LGW connection at the start as its unavailable (last week of English school hols next year). Strangely EDI-LHR and EDI-LCY are both available but I don’t want to schlep luggage across London.

• Duncan Stevenson says:

  31 Oct31 October 08:17

  Interestingly there’s a strange loophole that allows us (living in Central Scotland) to get a return flight for the price of a single.

  If I’m travelling to London to visit family and am getting a lift to the airport, I can book a 1-way Avios redemption from Edinburgh to Glasgow with a 1 week layover in London. I conveniently live half way between the two airports so this is a very niche case.

  I guess it can be used by such a tiny proportion of people that they haven’t bothered to close the loophole. Note I haven’t actually used this, but I have priced it: £17.50 & 4,500 Avios.

  • Tim says:

    31 Oct31 October 09:18

    It isnt a loop hole. It is just how the free domestic connection works. You book at london-heathrow trip and get the glasgow-london connection thrown in.

    • Richard says:

      31 Oct31 October 09:55

      It’s a loophole because flying from Edinburgh to Glasgow is a ridiculous proposition in the first place. It makes as much sense as flying from Heathrow to London City – which BA won’t let you book, because it “knows” that both airports are in London.
      BA once offered me a route from LCY to EDI (presumably on a day when direct flights were all full) connecting at Glasgow, and then again at Sumburgh on the Shetland Islands. I had a giggle at the thought of a naive tourist shrugging and clicking OK.

  • David Jackson says:

    31 Oct31 October 09:32

    Same could apply for those living between Newcastle and Leeds!

  • Volker says:

    31 Oct31 October 10:43

    Never thought of that, Duncan. Sounds like a great idea to me!

  • John M says:

    31 Oct31 October 13:24

    I’ve done it few times flying Single from Belfast to Dublin with a stop over in LHR. Great value!

  • Colin MacKinnon says:

    31 Oct31 October 16:25

    You don’t need family to drop you off.

    First flight, 1st ticket, is EDI-LON on an EDI-LHR-GLA
    Second flight is Little RED back to EDI

    First flight, is on 2nd ticket, GLA-LHR-EDI
    Second flight is other half of 1st ticket: LHR-GLA

    Next flight is 1st half of new EDI-LHR-GLA
    Return on other part of second ticket LHR-EDI

    Next flight is out on new GLA-LHR-EDI and back on
    return part of previous ticket.

    And repeat!

    That’s how it works from Strathaven!

  • Erico1875 says:

    31 Oct31 October 16:26

    Priceless. Thanks

  • ECR says:

    31 Oct31 October 18:48

    It will probably be closed now that this item will have brought it to BA’s attention. They will probably restrict stopovers to 24 hours like Avios.com.

    • Duncan S says:

      31 Oct31 October 19:03

      I can understand them stopping people booking a one way flight from EDI – GLA (because it’s ridiculous for anyone to want to do) but why restrict the length of stopovers.

      I like the idea of being able to spend a few days with family in London en-route to a desiination further afield.

    • Raffles says:

      31 Oct31 October 19:04

      Unlikely. The use of them was reduced when the Gold change fee came in. Until then you could change the date or even destination of the domestic leg, for free, as many times as you wanted.

• Mark2 says:

  31 Oct31 October 10:08

  While we are talking about 2-4-1, am I correct in thinking that this is booked through BAEC rather than Avios? Does the voucher show up there and get used at my choice or do I have to ring someone?
  More importantly, can I only use 2-4-1 when booking to and from the same destination or could we go to Vancouver and come back from Toronto?

  • Tim says:

    31 Oct31 October 11:06

    Yes, its only BAEC.

    Your choice, you can select it online to use, or tell them over the phone.

    Yes you can. As long as the “over ground” leg is shorter than either of the “in the air legs”. For example, London to LA then Japan to London is valid as the LA to Japan is shorter than either of the other legs. It does need to be done over the phone however.

    • Mark2 says:

      31 Oct31 October 18:33

      Thanks Tim.

  • jason says:

    1 Nov1 November 07:22

    I didnt get charged for booking the last one on the phone either!

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