How to find a British Airways office open at any time (eg midnight for 241 bookings)

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• rams1981 says:

  3 Jan3 January 09:48

  Has anyone managed to book Sydney or Cape Town in business before for a Dec/Jan outbound/inbound?

  If so, any tips? Is it possible to book outbound online? And when adding the return what is the best number to call at midnight UK time to add the return leg given the stories above about being told to call the UK call centre the morning after?

  • Rob says:

    3 Jan3 January 10:07

    Frankly, Sydney is best done for cash. Even with a 241, it isn’t great value if you can pick up a cash ticket for £1500 – £2000 return on a half decent airline in business.

    • Gibbooo says:

      3 Jan3 January 10:30

      As we’re straying off topic. Do you happen to know when the next Qatar seat sale will be?

      Thanks!

      • gibbooo says:

        3 Jan3 January 11:43

        thanks for that!!

        i blame holiday brain

    • Kathy says:

      3 Jan3 January 10:52

      Only if you have the cash! Given the popularity of the route it seems many don’t.

      I want to book to SYD using a Lloyd’s upgrade voucher – is there a way of calling them at midnight? Or do I have to wait until the UK call centre opens at 8am?

      • Matthew says:

        3 Jan3 January 13:23

        I have the same question regarding the lloyds voucher. If you are trying to use it as on upgrade for two people one-way then you have use the call centre which is not 24hrs. I you are using it or one as a return upgrade then you can do this online.

        • Matthew says:

          3 Jan3 January 13:25

          *If you are using it for one….

          Does anyone know if you can contact the avios customer services at midnight?!

        • Alan says:

          3 Jan3 January 13:29

          Seems to have trouble if flying from the regions too or if trying to do an open jaw. I don’t think they’re as flexible as BA either when it comes to the ability to call back to add on return leg, although happy to be corrected.

    • Crafty says:

      3 Jan3 January 16:01

      Rob, do you have a reference article on redemption destinations that tend to be considered good and poor value? I have noticed, for example, that a lot of people appear to redeem on trips to Japan.

      • Rob says:

        3 Jan3 January 16:05

        It isn’t that simple because it also varies by season. Even economy tickets can be decent value if you are redeeming for long haul at the busiest times of the year.

        Japan tends to be pricey because capacity is restricted into the airports there and demand outstrips supply. It is really a case of looking at where you want to go, seeing what sort of prices are about for cash.

        A lot also depends on your willingness to be flexible. Qatar’s sale may well have, for example, Tokyo for under £1000 from Europe. However, do you want to go London – Brussels – Doha – Tokyo even if it means getting Qatar business class and 560 tier points for £1000? Some people would do it, others would not.

        It also depends on how Avios rich vs cash rich you are, and also how you got your points – if you earn all your points from work travel, and so they don’t cost you anything, you may have a different propensity to redeem vs someone who converts Tesco Clubcard points to Avios which cost them the opportunity cost of another Clubcard redemption.

    • Anon says:

      13 Jan13 January 22:55

      surely 0% chance of getting Business flights for that over Xmas / NY tho?? :/

  • Louie says:

    4 Jan4 January 10:37

    I’m in the Qantas lounge in Singapore at the moment, half way back to Oz in Club using a 2-4-1 voucher. We managed to get flights SYD-LHR in mid Dec 15 and mid Dec 16 and have them booked for mid Dec 17 with LHR-SYD in Jan 16 and today with only one bad experience and only missing out on our ideal dates once, using the advice given here and on Flyertalk to book the outbound online and calling to book the returns at midnight. It can be done!

    Living in Oz but with elderly parents in the UK, one of whom we lost last summer, we really value the flexibility of award flights. Fortunately we were able to use AAdvantage miles to fly Etihad when we needed to get back at short notice then. Otherwise we’d make use of the cheap business class flights ex-EU.

• daftboy says:

  3 Jan3 January 11:45

  Just to add that of the 2-4-1 vouchers I have used over the past few years I have not booked any at T-355, more commonly between 4 and 6 months out, so all is not lost if you don’t get something straight away! I’ve used the voucher for a mix of easier places like JFK (sheer volume of flights) and Mexico City (weaker premium demand I think), but also some trickier combinations like Seattle/Vancouver, Houston, and Sao Paulo/Rio.

  My advice would be to keep checking and have a few different options if feasible (i.e. multiple US gateway cities near where you want to be), and if you see something that works with availability be ready to book it, don’t hang around as there is no guarantee the seats will still be there when you come back having discussed it with your other half etc 😉

  Subscribing to Expert Flyer may be worthwhile (under $10 per month) as you can set up automated searches that email you if succesful; the free version has less functionality but can also be used.

• Ronster says:

  3 Jan3 January 11:56

  Good morning to all.

  Slightly O/T but still connected with 2-4-1 vouchers and contact centres.

  Looking at another F trip to Tokyo on BA and wondered whats the best way to take advantage of a low tax return.

  In other words instead of booking the 2 return tickets in F with around £538 to pay each, I wanted to book outbound separately, pay around £355 each and then the return leg again separately and pay only £18.00 each?!

  Can it be done and if it can does this method have any disadvantages as opposed to booking the retune leg and the same time and paying more tax?

  Any particular way of explaining this to the agent concerned without confusing them.

  Thanks

  R

  • Alan says:

    3 Jan3 January 11:58

    If trying to combine it with a 241 then it would all be on one ticket and treated (& priced) as a return once you added on the Tokyo-London leg AFAIK.

  • Rob says:

    3 Jan3 January 12:15

    Can’t be done, almost certainly, because the voucher would expire after the first ticket was booked. Even if you had 2 x 241 vouchers it couldn’t be done because a 241 must start in the UK.

    You either need to cough up for the fuel surcharge on the return or pay the additional Avios to not use a 241 on the return (which would be a mistake I think).

• Cristian says:

  3 Jan3 January 14:35

  Is the 241 voucher for a return flight? Or is only for one way and Then you need another voucher for return? Sorry I’m new to this thank you

  • Rob says:

    3 Jan3 January 14:46

    It is for a return flight if you want a return. It can also be used as a one-way but ONLY from the UK, not to the UK.

    It must be used on a BA flight operated by a BA plane, not a oneworld partner (like Qatar) or a BA franchise or codeshare (like Comair).

    Full taxes and charges must be paid on both tickets.

    • cristian says:

      4 Jan4 January 17:39

      thank you Rob.

• Nigel says:

  3 Jan3 January 18:11

  A point to bear in mind I was specifically advised NOT to offer up the 2 4 1 voucher when booking the first leg since it could not then be redeemed for the homebound return. Happy to be corrected however

  • Steve says:

    3 Jan3 January 19:27

    Not correct! I’ve done several open jaw 2-4-1 bookings and always used the 2-4-1 straight away on the outward leg! CS staff will see the 2-4-1 still when they recalculate how many more avios you need to pay

    • mark2 says:

      3 Jan3 January 19:30

      so have I

• ian says:

  3 Jan3 January 18:51

  That is very important if correct – Rob???

• Anna says:

  3 Jan3 January 19:13

  I had a really frustrating time recently. I booked to fly to Grand Cayman and used the 2 for 1 to get the outbound flights in CW by logging on at 1 am as they only ever release 2 seats and there are only 4 flights per week. As my voucher was worth 75,000 avios I was prepared to forego the return portion, and 2 weeks later booked the return sector in WT, paying the full avios fare for 2 seats. However, a few days later BA cancelled the return flight. I called them to rebook and asked if, at this point, I could use the return portion of my voucher. They flatly refused and have been refusing ever since, despite several complaints by phone and in writing!

  • the real harry says:

    3 Jan3 January 19:44

    that’s ridiculously intransigent from the people involved, particularly as they cancellede your return flight!

    decent customer services people would just have bent the rules to make up

    I recently had a very good outcome when I ’emailed the CEO’ – he did what I would have done which is deal with it in 2 minutes by delegating it to the head of CS & no doubt telling her to sort it out to the customer’s satisfaction, as it happens she was charm itself (not BA, but a computer co)

    alex.cruz@ba.com

    • Anna says:

      6 Jan6 January 13:32

      I’ll drop him a line, thanks.

• Jonathan says:

  3 Jan3 January 22:23

  OT: I have earnt a BA 241 voucher and cancelled my BA credit card. I have subsequently spent the voucher and paid the taxes on my MBNA Virgin Amex. So far so good… But now the wife wants to cancel – what happens with the 241 voucher, Lost or will it get returned to my BAEC account?

  • James says:

    4 Jan4 January 07:16

    Lost

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