Lloyds Avios upgrade vouchers are being extended to October – if you ask

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• Jon says:

  25 Mar25 March 04:29

  Rob, re your last paragraph – I recall reading in comments here a while back that flights booked with Lloyds vouchers cannot be converted to Future Travel Vouchers. Has that changed? (Or maybe I got it wrong). Can anyone confirm either way?

  Relevant to me as I‘ve just had yet another flight cancelled so I need to work out my options…

  • Simon Cross says:

    25 Mar25 March 05:49

    Jon is correct.

    If BA cancel the flight your Lloyds voucher is returned but if you cancel the flight you lose the voucher (but get the avios back)

    See also my longer comment below.

  • Robbie says:

    25 Mar25 March 07:58

    I used the live chat function to speak to Avios about my Lloyds voucher a few months ago and asked this question about whether I could convert a booking into an FTV to keep the voucher active and was told no, Avios don’t issue FTVs for their bookings

• Sue says:

  25 Mar25 March 05:20

  Yes, I phoned to check as my (previously extended) upgrade voucher was due to expire end of March & was advised could extend to 31 October.

  • Simon Cross says:

    25 Mar25 March 05:52

    I did this by online chat with avios.com the other day then emailed myself a copy of the chat as a formal record as the vouchers no longer appear in your avios.com account when you log in.

    • Alan says:

      25 Mar25 March 09:08

      Ditto, did the same a few weeks ago and also kept a chat record just in case! 👍👍

• Simon Cross says:

  25 Mar25 March 05:31

  Jon is correct.

  Bookings and cancellations with Lloyds travel vouchers can only be made by phone with avios.com and avios.com do not issue future travel vouchers. These lloyds bookings are made on a legacy ba system which does not have this capability and which BA themselves no longer use.

  If you cancel your flight which was booked with a Lloyds travel voucher you get the avios back but lose the voucher.

  However you can change the flight date or destination or both (but only to a destination in the same avios zone) and the voucher will still be applied. Again this must be done by phoning avios.com. Some zones only have one destination (e.g. Singapore) while some have many.

  The date change can be to any date within one year of the original outbound flight date (subject to bookings being available and open at the time you request a change) so if your voucher expires on Oct 31 (which you can request an extension until) you can make a first booking before Oct 31 for any flight date which is then available (e.g. june 2022). You can then subsequently change your flight date (and destination but the destination must be in the same avios travel zone) for any flight departing up until June 2023 if bookings are open and available at the time you request the change. This will cost you £35 under standard terms and conditions but this fee is currently being waived.

  • Simon Cross says:

    25 Mar25 March 05:43

    Of course to make the first booking in my example for June 2022 you will have to wait until June 2021 to make it. Any booking made now could only be for up to outbound flight up to March 2022. This could then be changed later for an outbound flight departing up to march 2022 if you make the change in March 2021 (but clearly before the original booking departs) at a change fee of £35.

    So – if you leave everything “up to the wire” your first booking on an extended until Oct 2021 voucher could be made in Oct 2021 to fly in Oct 2022 which in Oct 2022 could be changed for a flight departing up to Oct 2023.

    • Jon says:

      25 Mar25 March 05:59

      Thanks Simon. Not sure what’s going to happen with mine, as the flight has already been cancelled once (by BA) last summer and rebooked/rerouted (on a different airline) for 11 months later (this June), and now that flight has in turn been cancelled… So there won’t be much left on the original ticket validity, I think, and I know from experience that trying to get an EU261 reroute-at-a-later-date will be painful. I suspect I’ll end up having to take a refund and presumably get the returned voucher extended to October per the article, but that will leave me out of pocket because BA no longer flies the originally-booked route, so I’d have to go via somewhere else on BA metal and sort out my own connection. I think if there’s one thing I’ve decided from this and the various other cancellations I’ve been dealing with is that I won’t be chasing companion/upgrade vouchers quite so much in future 😉

      • Simon Cross says:

        25 Mar25 March 06:25

        My pleasure. From what you say I suspect that is what you will need to do.

        I had 2 Lloyds upgrade flights last year both cancelled. 1 – out to Santiago back from lima (lima no longer flies with ba), 2 – out to HK back from Sing. I took the refunds and now have 2 Lloyds vouchers valid until end Oct 2021.

        I will be booking something with them later this year for flying sometime next year to a many destination avios zone and seeing how things pan out and either using the booking or changing as I outlined. I am sure I will get somewhere sometime – a bit like a magical mystery tour!!

        Whoever said “better to travel than to arrive” haha

        Good luck.

        • Vicky says:

          25 Mar25 March 08:47

          Date change is possible but not as you mentioned (first outbound flight) rather 1 year from the voucher expiry date only. Eg: If the voucher expires on 31 Oct, 2021 and you have a flight booked for 30 June, 2022 and decided to move the date / destination within same zone then you can do it up until 31 October, 2022 only and not beyond. I have had many encounters with Avios and lost few vouchers too due to these restrictions.

        • Fred says:

          25 Mar25 March 19:02

          Hi Simon, you appear well versed on these matters. Might I ask where a “many destination avios zone” would/could be please? Thanks in advance.

    • Simon Cross says:

      25 Mar25 March 09:48

      I need to correct the point about extending the booking. Just spoken to Avois again and you must complete your journey (ie be back in the uk) within 12 months of the date you make the first booking.

      So if you make a booking on 10 October 2021 for an outbound flight in June 2022 you MUST be back in the UK before 10 Oct 2022 and any changes you make to your dates or destination MUST conform with this.

      Sorry for the mistake.

      This is the standard BA 12 months rule although at the moment they are being a littlemore flexible but i wouldnot bank on this lasting forever.

  • Nigel W says:

    25 Mar25 March 07:55

    Thanks Simon for confirmation!

    I’m in a bit of a mess as I used one Lloyds voucher for a flight to Tokyo for the Olympics. Of course, with international fans not allowed, I ideally need to use the voucher before then, but only have a very limited number of locations I can use it for! Quite annoying how limited the system is.

  • Greg Morgan says:

    25 Mar25 March 08:52

    I still have 3 of these vouchers left. In the past I have cancelled bookings, had my avios returned and had the voucher returned – then extended many times. I always do this over the phone and they are always more than helpful.

    • Rob says:

      25 Mar25 March 08:59

      Thanks, will amend. As I said at the top, I’ve never actually had or used one of these.

      • Alan says:

        25 Mar25 March 09:11

        You’ve missed out, I’ve had a few of them over the years – bloody great vouchers! 👍👍 The best was during the BA strike when I got moved to a more direct flight with QR back from South Africa 😁

        • Rob says:

          25 Mar25 March 09:55

          Not hugely beneficial for a family of 4!

• Mike says:

  25 Mar25 March 06:59

  Gosh in only 12 months time we will talking about Barclays upgrade voucher

• Aliks says:

  25 Mar25 March 08:46

  We really must organise a last-man-standing Lloyds voucher competition.

  A prize for the person with the last valid voucher on the planet – a further year’s extension???

• Greg Morgan says:

  25 Mar25 March 08:55

  I’ve always found the best value for the Lloyds vouchers are “long” short-haul flights such as Istanbul, St Petersburg, Moscow etc.

  • Yorkieflyer says:

    25 Mar25 March 09:32

    Why, I’ve found the best value to be off peak CW

  • Callum says:

    25 Mar25 March 12:00

    My favourite booking was always Hong Kong to London, then EU-LHR-South America. All taxes/charges were usually in the region of £150 in CW.

    • Lady London says:

      25 Mar25 March 13:07

      Clever, @Callum

• Simon Cross says:

  25 Mar25 March 09:23

  Re Vicky at 8.47.

  I thought changes had to be within 1 year from expiry date of the voucher but in a long online chat (of which I kept a copy) it was confirmed that it was 1 year of the outbound flight.

  I agree that his sounds strange so maybe anyone thinking of trying this should check again before relying on it.

  • Yorkieflyer says:

    25 Mar25 March 09:33

    Would you not run into the 365 day ticketing issue?

  • Simon Cross says:

    25 Mar25 March 09:50

    correction 1 year of the date you make the booking. This is the standard 12 month ticketing rule.

    • Lady London says:

      25 Mar25 March 13:12

      which does not apply if the airline cancels your flight. @Charlieface told us the airline is supposed to endorse your ticket “INVOL” in that case which means your reroute can be over the 12 months. (though obvs have a reasonable reason why).

• James says:

  25 Mar25 March 09:48

  Have any Lloyds Avios Rewards cardholders here received any balance transfers offers in recent months?

  Thanks

  • Brian W says:

    25 Mar25 March 14:53

    Yes, but not the zero fees ones. I used to rinse them monthly gaining a large sum of Avios each month for no cost. I think they have gone for good I’m afraid.

    • James says:

      25 Mar25 March 14:55

      Thanks Brian.

    • flyforfun says:

      25 Mar25 March 20:18

      If you go on MoneySavingExpert there is a link to a 0% 0 fees for 18 months Santander one, plus a £20 Amazon voucher.

      • Brian W says:

        25 Mar25 March 20:40

        How do you earn Avios going via this card though?

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