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Can you cancel the return leg of an Avios redemption after flying outbound?

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I thought it was worth digging out an interesting story which we first ran a couple of years ago and which highlights a quirk when it comes to cancelling Avios reward flights.

A reader had flown to Australia with his girlfriend for an extended trip.  They decided to stay for an even longer period and no longer needed their return flight.

The couple had paid 250,000 Avios for a Club World redemption to Sydney, using a British Airways American Express 241 voucher.

Can you cancel the return leg of an Avios redemption flight after flying outbound?

Don’t ask how he managed to snag the seats, given how tough Sydney is to get.  He didn’t say!

The outbound had been flown.  They wanted to cancel the return flight and get 125,000 Avios back.  The BA agent said ‘No’.

Was this correct?

My first thought was that the call centre agent was wrong.

You can definitely CHANGE the date or time of your return Avios flight after the outbound has been flown.  I have done this myself.  It is a handy feature if a better-timed flight opens up at the last minute, or your trip is going very well or very badly.

It seemed logical to me that full cancellation would also be possible.  I was wrong.

You cannot CANCEL the return leg of an Avios ticket, after the outbound has been flown, for a refund.

One reason you may need to cancel – apart from if you decide not to return at all! – is if you want to change dates but there is no Avios availability. In such a scenario you may decide to pay cash for a return ticket on a different date and refund your existing Avios return leg, or use miles via a different loyalty programme.

Can you cancel one way Avios redemptions

When should you book an Avios flight as a return trip?

It’s not really clear! All of my short haul Avios travel is now booked as separate one way tickets.

This means that changing a flight is easy. If a better timed inbound or outbound flight opens up, I can simply make a new booking for that leg and cancel the original flight online.

As for other possible reasons for not booking your trips as one-way flights:

  • you don’t book a return flight to save on cancellation fees, since BA appears to be keeping cancellation fees – at least on short haul – at 50p per person for now (this only applies to BA redemptions, not partner flights, and note that this could end at any point – the T&C still say that Avios cancellations are £35 per person)
  • you don’t need to do it if you are using a British Airways American Express 2-4-1 companion voucher – it is now possible to book each leg separately although the process is fiddly as I explain below
  • you don’t need to do it because surcharges are higher when booking 2 x one-way tickets, because this no longer the case unless you are booking First Class

Booking two x one-ways flights can even save money

Booking a trip as two x one-ways can, in some cities, also save you a substantial amount of money.

Sao Paulo and Hong Kong are two cities where local rules on surcharges should make two x one-way tickets cheaper than a return. This still applies despite the launch of Reward Flight Saver.

Here is a one way Club World flight from Hong Kong to London for example, with just £36 of taxes and charges:

Low Avios taxes from Hong Kong

How can you use a 2-4-1 voucher whilst still booking each leg separately?

If you want full flexibility to cancel the return leg of a flight booked with a British Airways American Express 2-4-1 voucher, this is what you do.

You book the outbound leg as a one-way flight, using your 2-4-1 voucher.

You book the return leg separately, paying the full Avios cost. This requires you to have enough Avios in your account to do this.

You call British Airways Executive Club and ask for half of the Avios for the return flight to be returned to you. This will be done without a problem. Note that BA will charge a £35 per person amendment fee for doing this unless you are booking right at the edge of the window, at 355 days before departure.

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Category

British Airways and Avios

Comments (111)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • WorldTraveller says:
    12 Jun12 June 05:36

    The chances are many people looking to use 2-4-1 vouchers won’t have enough avios to book return legs separately paying the full avios cost and then getting them refunded. For some flights like Australia this is very considerable so I think only the lucky few will be able to benefit from this.

    • BJ says:
      12 Jun12 June 06:36

      I tend to agree with this, increasing difficulty in collecting significant cc SUB, earning the BAPP voucher, and using the Barcs voucher when combined with the switch to Global RFS has sucked much of the life out of BAEC. BAPP still has its uses but it has become increasingly niche, especially going Eastwards and Southwards (particularly from tve regiins) as both QR and AY offer better products and services at prices comparable to, or better than , BA with a voucher. In the past I never had any difficulty sustaining an avios balance large enough to book all my flights one way, even when exploiting the voucher but now I would have difficulty doing so despite being confident that my ability to collect avios is well above the average loyalty gamer. Iget the impression from comments on HfP over the last year that increasing numbers of readees are increasibgly sustaining their habit by purchasing avios at 0.9-1.2p each. I just hope that they are not forgetting to check miles-earning revenue flights before doing so. It was not that ling ago that most of us ling-term readers would have been aghast at paying more than 0.5-0.6ppa.

      • Erico1875 says:
        12 Jun12 June 06:47

        @BJ
        If you take the “free” Avios from CCs, bonus offers, wine, BA shopping portal, etc etc then 3x boost, then the cost per Avios isn’t really much more than 0.5 or 0.6p each in total.
        I still believe I am getting 100% return on that outlay

        • BJ says:
          12 Jun12 June 07:02

          I think the main tgrust of my argument is just that there are not so many easily collectable ‘free’ avios around anymore. Most of my avios ‘purchases’ continue to be across a HHA set up to take advantage of Sainsbury’s Life so they’re still costing me 0.2-0.5ppa with an average around 0.3ppa. I am however going to push the boat out and triple boost my Barcs SUB + spend at 0.92ppa as my balance has fell to under 60k at the moment.

        • Gordon says:
          12 Jun12 June 07:03

          When I boosted the 100k Avios from the Barclays promotion a couple of years back it worked out 0.836p

          • Gordon says:
            12 Jun12 June 07:11

            That was to Erico 1875, but funnily enough, after your comment on the Avios booster a minute before my post, it could refer to you as well @BJ, haha.

          • BJ says:
            12 Jun12 June 07:22

            That 0.83p was because there was a boost launch offer with a 10% bonus.

          • Gordon says:
            12 Jun12 June 07:46

            Oh yes, I forgot about that.

  • Reney says:
    12 Jun12 June 06:42

    A different question on a similar theme – can I cancel the outbound only (have not flown either leg)?

    I booked a return trip to SYD using a Barclays voucher in Q4 (in PE), cause I need to get to AKL for a wedding (not brought the SYD to AKL return yet). I have since found the return leg with qatar airline which reduces the number of changes. I am struggling to find redemption via Qatar airlines on the way out. Can I just cancel the outbound leg of my return trip?

    • BJ says:
      12 Jun12 June 07:12

      Do you actually want to go to Australia or is it just a means to get to NZ for tge wedding? Jf tve latter my thinking is that you might be vetter scrapping the lot and getting to/from HKG with BA, AY, CX or QR and on to AKL with CX booking via AY+, BAEC or QAPC whichever works best.

      • Reney says:
        12 Jun12 June 12:25

        This is like an alphabet soup. What does AY and QAPC stand for? So I don’t mind going via sydney as I have never been. The main aim is to get to the wedding NOT in economy in the most cost (points and cash) efficient manner. Finding availabilities to HK can be very difficult as that is a regular route for me. I understood CX availabilities is difficult too. I also have 3 Barclays voucher to use so want to make use of them to save points. Basically availabilities are difficult to come by and I jumped on the SYD availabilities when I saw it, so that at least I got myself as close as I could. I am happy to try the suggestions but if i can’t find availabilities, my question still stands, can i cancel the outbound?

      • BJ says:
        12 Jun12 June 14:26

        From your post it sounded like SYD was just a means to get to the wedding, zi just asked to clarify this. My duggestions were based on doing exactly what you want – as cheaply as possible in a premium cabin. AY is Finnair, QAPC is Qatar Airways Priviledge Club.

  • John says:
    12 Jun12 June 06:48

    If EU261 is applicable, it certainly makes sense to book returns.

    • JDB says:
      12 Jun12 June 07:02

      @John – your UK/EC261 rights are not affected by booking two one ways or a return. I would be more worried about over publicising this concession by BA as it takes up a lot of staff time.

      • Geoff says:
        12 Jun12 June 07:17

        Why would that worry you?

        • JDB says:
          12 Jun12 June 07:43

          @Geoff – I would worry because while we never book at T-355 so don’t need to avail ourselves of the 50% back routine, a lot of people seem to rely on this concession by BA which could be stopped at any time as the terms require you to book outbound and return at the same time. It takes up staff time and is a process they don’t like as it’s quite fiddly. From the company’s perspective it costs time, leads to error and can have negative revenue implications. From the passenger’s perspective, you need a decent Avios float, you need to make an extra call (or other contact) and you may end up with two sets of cancellation fees.

          • Geoff says:
            12 Jun12 June 07:46

            Doesn’t sound like anything to “worry” about to me

          • TGLoyalty says:
            12 Jun12 June 08:43

            X might even send the CEO a nice letter outlining the loophole that should be closed asap because people are getting a benefit he doesn’t like … it’s not a loophole as they don’t release infinite seats at T-355 and drop them at random times of the year so theres every chance you don’t get a return when booking outbound.

          • TGLoyalty says:
            12 Jun12 June 08:46

            @JDB let’s not forget they were paid £35 for their companies time.

    • BJ says:
      12 Jun12 June 07:16

      Any one way flight into UK/Europe on a British or European airline is protected.

  • dst87 says:
    12 Jun12 June 06:55

    One worry I’d have (maybe you can tell me how this would work in practice) is: what if I book two one-way trips and BA cancel one of the legs and ask me to rebook?

    On a return ticket they’ll let me re-schedule all flights in the booking for free. I imagine this wouldn’t apply if the legs were booked separately.

    Example: my outbound flight to Japan was cancelled and when choosing a new flight I was given the option of rescheduling the return too. This let me keep my trip the same length and just shift the trip by a few days.

    • Rob says:
      12 Jun12 June 07:45

      You would be stuck in this scenario.

      • jjoohhnn says:
        12 Jun12 June 09:26

        Yes i had this recently when BA cancelled the return of a reward flight from Warsaw and moved us onto an early morning departure which was undesirable. As I had booked a return, I was able to change the day for the outbound and return and choose more preferable options, so we didn’t lose holiday time.

        It was a definite benefit.

  • Ian says:
    12 Jun12 June 06:55

    Never been charged £35 for the refund of Avios.

    Often just do it via the Twitter team.

  • Andrew says:
    12 Jun12 June 07:00

    The cancellation fees are random. I cancelled two legs of a return journey within minutes of each other. One charged 50p through the automated instant process. The other went “manual” and I was charged £35 a few days later. I queried it and they said £35 was correct.

    • Harry T says:
      12 Jun12 June 08:19

      £35 is correct. It’s just sometimes the online system gives you the 50p cancellation fee.

    • TGLoyalty says:
      12 Jun12 June 08:45

      The £35 is the actual charge.

      50p happens if you hit a system limitation/gremlin it used to be only if you booked the highest Avios lowest cash price version so if it happened on another Avios/cash price you got lucky.

      • Rob says:
        12 Jun12 June 08:49

        Not lucky at all. I always book ‘most cash’ because the cash bit is a tax write off. I’ve probably cancelled 20 so far this year and paid 50p on all of them.

        • Domo1915 says:
          12 Jun12 June 10:17

          Hi Rob. Can you explain this further?

        • TGLoyalty says:
          12 Jun12 June 12:52

          for Short Haul? I was charged £35 completely online last Autumn too

          • Rob says:
            12 Jun12 June 13:00

            BA oeprated? I cancel multiple short hauls each month – cancelled three sectors just this week – as we juggle HfP and personal travel and have not paid £35 since covid days.

  • Andrew says:
    12 Jun12 June 07:05

    I’ve done the booking one way on a 241 and then adding the return and contacted BA through X DM. Had 50% avios refunded with no £35 charge.

  • Sussex bantam says:
    12 Jun12 June 07:24

    It used to be that booking a single from US to UK attracted huge “taxes” that BA refused to refund if adding the return leg to a 241 at a later date. Has that changed now or did I make it up??

    • Rob says:
      12 Jun12 June 07:43

      Whether or not BA ‘refused’, it’s not an issue now because of Reward Flight Saver (unless in First).

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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