12am GMT / 1am BST: Calling BA Executive Club to book reward flights at 355 days

[Nath4n]

Good afternoon,

I thought I was all geared up to try tonight/tomorrow night to book some 241 reward (outbound) flights the second they come on sale on a popular route via the call centre, and then attempt the same in a couple of weeks to book the return. I’ve read the articles, and forum posts – practiced dummy bookings and made some test phone calls to the US call centre.

My understanding is that with the clocks going forward and with seats being released at midnight GMT, this is 1am BST. However (and please put me out my misery if I’ve got this wrong), I’ve just had a sinking realisation that the US call centre’s advertised opening hours are 7.30am – 8pm Eastern. Now 8pm Eastern is 1am BST, so does the US call centre close the minute that I need them to be trying to secure the seats? Or if I call shortly before 1am to explain everything and go through security etc are they likely to hold on for a bit over 8pm Eastern to do the booking for me? Or should I be calling a different call centre to be safe? I’ve seen Japan mentioned, but the BA website states they’re only open Monday-Friday…

Hugely grateful for any insight / guidance from those more knowledgeable than myself.

[NorthernLass]

If you’ve got time to read the main threads on booking with the 241 there are lots of posts about this. I think recently there have been issues with the US call centre and Japan/Philippines might be a better bet.

[Nath4n]

Thanks NL, I did have a look through those threads but if I’ve missed anything obvious please let me know.
I’d ring Japan/Philippines but they’re closed on Sat/Sun so unfortunately not an option for tonight/tomorrow night.

EDIT: In fact, after looking through the Executive Club country list: https://www.britishairways.com/travel/contact-executive-club/execclub/_gf/en_gb/About_Country=GB I can’t find a single one that’s open at 1am BST Sat / Sunday..

[Biki]

If it’s just for the outbound then book online. Unless its SYD then i think you have a pretty good chance as long as your exec club account has the people details and credit card details saved so you can be as quick as possible.

[NorthernLass]

Good point – what is the destination? I would say SYD/SIN/MLE would be the tricky ones, but it also depends on your travel dates – will they fall within 2024 Easter holidays? If so add a few layers of difficulty!

[No Longer Entitled]

Nath4n wrote:

EDIT: In fact, after looking through the Executive Club country list: https://www.britishairways.com/travel/contact-executive-club/execclub/_gf/en_gb/About_Country=GB I can’t find a single one that’s open at 1am BST Sat / Sunday..

If they are all closed then everyone is in the same boat. Fastest finger first online.

Pre-populate all the data you can, get used to the flow (which boxes need ticking and where), and you have a better than evens chance.

[Nath4n]

Yes it’s a very popular route, and the 4 CW seats usually disappear within 1 minute from my observations this week… and yes, it will be over Easter holidays. Eeek, right then! I better dust off the trauma of failing multiple times at Glastonbury tickets and brush up on my page refresh skills…
At least for the return leg when I actually (theoretically) need the call centre (I don’t have enough avios to do a 50% refund afterward) T-355 isn’t a Sat/Sun so I should be fine to use the Japan/Philippines numbers.
Thanks for the help everyone. Appreciate it.

[No Longer Entitled]

One thought, a lot of banks require you to authorise payments via an app or code if it your first time using the seller. If your preferred card provider is the same it might be worth making an avios booking that afternoon so the provider can add BA to your safe list (or whatever term they use). You can cancel for free online within 24hrs so make cancelling it after your 1am purchase the last task before bed.

[Nath4n]

No Longer Entitled wrote:

One thought, a lot of banks require you to authorise payments via an app or code if it your first time using the seller. If your preferred card provider is the same it might be worth making an avios booking that afternoon so the provider can add BA to your safe list (or whatever term they use). You can cancel for free online within 24hrs so make cancelling it after your 1am purchase the last task before bed.

Great tip, thank you! I was actually able to add BA to my ‘express’ list from within the Amex account settings without making a new transaction as I’d recently made a transaction with them. This allowed me to skip the 2FA on payment and I was able to get the tickets. There are 2 x daily flights to this destination on the day in question, and all 8 CW tickets were gone within 2 minutes.

[NorthernLass]

Why won’t you tell us where you’re going, @Nath4n?!

[Nath4n]

NorthernLass wrote:

Why won’t you tell us where you’re going, @Nath4n?!

Oh sorry! These are flights to HND 🙂 I tried outbound on the Thursday to maximise chances as there are 2 flights on 3 days of the week (BA5 + BA7).

Now just need to hope I get a good agent to book the return as I sadly don’t have enough Avios to do the 50% refund trick.

[Jill Kinkell]

I’ve had successes phoning India number. Recent call was a adding return open jaw .. CS agent was very efficient and no problems

[Reney]

Nath4n wrote:

NorthernLass wrote:

Why won’t you tell us where you’re going, @Nath4n?!

Oh sorry! These are flights to HND 🙂 I tried outbound on the Thursday to maximise chances as there are 2 flights on 3 days of the week (BA5 + BA7).

Now just need to hope I get a good agent to book the return as I sadly don’t have enough Avios to do the 50% refund trick.

congrats on able to get the outbound tickets. I’m about to try next week, it sounds really stressful 😖. Can I ask if you called or did it online in the end. And if you called which line did you call?

[HSV]

I called the US Blue card number this morning at 00.50AM. Call picked up straight away, took five minutes for security and then explained I have 2-4-1 voucher and want to add the inbound leg to the outbound that I booked two weeks ago. He grabbed the two CW tickets on the flight I wanted and we were all done in 10 minutes. This was from Singapore to London. Very happy with the result.

[madsuk77]

Can you please share the US Blue Contact Centre Numbers. Thank you.

[Reney]

madsuk77 wrote:

Can you please share the US Blue Contact Centre Numbers. Thank you.

if you log in to your BA account and then look for contacts there is a drop down list of all the countries.

[HSV]

I called +1 800 452 1201

[carousel]

Hey, where did you end up calling in the end. I’ve been booking these lucrative biz class seats for about 4 years and we’ve been successful however they’ve always been for Jan & November dates so calling India or the US worked for me. I have a friend booking the return leg tonight from Haneda as she’s thinking she’ll have to call Australia?

[timtom]

HSV wrote:

I called the US Blue card number this morning at 00.50AM. Call picked up straight away, took five minutes for security and then explained I have 2-4-1 voucher and want to add the inbound leg to the outbound that I booked two weeks ago. He grabbed the two CW tickets on the flight I wanted and we were all done in 10 minutes. This was from Singapore to London. Very happy with the result.

Im looking to book an open jaw using 2-4-1 voucher, can i book my outbound now, and then add an inbound later?

Hoping to secure a first class seat each way and assume i will need to book the outbound at midnight on T-355, at which point my return flight wont be available yet.

[NPWharf]

timtom wrote:

HSV wrote:

I called the US Blue card number this morning at 00.50AM. Call picked up straight away, took five minutes for security and then explained I have 2-4-1 voucher and want to add the inbound leg to the outbound that I booked two weeks ago. He grabbed the two CW tickets on the flight I wanted and we were all done in 10 minutes. This was from Singapore to London. Very happy with the result.

Im looking to book an open jaw using 2-4-1 voucher, can i book my outbound now, and then add an inbound later?

Hoping to secure a first class seat each way and assume i will need to book the outbound at midnight on T-355, at which point my return flight wont be available yet.

Yes, book the outbound and then call BA to add the inbound when it becomes available

[Scottpat78]

I had to make T-355 bookings last Christmas for this Christmas coming up. Realise it was GMT timings, not BST, but I called the Australia contact number. It was answered in India and I got the booking held at midnight exactly then we spent 5 mins sorting everything out.

[NorthernLass]

@timtom, I don’t know if you’ve been tracking avios availability for your destination, however BA doesn’t guarantee to make any F seats available, and those that are aren’t always released at T-355.

[LittleNick]

NorthernLass wrote:

@timtom, I don’t know if you’ve been tracking avios availability for your destination, however BA doesn’t guarantee to make any F seats available, and those that are aren’t always released at T-355.

Yep and if flying to/from US, return not booked together, you’ll get really stung on the carrier surcharge

[toekneeheart]

Sorry to revive an old thread, but I tried calling +1 800 452 1201 at 0055 this morning to grab some tickets LHR-SIN. After getting through the initial telephone tree, it told me that the line was closed. My wife was going the online route, and while I scrambled for another number, I found +1 800 247 9297. I got through to this number and spoke to an agent with an Indian accent who was very helpful but told me that I had called on the ‘commercial’ line and I need to call the Executive Club number. She then proceeded to give me the first number I had called: (+1 800 452 1201).

We’re going to need to call to sort out the inbound leg of this trip in a few weeks and was wondering whether anyone could steer me right on the correct procedure. We’ve been playing the points game for some time and I thought I understood this process, but clearly not. Has anyone had luck recently calling at 0055/0100 UK time? I am somewhat confused!

[Mouse]

This was about 10 years ago, not sure if it would still work, but one time I tried my luck with the 24 hour GGL line and they were very helpful even though I was only a silver.