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I had a bit of an issue last night trying to get half my avios back on a separate return I wanted to added to a 241 booking next May.
Booked outward flights for 14 May 2023 last week using Amex 241 voucher in Club World online once they became available at 0:00 GMT.
Phoned up Japan executive club number last night at 0:00 GMT (1am real time) to try and add the return leg. Was on hold for ages. Watched 2 of the CLub World seats disappear using the online search within the first 5 mins. As only 2 avios club world seats left on the flight we needed to take and I had the Avios I booked the return leg as a separate one way booking whilst I was waiting for an agent.
I eventually got to speak to an Agent at about 1.40 (was tempted to hang up and call again in the morning but thought I’d just get it over and done with). The SA told me that the 241 voucher only applies to return legs booked through a sales assistant and on the same booking reference. As I’d booked a separate return I couldn’t link it to the voucher and get the avios back.
I explained that I was on the phone trying to do just that but was worried I’d missing the 2 remaining seats due to the wait so booked them separately to effectively reserve them. I knew the 2-bookings couldn’t be “merged” into one reference but was aware that a number of people used this tactic and didn’t have a problem getting the avios returned.
SA asked me to point her to where it said I could do this on the BA or Amex website. I said I hadn’t looked but that its written up as an option in Rob’s guide here and lots of people seem to have success with it. I was very polite and asked if she could do the same for me. She said that she would escalate it to her manager but that there was no guarantee he/she would approve it. She said even if it is approved this time I should not take this approach again. Apparently if it is approved I will see the avios in my account in 24 hours.
Have others experienced this or have they normally found it easy to get half the avois back?
I really don’t want to miss out on the avios saving from the 241 on the return leg as I need those avios for next year.
Anyone have a suggested script for these conversations?
Thanks in advance!
There was a thread about this last week – BA not giving refund for Avios on open jaw booked with 241
and it does seem to be becoming an issue. The rules don’t specifically provide for it or disallow it but the general Avios rule 15.10. “ “15.10. For return journeys, outbound and return flights must be booked at the same time. Travel to one destination from a point of origin and returning from another city to the same point of origin (or vice versa) is permitted” although not generally applied doesn’t help. What you have read on HfP is a workaround that many people have found works, but isn’t official.One suspects that it’s quite a time consuming call for BA to deal with, so they may be trying to discourage it. I imagine that the people who answer the lines for Japan/US etc probably get quite fed up answering calls from UK customers as well!
Thanks I expect you are right. Finger’s crossed I get the avios back.
Solution would be to allow people to add the return themselves on line – no one wants to be holding in a queue for ages at 1 in the morning!
One suspects that it’s quite a time consuming call for BA to deal with, so they may be trying to discourage it.
That’s typical BA though isn’t it…
“Our IT systems don’t work properly. It forces the customer to make a time consuming call to an out of time-zone contact centre but instead of fixing the IT how about we just make life more difficult for the customer by discouraging them from taking the only course of action they can to resolve the issue”
BA wouldn’t know a good customer experience if it slapped them in the face.
People on here have reported that sending a Twitter DM gets them back in a few days
People on here have reported that sending a Twitter DM gets them back in a few days
Yes noted – thanks. I’m going to wait the 24 hours and then try that if the avios haven’t posted.
As I posted on the other thread, I’m starting to suspect this may be a new stance on the part of BA to devalue avios bookings even further. Twice in the past few months I have been able to get the 50% avios refunded via Twitter, however my last request, initially made about 3 weeks ago, hasn’t been actioned and all I can now get from Twitter is an evasive response that they have passed my request to the BAEC team (which they didn’t have to do previously).
There’s actually no provision in the Ts and Cs of the companion voucher to do this, so it’s entirely down to BA’s goodwill, which seems to be getting thinner and thinner towards customers recently, e.g. with the new restrictions on Gold status holders being able to book extra avios seats.
@CG, if they were going to adjust the IT so that the 241 could be used separately for outbound and inbound legs, I’m pretty sure they would have done it by now. As per the Barclays upgrade voucher, the way forward seems to be that it’s going to be made as difficult as possible to get good value out of these things.- This reply was modified 55 years, 4 months ago by .
Thanks for replies. Bit of a worrying direction of travel. Hopefully they haven’t closed the door just yet as it is 75,000 avios at stake for me.
On the IT systems I guess it’s far from their top priority!
BA might be trying to stop people adding returns simply to reduce call centre load. I can see why that might be a high priority for them, and appeasing the 0.01% of the customer base that uses the facility isn’t going to rank in their thinking.
I don’t think they are trying to stop people adding returns, I haven’t seen any reports of that. It just seems to be people who’ve booked the return legs online not being able to reclaim the 50% avios.
“@Northern Lass” you can’t “add a return”, you book a return and then ask for half the Avios back. As you rightly point out, BA aren’t preventing anyone booking a return, they just won’t (apparently) adjust the Avios back down. I’d guess this is because it’s a manual call centre action, and they don’t want any more of those than they can avoid.
The OP booked online and then asked for a refund, unless I misunderstood their post. This, it appears, is what BA won’t do any more. This type of refund was always a goodwill gesture as far as I can tell. And for some of the new vouchers it is explicitly outside the T&Cs.
- This reply was modified 55 years, 4 months ago by .
@memesweeper – I meant calling BA to ask them to add the return leg of a 241 booking, which was what the OP was originally trying to do – the post says they called the Japan office to try and do this but then booked online due to concerns that the seats were going to disappear. I thought that was what you were referring to.
- This reply was modified 55 years, 4 months ago by .
I’m not aware that the Ts and Cs of the new vouchers are any different in terms of the return sector – having the 50% avios refunded was never mentioned in the Ts and Cs of the old vouchers anyway, so there would be no reason to specifically disallow this with the new ones.
- This reply was modified 55 years, 4 months ago by .
I read the OPs post as meaning they were on hold on the phone, and worried about loosing the seats, and booked online, and then wanted the Avios back. I may be wrong in my interpretation. In this type of case I can see why BA might decide they don’t want to play ball and refund some Avios. If you stay on hold without booking online and ask for the return to be added, that’s different: although technically still a breach of the T&Cs of some/all of the newer voucher types.
I’m not an apologist for BA in this respect. The reality of the small print in the vouchers versus the headline sales pitch is not justified IMO. But when the IT can’t manage the complexities without a call for manual intervention I can see why BA are resisting, however annoying that is for us regulars here.
Good news! My 50k avios have finally appeared this morning (for the return leg in PE of our GCM trip next April, booked with a new-style 241). So it looks as though it’s still possible to do this, although it has taken over 3 weeks in this case.
Good news! My 50k avios have finally appeared this morning (for the return leg in PE of our GCM trip next April, booked with a new-style 241). So it looks as though it’s still possible to do this, although it has taken over 3 weeks in this case.
Great news – hope the same happens for me. They said I should see them in 24 hours if approved and it’s been more than that now (although the bank holidays may be a factor).
The agent was clear they were allowed to add a new return flight to an existing one way 241 voucher flight. Issue was getting the avios back on a separate return booking which she said she could not do herself and they weren’t keen on doing.
I booked outbound with my 2-4-1 voucher and booked a full avios return. I called the BA Exec Club this morning and very quickly had my 50% avios returned. No problem at all.
I booked outbound with my 2-4-1 voucher and booked a full avios return. I called the BA Exec Club this morning and very quickly had my 50% avios returned. No problem at all.
Lucky you! May depend on who you speak too. I will call again if nothing happens in next few days. Good to hear it is happening still.
Just sanity checking this (been ignoring the internets for a bit — holiday is nice)
Book two reward flights on different PNRs, the first with a 241 and then ask BAEC to refund half the avios for the second booking? And they have been agreeing to this? 🤯
Just sanity checking this (been ignoring the internets for a bit — holiday is nice)
Book two reward flights on different PNRs, the first with a 241 and then ask BAEC to refund half the avios for the second booking? And they have been agreeing to this? 🤯
Yes, but only where the return leg was not yet available when you booked the outbound ie more than 355 days out.
It has always worked for me in the past but occasionally an agent is less familiar with the process. There are plenty of new agents around at the moment I think, so it may be more likely that you need to hang up and try again for some things – which is is easier said than done when you can’t get through.
The whole 241, open jaw, booking separate flights at T-355 days thing is something that the IT should have been capable of doing for a long time.
Avios haven’t showed up in my account yet. I sent a message on Twitter to follow up a couple of days ago. For those who have had success using twitter to get the avios refunded, did you send any follow up messages or just send a long message with all the details and wait for a reply?
Thanks
It took over 3 weeks to get mine back. I sent all the details, got an automated response, asked for it to be passed to an agent and eventually got a message that the request had been passed to the BAEC team. If you can’t wait that long, maybe try calling and see if you get someone who knows about it?
It took over 3 weeks to get mine back. I sent all the details, got an automated response, asked for it to be passed to an agent and eventually got a message that the request had been passed to the BAEC team. If you can’t wait that long, maybe try calling and see if you get someone who knows about it?
Thanks. I got automated response – “oops I’m still learning and didn’t catch that…”
I said – speak to agent
it said – “terribly sorry still don’t understand. Then asked for a load of information about the booking and said if it is sent they’d connect with an agent
I gave the information
It said connecting you with an agent but they are very busy and it may take some time to respond
I sent all the details about the issue
I haven’t heard anything since. This was Monday morning.If this is how it goes and I wait for a response for a few weeks that is fine. Just checking if I should have got something back that its being looked into or sent to the relevant team.
I’ve got almost a year until the flights and not desperate for the avois at the moment I just think its going to be easier to get them closer to the time of booking than a few months later.
Thanks
I wouldn’t worry – it took over a week for me to get the message about it being passed to BAEC. You have proof that you’ve tried to claim them asap if you need it, but I’ve never had an issue. I don’t think it would matter anyway as you can book a return leg any time before you fly the outbound and it’s unlikely they would check when you booked it.
Ok I’ll hold tight. Thanks again
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