Adding a return at a later date

[Si]

Hi all,

I’m looking to book 4 business class seats for LHR-Istanbul and then 4 business class back to LHR from Athens next year.

Can I book the 4 outbound at T-355 and then 2 weeks later add the 4 inbound to the same booking without change fees or do I need to wait until the return date to book both legs to get everything on one booking without change fees?

Thanks in advance for your insight.

[SamG]

Probably easiest to just buy them as 2 x one way bookings

[NorthernLass]

As per @SamG, if you’re not using a 241, having separate bookings isn’t going to cost you any more. There are pros and cons – e.g. if you want to change either of the dates you don’t have to cancel the entire booking, however if you did want to cancel the trip, you’d have to pay 2 lots of cancellation fees.

[BA Flyer IHG Stayer]

Are IST and ATH on the “hard to get avios flights for” list?

If not then I don’t see any urgency to be that quick off the blocks and to wait until the ATH flights are released and then call to book it all on one ticket.

[NorthernLass]

That crossed my mind but I’m thinking OP might want school holiday or other peak dates which may well go quickly? Otherwise, as you say, it’s only very popular routes you need to jump on at T-355.

[Si]

Thanks for your insight folks, tbh it was more the fact that we wanted 4 business class tickets (I should have specified that i wanted to book these as avios reward flights) – we’re taking OH parents with us and they like to travel but don’t have confidence so it is important to get all 4 seats on the same plane with avios.

I’ll monitor the flights and see if tickets start getting snapped up and can pull the trigger on 2 sets of one-way tickets if necessary.

Thanks again