Adding domestic connection to 2-4-1 booking

[No Longer Entitled]

I want to book a return flight MAN – LHR – XXX on a 2-4-1 with the inbound t+355 days out.

The return XXX – LHR – MAN is overnight for the XXX – LHR leg. When I search online I can see availability XXX – LHR but when I search XXX – LHR – MAN departing on the same date it disappears. I presume this is because the LHR – MAN flight is effectively t+356 so the flight isn’t loaded?

There are lots of flights LHR to MAN but I don’t want to miss the more limited options XXX – LHR by waiting a further day for the connecting flight to load. If I book MAN – LHR – XXX and XXX – LHR to secure availability can I have the final domestic LHR – MAN leg added later or is my 2-4-1 finalised at that point?

Or maybe it is better to book at two one ways (the first being as a 2-4-1) and then when I come to add it to the booking on the phone I can make the amend before the outbound and inbound are combined/linked?

If I say “levelling up” will they wave the charges?

[NorthernLass]

Yes it’s a pain as you have to wait an extra day for the MAN leg to be released at T-355. BA will add domestic legs for free but you may have to HUACA as CS staff vary in what they can/will/know how to do. Today I have had a chat agent saying something categorically can’t be done and then a phone agent declaring that his colleague was talking nonsense and doing the exact thing I was asking for!

I am thinking though, that on a single booking, you are not going to be able to book from MAN as your start and end point will need to be the same (again, unless you call).

If doing as 2 separate bookings, then you can call BA and ask for the 50% avios back plus the MAN leg to be added, but the bookings aren’t linked and you’ll be left with 2 separate PNRs. This has both advantages and disadvantages.

If I really need to book at T-355 I generally do 2 separate bookings and sort out the LHR-MAN afterwards!
Re charges – again it depends on who answers the phone! They might charge the change fee as you could actually have booked the whole trip online if you’d waited another day or they might take pity on you and do it for free.

[No Longer Entitled]

Thanks NorthernLass.

Think I’m going to book the MAN – LHR – XXX as one booking on the 2-4-1 and then XXX – LHR as another. When the LHR – MAN flights are released I can then call and see if I can get them added to the return and then separately get the return linked to the 2-4-1 to hopefully get the avios back.

Worse case I can book a cheap Reward Flight Saver and see if they will book the bags through although I might allow for a longer connection if these are on a different PNR.

Oh BA, why is it so complicated?

[NorthernLass]

Because they don’t expect northerners to be adventurous and savvy travellers, lol.

They won’t check the bags through. When there are 3 of us travelling, one is often on a cash fare so can check the hold luggage through on their booking, otherwise we try to have HBO on the return.

Another option I have done is this: Book your XXX-LHR inbound at T-355. Then, if you have a bit of flexibility and enough avios, see if XXX-LHR-MAN becomes available on the same flight, or maybe the next day or so. If it does, book this and cancel the first inbound booking. Then ask for the 50% avios back on your return journey. It’ll cost you £35pp but I think it’s worth it to guarantee a through booking and not have to put yourself through the seven circles of hell of the BA chat/call centre.

[Jill Kinkell]

No Longer Entitled wrote:

Thanks NorthernLass.

Think I’m going to book the MAN – LHR – XXX as one booking on the 2-4-1 and then XXX – LHR as another. When the LHR – MAN flights are released I can then call and see if I can get them added to the return and then separately get the return linked to the 2-4-1 to hopefully get the avios back.

Worse case I can book a cheap Reward Flight Saver and see if they will book the bags through although I might allow for a longer connection if these are on a different PNR.

Oh BA, why is it so complicated?

I booked on a 241 Inv-LHR-Sin when flights released , then Skyped at midnight for the Hkg-Lhr to be added when the seats were released at t-355. I then phoned up a day later to add the lhr-Inv leg when they were released. Booking is now all on the one ticket. Agents know what to do. Never had a problem.

[NorthernLass]

Which call centre does that get you through to @Jill – sounds like they know the system better than the ones who work during UK day time hours (including You First who refused to do this once!)?

[Jill Kinkell]

NorthernLass wrote:

Which call centre does that get you through to @Jill – sounds like they know the system better than the ones who work during UK day time hours (including You First who refused to do this once!)?

The Skype midnight call was to the US number but must have been diverted as I was speaking to a very helpful chap in India! The domestic add on was a call to the Gold line. I probably called about 2 pm and was answered almost straight away. The CS agent was able to see everything and added domestic leg and I got a confirmation email a few hours later. All sorted!
( My TP year ends in a few days and not enough flying to retain Gold status …which I have enjoyed! Too busy using up all those 241s accumulated!)

Just to say that even when I had no status as a lowly blue, I booked domestic leg a/a

[NorthernLass]

Interesting to know! Presumably you’ll get a year of Silver now, so still decent benefits?

[No Longer Entitled]

@Jill – when you called to add to.domestic leg was a charge applied either additional avios or cash?

[Jill Kinkell]

No Longer Entitled wrote:

@Jill – when you called to add to.domestic leg was a charge applied either additional avios or cash?

No. No additional Avios or cash for domestic add on. What I did notice was the overall increase in Avios and cash . Working out which of the RFS choices was ‘best value’ . So much easier when it was off peak/ peak and zones. Choices just muddies the waters!

[Ori]

What’s the uk number to make amendments to avios flights? Is it the executive club or BA bookings?

[No Longer Entitled]

It’s the executive club.

[No Longer Entitled]

Should this help anyone here is what I did and my experience booking XXX-LHR-MAN with a 2-4-1 when the domestic leg follows an overnight and thus is not released at the same time as the XXX-LHR. Also, for an added complication I was using two 2-4-1’s across player 1 and 2’s account.

Midnight (two laptops) – securing popular seats
Player 1: Books 2 seats XXX-LHR (A)
Player 2: Books 2 seats XXX-LHR (B)

10:30 same day (two laptops) – extending the 24hr cancellation
Player 1 cancels the 2 seats (A), Player 2 immediately books the same seats (C)
Player 2 cancels the 2 seats (B), Player 1 immediately books the same seats (D)

9:30 next day (two laptops) – adding the domestic leg
Player 1 cancels the 2 seats (D) and Player 2 immediately books XXX-LHR-MAN (E)
Player 2 cancels the 2 seats (C) and Player 2 immediately books XXX-LHR-MAN (F)

I took advantage of cancellation with BA being free within 24hrs. By rebooking the middle tranche I was able to negate the need to be up again at midnight and I also felt I would face less competition when the seats returned to inventory at an random time mid morning. It is worth noting that the seats immediately returned to inventory for rebooking. The avios almost simultaneously but I have enough avios that I was able to proceed without the need for the avios from the cancelled bookings to be returned.

Seats now secured online I called the BA Exec Club and they linked the two bookings and refunded the avios because the two 2-4-1’s had been used on the outbound leg. I incurred no additional charges for any of the above. Finally, a shout out to NorthernLass who educated me on the ability to add Player 1 and Player 2 as third parties on each others accounts meaning that when I called the exec club they were able to handle both transactions for me without Player 2’s involvement.

Cape Town here we come….