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The return seats for our outbound journey in 2023 will become available in the next few days. I am sure I read a post from Rob somewhere saying that it’s possible if you have enough Avios, which I have, to simply book the seats online at midnight and then phone BA later when the lines are open and ask for them to be added to the outward booking. Can anyone confirm this please?
You can do it, but the taxes and fees won’t be adjusted- so you need to weigh up the impact of this (varies by route)
They are not really added to the existing booking, what seems to happen is a refund of half the Avios but you retain two bookings. This can be heinously expensive in cash on many (most?) routes. I’d call at midnight and try to rebook the whole thing.
If you are talking North America do not do this, call up to add or you will pay way over the odds. For many other destinations, especially Far East it can be (very) cost effective. However, be aware you will then have 2 PNR and potentially 4 x £35 fees but on the plus side you have more/easier flexibility. I think I just saw the amex companion voucher article on the front page this morning 😉
. I’d call at midnight and try to rebook the whole thing.
Isn’t it 1am now that were on British Summer Time?
Could you explain why it’s expensive to do this please? Route is Cape Town to Heathrow.
What’s the best number to call if that’s the way to go?I’ve just booked my outbound using my 241 to Grand Cayman. From what I can see, I think it will only cost £20 extra per person to book the return online and then get the 50% Avios back rather than phoning to add the return. Can anyone confirm I am correct on these calculations, I find it all a bit difficult to understand lol.
They don’t reprice the taxes when you call in, just refund half the Avios. On some routes (e.g. the USA) they charge a lot more in two one ways than they do booking a return. Others it’s negligable or even cheaper
To check you’d need to find availability and price it as two one ways and as a return and work out the difference. On key routes of course there is no availability to actually do that! My best guess is that it wouldn’t make much different from Cape Town
They don’t reprice the taxes when you call in, just
To check you’d need to find availability and price it as two one ways and as a return and work out the difference. On key routes of course there is no availability to actually do that! My best guess is that it wouldn’t make much different from Cape Town
Thanks Sam
I know I paid £440,56 taxes outward for next year booked mid January 2022 (compared to £411 First to Joburg booked Dec 21 for Jan 22) This morning the return CW was showing taxes of £326.50
As BA have put up their taxes a couple of times recently I guess I may be caught for the new rates if I rebook the whole thing so it may even out. I’ll try and get the outward flight new taxes overnight if I can which should help me decide. Having the certainty of a reserved ticket and not having the stress of trying to ring somewhere in the middle of the night certainly had a cash value to me.- This reply was modified 55 years, 4 months ago by .
@Tracy, GCM is one of the destinations where it doesn’t cost much more to book separate journeys. I think it’s about £50 extra when we book but we have a MAN connection which pushes it up a bit. Have you been before? If not, just be aware there is no lounge at GCM and the onboard catering is quite poor in CW on the return so it can be worth coming back in PE to save a few avios. When are you going?
*Also – BA will refund the 50% avios via Twitter so you never have to actually try and get through on the phone which is definitely worth £20!
- This reply was modified 55 years, 4 months ago by .
@NorthernLass, we are going March 2023 for my OH big birthday. Good to know about the catering but for me its more about the lie flat seat on a night flight, I tend not to drink alcohol or eat much while travelling as I’m an awful traveller lol.
Never been to GCM before and we are travelling from Glasgow. From what I can see it’ll be about £40 extra in total for 2 of us to add the return online rather than phone. Doesn’t look like there is an issue with reward flights in March though, still plenty of availability….As a data point, I recently added a return online from Barbados as availability opened up for next February. Various reports saying that if you call the US number at midnight to add the return to an existing booking its a bit hit and miss as to whether they will do it. The 4 CW seats on the Heathrow flights (old style 2for1 voucher) for that route at least disappear in minutes and the Gatwick ones probably don’t last much longer…
I did try to call the US number, but they answered after midnight just as I was about to hit submit on the online payment so hung up.
I reckon it cost us just under an extra £50 each but worth it to guarantee the flights on the dates we wanted (before the most recent round of fee hikes). Otherwise it probably would have been a trip back via Miami, which would have cost considerably more. When I called for the avios refund the agent linked the outbound and return bookings.
(But have others have said beware much higher fees on a one-way return if doing it from the US).
That’s definitely worth knowing- thank you
*Also – BA will refund the 50% avios via Twitter so you never have to actually try and get through on the phone which is definitely worth £20![/quote]
I have an outbound flight booked to Sydney and now want to add the return. I believe i should phone an overseas BA office to book at midnight BST.
What is the best number to call for an overseas office that will be open?
ThanksIt would seem taxes on flights for Joburg and Cape Town are the same. I managed to price up a CW return on that route at £1490 for 2 tickets whereas two one ways come in at £1615 so £125 more. I think for me £62.50 a ticket for the certainty of securing the seats is a price worth paying
This is bizarre!
Do you DM the @british_airways account? What else do they do? Am losing my sh*t after being disconnected from the gold line after waiting 30 minutes.*Also – BA will refund the 50% avios via Twitter so you never have to actually try and get through on the phone which is definitely worth £20!
Yes, send them a DM. They can do most things apart from cash transactions. Takes a few days to get a reply, but as I said it’s preferable to waiting hours on hold!
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