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Apologies if this has been covered before but I couldn’t see anything else on the forums. We are a family of three with a single Amex 2-4-1 vouchers, however I get an odd error message when I look for reward flights – but not all the time.
I have looked at various options where reward flight availability shows for all three of us, however once I select the flights I sometimes get an error stating that I need a reward voucher for every two passengers – a slightly odd message given the number of passengers. This doesn’t apply to every destination and sometimes I get the message when I select a different flight times to the same destination. For example, LHR to SFO showed availability in various classes but I get the error on any flights or class selected, LHR to JFK depended on the flight, some were fine, others showed the message and LGW to PMI (which I have used a 2-4-1 voucher on before) showed no issues on any flight.
Surely I don’t need two 2-4-1 vouchers when travelling with three or to travel with only an even number of passengers?!
Has anyone else had the same problem or know why I’m getting this issue? Is it showing reward flight availability in error when there actually isn’t any?
I expect that if the availability is “additional I-class availability” opened up by the voucher, it is showing one thing, whereas if it is ordinary, “open to all” availability, you are able to book for all 3.
This is getting asked a lot now – BA and Amex should have made it clear that the extra availability is only accessible to 2 pax on the new voucher.
This is getting asked a lot now – BA and Amex should have made it clear that the extra availability is only accessible to 2 pax on the new voucher.
I get in OP’s example the 3rd person would not be allow the I class availability. What if you are a single person using the voucher, I thought you would get access to I class.
Yes, you would. The issue arises if it is for more than two people (with one voucher), and the availability is contingent on I class inventory.
The website obviously doesn’t handle that scenario well – would be better not to show it at all if there are no standard redemption seats.
This has been happening to me, it’s very frustrating as you have to try every combination of days/routes until you find one without I availability that you can book for 3 people. The search engine shouldn’t show you an option you can’t actually book, but it does. The CSA said to me, oh you can only book for 3 with a standard companion voucher, not the premium one (not entirely true) which is not a good advert for a supposedly upgraded premium product.
This has been happening to me, it’s very frustrating as you have to try every combination of days/routes until you find one without I availability that you can book for 3 people. The search engine shouldn’t show you an option you can’t actually book, but it does. The CSA said to me, oh you can only book for 3 with a standard companion voucher, not the premium one (not entirely true) which is not a good advert for a supposedly upgraded premium product.
if you use the reward flight finder search function for 3 seats that should pull out standard availability and then book with your voucher.
If the ‘I’ class seats were given away to a third or fourth passenger, it would rather devalue the voucher and reduce the inventory available to new voucher holders. There is also always the option to make a separate booking for the third passenger.
Thanks for responding, I guess I hadn’t thought how the new 2-4-1 vouchers would affect how availability shows as all my previous vouchers were the old style.
I guess I have two options if we travel as a group of three:
1 – Search for availability without the voucher. Should there be availability for all of us this should allow me to go back and add the voucher. A faff but at least it would give me a true reflection on where I can use the voucher.
2 – (I’m unsure if this would work as I only have a single new style 2-4-1 voucher) As my voucher is valid for 24 months, wait until I get my next voucher in a years time and see what happens. Does anyone know how the BA website would handle this? Would it use one voucher on a 2-4-1 basis and the other to reduce Avios used by 50%?
@Lottie, SeatSpy will show you the standard availability.
@JDB, agreed, but the frustration has come from this not being communicated to customers! Also from what I can tell, the voucher doesn’t allow you to pick 2 “extra” seats plus one standard one where these are actually available, which is unhelpful for families travelling.
@walace, I strongly suspect you’d need 2 separate bookings for that unless BA gets an IT overhaul.
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