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I have a BA Premium Plus companion voucher that I am looking to use shortly in business class.
I am based in Manchester. My chosen business class flights are available from London and can be booked on line.
When I try to book from Manchester due to the timings there is no availability but you can see availability if booked separately.
I was hoping on the same ticket to travel day 1 and stay overnight in London and continue day 2 – same process coming back.
I don’t want split tickets otherwise on the feeder flight I would end up paying full Avios rate.
If I call BA bookings line would they be able to offer a through business class ticket (both legs out and both legs back) and apply the 2 for 1 voucher too ?So when you put MAN-XXX (it could be helpful if we knew where XXX is) in the search engine it’s not giving you the option for a stopover in LHR as part of the process?
Usually when using avios it does give you that option.
If it’s not then it could be a married segments issue (where the individual flights are available when booked separately but not when booked as one trip) and I’m not 100% sure an agent can over ride that but it’s worth a call.
Another Q is is the LHR-XXX on BA metal?
I am looking at Fuerteventura – it appears to be a BA aircraft
Airline = BA Euroflyer
Is the direct Fuerteventura departure from LGW? This might be causing problems with the booking. But as above, if you select the stopover facility and put the dates in separately then you should be able to proceed. You’ll obviously need to get between the two airports as well, as there’s no MAN-LGW service any more.
Otherwise I think what you may be seeing is LHR-MAD-FUE, which you might have to call to book. They might also say it’s too many sectors with MAN included as well.
I think the problem is that the Euroflyer flight to Fuerteventura goes from LGW and the MAN flight is only to LHR.
I think you may have to call to book it. They should waive the offline booking fee.
Yes it is Gatwick and we will take the bus between the 2 airports
There is no stopover facility coming up when trying to book.
I can proceed separately I just want the whole trip on the 2 for 1 if possible to keep AVIOS spend down and same ticket is always good if there are issues
I am not looking at Madrid as an option.
I will call for sure just wondered if anyone knows has experience of this
Also – you’re going to have to pay for the MAN leg anyway, as it’s only free on long-haul redemptions. So if you absolutely can’t do it on one booking, 2 separate ones should be ok in terms of connection times as you’re planning an overnight stay, however it would mean collecting and rechecking bags. BUT you would have to do that anyway if transferring to LGW, so again, may not make any difference to the itinerary.
TBH, I would just pick a destination served from LHR unless you have a pressing reason to visit FUE!
We don’t do many short-haul trips on BA these days as it’s generally not worth it after paying cash or avios plus cash for the domestic connection.
For LGW departures it can be worth driving down in terms of the time you’re going to spend getting there from the north. We’re doing this for OPO later this year and visiting a couple of places en route.
I do appreciate Fuerteventura is not the best redemption option but little time left on the voucher and taxes are included which for me right now is a bonus. I cannot afford the huge tickets for long distance ex LHR
I do have plenty of AVIOS in the bank which is good for later in the year and I don’t really want to travel long distance for just 8 days.
Will consider driving down but fuel and parking is going to be £200 plus
Also – you’re going to have to pay for the MAN leg anyway, as it’s only free on long-haul redemptions.
I understand I need to pay but if on same ticket would this not mean spending 50% of Avios rather than full Avios ?
It wasn’t clear that you’re intending to use the voucher for 50% off, but presumably yes you would save on the MAN leg as well, I haven’t seen anyone post about this yet. Are you still having issues getting it to price up as one trip? What dates are you looking at?
I’ve just done a dummy booking on that route and can what you mean now! I think it may not be pricing it up because you’re mixing a Euroflyer and a main BA service? The IT doesn’t seem to like it and I think people have had similar issues using the Barclays upgrade voucher.
I think you’ll need to call BA and get them to book this for you. It can certainly be done with cash bookings so should be within the rules for a redemption. If you explain that it can’t be done online, they should waive the phone booking fee.
Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool and even East Midlands all fly to Fuerteventura from fairly near you; surely one of them works?
A bus from Heathrow to Gatwick and two rounds of checkin/security/sitting about/etc is A LOT of dead time and hassle.
Alternatively, if driving, petrol and parking fees will be significant (and far greater than northern airports) as will hotels if needed.
You’ll be in roughly the same seat whoever you fly with. And sitting on a bus between airports is the absolute opposite of a premium experience so clearly BA isn’t providing that.Are you sure you’re that much better off than paying cash and flying direct? Are you becoming blinded here by a desire to use a voucher rather than let it expire- and actually making your life far more awkward for a negligible saving in the process?
If using the voucher is non-negotiable, I would –
1) Find the most convenient destination via LHR return so at least not having to deal with luggage between departures.
OR
2) (And we have done this a few times) Book the outbound journey with avios/241, enjoy lounges and CE to the max. Book the inbound direct to MAN on a LCC, be home asap. You then have nearly 12 months to use the inbound portion of the voucher and can plan accordingly. Use cash or avios to book outbound when you’ve decided where 2nd trip will be.
We’re flying back from AGP in a couple of weeks on the inbound portion of a very old covid 241 where we flew the outbound to GIB last April!
Bit of an outlier but thinking out of the box:
3) Call BA and ask if you can use the voucher to fly MAN-MAD-FUE on IB. I’m not sure how cost-effective this would be though, as you have to pay higher surcharges due to IB not having RFS.
Thanks – I called BA and got exactly what I wanted
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