Forums › Payment cards › Barclaycard Avios › Booking flights with Barclays upgrade voucher
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Can you use 2 vouchers to book for 1 person and upgrade from Economy to Club World?
Can you use 2 vouchers to book for 1 person and upgrade from Economy to Club World?
No you can only upgrade 1 cabin i.e. WT to WT+, or WT+ to CW, there’s no route by which you can use multiple vouchers to upgrade 1 person through multiple cabins
Hi all – just been on the phone to BA who said that a voucher must be used at point of booking… ie, they can’t retrospectively add a return using an upgrade voucher, onto an existing one way booking.
For clarity, I have booked a one way RFS LGW > AGP in economy (no upgrade voucher). Wanted to add on a return using the voucher (no economy reward seats available). And was told no.
Does anyone think it’s worth me giving it a second or third shot with another call centre rep?
Thanks!
I’ve had the “point of booking” answer as well, when trying to add a domestic leg, although at least one other reader posted that they were able to have this done! I can’t recall if anyone has posted that they’ve been able to have the voucher applied retrospectively so I suppose it’s always worth another shot – they can only say no again!
Hi all – just been on the phone to BA who said that a voucher must be used at point of booking… ie, they can’t retrospectively add a return using an upgrade voucher, onto an existing one way booking.
For clarity, I have booked a one way RFS LGW > AGP in economy (no upgrade voucher). Wanted to add on a return using the voucher (no economy reward seats available). And was told no.
Does anyone think it’s worth me giving it a second or third shot with another call centre rep?
Thanks!
No, because the voucher can only be used when you are originating in the UK. You could use it on the return if you used it for the outbound leg first.
Sorry, I missed that bit – but the answer you got from BA doesn’t address that particular issue!
Having said that, I really wish the Barclaycard voucher could be used starting outside the UK, like the Amex vouchers can.
The only area where it’s more flexible than the Amex one is that the voucher holder doesn’t have to travel.
Thanks all, will give it another go – I was aware of the rule re: originating from UK, however I presumed if all in one booking, you’d have flex to use the voucher just for the return leg. Perhaps an erroneous assumption!!!
Thanks all, will give it another go – I was aware of the rule re: originating from UK, however I presumed if all in one booking, you’d have flex to use the voucher just for the return leg. Perhaps an erroneous assumption!!!
I’d be interested to know if you can do this by phone (for 2 passengers) – website doesn’t allow as you need to be origin UK
No – it’s in the Ts and Cs that the journey has to start in the UK!
So essentially, if booking for 2 people, you can either do one of the following:
Use 2x vouchers via phone to book a return journey in CE, on one booking
Use 1x voucher online to book outward in CE, return in Economy, on one bookingAnd you can’t:
Use 1x voucher to upgrade just your return leg, on one booking.
I get the restriction slightly more if you’re JUST booking a one way inbound TO UK, but on a return trip, that’s unnecessarily restrictive. But…anyway. Thanks everyone!
It is unnecessarily complicated, but I’m still not sure you have quite nailed this:
Use 1x voucher online to book outward in CE, return in Economy, on one booking => There is no need to return in economy, but if you want to use the voucher to upgrade return flights you *must* apply it to the outbound (as per aq. 1988). You can then add the (upgraded) return later by phone. The key here is that you have to apply one voucher per person on the outbound, and the website (probably unintentionally) doesn’t allow you to do this in one go.
If you use one voucher to upgrade the two of you outbound, that voucher is fully used and you can’t use a second voucher for the inbound.
There are frustrating restrictions around these vouchers but so far I am happy with what I’ve managed to do with them.
In all of this, if one was forced to cancel and rebook when the return flight opened up, there would be a 35 charge per person. So either you wait for both the legs to become available or be ready to pay 35 per head to cancel and rebook. Any idea if the cancellation fee is dropped in such a case (book the outgoing, then cancel and rebook when the incoming leg becomes available£
In all of this, if one was forced to cancel and rebook when the return flight opened up, there would be a 35 charge per person. So either you wait for both the legs to become available or be ready to pay 35 per head to cancel and rebook. Any idea if the cancellation fee is dropped in such a case (book the outgoing, then cancel and rebook when the incoming leg becomes available£
I think because the use of the voucher forces you into the £1 option and doesn’t allow for different Avios values vs money, then this actually is never an issue. Because you’d only ever lost your £0.50 / £1. When booking those flights, BA will never charge you MORE than you originally gave them in the first place to cancel.
So you could do as you say, however BA also won’t 100% guarantee that your cancelled flights will be put back into the Reward Flight ‘pool’ immediately. Or ever. So cancelling & rebooking is a risk if there’s limited seats available.
Thanks. Then in that case, the only option is to wait for both legs to become available which means that it would be virtually impossible to get seats during school holidays. Amex vouchers are far superior then. I only see value of Barclays vouchers in letting it be “gifted”, i.e. used for tickets where I am not travelling.
Definitely not the case.
If you phone to add a return (having used “half” a voucher on your outbound) you are not cancelling the outbound and hoping it goes back into inventory.
This has been discussed in another thread, I think the one on adding return flight. I can absolutely confirm it is possible, though some agents may still be inexperienced. And definitely no £35 change fee for adding inbound using the other “half” of your voucher. HUACA if told otherwise.Can you book the return online and call to add it to your outbound (booked using 50% of voucher) [possible with 241] vs calling to book AND add it to our outbound?
Sorry to sound thick as I am under weather and not computing all this info above.
I have already booked one way outbound with a upgrade voucher for 1x person only. Can I add inbound to this booking at a later date and pay subsequent Avios and fees? Would I pay£35 change fee?
Sorry to sound thick as I am under weather and not computing all this info above.
I have already booked one way outbound with a upgrade voucher for 1x person only. Can I add inbound to this booking at a later date and pay subsequent Avios and fees? Would I pay£35 change fee?
Yes and no respectively (as above advice, HUACA if the agent doesn’t agree!)
I booked my outbound flight last night online with my Barclays Upgrade voucher (355 days out). I then contacted BA this morning to ask if I will be able to add my return at a later date (355 days out). The very helpful CSA (based in Manchester) at first said that she was unsure whether this would be allowable. She then checked the Ts & Cs and said that this will be allowable as I was not able to do this at the time. I asked where I could find this information and was told that it was for CSA staff only. So, it is written down somewhere. I will cross my fingers when I attempt to book my return flight in about three weeks.
Can someone confirm whether is possible to upgrade from economy to premium economy on one leg, and from premium economy to business on the other leg of a return flight?
Can someone confirm whether is possible to upgrade from economy to premium economy on one leg, and from premium economy to business on the other leg of a return flight?
Yes, but you have to call. If you try online, it only lets you select the same cabin both legs.
My question is, if I book two outbound seats (using two vouchers so that I can attempt to add on the return leg when released), what happens if I miss out on the return leg as I’m booking a popular route? I can find an alternative route back with another airline but will BA return one of the vouchers and use the second one to cover off the two outbound flights? Or is booking the outbound at 355 days with two vouchers the risk you take as if you can’t book the inbound you’re effectively wasting half of each voucher?
My question is, if I book two outbound seats (using two vouchers so that I can attempt to add on the return leg when released), what happens if I miss out on the return leg as I’m booking a popular route? I can find an alternative route back with another airline but will BA return one of the vouchers and use the second one to cover off the two outbound flights? Or is booking the outbound at 355 days with two vouchers the risk you take as if you can’t book the inbound you’re effectively wasting half of each voucher?
You can use the voucher for multiple sectors according to the t&Cs.
I spoke to the customer service advisor when I did an outbound booking recently and he said I could do a placement flight to somewhere with more availability if needed.
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