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Good news about SIN! Don’t forget that to be able to access the extra availability in CW on your return booking you’ll need to call. I don’t know how fast SIN seats are going at the moment but you’ll either need to wait an extra day for the MAN leg to appear, or call BA again to add it on later.
There used to be restrictions on how often you can make changes to BA accounts but I can’t recall off the top of my head whether this applied to HHA or just Friends and Family.
Good point, I forgot about that. I’ll no doubt post on here just before I do it.
@Spoony, did you get your returns from MLE?
Last night was a dummy run. For some reason MLE flights have not been selling like hotcakes so I chose to go the online route rather than call. VERY pleased to say I just managed to get 2 CW returns on the exact day we wanted!! It’s the old CW configuration, but bagging CW return has saved a good £6k or so, so very happy indeed.
Huge thanks to this thread, I’ve learnt a lot (using reward finder, 1am trick) and will be able to make much better use of my 241 in the future!
Great result, I think the return leg is a day flight? That should be a very nice way to fly home, takes the sting out of the end of the holiday a bit!
Great result, I think the return leg is a day flight? That should be a very nice way to fly home, takes the sting out of the end of the holiday a bit!
yes it’s 11am depart and I think the old CW isn’t too bad as we probably won’t be sleeping too much.
Very happy and although I recognise I’ve been rather lucky for a first timer, I am already thinking about a bigger challenge for the next voucher (Tokyo or Capetown perhaps!)
Nothing new but if it helps as another data point..
I used chat to contact BA to ask for half my avios back. I used wording I got from this thread:-
“I’ve just booked on http://BA.COM, my inbound avios flight Xxxx that became open for booking at 1am this morning (DD/MM/YY) for travel from XXX to XXX on DD/MM/YY.Please can you refund me half the Avios on this booking as this is the return journey of my open flight using the other half of the BA companion voucher. I understand the taxes and fees element will remain the same”.
Person said “on this occasion we will refund” but no other questions or issues. It did take a long time (30mins +) but as it was just on chat and I was watching TV it wasn’t a problem for me.
Hi Northern lass. I’m getting all nice and prepared. So after some negotiation, my brother is back in my household account so I now have avios to play with.
I could fly economy back to Manchester for £1000 for both of us but think we will just add the inbound leg on with my 2-4-1 that I’ve already used.
A quick glance shows all the days furthest out in business class from Singapore to LHR and also Man have gone. I’ll monitor over the next few days as if I’m totally honest, I don’t have much enthusiasm for the Skype call. Do they actually show online at midnight or is 1am. I’m sure I’ve read it somewhere. As I haven’t got an exact return date in mind I may just try for a day or 2 and then reluctantly go to Skype if I don’t have any luck at all.
Also, after reading your post last time, I book Singapore to LHR and then a day later, I call up and book to go to Man. Am I right in thinking, if I get a half decent agent I can avoid the booking fee?
Another data point – separately booked return on 11/10/23 for 29/09/24, having already booked outbound. Had no luck with the chat-agents asking for refund of half of Avios on return leg (tried 3 or 4 times) – they all insisted it was impossible. Called the Exec club number though and first person I spoke to did it straight away. He did caution that I really should have called to add to the existing PRN rather than book separately, but after about 10-15 mins on hold it was all sorted
Hello! Hoping for some guidance. Looking to head to New Zealand for our honeymoon December next year, returning in Jan 25. Route will be MAN>lHR>SIN>SYD then sort ourselves out for the final leg. I can see the outbound will be easy enough to book online/by phone at T-355. For the return, we would like to stop off for a week in SIN.
Am I right in thinking I’ll need to do 3 x midnight calls to book SYD>SIN, then a week later SIN>LHR and again the next day for LHR>MAN?
Don’t think I’ll have enough Avios to play with in order to book online and claim the reimbursement.
Thanks!
The problem might be that BA won’t add SYD-SIN as your return on your 241 if it doesn’t meet the open jaw rules. The SIN stopover issue has causes some head scratching over the past months!
The problem might be that BA won’t add SYD-SIN as your return on your 241 if it doesn’t meet the open jaw rules. The SIN stopover issue has causes some head scratching over the past months!
Thanks! Not something I had considered. Would it be possible to book SYD>SIN>LHR without the stopover then a week later call back up to cancel the original SIN>LHR and swap it for the preferred date?
I will also have two Barclaycard CUVs by the time I come to book. Could they be of any use in this situation?
They might do that for the change fee if all the seats are still available.
You could use the Barclays vouchers instead of a 241 but you’d still have the same issue with your inbound legs. Not sure how else you think they might help.
Just wanted to confirm what times do the redemption seats get released on T-355?
Looking to book flights for 19/10/24 (+-1 day) and hence would need to book on the morning of 30/10/23 which is right after the clocks change I believe.
So if i book on 30/10 then will that be at midnight? What about on the 29th?
IIRC the clocks go back at 2 am Sunday, so I would think it would still be 1 am on the 29th for the seats being released. However, I would start checking at midnight to be on the safe side!
Has anyone used the Australia call centre for the 1am call? If so, what number did you use?
And on another note, will the 1am call shift to midnight now that the clocks go back?
Thank you for the answers!
It’s staying awake and booking the return for an open jaw tonight, fingers crossed the 50% Avios refund will be straightforward tomorrow.
Booked at 1am, used online chat at 8am and Avios refunded in 30 minutes. Now, just need the IC Monterey to drop its rate from £1400/120k points a night!
I’ve booked my outward BA LHR – CPT ticket using my companion voucher. When I came to book my return open jaw leg JNB – LHR on the phone using the same voucher, I was given a separate booking reference to my outward leg, which I had expected based on previous experience. However , agent charged me £70 for a change to my booking. She also wanted to charge me £15 for phoning to do so but waived that when I complained I could not ‘make a change’ online. I challenged the £70 change fee, she checked with her manager and confirmed it was a change to my booking. Phoned back 24 hrs later and this time agent said the charge was for the open jaw ticket and refused to cancel it. Have the rules changed? If not, what should my next step be? Thanks.
Hi,
I recently booked the outbound leg of my trip to MRU in CW using my companion voucher for 2 adults and an infant (booked online at 1am). I intended to book the inbound leg online when they are released paying the full avios and then asking for 50% of the avios refunded.
We are celebrating our son’s 2nd birthday out there so will be over 2 years old on the inbound leg. As I understand it, if we had booked the complete return journey at the same time using the companion voucher, even though our son will be over 2 he would still be classed as an infant as he was under 2 at the time of the outbound leg.
Is this still the case if trying to link the two one way flights to the same companion voucher? I assume I would have to pay the full avios cost of a child as opposed to an infant on the inbound leg initially?
I have the outbound flights booked with companion voucher.
Im 1500 short to book online for the return to be booked online and phone up later to credit the 50% back.
So I need to phone up at midnight on tuesday.
However I cant find the phone numbers anywhere in this thread or at bA.com. Only the UK one pops up.
How can I find the usa / japan numbers as referred to here?
@ans91, I think the easiest way to do this will be to call BA and get them to add your inbound leg.
I have the outbound flights booked with companion voucher.
Im 1500 short to book online for the return to be booked online and phone up later to credit the 50% back.
So I need to phone up at midnight on tuesday.
However I cant find the phone numbers anywhere in this thread or at bA.com. Only the UK one pops up.
How can I find the usa / japan numbers as referred to here?
Ahh. What a dafty! I missed the great big drop down choose your country box.
@ans91, I think the easiest way to do this will be to call BA and get them to add your inbound leg.
Thank you Anna. I’ve been tracking the flights outbound and inbound for the last few weeks so doing it all online seems easier to me as I’ve had some success but for this situation, calling BA ad midnight in a couple of weeks may be the best way forward.
Question on Phoning Japan.
Are the operators speaking in Good english?
Does the phone answer in English or is there “press 2 to speak in English” type message in the middle of japanese?
Do they all actually understand the concept of 2.4.1 returns or am I expecting to have to call back to get a different agent?
What the experience like?
Bagged the outbound 15/10/24 LHR-SYD last night in J, now have to wait a couple of months to try for the return! Not sure if I will have the Avios to book online and get 50% back, will be touch and go.
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