The ‘How to book the return leg with 2-4-1 companion voucher’ thread

[NorthernLass]

You can’t use a companion voucher to do this, the first leg you book with it is considered to be the outbound.

For MEX-LHR, I’m not sure F is worth it really, apparently the lounge at MEX is pretty mediocre and presumably you’ll be sleeping more than enjoying the F & B on board?

[cc]

I managed to book NRT-MAD and then call to add LHR-HND back in January for travel in October/November this year. I suppose that means they are told not allow people to do this but technically its possible?

Im not much of a sleeper on planes to be honest and neither is partner. Recently came back from Nashville and I laid down for a couple of hours but rest of time was watching films etc. Even BA old business class couldnt send me to sleep.

I dont think my edited message went through, but regarding your experience of odd pricing, MEX-LHR in first is 85,000 and business is 90,000! Albeit with First costing around £160 more in fees. If were much more, then yes not really worth it.

[NorthernLass]

The odd avios pricing is because BA now uses Reward Flight Saver apart from in F.

NRT-MAD followed by LHR-HND would be fine, what I’m trying to explain is that you can’t book your inbound leg with the voucher, then have it applied to an outbound leg which takes place at an earlier date.

[cooks19]

When booking the outbound online 355 days before is it best to populate all information on the book with avios page and then hit search at the stroke of midnight? Just trying to make sure I have everything covered in preparation. Thanks in advance

[GibFlyer]

cooks19 wrote:

When booking the outbound online 355 days before is it best to populate all information on the book with avios page and then hit search at the stroke of midnight? Just trying to make sure I have everything covered in preparation. Thanks in advance

I was successful with this approach last night. I actually did a few dummy searches beforehand to make sure it didn’t log me out.

Make sure your card is registered to your account and ideally you have BA as a trusted site. I waited what felt like 10 mins (was probably only 10 secs) for the OTP code to come through.

[NorthernLass]

Did you get your PUJ seats, then?!

[GibFlyer]

NorthernLass wrote:

Did you get your PUJ seats, then?!

I did! Thanks so much for your help with all my questions and worrying! Ended up calling the USA line approx. 23:40 and was still on hold when I managed to book them online myself. I need to call to add the LON-AGP/SVQ option as GIB isn’t going to work. Need to get refund of the 100k paid as I did it online too, hopefully all achievable. 🙂

[cooks19]

GibFlyer wrote:

cooks19 wrote:

When booking the outbound online 355 days before is it best to populate all information on the book with avios page and then hit search at the stroke of midnight? Just trying to make sure I have everything covered in preparation. Thanks in advance

I was successful with this approach last night. I actually did a few dummy searches beforehand to make sure it didn’t log me out.

Make sure your card is registered to your account and ideally you have BA as a trusted site. I waited what felt like 10 mins (was probably only 10 secs) for the OTP code to come through.

Is there a way to add BA to trusted site prior to purchase? I have boosted miles before with BA but not sure if would fall under the same company when purchasing a flight. Congrats on securing your seats!

[NorthernLass]

@GibFlyer, I am so pleased for you! You can call or Xtweet BA to ask for the avios back, or use chat. You may have to try a couple of times depending on how knowledgeable/helpful the agent is. If you call, you can ask about adding the last leg, if you want it to be all on one PNR, but I would advise you do that asap or they might start being awkward about it.

[GibFlyer]

NorthernLass wrote:

@GibFlyer, I am so pleased for you! You can call or Xtweet BA to ask for the avios back, or use chat. You may have to try a couple of times depending on how knowledgeable/helpful the agent is. If you call, you can ask about adding the last leg, if you want it to be all on one PNR, but I would advise you do that asap or they might start being awkward about it.

🙂 Yep, I’m going to call tomorrow as the flight will be available at midnight. Will call rather than tweet etc as ideally I’d like the return booking on one PNR so the case gets taken through to final destination.

[NorthernLass]

Let us know how you get on – I imagine it’s quite an unusual request. I managed to book DUB-LHR-MEX online with the 241, but that was online. I don’t know if all agents will be familiar with adding a non-UK connection which requires avios and cash. FYI – I booked DUB-LHR in economy to save a bit as it’s such a short flight, you should have that option as well, though of course it’s a longer journey to Spain.

[totestornot123]

Hi All, Still reading my way through this giant thread so apologies if this has been answered (although up to page 18 it hasn’t).

Looking to book a 2v1 to Tokyo for next March in the coming weeks. BAPP 2v1. If we book CW on the outbound, and book the inbound at T-355 but in PE, assuming we book the same avios/cash ratio as the outbound, Will BA later refund 50% of my avios?

This is assuming I book the inbound via the website. Only reason I am considering this is, although we can (just about) afford CW for the return, we are probably going to hit our next 2v1 voucher this year, so its just trying to save some avios where I can.

TIA

[NorthernLass]

Yes, no problem mixing cabins.

[totestornot123]

NorthernLass wrote:

Yes, no problem mixing cabins.

Thank you appreciated, is this an unwritten rule? I don’t see too many people asking about this, don’t want to get shafted and BA refusing to refund avios by saying both cabins should have been the same inbound and outbound.

[NorthernLass]

No, it’s perfectly within the Ts and Cs. If you make a return booking in one go the option is always there to choose different cabins on each leg (with the sole exception of mixing F and economy, because the BA website will only show a maximum of 3 cabins). I’ve done this many times, both with return bookings and when adding the inbound later.

You should have seen numerous posts about such itineraries, e.g. @GibFlyer has been anxious over the last few days about finding CW returns from PUJ but was advised that returning in PE would be an option. We often fly out in CW but return in PE to save avios and because I feel the overnight CW experience isn’t that great.

The only rule is that both pax on the booking fly in the same cabin. If it was necessary to travel in the same cabin on both legs, a lot of people would be excluded from booking redemptions because of lack of availability on one or other of the sectors.

[patrickjrobinson]

Hello – I’ve got a 2-4-1 to use up before May next year, and I usually book my vouchers as two separate bookings to secure the midnight availability, calling the call centre to get an Avios refund the next day. Never had a problem.

My voucher expires on 11 May 2025. I know that only outbound travel needs to be booked before this date and that the inbound can be later, but the Ts and Cs say: “inbound travel can take place after the expiry date of the Companion Voucher, provided it is booked at the same time as the outbound travel.”

If I do the usual trick – say booking the outbound for 9 May 2025 and then booking a one-way inbound leg separately a couple of weeks later – will the BA team regard this as being “booked at the same time as the outbound travel…?”

Does anyone have experience of this?

[NorthernLass]

I think it can depend on the agent and their interpretation of the rules. I did what you’re asking about with an old Covid 241, booked and claimed the 50% avios back long after the voucher had expired with no issues. You could argue that if your inbound leg simply wasn’t available when you booked the outbound, then you weren’t able to comply with the quoted terms.

[patrickjrobinson]

Perfect. I’ll give it a go! Hopefully they won’t pay too much attention to the expiry date 🙂

[ross]

I’m booking flights to Singapore, Club, Amex 2-4-1.

I have 220,600 in the household account.

It is offering me 220,000 Avios +£1,050.

Question: If I transfer more Avios to the account, will the amount I have to spend reduce?

[bumpmad]

Hoping someone can help. BA is refusing to add my second avios booking to my voucher.
details as follows:

1st booking:
14th Feb 25 LHR->MXP Economy 4 pass
£70 + 15,750 avios

2nd booking
22nd Feb MXP->LHR Club Europe 4 pass
£190 + 29,000 avios

he was claiming i couldn’t mix cabins which is obviously nonsense
but then also i used different cash / avios ratios was causing a problem.

can someone please help?
thanks

[NorthernLass]

You can mix cabins, however if you didn’t use the same avios/cash ratio on both legs most BA agents seem to be refusing to refund – several instances of this posted on this thread.

You could cancel and rebook, it’s free within 24 hours of booking, otherwise you might get away with only paying 50p per person.

[bumpmad]

NorthernLass wrote:

You can mix cabins, however if you didn’t use the same avios/cash ratio on both legs most BA agents seem to be refusing to refund – several instances of this posted on this thread.

You could cancel and rebook, it’s free within 24 hours of booking, otherwise you might get away with only paying 50p per person.

Hi Northern lass, thats really helpful.. I’m not sure however on the cash/avios ration when they are different cabin classes?!?

[NorthernLass]

The cabin class shouldn’t make any difference, you’ll still get a list of cash/avios options. If you select (e.g.) option 3 on the outbound, you need to also select option 3 on the inbound to make BA happy and get your avios refunded.

I assume this is because if you booked a return trip, obviously you could only choose one option for the whole booking.

But by all means HUACA a few times and let us know how you get on!

[bumpmad]

NorthernLass wrote:

The cabin class shouldn’t make any difference, you’ll still get a list of cash/avios options. If you select (e.g.) option 3 on the outbound, you need to also select option 3 on the inbound to make BA happy and get your avios refunded.

I assume this is because if you booked a return trip, obviously you could only choose one option for the whole booking.

But by all means HUACA a few times and let us know how you get on!

Good news – called the USA number and got thru to a UK based operator (not an Indian based operator). She said no problem, i had option 3 on way out and option 4 on way back, but this did not stop her refunding me the avios 🙂

[oxforddoc]

Second voucher booking in a few months.

Has anyone else noticed being charged £30 for booking on phone? First time waived as argued the site wasn’t allowing me to book, but second time not as’ technically’ could have booked outbound leg online…

Should this be added to the articles encouraging people to call? I hadn’t been charged this before.