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I don’t think that was the issue. The terms are clear that card member has to pay the surcharges, so the problem was that the card used for payment was in the husband’s name, and not the account holder’s.
That’s incorrect. The cardmember is responsible for paying the taxes/fees/charges (i.e. such costs are at the passenger’s expense) but it does not have to be their card. You could, if you wished, use your granny’s or a friend’s card.
If that was the case, it wouldn’t make sense for the agent to object to the husband’s card being used. There’s nothing to say that the same card needs to be used on both bookings. From the OP’s post, it was the husband’s card being used which was causing the problem. The agent may not have actually been right, but they appear to have been interpreting the rules in the same way that I do.
All this squabbling amongst ourselves about the T&Cs and applying our own interpretations about what it means to “remain eligible” – shouldn’t BA just spell out exactly what it is they want to permit/prohibit? Isn’t that the point of T&Cs?
Para 17 is crystal clear with no room for different interpretation and in fact, even before the rule was updated, the consistent advice here was that any and anyone’s Amex was fine. The issue in @Pauline post was that, to the agent, it unsurprisingly appeared like a booking from another account when the two bookings were compared in order to apply the voucher. It was never a good idea.
There is, as you say, nothing in the rules stating you must use the same card on each booking to get 50% back but that’s obvious because this whole concession is an entirely unpublished policy. There’s also nothing written to say that you must use the same Avios/cash mix something you say is a must, nor that it only works if the return seats weren’t open for booking at the time of booking the outbound. Different agents apply the information they have differently.
I think many people, me included, pay for the cost of travel for their spouses. My wife has my BA Amex saved on her BAEC account and uses it to pay when redeeming her 241 voucher. It is clear that she is fully entitled to do so.
All this squabbling amongst ourselves about the T&Cs and applying our own interpretations about what it means to “remain eligible” – shouldn’t BA just spell out exactly what it is they want to permit/prohibit? Isn’t that the point of T&Cs?
What are you suggesting as alternative interpretations? While it’s generally considered bad practice to have otiose terms and conditions, this would appear to be one but it has remained despite a number of redrafts although in 2021 the wording was slightly amended in a positive way, but it’s still there.
You are right of course that T&Cs should be clear but that doesn’t necessarily suit firms that wish to keep a degree of flexibility, so they also add misuse clauses etc. so there are in effect ‘hidden’ terms as one can observe on the thread about Amex cancellations, but in reality these are about common sense and doing the right thing rather than anything sinister.
Another difficulty is that firms change T&Cs but then don’t apply them – e.g. Virgin and its cash advances that it took over a year from notification to imposition and now Amex with its removal in the terms of pro-rata refunds not yet being applied. Anybody who doesn’t read this site or similar, would have no idea. These terms are always messy and not as they should be.
All this squabbling amongst ourselves about the T&Cs and applying our own interpretations about what it means to “remain eligible” – shouldn’t BA just spell out exactly what it is they want to permit/prohibit? Isn’t that the point of T&Cs?
Personally I think it’s important that people are aware of what is clear in the T&Cs and what’s less clear. Understanding clause 17 is important as someone may have a SUB or spending target on another Amex card, and may be hesitant in not using the BAPP for the booking – the T&Cs are clear. Certainly in the case of using a card in the name of the voucher holder.
The cardmember point is less clear, and also important that people recognise this. Ideally the language would be made clearer. Though there may be good reasons why BA/Amex prefer to leave it vague.
Thanks @zapato1060 and @NorthernLass. I’ll call BA to book.
Back on the core theme of the thread. Another data point – having failed to get connected to an agent on the US silver line, started calling at 00.40 this am, I booked my return online and called up this morning to get 50% of the Avios refunded.
I booked the outbound flight using the max Avios, min cash option. But didn’t have enough Avios to book the return online using the maximum avios option, so picked the 2nd highest avios option. I got through to a very nice BA agent who initially reported an error when trying to refund 50% of the Avios, after a few minutes on hold, very happily for me she came back to confirm the refund. I think there have been maybe 2 or 3 other reports of people managing to mix and match avios / cash levels, and get a 50% refund – so definitely possible.
In case of use to others in a similar situation, my strategy was to call up, rather then rely on twitter for the 50% refund, as I knew there was a risk due to the mismatch in terms of cash / avios mix for outbound vs inbound – I wanted to get it all sorted within the 24 hour free cancellation window. Aside from HUACA, my back up plans if told it wasn’t possible were as follows – 1) ask them to adjust the cash / Avios mix to reflect what I used to book the outbound (I was tempted to ask for this anyway, but was really chasing for this specific flight, so was happy enough to just secure the booking). 2) my other strategy was to cancel the return booking on the call, with a view to asking the agent to keep an eye out for the flights going back into the inventory and securing them straight back – which would’ve had some real risk, in terms of the reward seats being reloaded and also the avios refund being quick enough.
I did have some further back up options, which were more preferential than keeping the inbound at full avios cost.
Hi there,
I am looking soon to book my first open-jaw flight with my BA Amex companion voucher
I am looking to book the outbound on Iberia between Madrid and Santiago Chile in Business and then return from Buenos Aries to London with a stop in Madrid but with a connecting flight so the bags are checked all the way.
I believe this would be possible but just wanted to double check that i would:
A) Avoid business class UK APD, despite the return leg arriving back to LHR
B) this be possible as my departure and arrival airports are both different and not just one.Any advice would be appreciated but I would assume that subject to availability i can just call BA to book this with both the outbound and inbound using the same tier of avios/cash options?
This should be fine, but unless you actually want to stopover in Madrid on the way back, you could just book EZE-LHR on BA for the return?
The reason I had to call to ‘link’ my 2 bookings was to get the 50% avios back and to add the LHR – EDI leg. My understanding is that although the 2 bookings are ‘linked’ they will always remain on 2 PNR’s and the additional advantage of this with some airports especially HKG is that the taxes are much lower on separate bookings and they do not recalculate them. As with @Froggee my additional taxes were 9.33 per person. I do wander what the result would have been if I had booked both flights with my husband’s card. His issue was not the card (that was never mentioned). He erroneously noted that the second booking had been made in my husband’s account. I will not be making that error again if I am going to have to speak to and agent to make an amendment to a booking. Interestingly the additional taxes were debited to my card but the original flight taxes are still debited on my husbands account…..should I be worried?
This should be fine, but unless you actually want to stopover in Madrid on the way back, you could just book EZE-LHR on BA for the return?
Iberia offers three daily flights from Bs As to Madrid so you get a choice of times and as the BA flight stops in Rio, there is very little time saving vs. good connections via Madrid. The service, food and wine are all quite a bit superior on Iberia, plus it’s a rather smaller business cabin of 31 on Iberia vs 48 on BA with same number of loos and cabin crew. IB seat is at least as good as CS and it seems cleaner.
Hi there,
I am looking soon to book my first open-jaw flight with my BA Amex companion voucher
I am looking to book the outbound on Iberia between Madrid and Santiago Chile in Business and then return from Buenos Aries to London with a stop in Madrid but with a connecting flight so the bags are checked all the way.
I believe this would be possible but just wanted to double check that i would:
A) Avoid business class UK APD, despite the return leg arriving back to LHR
B) this be possible as my departure and arrival airports are both different and not just one.Any advice would be appreciated but I would assume that subject to availability i can just call BA to book this with both the outbound and inbound using the same tier of avios/cash options?
I booked exactly this itinerary a month ago (to travel in Feb 2025). So, it’s possible to book, and I have the flights confirmed in my Iberia app.
Not only do you save considerable £s on APD, you also spend fewer Avios points. The only issue I had was that the BA agent couldn’t give me a cost quote immediately – and had to send a question to the Revenue Team.Hi there,
I am looking soon to book my first open-jaw flight with my BA Amex companion voucher
I am looking to book the outbound on Iberia between Madrid and Santiago Chile in Business and then return from Buenos Aries to London with a stop in Madrid but with a connecting flight so the bags are checked all the way.
I believe this would be possible but just wanted to double check that i would:
A) Avoid business class UK APD, despite the return leg arriving back to LHR
B) this be possible as my departure and arrival airports are both different and not just one.Any advice would be appreciated but I would assume that subject to availability i can just call BA to book this with both the outbound and inbound using the same tier of avios/cash options?
I booked exactly this itinerary a month ago (to travel in Feb 2025). So, it’s possible to book, and I have the flights confirmed in my Iberia app.
Not only do you save considerable £s on APD, you also spend fewer Avios points. The only issue I had was that the BA agent couldn’t give me a cost quote immediately – and had to send a question to the Revenue Team.Do you mind sharing the Avios/£ needed? I’d assume it would be the same as pricing up two separate journeys using the website?
@Jackp27 – I can’t give you the exact answer but I booked MAD-EZE-MAD-LHR in the last fortnight for two people with a 241, business on all sectors and it was 114,750 Avios total + £255.20 each. Quite happy with that vs LHR-EZE-LHR on BA at 220k/240k off peak/peak + £600 each, although I still need to add the LHR-MAD cost on a separate booking.
I’ve just added the leg return from SYD with a stopover in SIN in CW – how stressful was that – first call I got through to the Australian number using Viber Out at 12.45 but the chap wouldn’t entertain staying on the line until 1 when the seats would be released, second call was poor quality and was breaking up and the third call I got through at 12.57 and cleared security and told him what I wanted to achieve so on the dot of 1 he grabbed the seats on BA12, adding the SYD-SIN afterwards.
By the time I refreshed when my seats were grabbed, all 4 seats on BA16 had gone and it was still only 1.00 – the last 2 seats on BA12 were gone at 1.03!
I had stayed up to 1 last night to see how quickly the sold out and the same thing – 6 grabbed at 1 and the last 2 at 1.07!
I need to add a domestic connection to my booking. I’ve read through the last ten pages but can find no recent reference to this. Will agents wave the change fee and add the connection at the same time I call to apply the 2-4-1 and refund the Avios on the return leg?
Another data point, friends called the US number & got through at 12.45am. They were immediately told they were too early & the agent hung up. Tried again & got through at 12.55am to be told again they were too early & the agent hung up on them again (different agent on both occasions).
I need to add a domestic connection to my booking. I’ve read through the last ten pages but can find no recent reference to this. Will agents wave the change fee and add the connection at the same time I call to apply the 2-4-1 and refund the Avios on the return leg?
As long as you do this asap and the domestic connection wasn’t available when you added the inbound, BA should be able to add it at no extra cost. However, note that yesterday someone posted about an agent who apparently had no idea about UK connections so there’s a slight chance you may have to HUACA.
Another data point, friends called the US number & got through at 12.45am. They were immediately told they were too early & the agent hung up. Tried again & got through at 12.55am to be told again they were too early & the agent hung up on them again (different agent on both occasions).
Agents are taking matters into their own hands. They don’t like taking these T-355 calls – fiddly and time consuming – and far too many people now seem to be making such calls so the late calls and the 50% back ones that BA doesn’t need to allow risk coming under greater scrutiny. What’s a bit ridiculous about these T-355 calls is just how many of those seats get cancelled within the next fortnight, presumably as can’t get holiday, accommodation, partner’s OK, although it certainly provides a good opportunity for those not wanting to play that game. Just don’t rely on SeatSpy to tell you in time.
Another data point, friends called the US number & got through at 12.45am. They were immediately told they were too early & the agent hung up. Tried again & got through at 12.55am to be told again they were too early & the agent hung up on them again (different agent on both occasions).
Did they manage to book in the end – if not I suggest the Australian line as they at the beginning of their day rather the going home like the US centre.
You do need to ring at at least 5 to to clear security and for the agent to find the booking.
I have been watching the SYD and SIN flights for a couple and I are a couple of days with the SYD-SIN leg available but none SIN-LHR unless you rin
The other thing that occurred to me that zero chance of finding seats in CW on this route at popular times unless you have the Amex 2-4-1.I’ve just added the leg return from SYD with a stopover in SIN in CW – how stressful was that – first call I got through to the Australian number using Viber Out at 12.45 but the chap wouldn’t entertain staying on the line until 1 when the seats would be released, second call was poor quality and was breaking up and the third call I got through at 12.57 and cleared security and told him what I wanted to achieve so on the dot of 1 he grabbed the seats on BA12, adding the SYD-SIN afterwards.
By the time I refreshed when my seats were grabbed, all 4 seats on BA16 had gone and it was still only 1.00 – the last 2 seats on BA12 were gone at 1.03!
I had stayed up to 1 last night to see how quickly the sold out and the same thing – 6 grabbed at 1 and the last 2 at 1.07!
Quick question on that itinerary, I presume there is no way to book that online at the BA website, as it would default to BA metal (and higher Avios and charges)? So would need to phone?
I’m looking to fly back from Boston via Madrid next year.
Would it be worthwhile booking he Boston to Madrid leg online the night before then asking them to add London to Madrid the following morning when I call to ask them to link to ,my outbound 2-4-1?
Can someone please confirm the open jaw return leg rule for me.
Have just found LHR-SYD in J and booked with BAPP companion voucher at half Avios (85k+£375)
I already have separate return flight ticket booked AKL-DOH-LHR booked on QR (note it would have been 90k +£57 using AAdvantage, but AA booking engine glitches on QR at present and call centre absolutely useless, so booked using Avios, 90k + £150 approx)
So I still half ‘half a voucher’ and am wondering what my options are for a future open jaw flight to LHR. I would be happy to call and book, or book and call to get the 50% Avios refund. Question includes what departure airports are allowed (eg same continent as SYD, or any continent), what airline (BA Iberia AA?) and what date (does it have to be before my departure from LHR?). I know the ‘half’ Virgin companion vouchers are super flexible and even now show on the VA website, but have no idea for the ‘half’ BA voucher.
Many thanks in advance
Can someone please confirm the open jaw return leg rule for me.
As far as I’m aware:
You want to fly from A to B
You want to return from C to A
The distance between B and C needs to be shorter than either of the other two flights.I think.
I just wrote a post with great circle mapper links which disappeared into the ether. It might be back.
Basically anywhere in the far east should be fine.
North America is out. I think,
And Santiago should be good if you wanna maximise.
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