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Good morning. Just wondered any of you that had gone onto twitter to get BA to refund 50% Avios on the return journey on a 2-4-1 booking – how long did it take for them to get back to you? Thanks
Not done it for a while but I’ve known it to be up to 3/4 days or so.
Not done it for a while but I’ve known it to be up to 3/4 days or so.
Ah ok. Thanks for that!
Good morning. Just wondered any of you that had gone onto twitter to get BA to refund 50% Avios on the return journey on a 2-4-1 booking – how long did it take for them to get back to you? Thanks
Data point -took 18hours for BA twitter to get back to me. By which time I’d already called them and the agent I got through actually agreed to do it without a fight. It did however take 50 mins on the phone due to his systems going crazy with IT outages 😭 all ended well and Avios instantly back in my account.
I’m gearing up to book an CW open jaw LHR->SFO LAX->LHR for mid-August 2025 at T-355. Any gotchas I need to be aware of (raised taxes etc?). I’ve used the HFP articles for research and I think I’m good but thought I’d ask the gurus before I ring the Japanese (?) number in a month’s time. I’m only Blue status these days.
I am flying from SYD to LHR using a 241. Is it possible to then fly from LHR to somewhere that wasn’t SYD and use the ‘other half’ of the 241? If it is, what are the rules around distances? Thanks!
@MH_23 – the rule is that the surface/unflown sector cannot be greater than either of the flights. So, without actually checking the mileages, you can obviously return to Sydney, probably to Singapore but probably not to Dubai because the ‘gap’ DXB-SYD would be a greater mileage than LHR-DXB.
If you were travelling from say Dubai, you could perhaps continue your routing on to the US and a return, but starting in Australia, I think (but am not sure) that you will run into issues of taking a transatlantic routing vs a transpacific one.
Still loads of great options though!
Thanks JDB!
Hi all.
I currently have just over 200K Avios – which is enough for a return to any of my planned potential destinations. Ideally Tokyo – and others are an option.
I am aware of the book the outbound then call and add a return to it..
If I book the outbound only with my voucher, that should cost about 100K Avios plus tax PP. The voucher, however will be gone. Do I make a call at desired return date 1AM or thereabouts and then the agent will be able to get me my return, for the same price – equalling a total of the 200K Avios + £1100 or so in taxes, only split in 2?
I, of course, do not have enough Avios to book both myself and get a refund, so my understanding is that BA agents can do the return for me as if I had a voucher? Is this correct? Or am I wrong.
Rob’s series of articles on avios and the 241 explains all this, but yes, BA can do this on the phone. You need to read as much of this thread as you can as well, because doing this at 1 am has become more difficult lately, e.g. people calling the US office have found that agents won’t do this any more. I think people have been calling Australia or Japan instead.
And have a Plan B in case the seats have gone before you can get through to someone!
Rob’s series of articles on avios and the 241 explains all this, but yes, BA can do this on the phone. You need to read as much of this thread as you can as well, because doing this at 1 am has become more difficult lately, e.g. people calling the US office have found that agents won’t do this any more. I think people have been calling Australia or Japan instead.
And have a Plan B in case the seats have gone before you can get through to someone!
It is actually the outbound availability that affects me. I had no issues finding seats for any of the return days (as they come up daily) but to be able to backtrack from that date -3 weeks to find an outbound is the issue.
My only plan B is to take Iberia to Tokyo then maybe BA back – or Iberia for the whole thing! That is also going to be a call as it’s more “complex” than BA’s rather weak website can handle.
Question to follow up with.. is it recommended to book the outbound yourself and call? But if you can’t secure a return then I guess you’ll have to cancel and lose £35PP and try again?
What is your outbound travel date? If you’ve left it beyond T-355, you may be too late now. The whole strategy on this thread depends on booking the outbound as soon as it’s released.
Have you searched with the voucher (and also tried adding in a regional connection) to see if it opens up more availability?
If you post exact details of what you want to book, it’s going to be easier to offer advice.
Plan B could involve IB, but also an open jaw booking.
What is your outbound travel date? If you’ve left it beyond T-355, you may be too late now. The whole strategy on this thread depends on booking the outbound as soon as it’s released.
Have you searched with the voucher (and also tried adding in a regional connection) to see if it opens up more availability?
If you post exact details of what you want to book, it’s going to be easier to offer advice.
Plan B could involve IB, but also an open jaw booking.
Oh – sorry. Just theory crafting. We’d be looking to take this trip in the range of Sep / Oct 2025. So we’re in perfect time yet to attack this.
An outbound is around 100/110K Avios and £575 taxes for 2! Which leaves me with about 100K Avios in the pot. This is where the agents skills would come into play to book my return as if I had a voucher still.
Okay, so plan your strategy by using the info on here and be ready to make your move when the outbound seats are released.
Just FYI, if you decide to push your trip past the last week in October, release time will revert to GMT instead of BST.
Okay, so plan your strategy by using the info on here and be ready to make your move when the outbound seats are released.
Just FYI, if you decide to push your trip past the last week in October, release time will revert to GMT instead of BST.
I see – will do! I was under the impression that the calling strategy only works if you’ve got a ton of Avios, enough for bookign without a voucher and then process a refund. Was not aware that there are 2 ways regarding to calls – the refund way and the adding to the booking as if you had a voucher way.
@NorthernLass – well, with that in light my strategy is to use my voucher to book London to Tokyo for about 100K Avios for 2 PAX. Then try and call the Aus / Japan customer support team on and around a desired return date.One part of confusion though.. if I used my voucher for a one-way, how is the agent going to add a return as if I had a voucher? People can just book a one way with it at times, seems like a case for misuse?
I think you might need to re-read some of this stuff, with respect! If you have plenty of avios, you can book *online*, then request the 50% back. Calling means the agent can simply book your inbound leg with the required number of avios, so you only need to have that many in your BAEC account. You give them your outbound booking details so they can see that you used the 241 on that.
Not sure what you mean about misuse, if you only book a one-way flight with the voucher you’re only getting half the value from it.
I think you might need to re-read some of this stuff, with respect! If you have plenty of avios, you can book *online*, then request the 50% back. Calling means the agent can simply book your inbound leg with the required number of avios, so you only need to have that many in your BAEC account. You give them your outbound booking details so they can see that you used the 241 on that.
Not sure what you mean about misuse, if you only book a one-way flight with the voucher you’re only getting half the value from it.
You may very well be right on that – but for example, quoting this from the Article on the site.
“For a booking 355 days out, you should look to book your outbound flights on the day they become available. Do NOT wait until the return flights come up. You can call British Airways on the day that the return flights becomes available and add it to the booking. You should not be charged a change fee for this.”
Part 1 is crystal clear.. I can do that using my 2 for 1. Then my 2 for 1 is used and gone – no? So when I call them up to add a return, they are completely OK with making that a return 2 for 1, rather than a one-way 2 for 1? And just charge another 100k Avios plus fees?
What I meant by the last point, is that it seems like a very generous thing to do by them to take adding a return flight and price it as a 2 for 1 when in fact, I have already “spent” my 2 for 1 for getting the one way discounted. I could be overthinking this, as people said this is how it works and is done regularly..
The 241 entitles you to a return flight. It’s a quirk of BA IT that you can’t use it in 2 separate halves, hence the lengths people go to to secure both legs!
So adding the inbound leg just gives you what you’re supposed to get. You’re not getting anything above the terms of the voucher.@simey follow the advice of northern lass, invest the time now and read Rob’s article and then this thread. Which is dedicated to booking the return flight on a 241, Tokyo reward flights feature heavily. Time spent now will be well worth it.
The 241 entitles you to a return flight. It’s a quirk of BA IT that you can’t use it in 2 separate halves, hence the lengths people go to to secure both legs!
So adding the inbound leg just gives you what you’re supposed to get. You’re not getting anything above the terms of the voucher.It makes sense.
Sorry – I made it sound like I really don’t get the concept. I do! But as a tangent or a thought I had, found it odd that this is possible. Had this irrational fear that I’d get turned away maybe.. overthinking!
I guess I can try that, as it’ll use the same resources as booking it in one sitting, just split across 2 I take it. Well, it’s my only option, or calling to see about using Iberia. I’ll revisit with an update if I am successful in the next month or two lol.
The 241 entitles you to a return flight. It’s a quirk of BA IT that you can’t use it in 2 separate halves, hence the lengths people go to to secure both legs!
So adding the inbound leg just gives you what you’re supposed to get. You’re not getting anything above the terms of the voucher.I guess on the back of that.. let’s assume that I get beaten by others and my plan to get something around 3 weeks later fails.
Best course of action is to cancel the outbound and try again? Or move it.. but I guess that’ll cost me £70 for 2 every time I want to move it forward or attempt it again.
This is why we talk about having a plan B. You could look at booking the return leg on IB, or flying back from a different airport with better availability. Most people are constrained by travel dates, so the cancel and rebook option wouldn’t work.
If you are quite flexible, I wouldn’t jump at T-355 at all. I would hold on to the voucher for a few weeks then start checking dates for a return trip when the extra availability might start opening up. Consider the regional option as well, for potentially even more availability.
This is why we talk about having a plan B. You could look at booking the return leg on IB, or flying back from a different airport with better availability. Most people are constrained by travel dates, so the cancel and rebook option wouldn’t work.
If you are quite flexible, I wouldn’t jump at T-355 at all. I would hold on to the voucher for a few weeks then start checking dates for a return trip when the extra availability might start opening up. Consider the regional option as well, for potentially even more availability.
As far as “regional” goes from me, I can only do Belfast -> Heathrow really. Or Dublin -> Heathrow. Did not see more than without the connection to be honest. My only constraint is I’d like to go somewhere between mid-Sep to mid-Oct but that’s about it. I’ll see how my attempts go, otherwise I’ll gladly fly to Madrid from Dublin for example to do Iberia’s A350! Thanks for your patience and dealing with my silly scenarios / questions.
Dublin isn’t a UK regional connection, however if you really want these seats then starting somewhere that is can open up extra availability, under certain circumstances (explained by Rob in his articles).
If flying from MAD, the extra availability doesn’t apply, so it doesn’t matter where you start.
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