-
@All – I just booked an outbound on Iberia at T-360 through the BA UK call centre.
The agent has provided me with a booking reference and asked to wait for a couple of days to receive the tickets.
During this time, are my seats secured or could there be any risk to them?Perhaps it was luck – I randomly look at say, Tokyo for a full year’s search and it’s 99% gone. The best I can find currently is T-325 or so, with a few random days. But I don’t want to go for over a month so it’s irrelevant! It comes and goes I suppose.
Lots of availability in July and August 2025 if you don’t mind the heat and humidity! 🙂
Well – lots is subjective. For 2 PAX, only outbound I can see for 2 seats in CW / CS is the 30th of July – returning 8th of August. That’s less than 2 weeks and in heat so bad I’ll collapse! There is a reason why I’m waiting for Q3 of the year, I can’t deal with such weather haha.
@Simey it really isn’t chance! Neither the BA calendar nor SeatSpy are very accurate. The availability of seats in particular cash fare buckets and reward seats is also incredibly fluid/dynamic and often even changes intraday. Availability pops up all the time, especially with a voucher. When people start talking about hen’s teeth routes and other such hyperbole, you should smell a rat. Sorry for the terrible mixed metaphor.
@Aston100 – it’s only crap for those who think it’s necessary to go through all these hoops to book at T-355. What’s remarkable is just how many of these seemingly hard won seats come back into inventory in the ensuing days. We have never booked that far ahead, even when tied to school/university holidays and friends with 241s they have used to places like Tokyo and Sydney at much short notice scoff if I mention T-355.
Perhaps it was luck – I randomly look at say, Tokyo for a full year’s search and it’s 99% gone. The best I can find currently is T-325 or so, with a few random days. But I don’t want to go for over a month so it’s irrelevant! It comes and goes I suppose.
It really isn’t chance! Neither the BA calendar nor SeatSpy are very accurate. The availability of seats in particular cash fare buckets and reward seats is also incredibly fluid/dynamic and often even changes intraday. When people start talking about hen’s teeth routes and other such hyperbole, you should smell a rat. Sorry for the terrible mixed metaphor.
Apologies for another question but I have received an email to pay the taxes for my flights I booked last night and have been quoted £287.50 each from HKG-LHR which is only a small amount less than my LHR-KUL taxes. Does that sound correct? I said I would call them back to pay as I wanted to check, thank you
Apologies for another question but I have received an email to pay the taxes for my flights I booked last night and have been quoted £287.50 each from HKG-LHR which is only a small amount less than my LHR-KUL taxes. Does that sound correct? I said I would call them back to pay as I wanted to check, thank you
Yes, that sounds right. Before the recent increases, the RFS prices were £300 and £275 for KUL and HKG respectively. With RFS and the fare being recalculated as one journey, you don’t get any HKG low/no charges benefit.
Thank you JDB
Just an update for those of you looking to call the US/AUS/JAP offices to book reward flights. As previously mentioned I was told by the US office that they weren’t able to help UK customers book, AUS office weren’t trained and Japan office did help but my first choice flights had already gone by the time they opened and I passed security. I decided last night to try to call the US office just out of curiosity to see if they gave me the same answer. I called about 12am and spoke to a friendly UK based agent who said he could book and was happy to on this number but I was too early (I realised this). I called back at 12.45am and got another agent who was friendly and happy to help try to get the flight I wanted to change to (SIN-LHR instead of HKG-LHR). He explained that the systems to pay and calculate were down but he could try to get the seats. We chatted for 5 minutes and then at 1.00am if he was successful and got both seats for me! All done by 1.15am.
I had to call today to make payment and for the extra avios to be taken. I am awaiting the back office to email my ticket details which they said could take a couple of days.
I am really pleased with the result and wasn’t even going to try to call anymore but maybe was lucky due to the system being down, less people booking online and getting a friendly agent. I hope this is helpful for those of you needing to call the US office.@kelliea1 fantastic result, enjoy Bali. Thanks for coming back and reporting your experience of the US line. Definitely sounds a little hit and miss depending on the agent you get through to. But great to have a positive success story
I successfully added my return flights to my Maldives booking last night. Called the US number via Skype at 12.45. I used the option 1 to change a booking, so it was press 1, 1, 1, and then option 2 if I recall correctly.
Got through to a lovely, friendly agent based in the UK who knew exactly what I wanted to do and was happy to help. Passed data protection and chatted for a few minutes, then he went quiet and managed to grab the 2 BC seats. All done by 1.10.
He said it’s passed to the e-ticket team and it would be around 72 hours to be re ticketed. The flight appeared in my app immediately and the avios deducted, just got to wait for the ticket number. Really pleased
Hi everyone. Apologies if this is has been answered before.
I know the suggested time to call BA-US is at 12:45am. Is that time the same if you’re looking to book Iberia tickets? Or are Iberia tickets released at a different time?
And agents on the US line able to help with Iberia seats too?Iberia releases reward seats at T-360 but it isn’t quite so precise in terms of either time or date (it can be at -361 or -359 or greater variance). BA agents should be able to see these seats which you can’t see on BA.com until T-355 but while BA agents around the world can see them, they are likely to be a whole lot less familiar with handling Iberia bookings, particularly with a voucher and/or open jaw ones starting in Madrid but returning to the UK.
Thanks @JDB!
What would you suggest as the best course of action then? I can already see that there’s just 1 seat remaining for 22 Aug 2025 and it opened just today. So, very keen to not wait until the morning to call them up.
Is booking it online and then getting the 2-4-1 applied on it retrospectively an option? I know they’ll then remain two one-way bookings but that should be fine.. taxes on Iberia are also exactly half each way.Booking online and getting the 50% back is only something you can do booking on BA.com so if you can see the seats there, that seems like the easiest option but those early release seats may be available on Iberia a few days before BA and those seats can only be accessed by calling BA if you are using a voucher.
Got it. Thanks JDB! I will try my luck tomorrow night then! Hopefully I can get through an agent who can help.
On a related note – I spoke to a BA agent today who confirmed that if you book the return online and then get the 50% off by calling them, that booking is treated as a round-trip for the purpose of cancellation and changes even though you have two separate reference numbers.
I think it was mentioned elsewhere on HfP that the cancellation charges will need to be paid twice, so just thought I’d share this view.@as02 suggest you ask for that in writing before relying upon it. Ba agents say a lot of things, which are not always honoured down the track.
+1, If you have 2 PNRs, they are very likely to be treated as 2 PNRs! But the flexibility often outweighs this drawback, IMO.
Well, the agent mentioned that since they’ll be on the same 2-4-1 voucher, they’ll be treated as a single booking.
So I guess maybe that’s the distinction? 2-4-1 vs. normal Avios booking?In any case, I’m not looking to do it anyway so I didn’t prober her too much. I won’t be able to do this on Iberia.
Like Iberia it seems Finnair flights are available at T-360. Can BA phone agents book these? I tried once and was told it’s T-355 but maybe it was a case of HUACA and I got a grumpy one?
Hi all
I do not mean to hijack the thread, but I thought I would post my query here to avoid starting a completely new thread and upsetting many more people. I have looked for the answer and have not found it, but it is possible I have missed it.
We are a family of 4. I have access to two 2-4-1 vouchers. One voucher is on my Executive Club account. The other is on my wife’s account. This is because we each have a BA Amex Premium card. We are in the same ‘Household’ on the Executive Club scheme, but our respective vouchers only show on our separate Executive Club accounts.
I typically sort out all the holiday arrangements for our family, so it falls to me to get tickets for a long-haul destination we have in mind for August 2025. I have access to both accounts, given that my wife leaves all bookings to me!
Is it possible to use these vouchers in one booking (for a total of 4 passengers) or do I need to make two separate bookings? I cannot see that vouchers can be ‘shared’ within a Household.
If I must make two separate bookings, I know I can do this online using two browsers/devices. However, is it possible to use both vouchers in a single telephone call to the BA-US line when the clock strikes 1am here, or do I need to make two (possibly simultaneous) calls, providing the relevant account details/security information each time?
I am a bit concerned to know how to play this, because I need specific dates (give or take a day perhaps) since I have pre-booked onward travel at the particular location. I think I will need to call rather than wait online.
I guess I could plump for tickets in WT if I am too slow to snaffle WTP/BC tickets, and there is usually more availability in WT, but that would not maximise the value of the vouchers obviously.
If all else fails, I know I can book with cash. But that means the vouchers will probably be wasted, or need to be used on a different short haul hop which would be difficult to accommodate, since the vouchers expire at the end of 2025/beginning of 2026.
Thanks for any comments and help! If this query has been answered elsewhere then I apologise but would be grateful for a link to that thread.
Definitely not an expert but in the same situation, 2×241 and need to book for four people, household account. I just booked our outbound flights on two separate bookings using our two accounts online. I will then ring up to book the return and I believe at this point the bookings can be combined.
Hopefully somebody with more experience can advise/confirm.If the 241s belong to different people you’ll have to make 2 separate bookings, although BA can do this in one phone call as long as the person making the booking is named as an authorised person on the other one’s account.
Remember as well that BA only guarantees to release 2 WTP/PE seats on each flight for avios bookings.
The bookings will remain separate however you book the returns (unless, IIRC, one of you have gold status). BA may put a note on their system to say you’re travelling together but this doesn’t mean very much in practice.
Many thanks to both linzl and NorthernLass for the helpful replies.
I am Silver and my wife is Blue, so I think we will just have to keep two separate bookings. This is fine.
I did not know that BA only guarantees 2 WTP/PE seats on each flight for Avios bookings. I am happy using the 2-4-1 vouchers in Economy if there is no availability in WTP and I cannot stretch my Avios to BC. It still works out OK, even though I understand that it is not the most effective use of the vouchers.
You will sometimes see more than 2 seats in WTP, however these tend to be on routes with multiple services daily, like NYC, or outside peak periods, which isn’t helpful if you need to travel in the school holidays. As with all things avios-related, the more flexibility you have the more you’ll get out of the system.
I have searched but can’t find the answer, so any help greatly appreciated.
Next Aug we are doing man-lhr-Mia. I’ve booked the outbound with 2×241 vouchers and need to book the return in a week or so.As the return from lhr-man is the day after the mia-lhr section I can’t book the day the flights are released. On checking over the last couple of weeks these flight don’t seem to go that quickly, but it is school holidays.
If I ring up and get them to book mia-lhr, can I ring again the next day and get the lhr-man added on? Currently it’s all the same amount of avoid if you go from lhr or man, so don’t want to pay any extra.
We are fairly flexible on dates so might just wait until the next day when all the flights are available if it loads of hassle.
Thank You
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
Popular articles this week:
