Forums › Frequent flyer programs › British Airways Executive Club › The ‘How to book the return leg with 2-4-1 companion voucher’ thread
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It’s been posted previously about HKG (and GIG); the only way to get around the higher surcharges is to book the return separately at full avios then request 50% back.
If you can add someone to your HHA who has the required number of avios, this would get round having to pay to get them transferred (although I thought the fees came down quite a bit recently).
@magicmat If it helps transferring via Finnair is 10euro only.
@magicmat If it helps transferring via Finnair is 10euro only.
Oh, now that DOES help!!!! Thank you. This is the best path then!
Im guessing not, but my first outbound flight was booked on the 2nd pricing tier. Is it possible to change that so i pay the “1st tier”, use more avios and get a refund for the taxes difference? Or would it be a case of cancelling the flights (with associated cost) and then (hoping!) to rebook those same seats at the first tier? Has anyone done similar, and do the seats get released immediatly for rebooking?
Thank you!!
@magicmat If it helps transferring via Finnair is 10euro only.
This was a brilliant idea, got my brother all signed up, points switched from BA and ready to go….and then saw this: “Avios can be transferred only after the sender has had a Finnair Plus account for more than 90 days.”
DAMMIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@magicmat, you can certainly cancel for £35 pp. If you only booked this a couple of weeks ago, there’s a strong chance of the seats going back, but I think I posted earlier that availability is looking quite good for September regardless. Are you stuck with specific dates?
Also, can you not add your brother to your HHA, or is he already in one which he can’t leave?
@magicmat, you can certainly cancel for £35 pp. If you only booked this a couple of weeks ago, there’s a strong chance of the seats going back, but I think I posted earlier that availability is looking quite good for September regardless. Are you stuck with specific dates?
Also, can you not add your brother to your HHA, or is he already in one which he can’t leave?
Once the cancellation fees were taken into account, it wasnt really that financially beneficial to cancel and rebook, since we get many of our points by boosting each month, they have a definite “per point cost”. I didnt want to risk the seats being “lost” either. My brother is already in a family account too, but its fine, we just swallowed the £50 fee to have them gifted. And once refunded I will transfer back to him from my finnair account (which is over 90 days old!). But WHAT A FAFF!! Urgh. Thanks for all the help on here!
I’ve just had a customer experience of two halves when trying to get 50% of our Avios refunded after making the return booking online! First agent: “No, that’s impossible. You should have called us to make the return booking” (When I told him that I’ve successfully done exactly this process before, he told me again that no, this was impossible.)
Hung up and called again. Second agent: “Yes, no problem, I’ll do that for you now.” Which he did. The Avios were back in our account within a couple of minutes.
Data point. On the phone, got through to UK call handler. Was happy to do the 50% avios refund, no problems at all. 12.55am same morning couldnt call the US team. Then called australian number and got straight through. Was happy to put through the 2nd leg of voucher flight. (but I didnt proceed – was better off booking as one way flight myself, and then requesting 50% points back!)
Does anyone know the BA exec club phone number for Japan?
Does anyone know the BA exec club phone number for Japan?
login into your exec club account, and locate the contact us section, you can select the relevant country to find the relevant contact details.
Called up yesterday to add on the return leg to my existing booking. Avios have been debited, and the flight shows in my itinerary. However, manage my booking does not let me perform seat selection on this flight? It states that I need to do this with the airline directly… It’s BA operated?
I also notice that my card has not been charged the taxes yet, even though I confirmed my security code to the agent on the phone. Is this normal?
Called up yesterday to add on the return leg to my existing booking. Avios have been debited, and the flight shows in my itinerary. However, manage my booking does not let me perform seat selection on this flight? It states that I need to do this with the airline directly… It’s BA operated?
I also notice that my card has not been charged the taxes yet, even though I confirmed my security code to the agent on the phone. Is this normal?
This is normal. Takes a few days for the re-ticketing to be done after adding the return leg. Once this is done, seating options will appear in MMB again.
I expect seeing the card charge on your statement would be a good prompt that ticket numbers are available and you can choose seats.Called up yesterday to add on the return leg to my existing booking. Avios have been debited, and the flight shows in my itinerary. However, manage my booking does not let me perform seat selection on this flight? It states that I need to do this with the airline directly… It’s BA operated?
I also notice that my card has not been charged the taxes yet, even though I confirmed my security code to the agent on the phone. Is this normal?
Given all the cancellations at the moment, your tickets may take a while to get re-issued. Keep a close eye out as the CVV you have given will expire in BA’s systems after 14 days so they will need to contact you to take it again.
Thank you for the reassurance!
I was planning to call up again today to add on the final domestic leg back to GLA. I assume this will be fine even though the return long haul leg hasn’t officially been ticketed yet? Or should I hold off?
I’m not AS certain of the answer to this one. I am guessing adding the extra leg might push you back to the bottom of the ticket queue, which may or may not cause further issues with the 14day CVV retention period that @JDB refers to. If you are already at 14 days or close, might be best to get it added now and ask the agent to reinput / revalidate your card details to avoid further calls.
Apologise if this is the wrong thread, first timer with the BA 241.
I’ve been reading now that for reward seats best time to get is 355 days in advance, and that used to be calling an exec club based in USA or Japan, but now this door has seemingly closed? Is there any recent experience here, or is it simply a case of logging on at 1200GMT and being quick!? Thanks!
People are still calling these numbers, but having difference experiences depending on the agent who answers. If you go back through this thread a few pages there are some recent experiences.
Hi all, new to the forum, been saving up points, have 400k and also have an American Express Premium Plus Companion Voucher. Plan is to go to Tokyo next October and return from Hong Kong few weeks later. Went on last night as planning to travel 1st October and even by 1:01hrs all business class were gone, I know they can become available later in the year so will keep a watch, question is, can I book the return leg Hong Kong to London if available using the voucher, then if outbound seats become available can the bookings still be linked and the 50% Avios be refunded?
Went on last night as planning to travel 1st October and even by 1:01hrs all business class were gone.
For TYO, you might consider phoning rather than booking online. Although seats aren’t held online until the booking is completed, phone agents can hold seats from the very start, so those booking by phone have advantage over those trying to book same seats online.
@MarkR – no. If you book HKG-LHR first, this will be considered the outbound leg and BA won’t allow you to add a flight which takes place at an earlier date. You could consider booking another cabin to TYO, if available, then changing this if CW becomes available.
Also, if you want to add the inbound (or claim 50% avios back, which would save you some surcharges, I think?), you can only do this if it had not been released at the time you booked the inbound.
**Have you looked for availability from the regions with the companion voucher as this can open up more CW seats? Or from MAD on IB?
Went on last night as planning to travel 1st October and even by 1:01hrs all business class were gone.
For TYO, you might consider phoning rather than booking online. Although seats aren’t held online until the booking is completed, phone agents can hold seats from the very start, so those booking by phone have advantage over those trying to book same seats online.
Thanks, certainly I will look to do that next time!
@MarkR – no. If you book HKG-LHR first, this will be considered the outbound leg and BA won’t allow you to add a flight which takes place at an earlier date. You could consider booking another cabin to TYO, if available, then changing this if CW becomes available.
Also, if you want to add the inbound (or claim 50% avios back, which would save you some surcharges, I think?), you can only do this if it had not been released at the time you booked the inbound.
**Have you looked for availability from the regions with the companion voucher as this can open up more CW seats? Or from MAD on IB?
Thank you, appreciate the clarity on the outbound leg booking. If I do manage to get return flights business class from Hong Kong just using Avios, and book outbound for now with available economy seats with my 241 and at a later date manage to upgrade to business class at that point can I reclaim any Avios?
Quick question..
I can see that UK lines are open until 23:59 according to BA.
IB releases seats at midnight UK time, so basically at the same time as it closes. Is it worth calling UK BA and hoping the agent stays on an extra 10 minutes to complete the booking, rather than go through the US hoops?
Or, will the line cut out at 23:59 regardless of what happens automatically? How should I expect this to go?
@MarkR, you need to do the following:
1. Book outbound leg WITH voucher, whichever cabin, doesn’t affect the return.
2. Book inbound when it is released, again, whichever cabin, doesn’t have to be same as outbound. If it was already available when you booked the outbound, BA won’t add it or refund you any avios. You are usually required to use the same cash/avios option as for the outbound. Someone on here has got away with not doing that, but I wouldn’t count on it.
3. If you’ve booked the inbound at full avios price, then request the 50% refund.
4. IF other cabin availability appears, call BA to upgrade. You will need to pay the difference in avios and surcharges, plus £35 pp change fee.This is the only order which will work using the 241.
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