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

[NorthernLass]

Keep an eye on AA – Americans tend to book lots of award flights then cancel them. You won’t be able to use the 241 but I’m not sure how you’re going to get home otherwise (and you have 12 months to fly the inbound)!

[bgs]

NorthernLass wrote:

You could have have had all 3 people on the booking unless you were accessing the “extra availability” in CW, which is unlikely at T-355. I’ve made an open jaw 241 booking in the past with 2 of us on the outbound and 3 on the inbound, however if the agent isn’t aware this is possible it may slow them down and risk you losing the seats!

They should be able to reserve all the seats but it might be quicker for them to book 2 and you to book the 3rd online. Your 3rd person will be left with 2 PNRs.

You could also make all the bookings online if you have enough avios and request 50% back for the 241 afterwards.

Thank you. Unfortunately I don’t have enough avios to book it online so will have to call.

[bgs]

bgs wrote:

NorthernLass wrote:

You could have have had all 3 people on the booking unless you were accessing the “extra availability” in CW, which is unlikely at T-355. I’ve made an open jaw 241 booking in the past with 2 of us on the outbound and 3 on the inbound, however if the agent isn’t aware this is possible it may slow them down and risk you losing the seats!

They should be able to reserve all the seats but it might be quicker for them to book 2 and you to book the 3rd online. Your 3rd person will be left with 2 PNRs.

You could also make all the bookings online if you have enough avios and request 50% back for the 241 afterwards.

Thank you. Unfortunately I don’t have enough avios to book it online so will have to call.

In the end I called at 11:45, got through at 11:50 and was told I was too early… dialled in again straight away but only got through after 12:05, which was too late. I only managed to book the single ticket via the website…

[NorthernLass]

@bgs, what’s your Plan B? Try again tonight and fly home a day later than person 3?

You can cancel the single ticket for a full refund within 24 hours of booking if you want to try again for 3 seats tonight.

What destination is it? Sometimes people can suggest viable alternatives if you’re struggling to get your 1st choice.

[bgs]

NorthernLass wrote:

@bgs, what’s your Plan B? Try again tonight and fly home a day later than person 3?

You can cancel the single ticket for a full refund within 24 hours of booking if you want to try again for 3 seats tonight.

What destination is it? Sometimes people can suggest viable alternatives if you’re struggling to get your 1st choice.

The destination is MRU. I don’t think I can change the date especially as there are not daily flights.

Plan B is to wait and see if availability opens up at least for the extra companion voucher inventory. I did see dates where this has happened. Not sure how to monitor given I already used a voucher though.

Plan C is just to fly economy or premium economy back to the U.K., possibly on a daytime flight with another airline (Emirates and Air France seem to be available).

[NorthernLass]

You’ll either have to keep calling and ask BA to check, or intermittently post requests on the daily chat asking someone with a voucher to check for you. I’ll have a look as and when I can.

There’s a way of searching for I-class fares which seem to correspond to extra CW availability, but I’m not sure how that works as I’ve never had to do it.

You should also consider whether you would be happy to travel back to a regional airport as this can sometimes open up more seats. I saw SYD-LHR-MAN a few weeks ago where there were no standard seats showing. With MRU being an LGW departure though this could cause you a fair few complications!

What is your return date? SeatSpy is currently showing 2 x PE seats on Nov 5th.

[NorthernLass]

I just had a look with a 241 for Nov 9th (the latest bookable date), no CW or PE but there are *8* economy seats available, so I’m not sure why you didn’t book 2 of those? You could then cancel and rebook if better seats appear, and you know at least you’re getting home!

[bgs]

NorthernLass wrote:

I just had a look with a 241 for Nov 9th (the latest bookable date), no CW or PE but there are *8* economy seats available, so I’m not sure why you didn’t book 2 of those? You could then cancel and rebook if better seats appear, and you know at least you’re getting home!

I actually did book the two PE seats for now on 9th November.

[NorthernLass]

Why would you need Plan C then 🤷‍♀️

PE really isn’t that bad overnight. I usually actively choose it over CW these days as I don’t feel the extra cost proportionally improves my quality of sleep.

[vetjames]

I have scrolled a few pages of this thread but cannot find an answer.

If I book the outbound by telephone—with the intent of booking the inbound when it becomes available—do I need to have the total avois available for both legs in my account when booking the outbound? I ask because I am waiting for the avois to be delivered from my Finnair purchase today. When I receive them, I will have enough Avios for both legs.

[bgs]

NorthernLass wrote:

Why would you need Plan C then 🤷‍♀️

PE really isn’t that bad overnight. I usually actively choose it over CW these days as I don’t feel the extra cost proportionally improves my quality of sleep.

I would be OK with PE if that is what I end up with -I said that PE is my plan C, plan B is to get CW seats.

One issue is that I only have two seats in PE, and I don’t really want to have us sitting away from each other. BA don’t sell a cash ticket in PE one way at a reasonable price on this route, they are quoting about 1.7k GBP!

[Oviplokos1]

NorthernLass wrote:

There’s a way of searching for I-class fares which seem to correspond to extra CW availability, but I’m not sure how that works as I’ve never had to do it .

On ba website, when you click on the selected class of ticket (eg Business), before buying it, on the very first page it will show all the flight details (times, aircraft…) including fare type -I, J, R etc

[NorthernLass]

@vetjames – you only need enough avios for the transaction you’re making.

@bgs – BA one-way fares on long-haul routes are usually disproportionately expensive.

@Oviplokos1 – that’s much more simple than I thought!

[Oviplokos1]

Can I please check with the experts here, as I don’t trust BA CS much:
I booked a 2-4-1 voucher flight LHR-AUS for the mid december online a week ago.
Now I am trying to book ATL-LHR flight for the end of december, 2024.
I obviously need to book it via phone since it is an open jaw, and CS is trying to charge me 35 gbp change fee + 15 gbp service fee.
Are they correct to charge me both of those? I could not book this flight online and I had to book LHR-AUS first to make sure it doesn’t disappear while I am trying to call BA CS.
TIA!

[NorthernLass]

I think what happens is that they normally waive the fees as a goodwill gesture (in the same way that they agree to add the inbound), but technically they might be justified in charging the change fee.

Try HUACA, but the issue here is that you’re not booking at T-355 so BA don’t usually extend the same generosity. You could have called them to book the whole thing, so phone fee not really justified, but change fee might be.

[Oviplokos1]

NorthernLass wrote:

I think what happens is that they normally waive the fees as a goodwill gesture (in the same way that they agree to add the inbound), but technically they might be justified in charging the change fee.

Try HUACA, but the issue here is that you’re not booking at T-355 so BA don’t usually extend the same generosity. You could have called them to book the whole thing, so phone fee not really justified, but change fee might be.

Thank you!
I will try huaca.
On a separate note, when calling, the agent told me there was some availability, albeit in economy, that i couldn’t see online. I double checked with her that she was not mistaken and she confirmed it.

[zapato1060]

@NorthernLass I thank you for all the help you provide here. That’s all.

[NorthernLass]

You are more than welcome, zapatillo. I also learn a lot, especially from this thread!

[strickers]

Data pont.

Booked Heathrow to Sydney in Premium Economy 4 weeks ago using a BA Amex Companion voucher. Booked Singapore to Heathrow today in Club World online using full Avios for 2 people. Messaged BA on Twitter with both reference numbers and my personal details, 50% of the Avios were refunded two and a half hours later.

[sm]

strickers wrote:

Data pont.

Booked Heathrow to Sydney in Premium Economy 4 weeks ago using a BA Amex Companion voucher. Booked Singapore to Heathrow today in Club World online using full Avios for 2 people. Messaged BA on Twitter with both reference numbers and my personal details, 50% of the Avios were refunded two and a half hours later.

That’s very fast for twitter! This is probably a silly question but I have future hopes of booking 2-4-1 avios LHR-SYDNEY with a stopover in Singapore on both legs. How would you go about booking this T-355 since you could only possibly book LHR-SIN initially and then need the SIN-SYDNEY leg a couple days later….thanks in advance

[loqoroco]

Just wondering, are there any advantages/disadvantages having the outbound and inbound flights on two separate PNRs vs having them both on one booking?

[NorthernLass]

Advantages –

Easier to change/cancel if your plans change and you want to fly either leg on a different date. I’ve taken advantage of this a few times, including while I have been on the holiday.

Can save you some cash on the surcharges on certain routes.

Disadvantages –

If you cancel the whole trip you pay 2 x fee.

Your return isn’t protected if the airline cancels your outbound.

[slonik]

Just wanted to update with my recent experience. I booked outbound flight with Avios and reward voucher online; inbound was not available. At T-355, I booked inbound flight also online, with just Avios. I then messaged BA on Twitter, asking them to add refund the extra Avios for the inbound leg. They said they would, but it may take some time. A week later, I chased up on Twitter. A week later, still no Avios so I called up. Was on the phone for 50 mins all in – including waiting for them to answer, and then waiting for the agent to sort out my problem. Turned out the Twitter people had put down something incorrectly and that had complicated matters, but Avios have now been credited back so all is well.
So, reading feedback above, Twitter can be great if it works, but it doesn’t always.

[bennymoon]

Tried to call up via the US number tonight to add a return flight of my booking, got through to someone at 23:58 and they told me I was too early! I said by the time they got my booking reference and searched for the flights it would probably have ticked past midnight. I even said this wasn’t a problem when I called to book the outbound where there was a good 4/5 mins of waiting on the line and the agent said the policy had changed. Hung up and called again as I couldn’t be bothered to argue any more and then couldn’t get through. Pretty annoyed tbh.

[NorthernLass]

Did you try booking online or do you not have enough avios to do that?