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

[Mun33b]

@JDB

Thank you for the reply. I read HFP article which said the inbound cab be booked at any time but this sounded a little too good to be true. In theory could someone book a return journey into Heathrow in 2026 or 2027 on a voucher which is due to expire in Jan 2025?

[NorthernLass]

You do have to return within 12 months because of the ticketing rules @JDB mentioned, so if you flew the outbound in Jan 25, you’d need to take the inbound by Jan 26.

A couple of years ago I used an expiring (and extended) 241 from a Covid cancellation to fly MAN-LHR-GIB, then 10 months later used the return portion on another trip for AGP-LHR-MAN.

[Michael C]

NorthernLass wrote:

You do have to return within 12 months because of the ticketing rules @JDB mentioned, so if you flew the outbound in Jan 25, you’d need to take the inbound by Jan 26.

A couple of years ago I used an expiring (and extended) 241 from a Covid cancellation to fly MAN-LHR-GIB, then 10 months later used the return portion on another trip for AGP-LHR-MAN.

Anna (& co.!): following on from the 12-month hoo-haa…my husband and son are doing LHR-GRU on 11 April. As there is absolutely zero avios availability for the return, I was thinking of MIA-LHR (which I THINK just fits in with the open-jaw rules) on 10 April 26. However, those seats won’t be released until after they have flown the outbound: is it still possible to ring and add on the return at that stage?

[JDB]

@Michael C – you must have booked a return at least 24 hours before the outbound although you can subsequently change the date within the twelve month limitation. If you fly out without booking the return, your voucher is then fully used, even if only flown one way.

[NorthernLass]

@Michael, has anyone checked if there’s any regional availability at all on their return date this year? I know it’s Easter but there might be something they could connect to. What about Iberia as well?

[Michael C]

Thanks, @JDB – thought as much. So just suck up the change fee, right?!

@NorthernLass – every INV/JER/MAD combo you can imagine!!

[stevemack]

So I’ve managed to get my outbound flights to Rio sorted with a 241, just need to snag the inbound ones at some point on their own booking.

Once I get these, I need to add the Lhr-Man element the following day by calling up, so far so good..

Probably a silly question now but what’s the right wording of what I want them to do when I call up? Can you add a leg from Lhr-Man and then refund 50% of the avios for the 241 as the flights weren’t available to book when I did the outbound?

[robato]

In case anyone is still trying to book return trips for Jan 2026, I called +1800 452 1201 at 23:45 last night but never got through to anyone. Was on hold for over 30 minutes by which time I had already made my booking online, though I had to settle for economy as we’re not flexible on the return date. I expected T355 bookings would be competitive this week but didn’t anticipate how much earlier I should try to join the queue as I’ve never had to call for a 241 redemption before.

On the upside, I sent a message to BA on X at 12:30am and was impressed they had refunded half my Avios within a couple of hours.

[stevemack]

stevemack wrote:

So I’ve managed to get my outbound flights to Rio sorted with a 241, just need to snag the inbound ones at some point on their own booking.

Once I get these, I need to add the Lhr-Man element the following day by calling up, so far so good..

Probably a silly question now but what’s the right wording of what I want them to do when I call up? Can you add a leg from Lhr-Man and then refund 50% of the avios for the 241 as the flights weren’t available to book when I did the outbound?

Booking complete, managed to be connected to someone who lived 5 miles away from me, strange because that’s the second time it’s happened recently where they lived closed to me.

Either way, the guy was super helpful, added LHR-MAN, linked the bookings and refunded the 50% Avios within 20 minutes of calling the blue line.

[scotinsw15]

robato wrote:

In case anyone is still trying to book return trips for Jan 2026, I called<span style=”white-space: pre; pointer-events: none;”> </span><chrome_annotation role=”link” style=”border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; pointer-events: none; border-bottom-color: rgb(51, 51, 51);”>+1800 452 1201</chrome_annotation> at 23:45 last night but never got through to anyone. Was on hold for over 30 minutes by which time I had already made my booking online, though I had to settle for economy as we’re not flexible on the return date. I expected T355 bookings would be competitive this week but didn’t anticipate how much earlier I should try to join the queue as I’ve never had to call for a 241 redemption before.

On the upside, I sent a message to BA on X at 12:30am and was impressed they had refunded half my Avios within a couple of hours.

Same here last night – now have 3 eco seats (need 4!). Need to hope for something to come up as it’s really not ideal.

[alexandercusack]

Very nervous about being able to book SYD-LHR tonight. Will be calling though as well as trying online.

A question and apologies if already been asked, I’ve trawled through the 57 pages of this thread and couldn’t seem anything specific to this point.

I’ve successfully booked the outbound leg online and have made dummy booking attempts the last few nights for the return leg.

I’ve seen people mention about having the search information (locations, dates, class, number of passengers) already filled in before midnight and then hitting search as soon as the clock ticks over.

I’m finding that I’m losing crucial seconds having to refresh the page once the clock ticks over to 12.00am and then filling in all the info and clicking through each month of the calendar to get to the date. Reason being the T-355 date isn’t available until I refresh.

This is via the website both on a laptop and mobile.

Where am I going wrong? Any tips?

Thanks in advance.

[NorthernLass]

I think the info people pre-fill is the payment details – and of course have the other passenger in your HHA or travel companions/friends and family so you can just select them from the drop down box. I don’t think there’s anything to be done in respect of the date.

[alexandercusack]

NorthernLass wrote:

I think the info people pre-fill is the payment details – and of course have the other passenger in your HHA or travel companions/friends and family so you can just select them from the drop down box. I don’t think there’s anything to be done in respect of the date.

Ok yeah, it’s just me so no one else to add. Amex already saved to profile.

If anyone has any other tips to save time at midnight, seems like those extra 15-20 seconds after refreshing is where I’m losing out.

[Dukes]

Quick question on 241 redemption.. is it possible to book different travel classes within the same inbound or outbound part of the journey? e.g. Fly Economy to Madrid short-haul then Business for Long-haul on the same 241 booking? I know its possible to have different class inbound vs outbound but not sure about this scenario. Thanks in advance.

[Dukes]

Quick question on 241 redemption.. is it possible to book different travel classes within the same inbound or outbound part of the journey? e.g. Fly Economy to Madrid short-haul then Business for Long-haul on the same 241 booking? I know its possible to have different class inbound vs outbound but not sure about this scenario. Thanks in advance.

[NorthernLass]

Yes, although having your flight to MAD on the same booking will defeat the object of trying to pay lower surcharges, if that’s an issue.

[Dukes]

NorthernLass wrote:

Yes, although having your flight to MAD on the same booking will defeat the object of trying to pay lower surcharges, if that’s an issue.

Thanks for the quick reply!

[jeffbaillie2012]

Been reading through this thread to try and come up with the ‘best’ plan to secure CW for 2 of us to and from HND in April 2026, just after the Easter holidays end (20th) so can any of those with experience sense check my intented plan below?

I have a valid Companion Voucher and at the time of writing, a poxy 30,000 Avios (having niavely redeemed FAR too many against Club Europe to Italy this April), but have the Avios for those flights plus some general spending between now and when its time to book HND. Will potentially have circa 50,000 Avios by then.

1. Call the US or Japanese call centre at 01:00 T-355 out from outbound date and book using Companion Voucher and Avios+Cash
2. Do the same T-355 out from return date using Avios+Cash on the same pricing tier as the outbound
3. Call BA on UK lines to combine the tickets and redeem 50% of Avios used against the return leg

So firstly, is that a reasonable plan? I will have to buy more Avios I’m sure to even be able to qualify for Reward seats so is a simple outright purchase directly from Avois the most cost effective way? I suspect I will need to buy around 150,00 points to fulfil the maximum Avios minimal cash purchase options.

First Rodeo using the Companion Voucher and what is cleary a VERY popular route so any pointers would be greatly appreciated. TIA

[NorthernLass]

Honestly, my main pointer would be not to have HND as your only option. If you definitely want to be in that region, consider HKG, SIN, KUL (if still operating).

Also IB fly MAD-NRT, so get yourself clued up on how the redemptions and 241 work with IB.

It’s going to cost quite a lot of money to buy 150k avios, is this the best option?

If you call to book the inbound, you can just ask the agent to add it to your outbound booking. If you’re looking to save on the surcharges, a phone agent may quote you the full BA pricing, so this might be best done online. The two sectors aren’t “combined” if booked separately, you retain 2 PNRs but get 50% of the avios back.

[Crnyy]

First post on this thread as I can’t get my head around getting a business class outbound PE inbound flight.

In Nov I will do a t-355 booking for LHR-HND Business class flight for what should be off-peak Nov 2026. We don’t have set dates so we have flexibility anytime nov. I’m having alot of anxiety, however, at the prospect of not getting a return on PE.

My plan was, if we really can’t find a return PE back 14-18 days after the outbound, I would simply book JAL economy inbound through ringing up and amending the booking.

Therefore I have 3 questions:
1 – Just how likely is it that I wouldn’t be able to get a return PE 14-18 days after my outbound?
2 – JAL prices are only reasonable for one leg when booked up front on a codeshare (approx £600-700 each). But if I book direct it is basically a return fee for a one-way HND-LHR. If I ring up and amend my booking will I get this initial lower rate?
3 – if I do add on the JAL return, will that be subject to a change fee?

[NorthernLass]

You can’t add a cash booking to an award booking, and if you’re using a 241 (you don’t say) you wouldn’t be able to combine BA and JAL anyway.

PE can be more difficult to get than CW as BA only release 2 seats on popular routes. If demand is lower on your travel dates, however, you’ll probably be fine if you have some flexibility with return dates. BUT – you might want to research whether anything else is going on which would make people want these seats (e.g. events in Japan, probably @meta would be your friend here).

Look at open jaw bookings – as I posted above, you might be able to return from HKG/SIN/KUL with a connecting flight. Also look at Iberia, who fly to NRT.

It sounds like you need to do some more reading on here but you have the luxury of time on your side!

[jeffbaillie2012]

NorthernLass wrote:

Honestly, my main pointer would be not to have HND as your only option. If you definitely want to be in that region, consider HKG, SIN, KUL (if still operating).

Also IB fly MAD-NRT, so get yourself clued up on how the redemptions and 241 work with IB.

It’s going to cost quite a lot of money to buy 150k avios, is this the best option?

If you call to book the inbound, you can just ask the agent to add it to your outbound booking. If you’re looking to save on the surcharges, a phone agent may quote you the full BA pricing, so this might be best done online. The two sectors aren’t “combined” if booked separately, you retain 2 PNRs but get 50% of the avios back.

Thanks for the tips @NorthernLass . I’ll take a look at those potential options you’ve suggested and noted ref the booking of the Inbound online.

This is a leisure trip and we have zero flexibility around annual leave allocation due to working in operational environments which is why I’m looking for a mix of best and safe.

Just had a look at buying 150k Avios and it’s £2.7k, which looking at the pricing scales for a dummy outbound 355 days from today, is near as makes no difference against the cash cost. Would you say its better to maximise the Avios rather than use a lower pricing scale option? This is where I become unstuck trying to figure out best bang for buck.

[NorthernLass]

A one-way flight will generally be more expensive than a return on BA long-haul routes, so don’t go off that, especially that far out.

If you can boost avios (or buy when there’s a bonus offer on) it should cost less than that, though still a significant cash outlay.

My rule of thumb is that the less flexibility you have with dates (I sympathise as a parent and former public sector worker), the more you need to have with destination. We had some amazing trips when my son was school-age, by booking what was available (and often getting connecting flights to our ultimate destinations after a few days exploring where we landed first!)

[NorthernLass]

On a side note, this thread seems to be turning into a general one on booking award seats, avios, 241s, destinations, etc. Is there any chance it could be turned into an FAQs-type article to save people wading through 60 pages of posts?!

[jeffbaillie2012]

NorthernLass wrote:

A one-way flight will generally be much more expensive than a return on BA long-haul routes, so don’t go off that, especially that far out.

If you can boost avios (or buy when there’s a bonus offer on) it should cost less than that, though still a significant cash outlay.

My rule of thumb is that the less flexibility you have with dates (I sympathise as a parent and former public sector worker), the more you need to have with destination. We had some amazing trips when my son was school-age, by booking what was available (and often getting connecting flights to our ultimate destinations after a few days exploring where we landed first!)

Glad you said that actually as my wife and I were having that exact conversation just now 😀

Good to know ref the dummy runs. I was trying to look at returns as well but absolutely nothing was coming up even when looking this morning at around 0430 for the date 355 out. Don’t know if that’s normal but it put the wind up me further about even being able to get a reward inbound!

I have an option atm to boost Avios by x3 on a recent hop to Cork on Aer Lingus. It’s about 24,000 for £250. So I’ll likely pull that lever over the next few weeks anyway ahead of booking date.