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I booked my 241 outbound leg for London to Sydney but could not get availability for the return leg on the day I wanted. I ended up booking the return leg with Qatar flying Melbourne to London (sadly no caviar)
So in theory I could use the remaining bit of voucher for an open jaws return flight from Kuala Lumpur (KUL) as part of a separate holiday.
The trouble is, I want to visit Malaysia in March 2026. The flight I want is just inside the 2 year deadline for the 241, but I now have already flown the outbound leg to Sydney.
The BA call centre are telling me my voucher is now closed because the outbound leg has been flown, however I cannot find anything in the terms and conditions that states this restriction. I can understand that BA’s system cannot easily process my request, but are they right to say my voucher is now dead and buried??
@Aliks it’s been my understanding (probably read it on here) that inbound must be booked before flying outbound. However, like you, I can’t find any reference to this in the T&C’s.
The closest I could find relates to flying the inbound after the expiry date, which is permitted “provided it is booked at the same time as the outbound travel.”
Scott.
25. Outbound travel must take place before the expiry date of the Companion Voucher however inbound travel can take place after the expiry date of the Companion Voucher, provided it is booked at the same time as the outbound travel.
I think this is the relevant clause. Technically you’re supposed to book the whole trip in one go, but BA has historically some leeway with this as a goodwill gesture. However, it’s always been the case that you can’t book the inbound after flying the outbound (or cancel it, if it’s on one booking, though you can change it in some circumstances).
As we have seen recently, such goodwill gestures are not guaranteed and can be withdrawn at any time!
@NL re “Technically you’re supposed to book the whole trip in one go”,
This is something else that I’ve seen mention on here, but now I look, I can’t see anything in the T&Cs saying this, other than the scenario above about wishing to fly inbound after expiry.
If anyone can find the specific term, I’d be keen to read it.
Maybe I should write to BA for clarification??
@Aliks it’s been my understanding (probably read it on here) that inbound must be booked before flying outbound. However, like you, I can’t find any reference to this in the T&C’s.
The closest I could find relates to flying the inbound after the expiry date, which is permitted “provided it is booked at the same time as the outbound travel.”
@scott it’s a term (15.10) of the BAC T&Cs for redemptions and CV redemptions are subject to the voucher terms, these BAC terms, IATA fare/ticketing rules as well as the Conditions of Carriage.15.10. For return journeys, outbound and return flights must be booked at the same time.
Obviously, this only really affects voucher bookings as for an ordinary redemption one can usually book two one ways.
@Aliks – I’m afraid BA is correct – once the voucher has been used one way, it’s then fully used unless there was a return booking attached to it at least 24 hours before the outbound. The voucher is either for a one way or a return but not two one ways.It’s how BA sees it which counts to all intents and purposes, and that’s what all the evidence amassed here over the years points to.
The voucher is clearly intended to be used for a return journey (or just one way) where both legs are booked at the same time, otherwise it would arrive in 2 parts.
I do think as well that BA is becoming swamped with people calling to apply the vouchers to elements of bookings which can’t be completed online, and their MO will be to become less and less accommodating rather than looking for IT fixes!
Hello, does anyone have a good number to call for BA customer services that is open over the weekend? We went to call the Australian and USA numbers last night to book our return on a companion voucher booking we already have the outbound booked for only to find both were closed at the weekend. However I saw the flights had already gone online, so assume someone has managed to get through to a call centre that is open somewhere over the weekend? Thanks in advance!
Hello, does anyone have a good number to call for BA customer services that is open over the weekend? We went to call the Australian and USA numbers last night to book our return on a companion voucher booking we already have the outbound booked for only to find both were closed at the weekend. However I saw the flights had already gone online, so assume someone has managed to get through to a call centre that is open somewhere over the weekend? Thanks in advance!
The US number should be open at the weekend (https://www.britishairways.com/travel/contact-executive-club/public/en_us – yesterday when you called would have still been Friday in the US btw). The Aus number is only open Mon – Fri. I think the issue with the US number is that the line closes at 8pm EST which is 1am UK time (i.e. when the flights are released). From my experience and some other comments I’ve seen on here, it appears that if you aren’t connected to an agent on the US number by 0050am UK time then you will get cut off with a message saying office is closed. Equally my experience was that agents weren’t willing to hand around for more than a few minutes waiting for 1am to tick over (albeit that was Indian call centre phoning on the Aus number in the week). So I think that means trying the US number before 0050am in time to get connected (a few weeks ago I tried at 0045am and didn’t get through in time) and hoping to have an agent who will wait or finding something to discuss to kill the time (someone else mentioned talking about possible hotel bookings).
The other option BTW if you have enough Avios is to book the return online and then call BA later to apply the 2for1 voucher as covered here – https://www.headforpoints.com/2025/01/03/how-do-british-airways-american-express-2-4-1-vouchers-work-3/
“There is a ‘Plan B’ for booking your return flights …..
There is an alternative way of securing your return flights, assuming you booked the outbound at 355 prior to departure to guarantee you got what you wanted.If you don’t want to ring the call centre at midnight to book the return you can, if you have enough Avios, book your return seats online using 100% Avios (ie paying for both tickets in full) and then call BA at your convenience to get half of the Avios for the return leg refunded.
There are three problems with this approach.
Firstly, you obviously need to have enough additional Avios to pay for the return flights at full points cost.
Secondly, on high demand routes, you still need to call because the call centre gets priority over website users.
Thirdly, if you end up cancelling, you will pay two lots of cancellation fees because you have two separate bookings.”
I’m a bit worried now about our plan because of the clause mentioned above – For return journeys, outbound and return flights must be booked at the same time.
Our voucher runs out before the return journey. I thought this would be okay because our outbound is before the expiry date. However, the return flights won’t be available to book when we book our outbound. So we will have to phone at a later date to add the return flight. Does anyone know if this is going to scupper our plans?
Hi, no it was Saturday when we rang, as it was 1am BST which is Saturday in both Australia and UK. The recorded message was quite clear on both the AUS and USA lines in that they both state the lines are only open mon-fri and not on BH. The numbers we rang were Australian number (+61 1300 767 177) & USA number (+1-800-247-9297). The USA number was closed due to the time, which was after 6pm Friday, but it also had the same message stating only open mon-fri.
Could anyone advise on any other numbers to try outside of those two above that might be open at the weekend?
It does look like you might fall foul of clause 25, however you may get an agent who doesn’t notice the expiry date, isn’t fully aware of the terms, or is just very amenable. Or you could just go somewhere where you can book both legs at the same time online!
To use the Barclays voucher for CW, yes you need to call to add the domestic leg.
Report back!
Just managed to book LHR-HND on the morning A350 flight. Heart pounding!
Will ring up tomorrow to add the MAN leg and see how it goes.
Companion voucher booking – via USA phone line
I just tried to book a companion voucher via the USA phone line and was told by a British agent that they are not “supposed to do this anymore.” it was 00.58 so I really thought she would be able to help me as it was part of the 40th birthday present to my wife. However she refused. Luckily I already had the website open and was able to book the ticket. I needed quickly despite my computer losing all my information.
Hopefully this helps people plan if they need to do the same thing .
The same experience has been reported a few times recently. It seems very hit and miss at the moment and you need to be prepared to try & book online simultaneously or HUACA the next night.
The more widely known this change of policy becomes, the less success people are going to have using this method.
They’re not going to make an exception for a special occasion or everyone would be doing it!
Hi all,
I managed to bag 2 x CW to HND the other day (a heart pounding experience to say the least. Felt like I’d won the lottery when the payment went through!), and the last few days have been trying to scope out the inbound situation.
My day starts at 03:00 regardless and the last few mornings I have logged on at that time, gone through the ‘Book Tickets with Avios’ portal, searched the corresponding T-355 date just as I did with the outbound, only find the message ‘Sorry, there are no direct flights available. Flights with connections are shown below’ followed by a bunch of JAL connection options but even those are only showing a handful of Economy seats available.
The most recent date showing any BA reward seat flights is the 4th April 2026 with a few Economy available on both the daily flights.
Am I being thick and missing something here, or are the inbound from HND such gold dust that every single Economy, PE and CW seat on both flights are gone within 2hrs of the purchase window opening?
If you go to book ticket with avois put in details then use that calendar scroll right through the months and it will arrive at the latest date you can book, it’s yet another quirk of BA systems.
If you go to book ticket with avois put in details then use that calendar scroll right through the months and it will arrive at the latest date you can book, it’s yet another quirk of BA systems.
Yeah this is exactly how I do it. What I mean is there are simply neither of the 2 daily BA services showing at T-355 and only a handful of JAL connections a mere 2hrs after the 01:00 tickets refresh, so I dont know if I’m being an idiot and missing something, or the inbound Rewards seats really are completly gone on both BA flights and the bulk of the JAL connections that soon after 01:00
Are you putting in Tokyo to London ? Because I can see loads of availability up to 19/4/2026. Don’t put airport codes try it my way. And put in year search not month or date.
Award seats are currently released on ba.com up to 19/4/26.
I’ve just had a right faff using the Barclays voucher for NAS next year (though technically not in remit of this thread!). Eventually got there by switching to Chrome, then having to log in and out of the wrong account a couple of times, then ignore the messages to check whether 2nd pax’s details are correct!
I’m guessing HND might still be in very high demand, however, with people return from Easter/cherry blossom trips.
FWIW – SeatSpy is showing outbound in April 26, but seems to have lost its inbound calendar!
There’s no PE or business seats left but quite a few in economy from 2/4 up to 9/4 showing. BA website is so crap I’d just phone them up and ask them to look for you.
Are you putting in Tokyo to London ? Because I can see loads of availability up to 19/4/2026. Don’t put airport codes try it my way. And put in year search not month or date.
WHAT THE ACTUAL F&*^???? Just did this, and boom, all the PE and E rewards seats on both flight services are showing!?
Youre not kidding when you say the website is cack!
Thank you! I’ll let myself get a few more normal nights sleep then try the dry run experiements at 01:00 over the weekend doing it this way.
Award seats are currently released on ba.com up to 19/4/26.
I’ve just had a right faff using the Barclays voucher for NAS next year (though technically not in remit of this thread!). Eventually got there by switching to Chrome, then having to log in and out of the wrong account a couple of times, then ignore the messages to check whether 2nd pax’s details are correct!
I’m guessing HND might still be in very high demand, however, with people return from Easter/cherry blossom trips.
FWIW – SeatSpy is showing outbound in April 26, but seems to have lost its inbound calendar!
Yeah I’ve definitely started to encounter some of the website quirks this week now that its actually game on and not just experimenting!
You’re welcome Jeff, glad I could help.
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