Cabin upgrade voucher

[Blair Waldorf Salad]

It’s not possible. I tried on the Gold line. I was told the way the Barclays voucher works, they can only apply it to a booking at the time of the creation of the reservation. So no adding on a return leg. And no retrospectively applying it to an existing booking in the higher cabin.

[zio]

@bd85uk @BWS It is definitely possible to add a return to a BUV booking, if you book the outbound with the voucher.

I do not know if it is possible to book this return online and ask for a refund of avios afterwards. Please do post the result if you attempt this. The method below worked for me, however.

I have pasted my post from one of the (several) other threads on the voucher:

This booking was for one person, using one voucher.

T-355, outbound booked online. LHR-AUS £225 + 67,500 avios. In the BA app this appears as “BA Barclays cabin upgrade voucher redeemed -67,500”.

16 days later, return added by phone (using 0344 number at 12.32pm). This generated 2 lines in the app. First “BA Barclays cabin upgrade voucher redeposit 67,500” and then “Reward flight -135,000”. I paid an extra £225 when booking the return.

Observations:
1 For me, at least, it was possible to book online at T-355.
2 I did not attempt to phone overseas at 1am, but the agent who added the return was not surprised or fazed by the request.
3 The return used the same avios/TFC level and cost exactly the same as the outbound. The total cost was £450 + 135k avios.

[bd85uk]

Hi

Thanks for the reply’s

I ended up booking for all 3 at once, even though it will cost me another 70000 avios.

There is still 1 seat available this morning, so I’m wondering if I ‘reserve’ it for myself and see what happens in a couple of weeks? If I do that and it works, could I take the 3rd off of my original booking?

Thanks again

[NorthernLass]

You can take someone off a booking for the £35 change fee, needs a call. Note that if you then book 3 people on the inbound, that remains a separate booking and you’d need to pay another £35 to have them removed from that one as well.

[0 post]

Zio,

The number you used 0344 do you mean 0344 493 0747?

Thank you.

[bd85uk]

I’m thinking a couple of extra £35 to pay would be worth saving 70000 avios. I might give it a go and report back

Thanks

[zio]

Anonymous wrote:

Zio,

The number you used 0344 do you mean 0344 493 0747?

Thank you.

That’s the one.

[zapato1060]

Hi guys, still trying to get my head around this.

So I booked outbound LHR-Shanghai July 2024 with an upgrade voucher one way only. If, I wanted to use the second half of that voucher for the inbound (open jaw rules permitting of distance of course) can I call in future and add a return? within 12 months of my outbound date so June 2025? Even in Premium Economy? And I will pay £35 change fee?

Sorry about so many questions TIA

[JDB]

@zapato1060 – yes, you can do this, but you need to book the return before the date of your outbound flight.

I’m sure you are aware that the weather in Shanghai in July is really very oppressive – very hot, humid and rainy. We went one year because we had a son on work experience there for the summer, but we wouldn’t do it again, even if he were there!

[zapato1060]

JDB wrote:

@zapato1060 – yes, you can do this, but you need to book the return before the date of your outbound flight.

I’m sure you are aware that the weather in Shanghai in July is really very oppressive – very hot, humid and rainy. We went one year because we had a son on work experience there for the summer, but we wouldn’t do it again, even if he were there!

Thank you. Understood. Unfortunately, fully booked and first stop along with other family members on an itinerary that has us going south to Indonesia after 5 days in the province.

[JDB]

@zapato1060 – I guessed you would have researched, but just in case. Also, as you mention the word province, Shanghai isn’t part of a province (although it was previously part of Jiangsu) it is a separate municipality that has the powers of a province. When you mention five days, if that’s on the visa on arrival, I’m not sure where that permits you to travel as if there for five days you might be planning to go to Suzhou or Hangzhou.

[Stany]

Hi Folks, unfortunately I think i already know the answer… is there any ways of using the BC upgrade voucher with an aer lingus flight? The taxes on LHR-JFK are crazy on BA and make it more than paying cash

[NorthernLass]

No – BA only. Though the upgrade voucher only allows you to use the maximum and avios and minimum cash, if you weren’t aware, so your cash element isn’t going to be astronomical (£350 on a CW return to JFK, as per your example, IIRC). You just need to have and be prepared to part with enough avios.

[Stany]

NorthernLass wrote:

No – BA only. Though the upgrade voucher only allows you to use the maximum and avios and minimum cash, if you weren’t aware, so your cash element isn’t going to be astronomical (£350 on a CW return to JFK, as per your example, IIRC). You just need to have and be prepared to part with enough avios.

Feared as much. Yeas as with others, trying to keep my avios for annual AMEX 2-4-1 so dont want to empty the avios account for a lesser upgrade voucher.

I can boost enough Avios at 0.0092 to pay for the flight but it works out more expensive than just paying for it cash and collecting more avios/tier points

[NorthernLass]

Flights to JFK are relatively cheap compared to other destinations, which reduces the value you will get from avios and vouchers. You’ll get a much bigger saving in cash terms if you book somewhere like a Caribbean route, or of course, the “unicorns” of the redemption world such as MLE, SIN, CPT, etc.

[zapato1060]

@JDB Appreciate the check, thanks. We are on 144 hour Shanghai visa and leaving from Ningbo (Zhejiang) which falls within the permitted area of travel on that visa.

[JDB]

zapato1060 wrote:

@JDB Appreciate the check, thanks. We are on 144 hour Shanghai visa and leaving from Ningbo (Zhejiang) which falls within the permitted area of travel on that visa.

Sounds good. Ningbo has some of the best food in China, notably seafood. Yong Fu Mini in Shanghai which serves fine Ningbo food is very popular and much cheaper than its famous big brother.

[RTS]

zapato1060 wrote:

@JDB Appreciate the check, thanks. We are on 144 hour Shanghai visa and leaving from Ningbo (Zhejiang) which falls within the permitted area of travel on that visa.

We just recently used the 144 hr transit visa. Be prepared for a long wait whilst it is being processed. have all your proof of onward travel docs printed beforehand.

[Seb]

zio wrote:

@bd85uk @BWS It is definitely possible to add a return to a BUV booking, if you book the outbound with the voucher.

@zio Were you charged £35 change fee to add the return leg? Thanks

[zio]

No change fee was mentioned, and I certainly would have pushed back if it had been. Different product of course, but the request (adding a return as it opens up at T-355) is exactly analogous to a well established process with the amex voucher. And it isn’t possible to do this online without a call.

[nbaguette]

Here is another data point in case anyone is interested:

I booked the outbound for LHR -> JNB in CW at T-355 days online at midnight using the upgrade voucher. For the return, I again booked online at midnight at T-355 days but paid the 100% avios price (which is 100k for this route). The next evening, I contacted BA on X/twitter using the following wording, which I adapted from an example that was posted in the thread for booking the return leg of the 2-4-1 companion voucher:

Hello, I’ve booked on BA.com my inbound avios flight XXXXXX that became open for booking at midnight on XX January for travel from JNB to LHR. Please can you refund me 32,500 avios (the difference between premium and club) as this is the return journey of my open flight using the other half of my Barclays Upgrade voucher. I understand the taxes and fees element will remain the same.

I was contacted by an agent about 8 hours later with some security questions and asked for the booking ref for the outbound flight. A few hours after I provided those, the avios refund was in my account with no problems.

I don’t know if I was just lucky and got a friendly agent, but booking the return with 100% avios online at midnight and then asking for a refund of the difference on X worked for me. I was not charged any change fee. This approach does mean I have two different booking refs but this is not an issue for me.

[zio]

Thank you for posting your experience- it’s always useful to hear what has been successful.

Having read your post, which uses the word “lottery”, on the 241 thread it is a bit depressing how random the experience can be. I’m glad you (eventually) got 3 suitable tickets with vouchers applied.

[NorthernLass]

It can be frustrating, however as we know it’s not official policy to do any of this so it’s better to at least be able to get a result after a couple of tries than not at all!

[heartburn]

Hi all

Bit confused as to how to use my cabin upgrade voucher effectively. Looking to go LGW ORL next year, furthest I can book is 1/03/25. Price for 2 one way is 95k Avios + 330 fees/taxes. I have over 100k so have the Avios for the premium economy.

Yet I cannot see any option to book business and only pay the Avios for premium economy. When I click to use the voucher the business seats just disappear. Am I doing something wrong? Or is there just no flights allowed to be booked with the voucher on that date? Should I call up and ask instead or is this just a limited availability thing? Hope right thread. Thanks

[AndrewT]

Haven’t got a voucher in my account at present to check the exact sequence, but I suspect the missing link is that to book Business you have to specify Premium as the cabin before upgrade (or something similar). If you don’t select that it defaults to upgrade from Economy, and therefore shows Premium tickets to book.