-
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.
Many thanks Andrew – I thought the “upgrade” was to book in a “higher” cabin and only pay the price of the lower cabin – Rather than the other way round. At least that’s how I read it from here – https://www.headforpoints.com/2024/01/11/how-do-barclaycard-avios-mastercard-upgrade-vouchers-work-3/
Not the best presented package. I imagine it’s because it follows the same workflow as ‘Book with money upgrade with Avios’, where procedurally you book and pay cash for the lower cabin then upgrade from there to the higher cabin using Avios (in a single transaction).
The Barclays voucher nominally ‘books’ the lower cabin using Avios and then upgrades to the higher cabin using the voucher – except that it doesn’t require a seat to be available in the lower cabin so it isn’t actually doing anything there at all.
If you click through to the next page, you will be able to see that you are booking business class.
Sorry @AndrewT and @NorthernLass you were correct, just needed to click to the next page. Many thanks!
Happy to report success booking a domestic connection for no extra charge. Exec Club Blue line. Excellent phone agent who knew exactly what she was doing.
NCL-LHR-BWI
JFK-LHR85k + £375 with the voucher, and told me unprompted that she’d removed the booking fee.
Happy to report success booking a domestic connection for no extra charge. Exec Club Blue line. Excellent phone agent who knew exactly what she was doing.
NCL-LHR-BWI
JFK-LHR85k + £375 with the voucher, and told me unprompted that she’d removed the booking fee.
Did you book the LHR flight first and add the connection, or do it all at the same time over the phone??
Did you book the LHR flight first and add the connection, or do it all at the same time over the phone??
That was all in one go,
Froggee’s guide on how to use Barclays upgrade vouchers
Fail to book Avios flights from Edinburgh to Singapore at 1am T-355 because British Airways randomly didn’t release the flights that night. Sad face.
Get lucky and book Avios flights to Singapore at 10am T-353, for all four of us, when British Airways eventually decide to make them available. Woo hoo!
Pay £1,460 + 368,000 Avios (better value than the “standard” reward flight saver £1,200 + 440,000 Avios) as I am bereft of any companion vouchers and have but one upgrade voucher. Sad face.
Wait several months for Barclays to give me an anniversary gift. I now have two upgrade vouchers Woo hoo!
Check that the British Airways website is behaving and I can log into my Bronze Executive Club account. Check the weather at Heathrow. Check on FlyerTalk and HfP that there are no IT meltdowns or systemic issues with British Airways flights. All good.
Log into the existing booking on Mrs Froggee’s Silver Executive Club account to change our seat reservation from our preferred two blocks of two on the upper deck (with direct aisle access for one of the window seats so Kermit’s toileting is not constrained) to other random seats to free our preferred seats up as otherwise they will go into stasis when I cancel the booking – to be made available who knows when.
Log back into my Executive Club account and cancel the existing booking. £1,320 + 368,000 Avios refunded. Squeaky bum time. Quickly search for a book and upgrade from Heathrow to Singapore for four. Select my flight. Proceed. Close the window showing one Barclays voucher ticked so I can proceed a second time at which point it then allows me to also select the second Barclays voucher. Because that is so intuitive. But I now have all four of us on one PNR. Woo hoo!
Quickly enter details, double check them and pay £1,250 + 220,000 Avios. £50 more expensive than when I originally booked. Sad face.
Log out of my account and log back into Mrs Froggee’s account. Select our preferred seats which are immediately available thanks to me freeing them up earlier.
Call the Executive Club. Even on the Bronze line it only takes several minutes to get through because of the rare lack of flight disruptions. Go up to the attic for a better mobile signal as I do not want to get cut off.
Clear security. Explain that I have just booked long haul flights with the Barclays upgrade voucher but could not add on the domestic leg at the time of booking so could you please help? I can try says the agent. I am put on hold while the agent asks around how to add a connection to the Barclays voucher. The agent returns. Can do says she. But I am told that there are no Avios flights available. Yes there are says I. Can you double check? The domestic flights miraculously appear. They are reserved. I am then put on hold again while the agent investigates pricing. The agent returns. Great news says the agent. There is no more money to pay. Just 9,000 Avios for the domestic connection. Ugh thinks me. I am unclear if she wants 9,000 Avios in total or the more likely 36,000 for four seats. The fact that if she is going to be wrong, could she at least be wrong right and say 9,250 Avios irks me a little bit but I keep my cool. I explain that I have done this before and there is no charge at all for the domestic connection. The agent admits that she had not been able to speak to anyone in ticketing and asks if she can call me back. Of course says I. Along with many thanks and a much appreciated.
Obviously the agent does not call me back. So I phone British Airways the next day (within 24 hours of booking just in case things get awkward). This time I am barely a minute on hold and the agent seems much more on the ball. He can see what has happened in the notes which is thankfully consistent with what I told him. Apparently the prior agent tried to call back but could not get through (yeah, no) and the conclusion was that I need not pay any more Avios, just the 50 pence per person for the domestic connection. Obviously this is nonsense but despite my Scottish nature I am not going to die on a hill over two of the King’s pounds. Particularly as logic says it should be the reward flight saver fee for Club Europe which is £12.50 each. So they are being wrongly wrong, again.
The new agent is now confused as the notes say it has been sent to ticketing but he can see that payment information has not been taken for the £2. This proves to be mildly problematic as the system has decided that I live in Ireland and wants to charge me in euros. The agent manages to fix that, takes my credit card details (because they apparently can no longer use my stored card details) and says it has now been sent off to ticketing so keep an eye on my emails.
I will indeed be keeping an eye on my emails and will be doing the trademarked @JDB process of confirming that a unique e-ticket coupon number thingy sits next to both legs of the booking. I wonder if I will actually be charged the £2?
So folks – it is as simple as that. Jobs a good ‘un. Even with a £12.50 increase in the reward flight saver fee between booking and rebooking as well as £35 per person cancellation charge, and erroneously being asked for another 50 pence each, the above rigmarole saved £68 and 148,000 Avios. Very much worth doing and the process itself could not be easier.
I’m off to look at my emails
The very definition of living dangerously, @Froggee, I was on the edge of my seat reading this while my hairdresser was putting on my colour 😂
I would definitely have paid the £2 or euros, groats or whatever they wanted to secure those seats.
I’m considering making my next upgrade booking in PE to avoid the faff of calling to add the domestic leg!
@Froggee – I love a well written tale with a happy ending hopefully soon to land in your inbox.
In the olden days BA telephone staff (and in the Travel Shops – monster Air Miles bonuses for using those!) were incredibly well trained, knowledgeable and helpful plus ticketing trained even if they didn’t usually issue tickets. They had wide discretion to assist (particularly status) passengers in remarkable ways that ultimately management probably thought excessive, so they took discretion away to almost zero. That made the job harder and more boring so most of the experienced staff have left.
Now they seem to find completely clueless nincompoops who either aren’t trained or are incapable of being trained. They sound so unmotivated and one can hear that they don’t have a clue what you are talking about. Often totally distracted WFH to add to the skills on their CV.
They don’t know their own rules or how to use their own systems and, as you experienced, anything using a voucher is manual and thus beyond many of their capabilities.
They have so few ticketing people (and even fewer experienced or sensible ones) that they can’t manage the ticketing queues fast enough before PCI-DSS compliance kicks in to delete full payment details sending the passenger round the circuit again.
@Froggee – I love a well written tale with a happy ending hopefully soon to land in your inbox.
In the olden days BA telephone staff (and in the Travel Shops – monster Air Miles bonuses for using those!) were incredibly well trained, knowledgeable and helpful plus ticketing trained even if they didn’t usually issue tickets. They had wide discretion to assist (particularly status) passengers in remarkable ways that ultimately management probably thought excessive, so they took discretion away to almost zero. That made the job harder and more boring so most of the experienced staff have left.
Now they seem to find completely clueless nincompoops who either aren’t trained or are incapable of being trained. They sound so unmotivated and one can hear that they don’t have a clue what you are talking about. Often totally distracted WFH to add to the skills on their CV.
They don’t know their own rules or how to use their own systems and, as you experienced, anything using a voucher is manual and thus beyond many of their capabilities.
They have so few ticketing people (and even fewer experienced or sensible ones) that they can’t manage the ticketing queues fast enough before PCI-DSS compliance kicks in to delete full payment details sending the passenger round the circuit again.
I think that is unfair and rude. The majority of staff I’ve spoken to in the call centres have been great and try to help as much as possible, often going above expectations.
@craiguk58 – your experience would be totally inconsistent with the number of weekly posts advising people to HUACA after being given totally erroneous advice on the most basic of issues, including the post to which I responded. I trained on BA’s reservation system, ticketing and fares over forty years ago and find myself having to help staff carry out quite basic functions. To be fair, they are usually quite grateful. The people who answer You First calls are considerably more informed and helpful.
@Froggee – I love a well written tale with a happy ending hopefully soon to land in your inbox.
In the olden days BA telephone staff (and in the Travel Shops – monster Air Miles bonuses for using those!) were incredibly well trained, knowledgeable and helpful plus ticketing trained even if they didn’t usually issue tickets. They had wide discretion to assist (particularly status) passengers in remarkable ways that ultimately management probably thought excessive, so they took discretion away to almost zero. That made the job harder and more boring so most of the experienced staff have left.
Now they seem to find completely clueless nincompoops who either aren’t trained or are incapable of being trained. They sound so unmotivated and one can hear that they don’t have a clue what you are talking about. Often totally distracted WFH to add to the skills on their CV.
They don’t know their own rules or how to use their own systems and, as you experienced, anything using a voucher is manual and thus beyond many of their capabilities.
They have so few ticketing people (and even fewer experienced or sensible ones) that they can’t manage the ticketing queues fast enough before PCI-DSS compliance kicks in to delete full payment details sending the passenger round the circuit again.
I think that is unfair and rude. The majority of staff I’ve spoken to in the call centres have been great and try to help as much as possible, often going above expectations.
It’s very fair unless one has been living in a cave. Fair enough it’s not just BA, but the level of service & professionalism has fallen off the cliff. The simplest tasks/queries necessitate escalations. Sadly common send and efficiency is not in the DNA.
Question
I hit the 10k mark to my avios plus card. If i hit the redeem button does it triggers the voucher today or can i do that in the near future to save a couple of months? I have another one that will land as an anniversary one and would like to match as much as possible the issue date
When you select the voucher (as opposed to the 7k bonus avios), it’s sent immediately to your BAEC account with a 2 year expiry date. You have until your card anniversary to choose, and then as I understand it, if you don’t make a choice, they send you the voucher by default.
Thank you for your response.
I get the option to select the 7k or the voucher and the redeem selection and that’s why i raised the question about the issue date. since it’s valid for 2 year period i will hit the button and we ll know soon!Question
I have a return booked with a cabin upgrade voucher, if I cancel the outward (and thereby not use the voucher) will the return be retained with additional avios to pay or will it need to be cancelled and rebooked risking losing the seat if it doesn’t reappear in inventory (as no further availability on that flight)?
No harm in calling to ask, but I doubt they can do that without cancelling the entire booking and starting again.
Having 2 upgrade vouchers I booked outbound flights to Miami for the OH and me – on separate PNRs. The open-jaw inbound flights become available tonight. I’m reluctant to bother BA given the current upheaval (even supposing I can get through in time).
Can anyone confirm that they have booked using full avios and succeeded in getting the difference refunded later?
And did you book 2 separate inbound or both on one PNR?
Having 2 upgrade vouchers I booked outbound flights to Miami for the OH and me – on separate PNRs. The open-jaw inbound flights become available tonight. I’m reluctant to bother BA given the current upheaval (even supposing I can get through in time).
Can anyone confirm that they have booked using full avios and succeeded in getting the difference refunded later?
And did you book 2 separate inbound or both on one PNR?
Yes I often do this with the Barclays voucher, and having done this as recently as a couple of weeks ago.
I always book online at midnight with full Avios and then ask for the refund later on. I normally do so via messaging them on Twitter, but calling up afterwards is also fine.
Having 2 upgrade vouchers I booked outbound flights to Miami for the OH and me – on separate PNRs. The open-jaw inbound flights become available tonight. I’m reluctant to bother BA given the current upheaval (even supposing I can get through in time).
Can anyone confirm that they have booked using full avios and succeeded in getting the difference refunded later?
And did you book 2 separate inbound or both on one PNR?
Yes I often do this with the Barclays voucher, and having done this as recently as a couple of weeks ago.
I always book online at midnight with full Avios and then ask for the refund later on. I normally do so via messaging them on Twitter, but calling up afterwards is also fine.
Great – thank you for the reply. Late night it is then…
Took about an hour to read through this thread but it was worth it! I think I now know what I can’t do with my BC vouchers.
Can I just confirm what I should do. I have 2 x upgrade vouchers I’m wanting to use for a return trip from LGW to BKK for myself and my wife. Looking to book WTP and upgrade us both to CW on both legs.
Sounds like I’d need to call and book us both an outbound ticket and use two vouchers, one for each of us, then call again 3 weeks later and add the return to the booking. Some people have said some BA CS agents won’t do this, but is this still my best option?
Also, is this the best US number to call from the UK: 1 800 452 1201
Lastly, is it currently 12.00am UK time that I need to call to stand the best chance?
Many thanks!
It’s important to remeber that you don’t book WTP and upgrade to CW.
You book CW but pay only the WTP avios. As Rob writes multiple time it’s not – despite it’s name – an upgrade voucher.
Also if booking for peak dates, WTP pricing can be quite high (e.g. 60k avios pp to MIA/MLE), so you don’t end even up saving a lot of avios avios.
Having 2 upgrade vouchers I booked outbound flights to Miami for the OH and me – on separate PNRs. The open-jaw inbound flights become available tonight. I’m reluctant to bother BA given the current upheaval (even supposing I can get through in time).
Can anyone confirm that they have booked using full avios and succeeded in getting the difference refunded later?
And did you book 2 separate inbound or both on one PNR?
Yes I often do this with the Barclays voucher, and having done this as recently as a couple of weeks ago.
I always book online at midnight with full Avios and then ask for the refund later on. I normally do so via messaging them on Twitter, but calling up afterwards is also fine.
Great – thank you for the reply. Late night it is then…
Well, the first attempt to get the Avios refunded didn’t go well! I was asked to fill in a “CR Form” on BA.com and then call back after 09:00 and ask to be put through to the dedicated Gold line. I suggested cancelling the inbound and rebooking but was told she couldn’t do that. I suspect HUACA but will wait for tomorrow now – I need a glass (or 2) of wine…
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
Popular articles this week:
