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Hi,
Lets’s say I book London-Tokyo for 2 people with a Barclays Upgrade voucher.
Then I wait for my return date at T-355 and book online just using Avios without a voucher.
Can I phone BA later and ask them to merge both bookings and apply another Upgrade voucher to the inbound leg? Obviously I can’t use it for my return leg at midnight T-355 because it only works for ex-UK trips.
Thanks in advance.
I think it would be very unlikely that you’d find an agent who would do this (because of the journey having to start in the UK, even though it might be argued that it does, originally, start in the UK), but you won’t know unless you try! There are many posts in the Barclays voucher thread, but I don’t recall anyone having successfully attempted exactly this.
There might be more likelihood of doing what you’re aiming to by making 2 separate outbound bookings with the 2 upgrade vouchers and then asking BA to apply the inbound portions separately.
There might be more likelihood of doing what you’re aiming to by making 2 separate outbound bookings with the 2 upgrade vouchers and then asking BA to apply the inbound portions separately.
Good point, looks like I can use the voucher even if I’m not travelling.
Now I need to test if I can make 2 dummy bookings from my account from 2 different devices at the same time. Both vouchers are under my name and I’m sure the seats will be gone by the time I’ve completed the first booking!
@Optimus Prime – bookings cannot be merged. That’s not BA being difficult, but the way inter airline systems are structured; bookings can be split but never merged. With Amex 241 vouchers, agents will usually link a separately made booking to apply the voucher ‘discount’ but as the Barclays voucher can only be used originating in the UK, that is problematic.
@Optimus Prime – bookings cannot be merged. That’s not BA being difficult, but the way inter airline systems are structured; bookings can be split but never merged. With Amex 241 vouchers, agents will usually link a separately made booking to apply the voucher ‘discount’ but as the Barclays voucher can only be used originating in the UK, that is problematic.
I see. Would it be possible to book both legs separately with no vouchers and ask them to link and apply the vouchers later? Or this wouldn’t even work with an Amex voucher?
@Optimus Prime – bookings cannot be merged. That’s not BA being difficult, but the way inter airline systems are structured; bookings can be split but never merged. With Amex 241 vouchers, agents will usually link a separately made booking to apply the voucher ‘discount’ but as the Barclays voucher can only be used originating in the UK, that is problematic.
I see. Would it be possible to book both legs separately with no vouchers and ask them to link and apply the vouchers later? Or this wouldn’t even work with an Amex voucher?
The terms for the 241 and the Barclays voucher both say they must be applied at the time of booking. However, BA, by concession, usually allows the second half of a 241 to retroactively applied. The two bookings remain separate which is the problem with applying the Barclays voucher to a booking not originating in the UK.
@Optimus Prime – bookings cannot be merged. That’s not BA being difficult, but the way inter airline systems are structured; bookings can be split but never merged. With Amex 241 vouchers, agents will usually link a separately made booking to apply the voucher ‘discount’ but as the Barclays voucher can only be used originating in the UK, that is problematic.
I see. Would it be possible to book both legs separately with no vouchers and ask them to link and apply the vouchers later? Or this wouldn’t even work with an Amex voucher?
The terms for the 241 and the Barclays voucher both say they must be applied at the time of booking. However, BA, by concession, usually allows the second half of a 241 to retroactively applied. The two bookings remain separate which is the problem with applying the Barclays voucher to a booking not originating in the UK.
Ok, in that case my best shot might be @NorthernLass’s suggestion of 2 separate outbound bookings each using a different Barclays voucher.
As long as BA doesn’t lock my account for making 2 bookings at the same time 😂BTW when people book the inbound leg on the phone, is BA creating and linking a second booking or changing the existing one from one-way to return?
The inbound leg is a separate booking.
There is no linking* to or merging with or changing the existing outbound booking
It’s my understanding that if BA adds your inbound on the phone, it becomes part of the original PNR, although I have never actually done this. It’s when you book the inbound separately, online, then ask for the 50% avios back that you are left with 2 separate bookings.
Since I own both vouchers, my OH and I may try some time to log into my account from two different devices and make two test bookings at the same time.
Does anyone know how long they take to return the vouchers to your BAEC account?
It should be immediate.
For the booking I made I did the outbound online and then rang up when the flights got released and the agent just merged the booking on the phone for me. No waiting for points back etc
Do you mean you asked BA to book the return leg for you? This wouldn’t involve any merging, they would just be adding the inbound leg. The problem with this can be that if you get an agent who won’t (or doesn’t know how to) do this, you can lose the seats while you’re speaking with them or HUACA-ing.
True you might get an agent who doesn’t know how to do it. Regarding loosing the flight when I did it the first thing the agent did was reserve the flight for me so it didn’t get taken by anyone and then sorted all adding inbound flight.
True you might get an agent who doesn’t know how to do it. Regarding loosing the flight when I did it the first thing the agent did was reserve the flight for me so it didn’t get taken by anyone and then sorted all adding inbound flight.
Can the agent get ‘ready’ before midnight with the passenger names, etc?
If not I’d rather book the inbound flights separately and call later to have the Avios refunded.
BTW my OH and I made a test booking yesterday. We both logged in to my account from 2 different devices and made 2 separate bookings with my vouchers for the same flight. There was no issue during the booking process and both were ticketed with the correct passenger name, etc.
Afterwards we cancelled them. Avios were refunded asap along with just one of the vouchers, so now I’m chasing BA to the get the other one back 🙂
They can do, whether you get one who can or will is another matter! There were a few posts a couple of months back about the US call centre refusing to do it.
Well I booked the outbound flights using a voucher for each and then a week later I booked the inbound ones paying full Avios for Club World.
Now I’m on the phone with an agent trying to get the difference back for the inbound flights and they have refused even after speaking with her supervisor…
Was this with Barclays vouchers?
Was the inbound unavailable when you booked the outbound?
Try HUACA.
Or another option would be to ask them to cancel your inbound and rebook it themselves (they might or might not know how to do this). Are you within the free 24 hour cancellation period?
Or – cancel everything and rebook from scratch with the 2 vouchers. If your travel is a long time out it’s very likely the seats will reappear.
Yes, Barclays vouchers and yes, the inbound was unavailable because I booked both at T-355.
I’m on my second call now, the lady has suggested canceling the inbound and rebooking as a return flight. Since I’m a lazy f*cker I have to pay 35 per person for not being bothered to do this 2 days ago. Anyway lesson learnt and I’ll write this off as experience 🙂
TBH I can’t be bothered doing any faffing around with the Barclays voucher. I either use it somewhere where both legs are available or use it for 2 pax outbound and make other arrangements for the inbound.
TBH I can’t be bothered doing any faffing around with the Barclays voucher. I either use it somewhere where both legs are available or use it for 2 pax outbound and make other arrangements for the inbound.
I can’t blame you for doing that, also for peak long-haul flights you end up paying more Avios for using these vouchers instead of the Amex one.
It’s the correct pricing though, because it’s an upgrade voucher (or rather you pay the avios for the next cabin down), not a 241.
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