Cancel outbound leg only – Avios and 241

[ekposh]

Hi

I think this has been covered but I can’t seem to find it.

If I book a return using a 241 but then want to cancel the outbound, can I do this and get half my miles back and “protect” the return?

I get the feeling the answer is no and I’d have to cancel the whole journey and hope the return goes back into inventory which I’m not willing to do.

I know id essentially be forfeting half a voucher and that’s fine but I guess I’m wondering if they reprice the return only and get some on my money and miles back?

Cheers

[NorthernLass]

Is this a trip you’ve already booked, it’s not clear?

[ekposh]

It isn’t, no. Looking at doing it in next few weeks. Essentially, I have a 241 and want to book SIN or KUL with BA (final destination is DPS), with a return from KUL a week later.

Now my preference would be outbound with QR to DPS but it’s all Flexi in July. Anecdotally it appears that there is a small chance that in a few months (or even a few months before) QR release non Flexi.

So if this was the case, I wonder if I could cancel my BA outbound and rebook on QR.

Of course, the obvious thing is 2 one ways, but I have a 241 so don’t think I can do that.

[NorthernLass]

You can do 2 x one-way, which is why I asked, *however* you must book the outbound before the inbound is released for this to work properly.

I quite often keep the two legs separate for precisely this eventuality.

The very long “booking the return with the 241 thread” goes into all the ins and outs of the process.

Also remember that if you do cancel your (separate) return leg, you can rebook it to fly at another time, as long as it’s within 12 months of the inbound.

[ekposh]

Thanks Northern Lass. I will be booking my outbound first. So when I call to add an inbound they will essentially so it as a separate ticket and PNR but are still able to apply the 241?

To be clear though, I have to book the inbound by calling as I won’t have enough Avios to do a separate booking and then get half back.

[NorthernLass]

That may be a problem then!

To keep the 2 legs separate, ideally you would need to book the inbound online as soon as it’s released then request the 50% avios back.

You could ask BA to book it on a separate PNR, of course, but they may well refuse as the standard procedure is to add it to the inbound on the same booking.

I’m not sure if you could just cancel one leg after booking, however you could change the inbound to a later date (and airport) for the change fee if that would work for you.

[AJA]

I am slightly confused as you state you don’t have enough Avios to book the inbound without applying the 2-4-1. So would cancelling the outbound give you enough Avios to book a separate QR flight? Or are you assuming you’ll have earned enough Avios in the meantime?

Why not boost your Avios to be able to book the entire flights as two one ways and pply the 2-4-1 only to the inbound?

Technically I think as long as you haven’t flown you can change a return Avios flight booked with a 2-4-1 into a one way flight by cancelling one of the flights. I don’t think it matters if it’s the outbound that you want to cancel as you can use a 2-4-1 starting outside the UK.

[ekposh]

Thanks AJA.

Issue is this – 2 to SIN is 240000 each way (which is what I have after boosting) so assuming I can apply the 241 on outbound, that’s 120000 gone – leaving me 120000. I’d need 240000 to book the return without a 241. I don’t think I’ll be able to boost that much. A Qatar for 2 to DPS is just 160000 – which I’d earn in the meantime.

Sadly I’m Avios poor (and cash poor hahaha) as my main way of earning is CC spend and this last year been directing this at VS…

You’re right in that the voucher can be used starting outside the UK, so it did make me wonder. I hope that’s the case, should the situation every arise where QR release more Avios seats in July, which does seem unlikely. I know under normal circumstances, cancelling a revenue outbound is a no go but that’s down to rev management and fares in certain countries, etc

Maybe there is only way to find out…..

Appreciate everyone’s help here.

[AJA]

I think you are going to have to be the guinea pig and see if it works.

That said those figures you quote are the max Avios and minimum cash. Have you considered paying more cash and fewer Avios?(notwithstanding the point that you say you’re cash poor too!)

[AJA]

Also booking a one way using the voucher on BA and the separate flight on QR means you will use 280k Avios in total (120k +160k) versus just 240k on BA booking a return flight using the voucher

[ekposh]

Correct, the extra 40k I would earn or boost. I started a separate thread of whether people thought it was good value. I think the general consensus was yes. Q Suite also on my bucket list.

It would also get me to DPS so I’d save a SIN/KUL – DPS positioning flight, albeit they are ridiculously cheap.

[sussexsb]

yes, you can cancel an outbound Avios companion leg and just use the return. Telephone adjustment only.

Called through, £35pp fee. Needed to go out a few days earlier so this was super helpful, even though not maxing out comp voucher properly!

[ed_fly]

Assume that the new 1st leg must be within the voucher expiry window? Or is this a possible hack to extend validity?

[sussexsb]

still within voucher window…but someone might know if this would have worked…..:)

one other point, if my pair of tickets do come up for a few days earlier as required, a call back (not online as a single) to BAEC to add them back on and continue to use the Companion Voucher is still very much alive….. prob for another £35pp but excellent flexibility…