Companion Voucher – BA Struggle

[Makazi]

Hi All,

New to this so please be kind. This is a bit of a two parter, any help, suggestions etc. would be welcome as this is my first time playing with BA companion vouchers.

I have two basic BA companion vouchers (one held over multiple years due to Covid) due to expire 29th June and 4th July respectively.

I’ve been looking to book a London Heathrow – Nairobi Kenya flight (outbound preferably the 8th June) since the start of the year but have had a ‘zero flights available on this route’ message when using the reward flight finder every time I’ve looked. – Found out yesterday that this is a bug with the BA app and the finder doesn’t actually work. I’ve now checked online and it looks that there aren’t any seats for BA companion vouchers.

I’ve searched without using vouchers and there are still economy seats on BA flights that day – Is there any hope of being able to use our companion vouchers, anyone I could speak to at BA and attempt to woo, or are these doomed to expire unused?

Second part is slightly broader. Now that I’ve begun looking for paid flights it seems that BA advertise different prices depending on when/how you look, is this normal?
e.g. I started looing yesterday and found Business Low tier tickets LH to Nairobi 8th June – 24th July in various permutations. But booking via App was £200-300 less expensive for the exact same ticket than via laptop. Now looking today both app and Laptop are £200-300 more expensive than yesterday, surely tickets cannot increase that much in a day? I’m wondering if this is due to cookies etc. / interest from this IP address and if I clear them / search from elsewhere I can find reduced tickets again?

Thanks in advance, I realise that was a ramble.

[marks7389]

The availability is no different whether you are using a companion voucher or not (aside from the extra business class availability opened up by the BA Premium Plus card vouchers).

There’s nothing showing as available in June currently for outbound travel to Nairobi. Some last minute availability for tomorrow though on the outbound. You may be lucky in more last minute availability opening up, but the chances of finding return availability look to be pretty much zero.

For most routes you really need to be looking much further ahead to get redemption seats, though I realise that’s not always possible.

Cash fares can change quite significantly as fare buckets sell out / revenue management adjustments are made, especially this close to the travel date. I’ve not heard of fares being different in the BA app, though it may be that the available fares changed between you checking via the website and the app. It’s very unlikely clearing cookies etc. will help you. The fares you see will be what is available at the time.

[BA Flyer IHG Stayer]

Makazi wrote:

Hi All,

anyone I could speak to at BA and attempt to woo, or are these doomed to expire unused?
.

The people to speak to at BA are the Executive Club team.

I’m not sure they are open to being wooed though as they can only book what flights are open to booking i.e. the same as you can see.

But if you are looking for the 8th June then it’s unlikely there are any rewards left.

And cash ticket prices do move on a daily basis especially this close into the flight date. The “clear cookies for cheaper prices” is a myth. What happens is if several searches for the same flights are sone in quick succession the programmes think it’s a popular route and they can increase prices. Look again an hour later and they are back to the lower price.

[NorthernLass]

Have you looked for availability to DOH then see if you can get a connecting flight on QR? There are 2 DOH-NBO flights per day, looks to be plenty of avios seats as well.

*Also plenty of availability LGW to DOH on that date as well on BA so you could use your voucher.

[Tracey]

NorthernLass wrote:

Have you looked for availability to DOH then see if you can get a connecting flight on QR? There are 2 DOH-NBO flights per day, looks to be plenty of avios seats as well.

*Also plenty of availability LGW to DOH on that date as well on BA so you could use your voucher.

I thought old style companion vouchers had to be used on BA metal.

[NorthernLass]

Correct, and even the new ones can’t be used on QR. The suggestion was to use the 241 to book LGW-DOH on BA then get a connecting flight on QR. These are all available to book with avios so should save the OP some money.

[marks7389]

Makazi didn’t say which class, but even economy at current pricing for early June that should get a decent return on Avios.

Use of the voucher on the BA leg may require two separate bookings and a self-connection requiring luggage to be collected and rechecked at Doha, with the consequent missed connection risk. I’m pretty sure its not possible to book mixed BA with voucher / non-BA without voucher redemption itineraries online. Whether the call centre can do it is another matter but it would definitely be worth finding out.

[NorthernLass]

It’s not, hence it would have to be 2 separate bookings, but with 2 DOH-NBO departures a day it would be possible to have a decent gap between flights or even a stopover in Doha.