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Good day to everyone,
I was wondering if anyone knows if (and how) BA release seat availability for AMEX companion vouchers for flights in which standard Avios seats are no longer available. I have heard Companion Voucher can benefit from special additional seats over and above the Avios seats. Are these released if a flight has low demand or at regular intervals? And is there any way to check other than logging in and checking manually every day?
Thank you very much.The standard seats are released at T-355. I don’t think there is any specific time when the additional seats are made available using the BAPP voucher, but what I do know, it’s when there is certain availability in the “I Class” fare bucket, which are the cheapest Business tickets. You can often find these seats if you search from a regional airport such as Manchester, Edinburgh, etc. Using SeatSpy won’t find you these additional seats, so you will have to search for them.
Also the extra seats are only in CW.
Yeah, you just have to keep checking. Someone on here put in a good tip, which is not failsafe but would give an indication:
Track the flight price on Google flights. If you notice a significant reduction in price, it’s likely due to I class being opened up, which might indicate availability has opened up. It’s not directly linked to I class (ie even when that’s available, doesn’t mean 241 availability is) BUT it’s a good indication.
I am doing this for a flight to MRU in September but alas have had no luck so far, in fact the price is going up and up.
Thank you, your explanations are very helpful. I suppose it is a mystery under what cicumstances ‘I Class’ fares are released but I also suppose that they are unlikely to release these for peak season flights (half terms, Christmas, etc) as plane will get filled up without need of lower fares.
In any case, the google price tracking is a good way to identify a change that could indicate possible availability. Will look to set that up.
Thank you, your explanations are very helpful. I suppose it is a mystery under what cicumstances ‘I Class’ fares are released but I also suppose that they are unlikely to release these for peak season flights (half terms, Christmas, etc) as plane will get filled up without need of lower fares.
In any case, the google price tracking is a good way to identify a change that could indicate possible availability. Will look to set that up.
Before Covid, J class fares were often on sale at Christmas. I once flew to Florida in Business Class at Xmas for little more than the price of an economy ticket. I don’t know what things are like now though.
Just wanted to update you all that the Google princing tool as a proxy for I-class fare release worked! I got an alert from Google flights that the price on the Business class seats nearly halved. I immediately checked the BA system and although regular Avios flights where still not available, the American Express Premium Plus Companion Voucher did the job. Thank you ekposh for the suggestion.
The standard seats are released at T-355. I don’t think there is any specific time when the additional seats are made available using the BAPP voucher, but what I do know, it’s when there is certain availability in the “I Class” fare bucket, which are the cheapest Business tickets. You can often find these seats if you search from a regional airport such as Manchester, Edinburgh, etc. Using SeatSpy won’t find you these additional seats, so you will have to search for them.
I’ve tried this MAN/EDI trick a few times but never had any luck (perhaps due to school holidays). Is there a trick that I am missing?
They’re not guaranteed so you need to be quite flexible, where do you want to go? Also you can only use a 241 for 2 people when booking these seats, which doesn’t help families. Rob has done an article on this!
They’re not guaranteed so you need to be quite flexible, where do you want to go? Also you can only use a 241 for 2 people when booking these seats, which doesn’t help families. Rob has done an article on this!
I will have to have a read of the article, thanks. Quite flexible on where to go (preferably long haul), but limited by school holidays dates and a voucher expiration that means this May half-term is the only option. Should have booked something sooner but couldn’t decide where and had to wait for Avios to be earned.
There should still be some availability – you need to find somewhere with enough seats for whatever number is in your party. SeatSpy will help to some extent, then search with the voucher will show if there are 2 “extra” seats if you need them. You might have to settle for mixed cabins, e.g. CW outbound and PE inbound at this stage, but PE isn’t too bad.
Also the extra seats are only in CW.
Interestingly I did a search for a Y class fare and I got the “extra seats have been made available” message. J was showing full so I think it must have freed up a Y. Was I being totally blind or has something changed? I forget what the itin was, otherwise would try and replicate.
That’s very odd, because the terms are that it’s extra CW (not even CE) which the voucher opens up! But – BA IT, so who knows?!
Are you Gold? That opens up extra availability as well
Message was on the screen the other day when I was doing some short haul reward flight searches saying extra availability had been opened up.
I hadn’t selected any vouchers at that stage.
Yes, they are two different things – for Golds (irrespective of 241):
As a Gold Member you’ll get access to additional reward seats in economy at the standard price.
And for BAPP 241 vouchers:
12. For Reward Flight bookings on British Airways, enhanced access to Reward Flight seats within British Airways Club World (long haul business cabins) is available for British Airways American Express Premium Plus Companion Vouchers.
Sorry if this is the wrong place for this but is anyone with a companion voucher able to do me a big favour? I’m looking for 2 seats LHR-KUL 29th – 31st October – could someone please check the availability? The flights just dropped to I selling class but I can’t check the additional availability as CV already used. Thanks so much!
Nothing on those dates I am afraid.
@PeteM thank you for checking! Much appreciated
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