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I have 400,000 points a companion voucher and an upgrade voucher.
I want to fly LON to MLE around 21st Aug and return 31st Aug. There are three adults and we want to fly business class.
There are no return options with vouchers, but I can book outbound for 200,000 + companion voucher.
However the return leg, I seem to have to book one way, which is almost as much as a return ticket, making the companion voucher and use of points nullified. I also can’t use the upgrade voucher on the return if I book a single because upgrade vouchers must start in the UK.
I actually have two upgrade vouchers available.
Has anyone thoughts on how I can get best value for this situation.
Many thanks
You’ve left it very late to book a popular route like MLE at peak time, I’m quite surprised you’ve found 3 x business on the outbound.
As you’ve seen, one-way long haul flights are often disproportionately expensive and would pretty much wipe out the saving you get from using avios on the other leg.One option is to look at connecting to DOH or DXB and using the return portions of your vouchers to return from one of those, where you’re likely to find more availability. You can keep checking for late award seat release (unlikely) and cancellations (slightly more likely); if these appear you can change your booking for £35 pp.
You’ll need to call BA to book an open jaw routing with your vouchers.
I don’t fully understand your post – what upgrade vouchers do you have, and are you talking about cash one-way flights for coming back?
If they are Barclays ‘Cabin Upgrade Vouchers’ then they can only be used with reward bookings, not cash bookings.
I’m reading it OP has found avios seats on the outbound but not the inbound, so has looked at cash fares on BA and found them predictably high. I don’t think this applies to all airlines, however – people have posted on here, for example, that they’ve found reason one-way fares from the Far East, though I don’t know if any of those airlines serve MLE.
A couple of readers have also returned via one of the Indian airports.
*What I will also say is that those CW seats in August could be snapped up at any time, so OP probably needs to get those booked asap.
That is exactly it. I’m concerned I’m not going to be able to get everything booked before they go.
I have the companion voucher that expires in March, an upgrade that will expire in September 2026 and another that will expire September 2027.
Feels like I have a lot of vouchers, but little chance to use them because we are always too last minute to book early
Many thanks for your help and thiughts
When it comes to award bookings, you can plan ahead and get the seats you want, or you can leave it till late in the day and take what’s left! You can get great value out of either, however, especially if you have some flexibility on date/destination.
You only have to fly the outbound leg by the companion voucher expiry date, you can use it on a future trip up to 12 months beyond your outbound flight.
If you’re set on going to MLE, I would personally follow my earlier recommendations. You can use avios on QR to fly MLE-DOH, it’s only about 5 hours so perfectly fine in economy.
You can book the outbound seats LHR-MLE online then call BA and ask for the return to be added.
Or return back via Bengaluru or Mumbai. Usually good availability in J. Short connecting flights, Usually pretty cheap. Adds a day or so on but you can fully use your vouchers with an open jaw itinerary.
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