Iberia Companion Voucher booking

[kmrhi]

Hi all, I need advice on how to proceed here.

I have booked the outbound leg from Madrid to Tokyo (Iberia) using my companion voucher and wanted to call back to add the inbound leg (Tokyo to Madrid also with Iberia) when the date is available, both in business class.

After the date of the inbound leg has opened up, I called and they were not able to calculate the taxes so it had to be escalated. They added the flight to my booking and held it for me.

I received an e-mail to call back assuming this was sorted but they are quoting me a very different price (around £300 while it should be £96.5 as it appears online).

I tried different agents and I either get my call cut off or the same answer. I am close to giving up.

Do I have any options here? I don’t have enough Avios to book without the companion voucher so the option to do it myself and get half the Avios refunded is not applicable.

[JDB]

@kmrhi – is the £96.50 you are seeing online the one way cost starting in Tokyo as I wouldn’t necessarily expect to see the same cost when adding a return to a booking originating in Madrid. Japan has some fluctuating restrictions on surcharges but it is seemingly possible to disapply them when a ticket is issued outside the country. You can ask BA for a breakdown of the TFCs applied and take it from there.

[NorthernLass]

As per @JDB – if you do a dummy booking for a return journey on this route, you will see the approximate total surcharges BA will charge you for the trip (taking into account small fluctuations). The only way to get around this is to have 2 separate bookings, which as you say requires you to have enough avios.

There are examples in the long “booking the return with the 241 thread” of people having similar experiences with other airports such as PVG/HKG/GIG.

[Simey]

I just did this a few weeks ago.

Called, booked outbound online with an agent and was charged using the Companion Voucher plus about £190 in taxes for 2.

Inbound is the same story. Called, they knew what I wanted and merged the two bookings and adjusted to take the extra Avios as if it was a full CV booking and was charged another £190 or so in taxes.

Maybe the agent was wrong? Try with another call?

[kmrhi]

Yes £96.5 is the one way cost from Tokyo to Madrid but the round trip cost should be at least in that range. There is no availability to do a round trip dummy booking for the same da53: and the agents keep saying that this is the correct taxes and surcharges and it’s dynamic.

The round trip cost should be closer to £200 and I am being quoted £370 for the total cost for round trip (including the £96.5 I already paid for).

I am at a loss here as I tried different agents …

[NorthernLass]

You could do a dummy booking for any date where seats are available and it will show you the approximate surcharges. The issue is that when BA add the return, their own surcharges apply and not necessarily what you would be charged if you booked the return separately. This is the downside of using the companion voucher, you have to book via BA and they can impose whatever surcharges they like.

@Simey – not sure if you’ve read the OP’s post correctly, BA are actually charging them pretty much the same in total as they charged you (£370 v your £190 x 2).

[JDB]

@kmrhi – unfortunately there isn’t any simple or definitive answer. The agents are correct in saying that surcharges are dynamic – they fluctuate daily or even intraday – surcharges are how airlines flex fares because adjusting the base fare is complicated. There also isn’t any reference point or chart to identify what the correct number is, so you don’t have any evidence of incorrect charging – and it’s not necessarily wrong per se. The RFS one way from Tokyo would theoretically be £287.50pp with no APD in that direction so IB is still coming out a fair bit cheaper.

The only options are really to try BA a couple more times (and ask for the breakdown) but it’s possible you may have to accept it.

[e14]

They are quoting the commercial fare not the Reward Flight Saver rate – which as you say is £96.50 having just checked the 10th November 2025

[e14]

Commercial fare (return J)
Spain Security Tax (QV) £3.00
Spain Aviation Safety And Security Fee (OG) £0.50
Spain Departure Charge (JD) £17.00
Carrier-imposed surcharge (YQ) £312.60
Japan Passenger Service Facilities Charge International (SW) £12.60
Japan Passenger Security Service Charge (OI) £3.60
Japan International Tourist Tax (TK) £5.10
£354.40

[NorthernLass]

e14 wrote:

They are quoting the commercial fare not the Reward Flight Saver rate – which as you say is £96.50 having just checked the 10th November 2025

The RFS fare is £287.50, not £96.50.

Any booking which involves BA “recalculating” taxes is best avoided if possible. This is one of the reasons I keep a high avios balance so I can have outbound and return on separate PNRs if it’s advantageous, as in this case, or e.g. combining F with another cabin.

[e14]

NorthernLass wrote:

e14 wrote:

They are quoting the commercial fare not the Reward Flight Saver rate – which as you say is £96.50 having just checked the 10th November 2025

The RFS fare is £287.50, not £96.50.

Any booking which involves BA “recalculating” taxes is best avoided if possible. This is one of the reasons I keep a high avios balance so I can have outbound and return on separate PNRs if it’s advantageous, as in this case, or e.g. combining F with another cabin.

Can’t GUF or joker though on separate PNRS

[kmrhi]

So, I gave it 1 more try yesterday and decided to call late in the evening using the US number. I managed to get an agent (looks like it was based in the UK instead of India) that was super helpful and reworked the taxes. Guess I was right and the taxes that I have to pay were around £96 for the inbound leg. They charged me a change fee of £35 on top of that but that worked out much better than the circa £300 I was quoted earlier.

My impression were that they were charging me BA surcharges not Iberia. Just a reminder that some of the BA agents are truly incompetent. If I gave up and didn’t push, I would have paid £200 more!