Issues with BA refusing to merge return flight refund for 241 booking
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Need advice please, a bit of a long story so please bear with.
Husband booked outbound flight using his 241 voucher as soon as the flight is available 355 days before departure. He and I are the passengers for this flight. Avios came from our household account.
2 weeks later, when the return flight is available for booking, he tried to book but failed. The next day, we both tried together using our separate accounts, again he couldnt book it, but I was able to using my account. Similarly, the Avios came from our household account so both his and my avios.
He called the BA customer service yesterday merge the 2 bookings and get half the Avios from the return flight refunded. And they said no! Because the outbound was booked by him, however the inbound was booked by me, they cannot merge. I’m so confused… the passengers of both flights are the same people (he and I), the Avios points also come from the same household account. Why are they being difficult?!?!
Any experience or advice on what we can do, I would really appreciate!
Could you cancel, allow redemption seats to go back to inventory and have your husband quickly book them? I think its not guaranteed but high likelihood and very doubtful someone would beat you to it if you are coordinated.
The voucher can only be booked from the account of the person with the voucher.
What you are asking is simply not possible.
Whilst the avios are in a HHA they still come from your individual BAC accounts. Having a HHA does not make your own accounts interchangeable.
In any case the bookings can’t be merged even if he managed to book both sets of flights but the avios would be refunded. They remain as separate bookings.
Could you cancel, allow redemption seats to go back to inventory and have your husband quickly book them? I think its not guaranteed but high likelihood and very doubtful someone would beat you to it if you are coordinated.
We could try this as last resort. But it’s risky like you said. It’s ridiculous that we have to do it though, I think BA is being extremely unreasonable.
The voucher can only be booked from the account of the person with the voucher.
What you are asking is simply not possible.
Whilst the avios are in a HHA they still come from your individual BAC accounts. Having a HHA does not make your own accounts interchangeable.
In any case the bookings can’t be merged even if he managed to book both sets of flights but the avios would be refunded. They remain as separate bookings.
Ok then not “merge”, but I want half of the Avios used in the return flight refunded. If he was able to book the return fight himself using his account, but would have been the case, now BA refuse to refund the Avios on ground of technicality ie it was booked by me. But it’s silly, because both flights have the same 2 passengers, Avios came from the same household account where both his and mine are deducted.
As BA flyer says a booking using a voucher has to be made by the account holder. The terms have always been very clear so it’s perfectly reasonable that you can’t align bookings from different accounts. The fact that you have two separate bookings which happen to be for the same people doesn’t change that.
What you are effectively asking for is half of ‘your’ Avios to be returned against someone else’s voucher, which you can’t do. The HHA makes them shared Avios but I’m afraid that is coincidental.
We could try this as last resort. But it’s risky like you said. It’s ridiculous that we have to do it though, I think BA is being extremely unreasonable.
I think BA are being perfectly reasonable. The 241 voucher is already used, and can only be redeemed by the named voucher holder. Just cancel the return tickets and re-book them on the correct account.
Why was your husband unable to book the return flight? If there’s a technical issue, he can always call BA and ask them to add the inbound – are there any seats left on the route? If not, you’d need to cancel your booking first and the likelihood is that the seats would go back into the inventory at this point. You’ll be on the hook for £35 cancellation fee each, sadly (unless it’s a short-haul route and you’ve paid less than this).
As others have said, BA is being perfectly reasonable here; you wouldn’t be able to book any kind of return journey half from one account and half from another so it’s quite logical that you can’t do it with the 241.
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