LHR-GRU with BA Barclays Upgrade Voucher

[tp1404]

Hi,
I’ve been doing a lot of reading around, but I feel overloaded with information and would appreciate some clarity from anyone who knows the answers please.
I am intending to book 2x CW return flights using 2x BA Barclays Upgrade Vouchers (both in my name). LHR-GRU.
I understand I have to do this by telephone in order to use both vouchers on the same booking.
Are the taxes cheaper if this is booked as 2x one-way flights and then combined, and can this be done with BA Barclays upgrade vouchers? Would an agent be able to do the 2 bookings and combine all of this in one phone call?
In addition, can the above still works if I decided to do open-jaw? LHR-GRU and RIO-LHR.
Thanks in advance

[NorthernLass]

You should be able to see the surcharges required by doing a dummy booking on ba.com for a date when there is CW availability. You can search both legs separately.

I’m not entirely sure what you mean by booking 2 x one-way, but if you mean use one Barclays voucher outbound for 2 people, be aware that you then won’t be able to use the 2nd voucher for the return trip as the journey has to start in the UK as per the Ts and Cs.

[TooPoorToBeHere]

I have just booked something very like this. Out to GRU, returning from GIG, using the Barclays upgrade voucher, from a UK regional airport.

Has to be done on the phone of course, website can’t do openjaw or multiple vouchers.

Things that stood out to me:

1 – There’s not much availability to GIG so you have to be flexible, careful, quick, and early. GRU is much better. There’s no first on either route.

2 – The ratio of WTP to CW pricing varies. Sometimes CW is only a little bit more expensive than WTP, making WTP poor value on these long flights.

3 – First call centre person to answer was a bit grumpy – I wish I had HUACA. I was left wondering whether I should have examined Iberia options, going to EZE instead, different options for regional departures, splitting into 2 trips, pricing my regional legs as ET instead of CE, etc. But it took a long time on the phone just to price up the trip, and what I’ve got was a tolerable price and took a lot of organising so I’m not going to change it now.

4 – My booking couldn’t be completed by the call centre person – I think because I’d mixed classes (no CE available on one of the regional connections) – and/or they didn’t know what they were doing. Unclear.

It is silly that the default choice is “spend 14 hours at LHR waiting for your regional connection in CE” rather than “do the regional leg in ET with a sensible 2.5 hours between flights”

But anyway – I was told I couldn’t pay, someone would call me to take card details, and given a PNR (which showed as unticketed).

No-one called me and I think I’ve read elsewhere that “someone will call you” is a lie – they don’t do that.

I then received several “You need to call us about this booking” mails over the next couple of weeks, on several occasions calling in to be told that it still wasn’t ready for me to pay for. On the last one, card details were taken, and a couple of days (!) later I got notification the payment was taken – at the same time the avios and voucher disappeared from my BAEC account, and 125- ticket numbers appeared on the booking.

Very pre-internet experience.

5 – If you’re prepared to watch and wait you might bag a bargain cash fare – eg https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/premium-fare-deals/2122776-vs-ba-la-uk-abz-bhd-edi-gla-inv-jer-man-ncl-cnf-1168-gbp-r-t-business.html

[marks7389]

TooPoorToBeHere wrote:

2 – The ratio of WTP to CW pricing varies. Sometimes CW is only a little bit more expensive than WTP, making WTP poor value on these long flights.

It mostly depends on whether it’s a peak or off-peak redemption date. As a general rule of thumb, off-peak WTP is around half the Avios and cash compared to CW. For peak dates it’s around two thirds.

As a result the upgrade vouchers, when used to book CW at WTP Avios rates, tend to save more for off-peak travel

[TooPoorToBeHere]

marks7389 wrote:

As a result the upgrade vouchers, when used to book CW at WTP Avios rates, tend to save more for off-peak travel

Makes sense. Thanks. I didn’t get much value out of my Barclays voucher here, I’m sure – but better than 7000 Avios or letting it expire (which was in prospect).

[Michael C]

TooPoorToBeHere wrote:

marks7389 wrote:

As a result the upgrade vouchers, when used to book CW at WTP Avios rates, tend to save more for off-peak travel

Makes sense. Thanks. I didn’t get much value out of my Barclays voucher here, I’m sure – but better than 7000 Avios or letting it expire (which was in prospect).

@TooPoor – so just to confirm, you did both open jaw AND mixed classes? Hoping to ring about this soon!
Also do your identical GIG-GRU combo – pity (for me!) the daytime outbound has ended…

[TooPoorToBeHere]

Michael C wrote:

@TooPoor – so just to confirm, you did both open jaw AND mixed classes? Hoping to ring about this soon!
Also do your identical GIG-GRU combo – pity (for me!) the daytime outbound has ended…

Yes, open jaw and mixed class, using the Barclays voucher.

So I’ve got something like this:

EDI-LHR in Club Euro (business)
LHR-GRU in Club World (business) with really nice overnight timings, pretty please BA don’t f**k this up
some time in Brazil
GIG-LHR in Club World (business)
LHR-EDI in Euro Traveller (econ)

[Michael C]

TooPoorToBeHere wrote:

Michael C wrote:

@TooPoor – so just to confirm, you did both open jaw AND mixed classes? Hoping to ring about this soon!
Also do your identical GIG-GRU combo – pity (for me!) the daytime outbound has ended…

Yes, open jaw and mixed class, using the Barclays voucher.

So I’ve got something like this:

EDI-LHR in Club Euro (business)
LHR-GRU in Club World (business) with really nice overnight timings, pretty please BA don’t f**k this up
some time in Brazil
GIG-LHR in Club World (business)
LHR-EDI in Euro Traveller (econ)

Ah, thanks – I’m actually hoping to mix my Asia outbound/inbound, one from WT to WTP and the other from WTP to J…we’ll see!

[TooPoorToBeHere]

I think you can mix classes in an online booking, but not do openjaw or multiple vouchers. I’ve made a “WTP out, CW back” booking online before. The domestic connections were crappy.

I think “look carefully on Seatspy then phone if you can’t get what you want from the website” – accepting that Seatspy’s data is probably all balls today until the BA IT screwup is sorted.

[NorthernLass]

Have you done this with a Barclay’s voucher though? AFAIK when you select the cabin you want to upgrade from, this carries through to the return leg as well. Having said that, I have only done a return booking on short-haul where of course there is no cabin between economy and business.
I should have another Barclay’s voucher in a couple of months so look forward to playing with it to see what else it can do!

[TooPoorToBeHere]

NorthernLass wrote:

Have you done this with a Barclay’s voucher though?

No.

[NorthernLass]

That is what is being asked – it’s always been possible to book a standard reward flight in mixed cabins, the upgrade voucher is still a bit of an unknown quantity!