Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

  • Ihar 485 posts

    Sorry if everyone already knows, but my wife and I have been flying for over 30 years so don’t know if it’s a new thing.

    We were flying LHR<->AMS and allowed to change to later flights on both directions for no charge (Club I bucket and Econ V, both cash tickets). Basically my wife was enjoying lunch too much and wanted to stay an extra couple of hours.

    Is this a usual thing?? I guess it makes sense if later flights have lower loading, but it seems incredibly generous – especially as the fare buckets are normally non-refundable/changeable without a fee.

    Swiss Jim 309 posts

    Yes, well known. If not that well known (clearly..) and I suspect not well used. It can be used to save money (if you’re willing to take a slight risk…).

    BA Flyer IHG Stayer 3,103 posts

    Can be risky as I found to my cost last summer. Booked the first flight back to LCY ex AMS as it was cheapest but when I tried to move there were no other flights to move on to so mad rush to Schiphol at 5am!

    Not doing that agaian

    Ihar 485 posts

    No, sorry. We were already booked and checked in (and paid for). Then we were allowed to change the flight for no cost – but not looking for a cheaper flight. The tickets weren’t fully flex.

    Just happy to change the flight and spend a few extra hours eating/drinking.

    BA Flyer IHG Stayer 3,103 posts

    For a same day change the tickets don’t have to be fully flex.

    Any economy plus or club ticket bought for cash on a short hail point to point route can be changed for free until an hour before the flight. Being checked in doesnt change that eiter.

    Froggee 1,206 posts

    I have gambled a few times and so far won every time with this.

    But one squeaky bum where I thought we would be spending the day at Heathrow. Thankfully BA changed the final row of business class into Economy seats at the last minute and we changed to a perfectly timed flight. And amusingly got row 6 to ourselves which is nice as a family of four flying economy without pre-booked seats.

    I’ve realised it is not the best plan to book the cheapest first flight of the day unless you are happy to take it as staying up until midnight, if you then have no luck and need to be up at 4am, would be a very bad thing.

    But for e.g. coming back from London to Edinburgh I am very happy to book the last flight of the day if it is cheap and then take pot luck.

    One further point is you cannot swap London City for Heathrow which seems unsporting given that BA consider it one thing when rebooking us!

    Swiss Jim 309 posts

    For a same day change the tickets don’t have to be fully flex.

    Any economy plus or club ticket bought for cash on a short hail point to point route can be changed for free until an hour before the flight. Being checked in doesnt change that eiter.

    That I think answers the one niggle I had. It has to be a cash ticket (however cheap) doesn’t it – not a points booking. Also can you do this in MMB – or do you have to call? I’m guessing given the midnight comment MMB is the place to go…?

    AndrewT 564 posts

    Cash and flight only (no BAH), excluding HBO (ie Economy Plus as mentioned above).

    From memory I think it pops up in MMB, although I’ve never actually got to use it as I’m normally on the cheapo fares.

    freckles 290 posts

    Yes, I’ve done this in MMB – just go to change flight as normal

    Swiss Jim 309 posts

    Cash and flight only (no BAH), excluding the three lowest economy fare classes (ie Economy Plus as mentioned above).

    From memory I think it pops up in MMB, although I’ve never actually got to use it as I’m normally on the cheapo fares.

    ah ok, thanks.

    AndrewT 564 posts

    Sorry just edited my post to say excluding HBO, it’s not fare class dependent.

    SamG 1,897 posts

    I have gambled a few times and so far won every time with this.

    But one squeaky bum where I thought we would be spending the day at Heathrow. Thankfully BA changed the final row of business class into Economy seats at the last minute and we changed to a perfectly timed flight. And amusingly got row 6 to ourselves which is nice as a family of four flying economy without pre-booked seats.

    I’ve realised it is not the best plan to book the cheapest first flight of the day unless you are happy to take it as staying up until midnight, if you then have no luck and need to be up at 4am, would be a very bad thing.

    But for e.g. coming back from London to Edinburgh I am very happy to book the last flight of the day if it is cheap and then take pot luck.

    One further point is you cannot swap London City for Heathrow which seems unsporting given that BA consider it one thing when rebooking us!

    The different airports have different taxes and charges, so swapping them would require a recalculation/reissue etc. So it’s fair enough really…

    Agree on the first flight of the day plan, I did it from Nice and had to stay up until 1am local time before it was showing €0 and availability was very tight – would have been awful if I had actually had to go on my booked 7am flight!

    SamG 1,897 posts

    For a same day change the tickets don’t have to be fully flex.

    Any economy plus or club ticket bought for cash on a short hail point to point route can be changed for free until an hour before the flight. Being checked in doesnt change that eiter.

    That I think answers the one niggle I had. It has to be a cash ticket (however cheap) doesn’t it – not a points booking. Also can you do this in MMB – or do you have to call? I’m guessing given the midnight comment MMB is the place to go…?

    Note that it’s usually midnight UK or thereabouts , so if you’re overseas it’ll be even later.

    Froggee 1,206 posts

    It was a civilised 4pm in San Francisco when I changed our BA flight up to Edinburgh from the one I had originally booked at 6:15am which would have been tricky to take given that it departed five hours and five minutes before our Virgin Atlantic flight landed at Heathrow!

    It was a giggle.

    First, only the 10pm was available. Then the 6:15pm appeared so I frantically took it as they were announcing last call.

    And on landing at Heathrow the 2:15pm was then available so all was well in the land of Froggee.

    Very lucky frog.

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