-
Hi, on very popular routes if we are travelling for a week, then the return leg can only be booked a week after the outwards leg. To use a companion voucher to apply to both legs I’ve always booked both legs at same time. But waiting a week until return leg is bookable means the outward leg in a better cabin has often gone. I’m guessing there is a solution, can someone please share? Thank you.
Book the outbound using your 241 when seats become available, and then phone back on your return date to add the inbound. The telephone agents can amend the booking to add it and you just pay the Avios difference and the additional taxes and fees due. I dont think you even pay the £35 telephone admin fee as adding flights to an existing 241 booking is something you cant do online but not 100% sure. Did this in Feb last year to book a return to Cape Town in club that my wife and I will be taking in 10 days time.
Thanks both. Enjoy Cape Town, we just got back from there 2 days ago, great place. We were flying business class on avios + 241….very acceptable. We were world traveller plus on way out so good to know how to do it both ways, much appreciated.
I have just experienced a rinky-dink I have not read about before when booking a return leg using a 241. The outbound was booked 355 days out using BA metal to MIA. Return I wanted was from Lima to LHR using IB. Their seats released tonight for my date – 26/1/25. BA exec club helpline told me I could not book the return leg using IB as it was sooner than 355 days despite it being acceptable to use IB metal. So, I have made a new booking for the return leg and paid full avios. Having tracked IB reward seats for some time there is no chance seats would have still existed at 355 days. Will I be able to get a refund of half the miles at 355 days? The agent could not confirm.
(seems crazy that there is no consistency between carriers!)So you booked the home bound leg via IB?
If so then you’re definitely not going to get half the avios back from BA.
2-4-1s can only be booked via BA.
Just because it’s Ok to use IB metal does not mean BA can access IB inventory when BAs booking horizon is shorter than IBs.
No, BA call centre booked the flight. They had no difficulty seeing and accessing the inventory. They just couldn’t add the return to my existing 241 outbound booking – they could only do it by making a new one way booking.
So the BA agent could see the IB availability, even though it had not been uploaded to ba.com? I don’t think there’s anything in the Ts and Cs about when the avios seat you book has been released. You may be successful getting the 50% avios back with a more experienced agent – they may not even check when it was booked.
Thanks NL – appreciate your response. Yes, they see and access the IB availability. The issue was that an open jaw return leg is added to an existing booking and, apparently, such an update can only be done with the 355 rule. But it was fine to create a new one way booking – with no use of the 241 return leg.
It’s actually going to get a bit more complicated! Outbound starts from ABZ but I couldn’t get the return to go beyond LHR as BA have yet to get to 355 for my date. I’m hoping to add that last leg for no extra avios.
To complete the story (do you have a moment?!) we are travelling with friends. I booked their outbound with an upgrade voucher and booked their return necessarily as a new booking. 4 seats were showing at the outset but by the time the painfully slow agent completed the first booking the other seats had gone. So now we’re not even travelling on the same day. These friends are not into our avios world and cannot believe the complexity and the hurdles to navigate!!Lol, some people really can’t get their heads around the whole points thing, but I hope they are suitable impressed with their cheap flights!
Please let us know how you get on with this as it’s very possible that this is the first time anyone has done this kind of booking with the current 241.
goodness, do you think??!
I certainly think there is an issue to be flagged widely. Of course, I had picked up on the Iberia 241 useage on HfP but I don’t recall ever seeing pointed out the complication caused by IB working to, is it, 350 days rather than 355 and the impact that has to the whole deal? (if you don’t have enough avios to book ‘full price’ before, hopefully, getting an avios refund. If no refund is possible then it’s a huge hole in the ‘improvement’.)
I’ll be sure to report back…..It has been covered and discussed as the fact that you can only use the 241 via ba.com does mean you have fewer options (and higher surcharges in some cases). As with many of these things, it’s not 100% clear what BA will and won’t do with these bookings so it’s best not to call too much attention to it in case they decide to impose a blanket ban on doing things like the process you’re talking about here!
If you get an agent who refuses to do what you’re asking, don’t make a big deal of it, just HUACA.
I understand, NL – and thanks for the thoughts.
Today, two more friends we are travelling with tried to do their own identical return open jaw / Iberia thing. They have been able to use their 241 return but have been charged over a £1k more than me for taxes etc… I’ll be sure to use your HUACA suggestion – now I’ve worked out what it means!So, the next chapter in this saga….
The other day I called BA and a very helpful agent arranged for 50% refund of avios for the return Iberia leg. No problem, Unfortunately I had , stupidly, wrongly calculated the day for the release of my LHR-ABZ leg to complete the home bound journey. So, she couldn’t help me with that but told me that there would be no avios charge but there might be a few pounds of extra tax – or maybe nothing.
Today the flight is in range and the today’s agent booked the required 2 seats and confirmed no avios necessary but that the tax calculation could not be done immediately and someone would have to call be back. I’ve had that call and the charge is £950 per person. Yes, £950 per person to add a LHR – ABZ leg. ‘The wole flight – LIM – ABZ has to be recalculated’. I have had the final leg removed from the booking – and will try again tomorrow.Mixing BA and IB metal on Avios seems to bring up some inexplicable pricing. So amateur from IAG.
@Noggins – sorry if this has been answered already, is your Lima flight direct from and to LHR? If not then the domestic connection to ABZ might not apply under the usual RFS rules. Though I do think other people have had issues with mixed BA/IB pricing. There’s a thread on using the 241 on Iberia somewhere!
Hello NL – and thanks for keeping an eye on this!
There is no direct service to LHR from Lima – our options were essentially AA to MIA and MIA – LHR on BA or the IB routing via Madrid. LATAM have pulled their short lived direct route – at least for now. THe KLM LIM – AMS – ABZ routing remains a potential option (quickest journey time) using V miles but it will be another 2/3 weeks before flights are in date.
The (UK based) agent I spoke to the other day told me RFS rules would apply but today’s (India CC – despite my still using the bronze h/l number) agent thought otherwise – although it took them 45 minutes of checking / questioning me before deciding, so it was clearly not a routine they’re used to dealing with!
I’ll look for that other thread!The end of the saga today…..
A Warrington area based agent (they work from home, of course) re-checked the issues for my final LHR – ABZ leg. She got it booked and at a charge of £33.42pp – which is a fair saving on the £950pp I was quoted the other day!
The agent did say that the different call centres try not to deal with each others cases but in her experience if something has gone wrong it often seems to be from either the S Africa or the Delhi call centre.
Never was HUACA a more appropriate course of action!
Clearly mixing IB and BA metal on a 241 is causing some issues – be warned. (Our friends, who are travelling the identical route (less ABZ), are still being charged £’00’s more than me and have been put in Eco for the Mad – LHR leg.)
Thanks for the comments and advice here.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
Popular articles this week:
