Tip & question: 2-4-1 Avios booking starting/returning outside London

[wookie192]

Hello,

On Monday I booked my second 2-4-1 Flight using Avios points, I was struggling a little getting a flight back that we wanted. So I decided to give the Exec Club a call to see if they could help me, I’m glad I did as the lady I was dealing with was amazing and we managed to get the return flight back we originally wanted (it was showing as not available on the website).

TIP:
How? Well…. It’s pretty obvious now I know, but I never actually thought about it. I was searching for a flight back from LAX to MAN on a particular date and nothing was available in business class, the lady informed me to instead search for just LAX to LHR in Business. The reason for this is if they’re isn’t any businesss class seats on the flight from LHR to MAN then the whole flight will show as 0 availability in Business (even if there’s business seats available from LAX to LHR).

Since LHR to MAN is only a 35min flight, we was happy to have that flight back in Economy since it meant we could return home on the date we wanted whilst still having our long haul in business.

I know it’s a silly oversight, but it’s one you can easily forget.

QUESTION:
If this is the case, then shouldn’t anyone starting/ending their journey from outside London, be better off just ringing BA and getting them to check availability? As if you start/return from outside of London then doesn’t extra reward seats become available? Where as if I was to just search LAX to LHR then no extra seats will become available?

So…. Should I just ring BA for all future 2-4-1 Avios bookings? Or have I been miss-informed?

Thank you 🙂

[NorthernLass]

No need to call!

[NorthernLass]

You don’t actually need to call BA, just search for economy and use the stopover facility and you’ll see Y, PE and J availability on the long haul and ET plus CE options on the domestic leg. You can then select which cabin you want on each sector.

This is also useful when you want to fly to LHR the night before a long haul trip but have it all on one PNR.

[wookie192]

Aaaaah, never used the stopover functionality. I thought that was just used if I wanted to make a “stopover” so never actually used it.

I’ll have to take a look at it, is this something HFP have covered in an article? It might be good for the team to re-publish this article to the home page again if it’s not something that’s been covered in a few years.

Thank you NorthernLass!

[NorthernLass]

I don’t think there’s ever been an article, it’s just something I’ve discovered from playing around with the booking system over the years.

Probably not enough of us regional travellers to merit an article 😂

[Neil]

I think I use the stopover feature every time I book a BA long-haul although I’m not sure how this interacts with the extra availability offered by the voucher I’ve always managed to get what I want eventually. We’ve done same day and next day stopovers so a stopover can be just a few hours if needed to get the class you want.

[AJA]

@wookie192 Don’t know what BA status you have but regardless you can use the lounges at LHR while waiting for the flight to MAN on the basis of the longhaul flight in J.

[NorthernLass]

A stopover search shouldn’t affect the extra availability, it just shows you more options for the domestic connection.

[wookie192]

AJA wrote:

@wookie192 Don’t know what BA status you have but regardless you can use the lounges at LHR while waiting for the flight to MAN on the basis of the longhaul flight in J.

Ah, I’ve got status anyway which is why I wasn’t that bothered about getting Economy back Manchester as I’d still be able to go into the lounge and bring the other half in with me 🙂

Deffo need to have a play around with the stopover feature. Thanks all.

[CJD]

wookie192 wrote:

Aaaaah, never used the stopover functionality. I thought that was just used if I wanted to make a “stopover” so never actually used it.

I’ll have to take a look at it, is this something HFP have covered in an article? It might be good for the team to re-publish this article to the home page again if it’s not something that’s been covered in a few years.

Thank you NorthernLass!

We all live in London remember, so we don’t need a stopover.