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Managed to secure 2x J outbounds for 21 March next year by booking online. That was my first attempt so surprised I was successful given the activity in this thread!
Hello,
How do I call the USA number – 1 800 452 1201
Do I put 001-1 800 452 1201 ?
Hello,
How do I call the USA number – 1 800 452 1201
Do I put 001-1 800 452 1201 ?
don’t add the extra 1, just add 00 to the first number or in skype there is a + option
Thanks guys, will let you know how I got on. Interestingly, I called the USA BAEC number earlier, just to make sure my Skype was working, and the agent I was speaking to was based in India! So I guess even ringing the USA number doesn’t ensure you will get an agent from USA.
I think I called the US number and got someone from Birmingham or something.
No luck unfortunately 🙁
I rang the USA Call Centre at 00:48am, went through the options (2,1,3 – last option being something about ‘if you wish to book with a companion voucher press 3’). Was waiting to connect to an agent for 6 minutes, and then the automated messaged appeared to say we are closed. Tried calling back 2 more times but lines were closed.
I was ready to book online on my phone using the BA app anyway. My heart was racing, this was crazy. As soon as it hit 1am, I whizzed through the selections and clicked submit, all in about 30 seconds, and I got the ‘Sorry we have been unable to complete your transaction at this time’. I tried to then book the business class on the earlier flight (Tuesday has 2 outbound flights from LHR to HND) but same issue. By this time it was about 1.02/1.03am, and even the Premium economy seats were taken on both flights.
I will try again Saturday night. What ‘cost’ me a few seconds was, even though ba.com is on my AMEX safe list, once I submitted the payment, I got this screen – https://ibb.co/r7BQLRR
Didn’t ask for any code etc but I just had to click the button. Fingers crossed for my next attempt. Think I will try calling at around 00:40.
Edit, there is a similar post in the massive 241 thread about a similar experience:
I called the US call centre number via Skype (+1 800 452 1201) last night from the UK at 23:45 GMT to book reward flights T-355 – went through all the menus only to be told they were closed at around 23:55 and the call hung up?
You can use the 241 on Iberia but need to book via BA.com. You can’t use the 241 on any other website, so if there’s no availability showing, you’re not going to get the seats at that time.
As suggested, it would be really helpful to read the relevant articles before jumping in at the deep end again!https://www.headforpoints.com/2024/01/08/where-does-iberia-fly-long-haul/
Can you do the same to book QR flights?
Thank you
Use the 241? No.
Use the 241? No.
Thanks, just thought I would double-check re the IB comment on the 2-4-1.
SeatSpy is showing 2 x J to HND on Feb 4th – might be cancellations.
No luck unfortunately 🙁
I rang the USA Call Centre at 00:48am, went through the options (2,1,3 – last option being something about ‘if you wish to book with a companion voucher press 3’). Was waiting to connect to an agent for 6 minutes, and then the automated messaged appeared to say we are closed. Tried calling back 2 more times but lines were closed.
I was ready to book online on my phone using the BA app anyway. My heart was racing, this was crazy. As soon as it hit 1am, I whizzed through the selections and clicked submit, all in about 30 seconds, and I got the ‘Sorry we have been unable to complete your transaction at this time’. I tried to then book the business class on the earlier flight (Tuesday has 2 outbound flights from LHR to HND) but same issue. By this time it was about 1.02/1.03am, and even the Premium economy seats were taken on both flights.
I will try again Saturday night. What ‘cost’ me a few seconds was, even though ba.com is on my AMEX safe list, once I submitted the payment, I got this screen – https://ibb.co/r7BQLRR
Didn’t ask for any code etc but I just had to click the button. Fingers crossed for my next attempt. Think I will try calling at around 00:40.
Edit, there is a similar post in the massive 241 thread about a similar experience:
I called the US call centre number via Skype (+1 800 452 1201) last night from the UK at 23:45 GMT to book reward flights T-355 – went through all the menus only to be told they were closed at around 23:55 and the call hung up?
Same issue with calling US number and then getting message line is closed – what do people do in those circumstances? Try a different number or keeping trying US number?
Quite a few reports of US number doing this recently, I think people have been calling Australia/India/Japan.
Quite a few reports of US number doing this recently, I think people have been calling Australia/India/Japan.
I’m planning to phone up just before 1am BST on Saturday – would this mean that if the US lines are closed I won’t be able to book on the phone?
Australia, India, Japan and HK are all closed on Saturdays.Quite a few reports of US number doing this recently, I think people have been calling Australia/India/Japan.
I’m planning to phone up just before 1am BST on Saturday – would this mean that if the US lines are closed I won’t be able to book on the phone?
Australia, India, Japan and HK are all closed on Saturdays.As long as you are through and talking to someone before 00:50, they stay on the line with you. I’ve called at 47 past the hour and been too late. Called 00:40 today and yesterday and got through to a UK person. They can only wait on the line for 15 minutes for tickets, so they may advise you to call back in a few minutes, but I asked an agent to check hotel quotes for me. (No reward seats were released at 01:00 both times for me so was unsuccessful but managed to book via phone at 10:40 today)
Great – thank you @ambellina_x!
So tonight’s business class flights were instantly gone – presumably phone agents had them on hold or something. Leaving just 2 PE tickets on both flights, which then went within a minute.
2 PE tickets on the morning flight re-appeared at 01:03 and gone again a minute later.I’d phoned up at 00:44, but the phone lines closed at 00:55
Guess I’ll have to hope for additional availability to become available later in the year due to my companion voucher.
Same issues
Called US number at 00.40 and then told line closed at 00.55
Called Japan number at 00.55 but they were not open yet – called after 01.00 and still on hold after 15 minutes
Tried to book online and all the tickets (PE and economy) were gone within one minute
This seems a hopeless task to secure tickets to Tokyo during Easter
Starting to despair if there is any point having the companion voucher given such limited availability and difficulty in booking
Called US number at 00.40 and then told line closed at 00.55
I was trying to secure a return CW flight today, also called at 00:40 and got kicked at 00:55 and was not fastest finger for the afternoon return I wanted. I’ll be trying again tomorrow to secure my preferred return leg, although I did bag a Qatar connecting flight as a backup just in case, as we must be back by the Monday.
This seems a hopeless task to secure tickets to Tokyo during Easter
Starting to despair if there is any point having the companion voucher given such limited availability and difficulty in booking
There are places companion vouchers are really easy to use, but today you were trying to book into a perfect storm I’m afraid 🙁 Don’t give up hope just yet…
If you’ve got a few more Avios kicking around, do check out the Qatar or Finnair connecting itineraries. They’re not on the 241, but they’re 160,000 Avios each way in Club (vs 110,000 with BA 241) and QR seem to have lower fees too.
2 x J inbound in BA8 (A350) for May 4th 2025 showing at the moment (6.30am). Good luck.
I don’t think you mean May!
2 x J inbound in BA8 (A350) for May 4th 2025 showing at the moment (6.30am). Good luck.
They’re gone now, but when I was posting last night there were two CW inbound on BA8 available both Fri 4th and Sat 5th April 2025. As the early morning flight and not being a morning person, I passed on them.
Also, forgot to mention with my “explore partner redemptions” comment, to look at airports other than HND. QR fly QSuite into NRT, rather than HND, so that’s what I booked. You may want to consider an open-jaw if going down that route – Osaka (KIX) should also get reasonably priced QR and AY redemptions, but at the time of writing they’re not yet released for T-355. (I’m a big fan of open-jaw itineraries; they allow you to explore more of a country as you don’t have to retrace your steps at the end of a trip to exit through the same airport as you arrived)
My call got cut off at 1am last night just as the agent said “I’ve managed to hold those seats for you, Mr BlueLabel”!
Which was very frustrating, but we had wanted 4 seats and the agent had refused to use 2x241s from different accounts (even though we’ve done that before) so he was only going to book 2 seats anyway.
In the end we booked 2xJ and 2x prem eco to Beijing so we’ll have a little bonus stopover.
My call got cut off at 1am last night just as the agent said “I’ve managed to hold those seats for you, Mr BlueLabel”!
May I ask, what time did you initiated the call and which call center did you use? Ringed US at 00:40 yesterday, like several others and was not able to connect to an agent and the call was auto disconnected at 00:55.
Same issues
Called US number at 00.40 and then told line closed at 00.55
Called Japan number at 00.55 but they were not open yet – called after 01.00 and still on hold after 15 minutes
Tried to book online and all the tickets (PE and economy) were gone within one minute
This seems a hopeless task to secure tickets to Tokyo during Easter
Starting to despair if there is any point having the companion voucher given such limited availability and difficulty in booking
Sorry it was me that reported it instead of quoting it!
This is all very strange, as I have just looked up my last Skype call which was on 4th March (still midnight then) and it lasted for just over 46 minutes and started at 11:47. So, there’s no doubt they will go above and beyond unless something has drastically changed recently. I have a strong suspicion there is a lot of variability in the agents and you need to drop lucky. It might almost be worth starting the conversation with “are we able to continue this call beyond 00:00 (or 01:00 in summer) to complete the booking.” If the answer is no HUACA.
My call got cut off at 1am last night just as the agent said “I’ve managed to hold those seats for you, Mr BlueLabel”!
May I ask, what time did you initiated the call and which call center did you use? Ringed US at 00:40 yesterday, like several others and was not able to connect to an agent and the call was auto disconnected at 00:55.
I would say if it’s not answered within 3-4 minutes I would hang up and redial. I think there’s some luck of the draw involved here.
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