Waiting for inbound reward flights to be released: Should I book outbound now?

[Kensingtonflyer]

Looking to fly to Canada late June 2025, returning just over 2 weeks later. The reward flights for the outbound are already on sale but there’s still a few days to go until the inbound date opens up. There are x2 business seats left on the outbound.

Should I wait until the inbound opens up and book as a round trip or secure the outbound now? i.e are there any disadvantages in booking 2 one way tickets?

Thanks for any advice

[NigelHamilton]

Get the outbound, ring up BA when the return is released and have them added.

And if it’s Vancouver, book the outbound tonight!

[Kensingtonflyer]

Thanks for the advice. Is it possible to do on line , ie. book two one ways. I’d prefer to avoid BA customer services call centre if possible!

[BA Flyer IHG Stayer]

Since you didn’t mention a 2-4-1 I assume this is just a simple avios booking in which case I’d be happy to book them separately. And yes you can do this online. There really are only a limited number of biking types that require a call.

Do some dummy bookings to see if there is any difference in cost between booking it as two one ways and as a return.

The only disadvantage I see of separate bookings is that if you chose to cancel you have to pay two sets of cancellation fees.

BTW BA can’t add two separately booked flights together. All they do is put in a note into the booking. You still have two separate bookings.

[Londonsteve]

Isn’t the cost of taxes and charges subject to a hideous uplift if booking one ways from North America on BAEC, or is that just on flights from the USA? I recall there was now a health warning applied to booking flights to the US/North America as 2 singles instead of a return from the UK.

[NorthernLass]

There’s no difference in the cash element since RFS was introduced on long-haul flights about 18 months ago.

As suggested, if there’s no 241 involved, just book them as 2 x one-way. It’s swings and roundabouts – you may want to change one leg at some point so having them on separate bookings would be more convenient in that instance.

[Kensingtonflyer]

Thank you all for your advice. It’s an Avios reward flight, not with any companion vouchers. I did the dummy bookings as suggested by BA Flyer IHG Stayer and NorthernLass is right, there isn’t any increase in the cash element for 2 one ways versus a round trip. I’ve booked the outbound, now fingers crossed for the inbound!