FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - companion tickets - outbound available

Sep 24, 2024 | 3:39 am

#2

LimitingFactor

Join Date: Nov 2016

Location: NQY

Programs: BAEC

Posts: 604

Quote:

Originally Posted by carolynn

Hi, I know there are lots of threads on this as I have read them, but now the time has come for us to book I have started to panic and can't remember what to do for the best.

We have 2 companion vouchers to use (AmEx) and we don't have any flexibility in our travel dates. The outbound have opened up with 2 business class seats available but we are a few weeks away from inbound being available.

What is the best way to proceed. If my memory serves me right, I feel we should be snapping up these outbound flights but how do we add return once available.

Please can someone give me the dummy guide on what to do. Thanmks in advance.

It's all here: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/brit...er-thread.html

Quote:

Q: Can I book my outbound flight at 355 days and call back to add the return booking?
A: Yes, but you will need to call BA. Once availability shows, you can call to add the return leg – the BA policy is to waive the £35 change fee per passenger if the return was beyond the booking window when you booked the outbound, i.e. that you booked your outbound leg when seats became available at T-355.

For example: If you booked your outbound at T-355 and called later to add the return leg the change fee would be waived. If you booked your outbound at T-50 and then booked the return for T-60 a few days later, the fee will not be waived.

Important update, posted by cbagent on 12 Feb 2018:
If adding the return sector to an existing one-way Amex 241 where the inbound dates were out of range at time of booking, it is now possible to book the flights online as a new one way Avios booking then call BA UK office when open.

Half of the Avios on this new booking will then be refunded to reflect Amex voucher use. The benefit of this is that there is no need to try calling open BA office in the early hours of the morning and the downside is the itinerary will be ticketed as two one way bookings. In addition the Avios balance must be high enough to take a debit of double the required Avios albeit for a relatively short time. May be of use for some people. Note: you are strongly advised not to use this new method of booking two separate one ways if going to the US/Canada. When booking as two separate bookings and having the 2-4-1 applied across both is that taxes/charges/fees are not recalculated when the voucher is applied across to the second booking. Sometimes this will work out well for you (bookings exHKG for example), but for exUS or exCA bookings it is not recommended at all since exUS/CA taxes/fees/charges are very high. As an example, using the two separate bookings method on a LHR-JFK booking in J or F for two people would cost you about £480 more that the old method of calling and adding the inbound to an existing booking. Please see post 965 here for more information.

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