Boraxo

Quick questions:

According to the BA website T&Cs: The voucher will be issued in the name of the main BA/Chase Credit card account holder, who must travel on any voucher.

(1) Can I book my wife (who is not a cardholder) and child using the 241 voucher, or must cardholder be one of the travelers?

(2) If No, would the answer change if I add Mrs. B as an authorized user for the card?

(3) Can I get AARP and/or Chase card discount(s) on the bogus "fees" if I book the trip using a telephone CSR? Because I doubt I will be able to piece together 2 one-way TATL flights plus connections through ba.com.

Thanks

golfmad

No. Has to be the main cardholder.

No for the same reason as above.

Steve in Olympia

If you have been waiting for your Chase 2-4-1 "Travel Together" companion voucher to be awarded, you might want to check your BAEC account. The vouchers appeared in quite a few accounts this morning.

mwalsh

Yes, got one today. Thanks for the heads-up.

bigjimbo99

If we plan a 2 week trip from the US to say VIE or BUD with a 4 day stopover in London, would the taxes and fees be less if the stopover is at the beginning of the trip or on the way home? This fees and charges stuff is a bit complicated. I was also thinking of a trip to SIN using the companion fare, it would save at least some money and avios I think, and maybe this is the better use of the companion fare. SIN is on our bucket list, and a much more expensive trip. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

JIMCHI

Not mine, but earned only 3 weeks ago. Are they only posted after the close of a statement - then wait 4-6 weeks?

Steve in Olympia

The vouchers often show up a few days after the statement closes, but they are usually processed in batches. Thus, the vouchers in my account and my wife’s account often show up on the same day, even though the respective statements close about eight days apart. There is no precise rule.

Steve in Olympia

The UK’s Air Passenger Duty (APD) is based on the length of the departing segment following a layover in the UK.....so the APD will be less on the layover on the outbound trip (to BUD or VIE), and higher if the layover is immediately prior to your departure back to the US.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Passenger_Duty

Furby

The UK APD is applied on departures only, not on arriving flights. Since the APD can be substantial in a premium cabin, and still a good chunk of change in world traveller, it would be better to stopover in London on the way out from the US, and then fly back to the US from BUD or VIE. Although you will transit in London you will not be in the UK for more than 24 hours and therefore will avoid the UK APD altogether. If you take the stopover on the way back you will be subject to APD. The UK APD is about $95 in coach and $210 in Business or First, our person, so well worth avoiding.

Steve in Olympia

Doing the London stopover on the outbound trip will not “avoid the UK APD altogether.” It will merely lessen the APD, not avoid it.

Furby

Good point, but the APD on the LGW/LHR to BUD or VIE (or anywhere in Europe) are only about $16 in World Traveller or $26 in Business/First versus $95 and $210 respectively if flying from LHR/LGW to the US. So booking the stop over on the way out saves $79 WT or $184 in First /Business per person.

Also, if you have enough AVIOS you can save another considerable sum by making two one way bookings. The reason being that ex US fees are substantially higher then ex UK (or ex EU) tickets. If you book from the USA with a return ticket they hit you with the higher fees on both the outbound and the return leg. You cannot avoid the higher fees on the outbound leg, but by booking the inbound leg as a separate ticket they charge you the ex UK (or ex EU) fees on that leg and these are a LOT lower. To do this you need to book the outbound one way online using your companion voucher as soon as your flights are available. Then when your inbound flights are available book them online without the companion voucher as a totally separate ticket. The next day call in to BA and ask them to apply your voucher to the return trip that you just booked. They will do that and then refund you half of the AVIOS that you just used for the return leg. (To do this you need to have enough AVIOS to initially pay the full amount for the return leg). I have done this several times, took about 15 minutes on the phone, but the staff were very familiar with the process. The "extra" AVIOS that I used for the return leg were back in my account the same day. There are pros and cons to having two separate tickets for each leg. The biggest con is that if you need to cancel then you will incur a cancellation fee for each leg because they will still be two separate tickets. On the other hand, if there is an issue with the outbound leg, they will not automatically cancel the return (which they would if was a return ticket). I misconnected on separate tickets one time, and having two one ways saved my bacon on that trip. Of course the major pro is the cost saving. If you read this thread you will see more detail on this British Airways American Express Companion Voucher (2-4-1) Discussion and Wiki Thread. It is for the UK version of the voucher but a lot of the data points are common, just be aware the opposite is true for UK residents because when booking two one ways to the US their fees are substantially increased for the same reason but in reverse, so ignore warnings about not doing two one ways.

As an example of the above savings. This year I booked two tickets one way from the US to London and the fees were approximately $1700 for that leg. I returned from Madrid (flying through LHR) and the fees were about $572. By avoiding the UK APD on the long haul and getting the ex UK fees on the return leg I saved $1,128. That was in First, the savings on Business and World Traveller will be less but still substantial. You can play around with dummy bookings to see what the savings would be for you.

Hope this helps you save some money. The UK APD apples to everyone but is avoidable by leaving from the EU. The fees charged for flights ex US are truly ridiculous, but avoidable by booking the return separately.

enzian

Question: if one does as suggested above ( booking the outbound and return separately, then call and have BA apply the companion voucher used for the outbound flight to the inbound one as well), do they re-issue the ticket? Or do you keep the same ticket and booking code as it was originally booked online?

Steve in Olympia

Your booking reference for the outbound flight doesn’t change, and you will get a different confirmation code for your inbound flight.....so you will have two confirmation codes, and the 2-4-1 voucher will apply to both.

bigjimbo99

The fees ex US boggle the mind. Maybe a trip from US to VIE with a return from BUD to US is best booked without a stopover. Wow. Even then I see that the UK "insurance and security surcharge" is $1,200 per passenger. Not the great saving I was hoping for. As others have said, dubious value in a 2 for 1.

Boraxo

This is a new one for me. So curious how this can be stacked with the new BA Chase card discount benefit ($200 discount on "ticket fees") and AARP discount. I guess it still saves some $$ on a TATL roundtrip.