kitbag1984

My wife and I are part of a HHA and have enjoyed several redemptions using miles.

My mother has recently been diagnosed with ovarian cancer which has deemed to be incurable. She is however responding well to her chemotherapy which is intended to prolong her life. For how long we don't know yet.

The point of my question is: she is planning to visit her brother who lives in Canada in July. She has sourced travel insurance which whilst expensive is manageable.

I would like to somehow use my miles to allow my mother and father to travel in F but not sure if I can do this. Do I have to fly in order to use the voucher? I don't have enough miles to do an outright redemption for both.

Availability seems good at the moment and I would like to book ASAP as a Xmas present.

Is there any leeway in the rules? If it helps I have been an Amex customer for years.

Thanks in advance for your help.

joejet

To book your mum with the 2for1 the holder of the voucher has to travel but the guest ticket can be for anyone. You will have to call BA to book though as online it will only let you book for members of the HHA.
I can't see Ba letting your dad use the voucher with her, add them all to your HHA and buy some miles? Still cheaper than 2x First tickets, unless there is a great deal in jan sale.
Wishing your mum good luck in her treatments.

Steve in Olympia

This used to be the case, but no longer. The rules have changed. The holder of an Amex 2-4-1 voucher, if a member of a Household Account, cannot take a companion who is not part of the HHA.

Here are the Terms & Conditions:

"Members can choose to take anyone as a Companion on their Companion Voucher booking except if the member is part of a Household Account. In such an instance, the companion must also belong to the Household Account."

fitzy

You'll need to add your father to your HHA and 3 of you would need to travel as well. You could consider F one way and WT/WT+ on the other leg to reduce the total number of miles

Hope your mum's treatment goes well

kitbag1984

Thanks all for the kind comments.

The problem is I wont be able to travel on the months that she wants. Mainly due to work but also the fact that I have several trips already booked for 2013. I had plans to either use the voucher for a quick CE trip or to let it lapse.

So am I right in thinking that the bottom line is that I must travel in order to use the 241? Do you think either AMEX or BA would allow me to bend the rules just slightly? As harsh as it sounds I could provide evidence. I appreciate that it is all guesswork at the moment but dont want to sound silly and call them.

joejet

Last week in the Avios sale I booked for myself and my wife, she is not part of the HHA, I had to ring BA gold line and they booked it for me. I had no idea that was not in the current rules but then neither did the agent!

PM sent to Kitbag1984

Greenpen

Well, the technical answer is no, so you need to contact them to see whether they would allow this under the circumstances. I don't think you'll sound silly but even if you do it's the only way. Best of luck!

kitbag1984

Thank you all for your responses. Thanks especially to JoeJet!

paul.goffin

You have a PM

I have done something similar in the past.

kitbag1984

This is a repost of a question I placed a few months ago. If anyone can help then please let me know. Ps. I have my mum and dad on my HHA now.

My wife and I are part of a HHA and have enjoyed several redemptions using miles.

My mother has recently been diagnosed with ovarian cancer which has deemed to be incurable. She is however responding well to her chemotherapy which is intended to prolong her life. For how long we don't know yet.

The point of my question is: she is planning to visit her brother who lives in Canada in July. She has sourced travel insurance which whilst expensive is manageable.

I would like to somehow use my miles to allow my mother and father to travel in F but not sure if I can do this. Do I have to fly in order to use the voucher? I don't have enough miles to do an outright redemption for both.

Availability seems good at the moment and I would like to book ASAP as a Xmas present.

Is there any leeway in the rules? If it helps I have been an Amex customer for years.

Thanks in advance for your help.

UKTraveller4Fun

Unfortunataly you used to be able to "trick" the system with a voucher and household account but it seems that in the last round of updates to ba.com this cannot now be done, when you pick the voucher it automatically picks you as one of the people flying and I cannot see any way to unselect yourself.

johnaalex

Best wishes to your mum, I hope continues to respond well to her chemo.

Phone the BAEC and ask, maybe phone more than once if you do not get the answer you want at first. The fact that you have been an Amex customer for years is unlikely to help, but if you have been a good BA customer that might help.

kitbag1984

Yes I found this out last week

Don't have enough for the full amount, the voucher will go to waste and I now feel so guilty when flying myself. It is such a shame as I was even stupid enough to say I might be able to book her in F. Now I can't!

Can't even stretch to a j ticket either.

If anyone knows another way please can you PM me. Thanks.

HilFly

Do BA have any scheme whereby miles can me donated by other members for a case such as this?

HilFly

How about booking you and Mum in F using the 2-4-1, and the cheapest economy for Dad, then you can swap places with Dad? Assuming that you would be available to travel with them.