AndyGreen

I want to book an Avios reward seat on MAN-LHR-SIN but the only issue is a >6h connection time at LHR (arrive 15:00, leave 21:30ish).

I've heard the Concorde Room is good, but that's pushing it a bit! There are suitable later MAN-LHR flights with decent connection time, but none are currently available for reward redemption on that date (a few months from now).

My question is, if I book the above itinerary using Avios and subsequently MAN-LHR reward availability opens up, would BA let me switch to a later first sector?

Alternatively if I book MAN-LHR at a decent time with cash and LHR-SIN with Avois, would BA 'merge' the two bookings for me, protecting the connection and allowing me to through-check my bags etc?

Thanks for any advice.

oxmatt

There have been reports of BA releasing award seats on connecting domestic flights for F international rdemptions so it might be worth calling up first and seeing if they will do that.

If not you would be able to change the redemption connection if availability opened up for the standard change fee (GBP 25 IIRC) - waived for golds.

nux

You cannot merge two bookings if one is cash and the other is a reward booking. However, they would through-check your bags (but no protection for the connection).

However, you may be able to get award seats released for the domestic sector if the LHR-SIN is available by calling.

redshift27

Yes they would, but you may wish to phone now, as for an F itinerary ba.com only shows domestic connections in X (economy award), whereas for a CW itinerary it shows connections in U (UK business award). U availability may be better than X availability, and an agent will be able to sort this for you over the phone.

corked

If you can get Man-Lhr-onwards reward availability take it now, IME these have become as rare as hens teeth, you can then try to change it if availability appears.
If it didn't I wonder would it be possible to buy the more suitable domestic flights for cash later to replace original Dom flights without messing up the main flight and keeping them on the same booking???

Sorry bit of a hijack here but am in similar situation, no availability man-lhr at the time of booking on a F 2-4-1 and an avios wtp to club upgrade, am now stuck with an 8 hour connection at LHR all on separate bookings but have been assured that bag allowance etc won't be problem, I hope not!

AndyGreen

Thanks for the quick replies. Unfortunately only a few hours later the LHR-SIN F reward availability vanished again on my preferred date. Bit frustrating, should have just booked when I saw it!

I'll book a refundable alternative and hope last minute BA F availability comes up in the days before.

onaswan

Ah - I was in the middle of replying to this agreeing that you should go for the 6 hour transfer (nothing in the greater scheme of things) then read your (the OP) post about having lost the opportunity.

A lesson there - 'grab it while you can'! (when it comes to reward seats) - you get a 24 'cooling off' period anyway, don't you, after making the booking?

onaswan

You could head into London. A <6 hour return on the HEX is marginally more than a single (IIRC) or the Connect is even more reasonable. You could easily kill off some of your 8 hours... (done it myself on a similarly long transfer)

corked

Hard Luck AndyGreen, it's all a bit of a gamble isn't it, hope it works out. Thanks for advice Onaswan, afraid London doesn't do it for me anymore, but have cabana and spa booked so shouldn't be too unpleasant!

redshift27

Some follow-up on how to do this.

I have just booked a MAN-LHR-SIN-LHR-MAN in F Amex 241 online on ba.com. On the return there was no availability showing for the 7:40 LHR-MAN connection so I had to take the next one at 11:10. The domestic segments booked into X.

I then checked whether a random CE/CW flight back from elsewhere had better domestic availability on the LHR-MAN segment. Indeed, the 07:40 was available. (CE/CW redemptions show the U bucket for domestic connections when searched for on ba.com).

So I phoned YouFirst and the agent kindly switched my 11:10 in X to a 7:40 in U, no charge, no fuss.

X = economy award
U = business award