golfmad

Ok I know this is pedantic (sorry) but even with a joker it's still subject to redemption availability. It's just that the criteria for availability are different.

KARFA

Isn't it revenue class availability rather than redemption availability? (redemption=reward availability in most people's minds).

A joker needs availability in A for first, D for business, T for premium economy, and B in economy. All revenue classes rather than reward classes.

Also there are a maximum of 5 joker seats per cabin per flight I believe, and if another GGL has used a joker for one or more seats in that cabin on that flight then no further jokers can be used for that cabin.

golfmad

That's the bit I was referring to. I did say it I was being pedantic. Use of a joker requires redemption availability and that availability can be created using a joker provided that no-one else has used one already on that flight.

Full Score

BA issued our Round-the-World tickets.

As both passengers need to be on one PNR, is it possible to use a GUF2 to upgrade the BA portions of two OneWorld RTW tickets, from, say, D to A class when offered? In our case this might involve about 8 out of the 16 RTW segments.

Although my wife and I generally travel to the same destinations on our RTWs, we do like to sometimes have our own separate dates. On the BA segments we would presumably need to travel together, but on the AA sectors, which have different locator numbers and use the SABRE booking system, could we change the dates and travel separately as is allowed in the RTW rules?

orbitmic

Even though some people mentioned some exceptions, the written norm for GUF2s is that they are normally only supposed to work on "pure" BA itineraries.

Also, the moment you change the dates of any one flight for one passenger, the PNRs would need to be split. This would apply to all the flights in the booking. That would also contradict GUF2 rules. Any AA booking will have both Sabre and Amadeus references, and mirror PNRs will be created for travel on each airline, but thankfully (as in most cases it would be against the passenger's interest), this does not mean that they are separate itineraries.

Calchas

You can try and we would be very interested to know.

RTW itineraries are manually priced so really they are a law unto themselves. In some sense there is no reason why BA could not apply the voucher because it will be done by hand. But the same reason may mean they do not want to spend the time doing it

Please let us know if you are successful

if the journeys are separated the master PNR will also be split

How do you have eight BA sectors with F on a RTW, btw?

Filthy Monkey

My turn to be pedantic! Not necessarily on that flight, but in the particular cabin you wish to book into. For example, if somebody has already used one in Club, but you wish to use one in First, there should be no issue.

The next part is a little hazy and unclear - If somebody has used a Joker in First for 2 seats and you wish to use one for a further 2 seats, is that permissible? The collective wisdom on here has always said no, only one Joker can be used per cabin per flight, but I was recently able to use one to open up a seat in F for Ms Monkey when one had already been used by somebody else for another 2 seats. The GGL agent I spoke to assured me that it was up to 5 seats per cabin, regardless of the number of Jokers used.She sent it for ticketing and it was approved straight away. Great news for me at the time, but certainly not what we have been lead to believe previously.

KARFA

That's interesting. I always thought it was if another GGL has used a joker for one or more seats in that cabin on that flight then no further jokers can be used for that cabin.

Full Score

JNB-LHR-BAH-DOH-BAH-LHR-LAX, HKG-LHR-JNB. (Plus CPT-JNB rtn in D)

nippers

Thank you for all the information... I've learned a lot, but can't seem to find the answer I'm looking for. I just got my first GUF2 voucher and I was wondering whether I could ask for your help.

My wife and our two children will be flying return SYD-AMS without me (I haven't booked the tickets yet). I wanted to use my GUF2 to get two of them upgraded from WTP to CW and I am happy to book a paid CW ticket for the last one in the group. Seeing availability from SYD is non-existent on the BA website I was hoping to use a TA.

I have two questions to this esteemed group:

1. Is what I am after possible/allowed?
2. If the first answer is "yes", would someone be able to PM me an agent (preferably used to ex-AU tickets), who could help?

Thank you - as always - for your help.

WilcoRoger

Quick question - if booking Avios + GUF2 is it neccessary to have availability in both classes (for the sake of simplicity, let's say WT+ and CW) or is it sufficient to have availability in CW (where we want to end up in)?

KARFA

If you are doing it all together at the time of booking you just need reward availablilty in the class you are GUF'ing in to.

chris1979

so an agent i was speaking to recently also suggested that it was 5 seats, i.e. he said it wouldnt be an issue if someone else had already used a joker for that flight and that cabin provided there were seats left out of the 5.....




re RTW ticket, bear in mind that if you are looking to upgrade via a TA, all sectors need to be BA code share sectors and I am not sure all of those flights will have one. if it's done directly with BA, you'll need redemption availability or a joker for the BA flights.

it sounds do-able to me if I understand you correctly: use a TA to GUF a WTP ticket to CW. KIV that that needs to be done at time of booking / ticketing.

re 2. pass from me I'm afraid. I know a TA in London who has done quite a few GUFs for FTers but I am not sure he can help with POS SYD / OZ tickets (though happy to pass on details if you wanted to check).

Calchas

Because RTW tickets are not autopriced, it is possible to ignore the usual restrictions (even legal restrictions!) on where codeshares can and cannot be used. (So you could use a BA number on a domestic Australian flight even if not flying BA metal on your way down to the south seas.) I think you would be lucky though to get all sixteen sectors on BA numbering. More information in the oneworld forum.

chris1979

I find it difficult enough to stay on top of this forum! (And didn't even know there was a OneWorld forum...)