The second questions was of the 'either or' type. :p But I take the yes as being the first. So if I book for my husband, canceling will still have the fee applied. Correct?

My apologies. I responded to the question I thought I'd read which was not the one you had written.

The 'no fee' cancellation applies to any bookings made by the GGL regardless of whether the GGL member is traveling or not. If you book for your husband and then cancel that booking there will be no cancellation fee payable.

Yes - they can be parked. To be safe - book a placeholder booking on the same route that you want to fly. I am not sure if you can changes routes with an expiring joker (apparently you are technically not allowed to do this - I haven't tried).

Any booking with the GGL member's avios.

Thanks for clarification.
That's what I am planning to do. I will have my first jokers only a week before the end of my collection year. My father is in ill health and I want to have a ticket ready to go in case of an emergency. So I'll book such tickets as far in the future as possible.

Hi,

I asked this question in the 2-4-1 thread but suspect this is more likely the right place for it.

X is a GGL. X has a spare joker.
Y and Z have a Household Account together. Y has a 2-4-1. Y and Z are on X’s “Friends and Family” list.

Is it possible for X to use their GGL Joker for Y and Z to travel, using Y’s 2-4-1 and Avios from Y and Z’s household account?

The only relevant rules that I’m currently aware of are that (i) the 2-4-1 owner needs to travel on the booking, but that (ii) the GGL does not need travel on their joker booking. What we’re planning complies with these, but I’m not sure if we’d trip up on any other practicalities (e.g. a joker can only be used with Avios in the GGL’s account, or can’t be combined with someone else’s 2-4-1).

It wouldn’t be a problem to get everyone in a room together so that the GGL phone agent can speak to everyone.

Thanks in advance,
Richard

I was told no in a similar scenario:

X is a GGL, no household account. X has a spare joker.
Y has a 2-4-1 (US version), no household account. Y is on X’s “Friends and Family” list. X is Third Party Nominee for Y.

Reason given for no: Joker requires holder to pay for tickets. 2-4-1 requires holder to pay for tickets.

I understand if both are on same household account, it might be allowed.

I have managed to do this but I'm not sure it was totally within the rules.

I used a space release of mine for my parents, and a GUF2 (also mine) combined with their Amex 241. My father had to pay the relevant taxes on his Amex.

Thanks both, those are helpful data points. I imagine it depends on how helpful the agent is feeling -- might be a HUACA situation!

We won't be trying this for a month or so, but will report back with how I get on. Any other experiences appreciated!

Good luck...and do report back.

Looking at the current GGL T&C, I see no mention that the holder of the Joker must pay for the ticket. But it does say they must travel, which may be a problem in your scenario ... "Gold Guest List Redemption Reward means one guaranteed redemption booking for a Member and up to 4 passengers travelling on the same booking, subject to availability" Also under section 4 ... "4.3. All passengers must travel on the same booking as the Member"

In my case, X&Y were planning to travel together. X was providing the joker. Y was providing 2-4-1, Avios and payment.

I suspect I was given bad info. At the time, I was a new GGL with a month to use 2 jokers. I should have HUACA...at the time, I didn't think that would be necessary on the GGL line...of course, I have since learned it still applies.

Your query - is exactly the position I find myself wanting to do .... It would be great if you managed to establish if this is possible, Many Thanks

Since I qualified as GGL a few months ago I've noticed that whenever I call to make a booking they ask me whether I want to pay for it straight away or hold it for 72 hours. This doesn't seem to be a published benefit but I've found myself availing of it quite a bit. I know anyone can hold for 72 hours for £5 or £10 per person but only if it's at least 21 days before travel. The ability to do it free of charge on fairly last-minute bookings (I did it yesterday for a flight less than a week away) is quite useful I think. Worth adding to the main post?

Another thing that isn't mentioned explicitly in the main post (although perhaps it's obvious to everyone but me) is that if you cancel a booking made using a joker you get the joker back.

It is also worth noting when taking advantage of this generous little perk, that the 24 hour cooling off provision may not necessarily be offered once ticketed.

I've managed to change one leg of a LHR-SJC-LHR to LHR-SFO SJC-LHR but only because there was no LHR-SJC on the day I wanted to move the flight to. It did seem to be a slightly more complicated process though and certainly took more time. I appreciate jokers are on a request basis at any time but this seemed to involve a different team that didn't work at the weekend. This was a particular problem as I called on a Saturday to change the outbound flight which was the following day and was obviously concerned about no-show implications. The workaround was to temporarily book me into another LHR-SJC flight then move to the LHR-SFO once approval has been gained.

Responding to the Joker / 2-4-1 question above, I only have experience of the Joker portion but I was able to use a Joker and a GUF2 of mine for my parents without being on the ticket. One interesting point which has been noted partially above, a travel agent can’t use a GUF2 without the holder being on the ticket. After this was discovered (and the booking held by the agent in my name) I went to BA’s Priority line to recreate the booking, but they were unable to open seats using my Joker because my Travel Agent GUF2 appeared to have the affect of showing reward (Joker) space had been used. As soon as I cancelled the Travel Agent hold, BA called me to say they could now open space with my Joker!

First time I had heard this, but GGL line told me today that they typically allowed GGL bookings a 48-hour cooling off period. Not sure I would want to assume I had that flexibility, but may be there if you need to use it.