alextheengineer

Good evening all,

Unfortnately, I'm going to have to ask what to some might be a bit of a basic question, I'm sorry but I'm more used to fixing them then actually booking a ticket for myself!! I have done a quick search on this topic but the last thread on these lloyds vouchers died last year and didn't answer the question so I didn't want to resurrect it...

I have generated a so called 'upgrade' voucher and a considerable number of avios from credit card spend/club card points/hire cars etc this year and I'm looking to use these to fly to Tokyo early next year. The dates I have in mind will be coming online for booking soon and since I have no official status in BAEC I'm going to have to be quick off the blocks to get the dates I want (my dates and times are fixed). The good news is that I'm on the night shift on the day they come out so I don't have to stay up.

My question is - with the 2-4-1 vouchers you can book the outbound flight, then ring up and add the return on as well. Is this the same with the Lloyds voucher? I seem to remember reading that once you've used the voucher it vanishes without a trace? If this is the case, is it an option to reserve a seat in J using my avios points (but not the voucher) for the outbound, and then at 1am when my return flights come out, ring up and in one call cancel the outbound and rebook both sectors using the voucher? I'm guessing my avios points may not return that quickly?

Many thanks!!

A

BA6501

Not sure about the part about adding a return later on, however definitely don't book with full Avios only to cancel later, there is no guarantee that the seats will go back into the redemption class!

Also, remember you cannot upgrade to F with the voucher.

cmcbugg

Presumably you need to call the Avios call centre for booking with these vouchers, and not the BA call centres....

alextheengineer

Don't worry about that, I had realised but my avios balance has been topped up by any means available just to reach the required amount for a WTP > Club redemption, hopefully!!

Correct yes I would, however not sure they'll be open overnight! Think it's probably best just to cross fingers and hope that I can make the booking online when the availability is released for my return flight!

mmxbreaks

I would also like to know the answer to this... should have the same voucher within a month I think.

Shame it can't be used in conjunction with 2-4-1 too, as I have one of those burning a hole in my pocket.

AceCobra1

Does anyone know if the vouchers "expiry date" equates to "travel before" date or is it a "book before" date ?

cmcbugg

travel before

AceCobra1

Thanks for the reply. I am slightly confused as I attempted a dummy booking with the relevant avios and managed to get all the way to the payment page.

Can anyone else confirm this is true as my voucher expires on October - dummy booking was for flying late Nov returning Dec ?

I can only see this:

The upgrade voucher will be valid for 12 months from the date of issue. Your booking must be made within the 12 month period, after which time the voucher will expire and will not be replaced or extended.

Doesn't specify about traveling dates

Update: OK I just phoned them up and the lady confirmed that the booking needs to be done before the expiry date. Can travel after expiry date - not a problem

Fernweh

I earned an upgrade voucher with my Lloyds card in April 2016, and in July 2016 I was able to use it when booking a flight for June 2017, so I'm pretty sure you just need to book your trip before the voucher expires, not travel. Hopefully I'm not going to find out otherwise when I turn up at the airport in June!

cmcbugg

That's good to know. Don't know why I thought otherwise. That'll make mine much easier to use then. I was specifically holding back on the timing of it as I thought travel had to be within the date

pauldb

To the original question, I don't believe you can book an outbound then add the return. The voucher will be reflected in the charge for the oubound, then disappear. You probably could book a trip coming back the next day from TYO, i.e. Book a return the day after the seats first open. Then later shift the return date as desired (for Ł35).

If there are two of you with two vouchers, you could use one outbound and one inbound, on two bookings. Just make sure there's no meaningful YQ penalty.

cdb_london

Yes you can book the outbound and add the return later but you do not use the voucher on the first booking. I have just called to amend an existing one-way to add a return and use the voucher and it was fine. I booked LHR-YUL for 50k avios then added BOS-LHR for 2k avios. Taxes calculated as return + no change fee. Main limitation is that for open jaw must be in same zone.

pauldb

Interesting - that's good to know. But to confuse the issue I booked LHR-SIN//CTU-LHR which is an open jaw in different zones, albeit I booked that in one go.

cdb_london

The lady i was on the phone to said it needed to be same zone - maybe just applies to changes where the voucher is in use. I had thought the limitation was the distance between the 'jaw' needs to be less that the journey eg SIN-CTU is less than LHR-SIN or LHR-CTU.

hearingdouble

Apologies for resurrecting this dead thread, but I have a query relating to the Lloyds voucher which I wanted to run past the combined wisdom of FT!

Per the Avios website:

My partner and I have two Lloyds upgrade vouchers (1 each) which we were planning to use for a single trip, i.e.:

• Use my voucher to book the outbound flight (2 pax) when the outbound journey is available online.
• Use my partner's voucher to book the return flight (2 pax) when the return availability comes online -- presumably under a separate booking.

However, I've been trying some dummy bookings and I'm beginning to think that this won't work. The problem I'm facing is that I can't book upgraded tickets for 2 pax on the outbound journey without the system forcing me to book the return leg at the same time (i.e. you can't just book a one-way fare). The obvious solution would be to wait until both legs are available (and then my partner and I make separate bookings for 1 person on both legs of the return flight), but there is a high risk of outbound availability disappearing.

Has anyone had any success using a Lloyds voucher to upgrade a one-way journey for 2 pax to or from the UK?