wdcosta117

Just an update if anyone was interested;



Logged in online at 1150 ready to book at 12:00am. 2 business class tickets available – however the other half was deliberating while I explained the process of t-355 taxes avios etc (yes should have done this before), so by time we put our credit card details in and pressed ok, the seats were gone.



Tried again last night, as BA only flies 3 times per week in Jan. Logged in at 1150. 12am came and only 3 World traveller tickets were available. Tried logging in and out for about an hour back and forth to see if any Business class seats came up to no avail. Note. 3 world traveller tickets went from 3 to 5 after about 10mins which I found strange!?!



Sorry for all the questions but have another - Did BA release Business class seats for the later flight and were they taken so quickly? Or did they just not release business class for this flight on this particular day?



Again as always thank you for the advice in advance its much appreciated.

parklife

They release a minimum of 2 business class seats on every single flight, so in this case they were taken quickly.

There is always a chance more could be released at any time so if you are really set on a date and destination worth setting up an alert on reward flight finder or seat guru. Your other option is to find somewhere you can get a connecting flight that has availability.

wdcosta117

Thank you parklife - ill give it a few more tries online - otherwise may call a BA office at 1150pm so when it turns 12 they can hold the seats until we pay. Have the whole of Feb to try and secure.

muskysman

Sorry stupid question and the answer is probably in the thread if I bothered to trawl through but my partner had Amex 2 fo1 and I have GUF2 can we combine these vouchers on same booking?? Both in same household account and travelling together obviously.

BertieBadger

Formally, the answer appears to be no. The GUF holder and 2-4-1 holder have to be the same person to combine them. It's covered in the GUF guide:

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/28823620-post4.html

Report of a failed attempt here:

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/29765068-post132.html

Now, I think I once read of a successful booking where the GUF & 2-4-1 were held by different people in the HHA, but I can't locate it, and even then, it would not prove entitlement in a general sense, only that one agent either bent the rules or didn't apply them....

wdcosta117

Feel like all i do is ask questions on here, so apologies.

Managed to book the 241 reward flight last night in CW to Male online

Now need to add the inbound flight T-355 by calling BA US or Japan office 12am here. However BA customer services mentioned that i can call a reward flight number thats associated to the voucher on the day as they are open till 1am. Looking for this number to no avail - though anyone else heard of this? Really dont want to take any risks on the inbound. Maybe best to stick to what people have advised on this topic and calling overseas BA customer services 10mins before midnight.

PlaneSpeaking

Hi wdcosta117,

Firstly, don’t worry about asking questions. Some will direct you to previous threads (if the answers exist) and others will just give you the information you need but this is a community to help others and one day, I’m sure you’ll do the same for someone else in need.

Well done on bagging the seats - I noticed your posts but was too late to answer as others had done so already.

We went through the identical angst a few years ago for the same trip and same time of year on a 241. We were lucky too and never regretted it (I can’t help with sites for hotels as we booked the Conrad Rangali on points so just went direct).

I might be wrong but I’ve never heard of a special reward flight number and I’m not sure I’d risk it even if it does exist.

In my opinion and others may agree, it will be best for you to call the overseas BA office close to midnight and try and get them to take the seats out of circulation whilst they sort the admin for you on the phone but at the same time, get the other half to also try and book the return online so at least you’ll have 2 bites at the cherry.

Best of luck in nabbing the return and do let us know how you get on.

YorkieFlyer

you need to ring the US number ideally 20 mins before midnight, both of you on different phones using Skype as you may be in queue, if you get through much before 10 mins before midnight then use some charm and wit and keep them on the line and ask them to nab the seats you want on the dot of midnight.
on line only works for the return of you have you have enough Avios for the return without applying the voucher i.e. double you then ring in following day to get voucher applied to return leg

wdcosta117

@PlaneSpeaking.



Thank you for the very kind words, just felt a little guilty asking so many questions in the last couple of weeks. But as you rightly said it’s a community and when I can help I will. Although must admit im still googling all the abbreviations, plane names etc. However taken I real interest since joining and has been my goto read of recent.



Glad to hear some first hand advice on this trip, think ill do what was suggested and call the overseas (US) offices 20mins beforehand incase I hit a queue. Ive added an international package onto my Vodafone bill (someone else indicated) which only cost Ł3 for the month for 100mins - so have plenty of minutes to kill 😊

Found a few decent sites for booking hotel only at reasonable costs within our budget. Although keeping a close eye on secret escapes and such websites.



Wont be able to do it online as don’t have enough Avios to be able to book 2 flights in CW.



@YorkieFlyer, thanks also. 20mins beforehand is what I had in my head. Il try to use some wit and charm to keep them on the line before midnight GMT.



Again thanks for all the info from everyone – hopefully Wednesday next week ill be able to let you all know it was a success.

YorkieFlyer

Do try each ringing on 2 phones, previously, last year, as a lowly blue I’ve never got through on the phone even ringing ages before midnight. This year got through by ten too and was told I’d rung too early and would have to ring back! So... I asked about availability to different airports and dates, which took a good 5 minutes.. then chatted!

PlaneSpeaking

It’s an absolute pleasure. We all started out as novices and it’s so useful to have access to all this wonderful collective knowledge.

I can’t wait to hear your result next week - good luck!

L1011UL

Sorry if this has been covered previously but haven't managed to find anything in the wiki or through my (admittedly limited) trawl. I know UK issued vouchers can be used one way but does this have to be ex-UK or can it be used on a one way ticket to the UK?

fruitcage

Has to be ex-UK (including JER and IOM).

KARFA

Really they can't be used one way other than if booking at the limits of availability and booking the outbound first and the inbound when that get's released. In any case they need to be an exUK return.

Steve in Olympia

And if you never book the inbound flight, does anyone know (or care)?