KARFA

The taxes/fees/charges payable for a 2-4-1 or most reward bookings (RFS are a little different) should be the same as the taxes/fees.charges payable on an identical revenue booking.

Have you found an issue when pricing up a 2-4-1?

Globaliser

Don't forget, though, that you have to pay the taxes, fees and charges for both passengers even though you only pay the Avios price for one. The 2-4-1 voucher only reduces the Avios payable, not the TFC.

argonath

Make a slight error in calculation as the initial outbound booking payment was split per passenger along with seat reservations but inbound payment lumped all together, so my fault for not differentiating between the charges.. It matches exactly a identical cash booking so all good.

enzian

i like to book our Avios flights in CW online as soon as the seats are released, at T-355 days, right after 1:00 am in England. That is 5 pm in my time zone. I book one way at a time.

for our 2019 flight I will be using a 2-4-1 voucher, so I can book the outbound leg online at the usual time. But Inwill have to call BA to add the return flight when it is released, correct?

my concern is which number to call at 5 pm, which will be 20:00 Easter Standard Time. The BAEC line contact info says to call 1-800-452-1201 from the US, or 1-800-247-9297 from outside the US. This page shows the lines as closing at 20:00 Eastern Time, so I cannot use either one.

https://www.britishairways.com/trave...executive_club

however, the BA website outside of the BAEC area says the number to call to change an existing booking ( not specifically an Avios booking) shows 1-800-2479297 as the number to call, and states it is open from 7am to 11 pm Eastern Standard time.

https://www.britishairways.com/en-us...cts/contact-us

so which ich do I believe? And if both lines do indeed close at 8 pm Eastern Time, is there another number I can call, in a different country, that will handle the amendment of my Avios booking?

thank you for your help.

jobstfeld

REMOVED - consensus being that the information posted was incorrect... therefore withdrawing...

enzian

I thought I read here that it is a simple matter to add the return flight to an existing outbound booking with a 2-4-1 voucher. Is that incorrect?

Globaliser

We do have a thread on this: BA American Express 2-4-1 Voucher Discussion

lcylocal

Globaliser

Correct - that is certainly not the consensus advice on how to do this.

But as we have a long thread on the subject, with an immensely detailed wikipost put together using many hours of many FTers time willingly given, together with repeated updates of experiences and additional information from BA insiders, it hardly seems worth thrashing it all out again in this thread.

silverfc

Calling Japan is very effective....

Just be aware that some seats disappear very quickly. The CPT-LHR flights that I wanted were no longer available at 1:01 am... Routing through JNB

windowontheAside

I've called the US Line a few minutes before closing. By the time I navigated through the menu and then security the magic hour was reached and the seats apoeared.

One one occasion we were ready a minute or so early, but when I explained the agent was very happy to wait and then nab the seats.

firstlight

As detailed on other posts it's not hard. I did it this morning with no problems at all. You do have to call as you can't do it online. Every agent I have used knows exactly what to do. I should say that the agent this morning admitted he hadn't done it for a while and having reserved the seats so no-one else could get them put me on hold for a couple of minutes to get a 'refresher' presumably from a colleague in the call centre

corporate-wage-slave

Note the indent section in the Wiki of the main linked thread, dated 12 February 2018, approximately half way down, for an easy online solution, so long as you have plenty of Avios: you can now book the return online via a separate booking (which has some advantages as we know from elsewhere), initially at full rate. However you can then call up, have the voucher applied to this new booking, and receive the excess Avios back. For flights to USA we think this is expensive than a normal return, due to differential surcharges, but perhaps not for other areas, and indeed cheaper in some cases.

enzian

Thank you.

i should have stated at the outset that this is a Chase 2-4-1 voucher for travel from the US to Europe and then back, not an AmEx 2-4-1. It probably does not make any difference, and I will read through this thread for relevant information.
But my real question is about which call center to use, as the time the seats are released is after the closing time for the US numbers.

I guess I will try what corporate-wage-slave suggests and make a separate booking online for the flight home, then call later and have them apply the voucher and adjust the Avios. I will try and find the initial,posting that refers to this and read it.

Steve in Olympia

There are so many false statements in this post, it is hard to know where to begin. Here is a brief start:
1. Yes, you CAN add the return flight to an existing booking. I (and others) have done it dozens of times, via phone.
2. Yes, you CAN merge bookings, as demonstrated by previous posts on this thread. I have done it, and several others have, as well.
3. Making a booking it and then cancelling it --- a strategy that is foolish, risky, and unnecessary.

The simple answer: Book the outbound voucher flight on-line, when the seats initially become available. When the inbound seats become available, call a service center to add the inbound flight to the outbound voucher booking. This may involve calling Japan. See this thread for more detailed discussion. Most importantly, ignore everything in the post quoted above. (Poster should seriously consider deleting it.)