BA American Express 2-4-1 Voucher Discussion
Apr 10, 2018, 6:32 am
#676
Join Date: Nov 2014
Posts: 935
First time AMEX holder here, So excuse the Newbie questions,
1) If I start in INV does that stop me from paying APD x 2 people but does cost me 8000 more avios as a result?
If I wanted to GUF2 the booking to F from J would I make the booking first with Amex voucher then call to apply the GUF2 or is the recommendation to call and do all at once? Can a return leg be added to a Guf2 & Amex booking or does it need to be all done at once?
2) Finally ( I promise
) If I was to book thes online would it be like doing 2 people on a redemption booking so it quotes twice the avios then I hit the add voucher button and it then deducts the 2nd avios off? as in I need to have enough avios for both to start with first?
1) If I start in INV does that stop me from paying APD x 2 people but does cost me 8000 more avios as a result?
If I wanted to GUF2 the booking to F from J would I make the booking first with Amex voucher then call to apply the GUF2 or is the recommendation to call and do all at once? Can a return leg be added to a Guf2 & Amex booking or does it need to be all done at once?
2) Finally ( I promise
) If I was to book thes online would it be like doing 2 people on a redemption booking so it quotes twice the avios then I hit the add voucher button and it then deducts the 2nd avios off? as in I need to have enough avios for both to start with first?1) Yes
2) No, when you are searching for the flights, you specify that you wish to use your 2-4-1 at the beginning and you are only ever quoted the single person avios amount.
Apr 10, 2018, 6:54 am
#677
Ambassador, British Airways; FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Leeds, UK
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, GfL, HH Diamond
Posts: 42,990
First time AMEX holder here, So excuse the Newbie questions,
If I start in INV does that stop me from paying APD x 2 people but does cost me 8000 more avios as a result?
If I wanted to GUF2 the booking to F from J would I make the booking first with Amex voucher then call to apply the GUF2 or is the recommendation to call and do all at once? Can a return leg be added to a Guf2 & Amex booking or does it need to be all done at once?
Finally ( I promise ) If I was to book thes online would it be like doing 2 people on a redemption booking so it quotes twice the avios then I hit the add voucher button and it then deducts the 2nd avios off? as in I need to have enough avios for both to start with first?
If I start in INV does that stop me from paying APD x 2 people but does cost me 8000 more avios as a result?
If I wanted to GUF2 the booking to F from J would I make the booking first with Amex voucher then call to apply the GUF2 or is the recommendation to call and do all at once? Can a return leg be added to a Guf2 & Amex booking or does it need to be all done at once?
Finally ( I promise
) If I was to book thes online would it be like doing 2 people on a redemption booking so it quotes twice the avios then I hit the add voucher button and it then deducts the 2nd avios off? as in I need to have enough avios for both to start with first?Domestic connection to long haul rewards do not cost any additional avios, but there will be some additional fees/charged to pay, around £20-30 per person per flight.
When you go in to the reward search engine you can select the amex voucher before searching and the avios you will be quoted and will pay will be for 1 person only, so you only need to have enough to cover one person.
If you are doing a amex voucher + GUF I would probably call and book rather than book online with the amex and call to apply the GUF. I think you can select both the amex and the GUF voucher when searching and therefore get a quote for both vouchers included, although of you are not doing a simple return (e.g. if you want to book INV-LHR-NYC-LHR-GLA) you can't quote for that or book it online.
Can a return leg be added to a Guf2 & Amex booking or does it need to be all done at once?
Apr 10, 2018, 6:58 am
#678
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: Glasgow, UK
Programs: Seigneur des Tarifs Utils First Class Mucci with Honours :) - BA GGL / CCR
Posts: 1,551
No APD starting from INV, so when doing a long haul trip you save £156 per person - you don't need to return to INV at the end of the booking. There are also some very good exINV fares as well so for example I booked INV-NYC for March next year in J for £1181.
Domestic connection to long haul rewards do not cost any additional avios, but there will be some additional fees/charged to pay, around £20-30 per person per flight.
When you go in to the reward search engine you can select the amex voucher before searching and the avios you will be quoted and will pay will be for 1 person only, so you only need to have enough to cover one person.
If you are doing a amex voucher + GUF I would probably call and book rather than book online with the amex and call to apply the GUF. I think you can select both the amex and the GUF voucher when searching and therefore get a quote for both vouchers included, although of you are not doing a simple return (e.g. if you want to book INV-LHR-NYC-LHR-GLA) you can't quote for that or book it online.
I think that should be fine if you want to book it that way, so outbound first and then add inbound later.
Domestic connection to long haul rewards do not cost any additional avios, but there will be some additional fees/charged to pay, around £20-30 per person per flight.
When you go in to the reward search engine you can select the amex voucher before searching and the avios you will be quoted and will pay will be for 1 person only, so you only need to have enough to cover one person.
If you are doing a amex voucher + GUF I would probably call and book rather than book online with the amex and call to apply the GUF. I think you can select both the amex and the GUF voucher when searching and therefore get a quote for both vouchers included, although of you are not doing a simple return (e.g. if you want to book INV-LHR-NYC-LHR-GLA) you can't quote for that or book it online.
I think that should be fine if you want to book it that way, so outbound first and then add inbound later.
Awesome @KARFA thanks for the quick response, Do they work on Comair as well given that they are also BA? Thinking out loud if I was going to Cape Town I could do the 380 to JNB then connect to CPT rather than 747 but then I do like 1A and 1K on the 747
Getting to INV first isnt an issue for me its £10 on the train from Glasgow
Apr 10, 2018, 7:04 am
#679
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: London
Programs: Mucci. Nothing else matters.
Posts: 38,644
Apr 14, 2018, 7:28 am
#680
Join Date: Aug 2017
Location: London, UK
Posts: 248
Does anyone have a recent experience with cancelling a voucher reward flight like this? Had an open jaw booked, tried to cancel online several days in a row but an error message had me to call the You First line to get the cancellation done. They said everything is done within 48 hours with vouchers, taxes and avios back in the account by then. This time frame is already passed and nothing is back/refunded. Any recent experience would be great to see if there is a particular way to deal with this, as I do not want to wait too long to be refunded. The cancellation is effective though as Amadeus shows the segments as cancelled. Thanks a lot in advance!
Apr 14, 2018, 11:12 am
#681
Ambassador, British Airways; FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Leeds, UK
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, GfL, HH Diamond
Posts: 42,990
Does anyone have a recent experience with cancelling a voucher reward flight like this? Had an open jaw booked, tried to cancel online several days in a row but an error message had me to call the You First line to get the cancellation done. They said everything is done within 48 hours with vouchers, taxes and avios back in the account by then. This time frame is already passed and nothing is back/refunded. Any recent experience would be great to see if there is a particular way to deal with this, as I do not want to wait too long to be refunded. The cancellation is effective though as Amadeus shows the segments as cancelled. Thanks a lot in advance!
Sounds like yours is in a queue waiting for processing. May be worth chasing in a few days if the avios and voucher haven't reappeared on your account.
Apr 14, 2018, 1:24 pm
#682
Join Date: Aug 2017
Location: London, UK
Posts: 248
Thanks a lot Karfa for your reply, will chase them indeed, hopefully it won't be too long :/
Apr 17, 2018, 3:41 am
#683
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 75
Adding return flight with 241 Amex flight
Just thought I would let you know of our BA experience today. We booked the first leg of our 241 flight to BGI 2 weeks ago, the return flight became available at 1am this morning and having read on here that we can book it and then call when UK BA start work, we booked with Avios at 1am and then rang at 8.30am the agent had no idea, did not think this was possible as it was 2 different booking numbers and was not possible to merge, we explained it had been done in the past and so he suggested we ring back in 40 minutes when supervisors would be available. Rang back at 9.30am, the second agent said it was not possible to merge two bookings and he had worked there for five years and never seen it, we explained that yes it is possible and that we have done it certainly within the last five years, he put us on hold while he went to talk to a supervisor, never came back and the line went dead after 15 minutes. Rang straight back and got a 3rd agent who said it was not possible to merge two bookings, told him about this thread and even read him a few of the posts, he went to check, came back quite a while later and said that it was indeed possible and that he had learned something new today! So the message is persevere until you find someone who will listen and want to help! Thank you to all of you for giving me the confidence to carry on until we got what we wanted!
Apr 17, 2018, 3:50 am
#684
Ambassador, British Airways; FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Leeds, UK
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, GfL, HH Diamond
Posts: 42,990
Just thought I would let you know of our BA experience today. We booked the first leg of our 241 flight to BGI 2 weeks ago, the return flight became available at 1am this morning and having read on here that we can book it and then call when UK BA start work, we booked with Avios at 1am and then rang at 8.30am the agent had no idea, did not think this was possible as it was 2 different booking numbers and was not possible to merge, we explained it had been done in the past and so he suggested we ring back in 40 minutes when supervisors would be available. Rang back at 9.30am, the second agent said it was not possible to merge two bookings and he had worked there for five years and never seen it, we explained that yes it is possible and that we have done it certainly within the last five years, he put us on hold while he went to talk to a supervisor, never came back and the line went dead after 15 minutes. Rang straight back and got a 3rd agent who said it was not possible to merge two bookings, told him about this thread and even read him a few of the posts, he went to check, came back quite a while later and said that it was indeed possible and that he had learned something new today! So the message is persevere until you find someone who will listen and want to help! Thank you to all of you for giving me the confidence to carry on until we got what we wanted!
However, to be fair the agents were correct and you can't merge bookings. The method described recently is that the voucher simply gets applied across on to a second booking with a resulting refund of avios. You are still left with two bookings. I think for anyone wanting to do this I would suggest not using the term "merge".
Also to emphasise, this method is not recommended for bookings to the US due to taxes/fees/charges.
Apr 17, 2018, 3:53 am
#685
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: London, UK
Programs: BAEC Silver, ITA Club Executive, Hilton Gold, Marriott Gold
Posts: 3,599
Glad you got it sorted.
However, to be fair the agents were correct and you can't merge bookings. The method described recently is that the voucher simply gets applied across on to a second booking with a resulting refund of avios. You are still left with two bookings. I think for anyone wanting to do this I would suggest not using the term "merge".
Also to emphasise, this method is not recommended for bookings to the US due to taxes/fees/charges.
However, to be fair the agents were correct and you can't merge bookings. The method described recently is that the voucher simply gets applied across on to a second booking with a resulting refund of avios. You are still left with two bookings. I think for anyone wanting to do this I would suggest not using the term "merge".
Also to emphasise, this method is not recommended for bookings to the US due to taxes/fees/charges.
Apr 17, 2018, 3:58 am
#686
Ambassador, British Airways; FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Leeds, UK
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, GfL, HH Diamond
Posts: 42,990
The difference here is that the taxes/fees/charges for each booking are independent as this is priced as two one ways with no reprice to a return when you apply the voucher across on to the second booking. This is why I wouldn't recommend this method for anyone using their voucher for the US since exUS TFC is very high. The method may be more attractive for a booking to HKG tho
Apr 17, 2018, 4:28 am
#687
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 75
Thanks for that I will remember for next time.
Apr 20, 2018, 6:22 pm
#688
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: LON
Programs: BAEC gold
Posts: 96
Apr 27, 2018, 9:38 am
#689
Join Date: Apr 2017
Programs: BA Silver
Posts: 1,387
Round the World with a 2-4-1 (widest possible open jaw?)
For anyone interested in how far an open jaw booking can be while meeting the requirement for the two flights to both be longer than the distance across the "jaw".
I have just booked (and it's ticketed) LHR-SCL / SYD-LHR using a 241 to start and end a RTW trip
The GC distances are
LHR-SCL 11631km
[SCL-SYD 11363km]
SYD-LHR 17016km
Computer said yes! I think this must be the longest possible jaw distance given the rules and BA's current network, but happy to be corrected.
I have just booked (and it's ticketed) LHR-SCL / SYD-LHR using a 241 to start and end a RTW trip
The GC distances are
LHR-SCL 11631km
[SCL-SYD 11363km]
SYD-LHR 17016km
Computer said yes! I think this must be the longest possible jaw distance given the rules and BA's current network, but happy to be corrected.
Apr 28, 2018, 11:03 am
#690
Join Date: Apr 2018
Posts: 5
Call centres on a sunday
Hi,
I need to add a return leg on a 241 booking but in order to get the date I want, I’ll have to call BA at 1am on a Sunday. Hong Kong/Japan/Singapore will
be closed. Does anybody know the next best?
Thanks in advance!
I need to add a return leg on a 241 booking but in order to get the date I want, I’ll have to call BA at 1am on a Sunday. Hong Kong/Japan/Singapore will
be closed. Does anybody know the next best?
Thanks in advance!