fruitcage

At any time, BA sell tickets for a total of 355 days - today and 354 future days.

At midnight GMT, as the new day starts, adding 354 days to the date will give you the date of the new day that has just gone on sale.

mattyw

I got through in time the following evening and the contact centre agent was primed to book the seats, alas her confidence was misplaced and they disappeared before her eyes. She promised to call me back the following evening so we could try again. I was sceptical that anyone would call, but at 23:55 she called me back and this time we were successful.

I was very pleased that the same person called me back and that she could book what I wanted so I made a note of her first name and submitted a ba.com/welldone which I hope will find it's way to the right person.

toothy

I've had the same with the Indian call centre. They were excellent.

victairinternational

just booked a 2 for 1 on my honeymoon trip over Xmas LHR-SYD-SIN-LHR. I booked the outbound via the US number, as from my practice attempts the Club seats on the BA15 vanished from availability within seconds of them being released, so there would have been little chance of me completing the booking in time to hold them. I spoke to a lovely lady who was based in Manchester, it appears that all Exec Club calls are being routed to the former Avios.com team. She told me how regularly they get the midnight calls and had only ever missed one (it was on one of the weekly LGW routes), she was happy to hold for 10 minutes waiting for the release.

For the SYD-SIN sector, I actually booked online as I saw there was availability in First, randomly pop-up, albeit a day before I intended to travel, I thought it was too good to turn down. I called the UK number the following morning, again someone from the former Avios.com team processed the refund of 50% of the Avios. She explained that I would need to call in to book the SIN-LHR sector at 6am two days later as it had to be on the same PNR as the SYD-SIN (there cannot be more that two PNRs per voucher). Obviously she did not offer the US number as an option, but said I could book and cancel, but there is a risk the seats may not go back into the inventory and said it was best to call first thing.

I then called the US number at the release date of the SIN-LHR, a very helpful lady, this time in the Indian call centre, processed the entire booking and was well versed in what to do. She arranged the refund of 50% of the Avios for the final sector. The following morning I called the UK centre as I wanted to try adding on my QF connecting flight to the same PNR (to check bags through), again the Avios.com call centre happily did exactly that. I remember in the past I was notable to add OneWorld connecting flights to companion voucher bookings, it seems this rule is relaxed.

NPC

I was hoping someone could point me in the direction of the 2-4-1 downgrade worrying discussions if possible to save me starting another one?

I've got one coming up in just over a couple of weeks in F and not only has F completely sold out CW and WTP is are almost too. Economy is sold out as well! I think I'm more worried about being offloaded than downgraded right now! I've spent a lot of £ on hotels at our destination and worryingly our seats on the way back haven't been taken into account for the seats left to sell. (Showing 11 left in an A380 cabin, 4 sold and my two seats blocked which one would assume they would happily sell 17 seats rather than 15 previously reported.) Any help/advice would be most appreciated!

flashware

EU261/2004.

NPC

Thanks!
I was up reading about that until 1am last night/this morning! It was more whether I should be pro-active or not and get in touch rather than find out with less than 24hours to go and risk being downgraded/offloaded and have to accept it (too late then to cancel the hotel booking) or try and get onto a different flight/routing. It is a trip me and the better half have been looking forward to for over a year having had to cancel one last year last second due to a family emergency!

KARFA

There is nothing you can pro-actively do. However, bear in mind downgrades are very rare anyway. I really wouldn't spend any more time worrying about it.

You are just seeing unselected seats presumably. I don't think that tells you much about what BA are willing to sell. If your seats are selected and confirmed, and you have a ticket I wouldn't spend any more time navel gazing here.

louie-m

First time I've ever seen this reported. Good to know it can be done.

NPC

Thank you :-D
I'm a worse case scenario person based on my work for the most part always trying to have a back up plan when things don't work out ;-) I got the loads etc from expert flyer which showed something like F6 A5 and 6 seats selected on the layout.
Seats and ticket both concerned so I'll just worry about how much LPGS to have in the CCR after my spa treatment before boarding. Thanks for getting back to me so quickly :-)

flashware

That's definitely your best option ^

Globaliser

F6 A5 does not mean 11 seats left to sell.

The best advice I can offer is to stop trying to read tea leaves, and turn up for your flight and enjoy it.

Honestly, I really don't understand why there is so much hysteria about downgrades and offloads. Yes, they sometimes happen - they always have sometimes happened, and they always will sometimes happen - but that's just part of flying life. You can't book any seat in any cabin on any airline and expect a guarantee that you will fly as booked. That applies to F as much as to anything else.

SirAlfonso

Hi guys. Newbie question on this. I've read most of the thread and can't find this scenario answered.
Can i book the outbound using the 2 for 1 (and therefore less miles), and then add the return later? Or do i have to book the outbound for full miles and the voucher only gets applied when booking the return? Thanks

BertieBadger

Short answer: Yes

Slightly longer answer: Thinking about it, it has to be this way because the voucher can be used one-way, so it has to be applied when you book the first flight. BA can't know if you intend to add a return later. Incidentally, do have a quick read of the Wiki at the top of thread regarding booking the return, especially if it's past T-355, there's some useful info in it including how to do it online if you have enough Avios, and some warnings when not to do that!

EDIT: Hatsu's post below is very interesting, as I did not realise one-way use was restricted to UK issued vouchers, but I was under the impression that a 2-4-1 had to originate in the UK anyway? I'm sure someone more expert will be along soon

Hatsu

Hello everyone!

I did some research here and elsewhere but I think I still need advice from someone with better knowledge regarding the best way to deal with an upcoming long-term relocation to Japan.

My wife and I are currently UK residents with two UK BAEC accounts under the same household account. Each of us has a separate BA Premium Plus Amex and we both triggered and received a companion voucher, meaning we have two of them available. There are no children in the picture, at least for now.

In the wiki post, I read that the vouchers are "valid towards return flights only, with the journey originating from and returning to your country of membership (with the exception of vouchers issued in the UK which may also be used for one-way travel)". Does that imply that, once we move to Japan, we could change our country of membership from the UK to Japan and therefore we would be able to spend the two companion vouchers to book reward flights originating from and returning to Tokyo?
If so, would it make any sense to keep using our UK Amex cards once we are in Japan in order to earn companion vouchers in the future?