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BA American Express 2-4-1 Voucher Discussion

BA American Express 2-4-1 Voucher Discussion

Old Mar 16, 2018, 6:49 am
  #646  
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
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Originally Posted by 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.)
Done - removed information... posted as this was the experience that I had recently. Was walked through process by call-center staff. Very happy to be corrected.
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Old Mar 16, 2018, 7:57 am
  #647  
 
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Originally Posted by 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.
Has this been a given some perhaps-deserved attention? I'm thinking about HKG: does this now mean we can benefit from HKG's no-YQ policy and book the return of 241 for 31pp, saving 164pp?

A lesser example would seem to be SYD, where the ex-Oz YQ is 184e/w, saving 52pp. Ex-NRT it's 71 YQ, saving 93pp.

You might even want to do this shorthaul: eg. coming back CE from TLL for €7 instead of 25. Beware of course the risk of double cancellation fees.
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Old Mar 16, 2018, 7:58 am
  #648  
 
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Cancelling Card

Q: Does cancelling my BA American Express card mean I will lose the voucher? Does downgrading my BA American Express Premium Plus card to the Classic card mean I will lose my voucher?
A: No. Contrary to what American Express will tell you, you will keep the voucher if you cancel the card entirely, and similarly your voucher will retain its two year validity if you downgrade from the Premium Plus card to the Classic Card. Remember though that you will need to pay the taxes and fees on an American Express card, so it may be worth asking to downgrade the Premium Plus to the Classic card for this purpose if you dont hold another Amex.
Hi - does the above from the Wiki still hold true? I just tried to cancel my BA Premium Plus card and the agent was adamant that it would be useless - I couldn't find anything in the T&C's and I'm keen to avoid another annual fee, just to be able to use the voucher I've accrued.

Thanks
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Old Mar 16, 2018, 9:12 am
  #649  
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Originally Posted by pauldb
Has this been a given some perhaps-deserved attention? I'm thinking about HKG: does this now mean we can benefit from HKG's no-YQ policy and book the return of 241 for 31pp, saving 164pp?
No this wouldn't work. As soon as you merge it in to the existing LHR-HKG it will be repriced as a LHR-HKG-LHR booking with normal taxes/fees/charges. The no-YQ is only possible for exHKG bookings so would be ok if you did LHR-HKG and HKG-LHR as one ways, but obviously you can't do that with a 2-4-1.
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Old Mar 16, 2018, 9:17 am
  #650  
 
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Originally Posted by KARFA
No this wouldn't work. As soon as you merge it in to the existing LHR-HKG it will be repriced as a LHR-HKG-LHR booking with normal taxes/fees/charges. The no-YQ is only possible for exHKG bookings so would be ok if you did LHR-HKG and HKG-LHR as one ways, but obviously you can't do that with a 2-4-1.
CWS's post and cbagent's contribution to the wiki imply that the bookings are never actually merged, so the inbound leg remains ex-HKG. Seemingly there's only a half-avios repricing, not a cash repricing.
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Old Mar 16, 2018, 9:21 am
  #651  
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Originally Posted by pauldb
CWS's post and cbagent's contribution to the wiki imply that the bookings are never actually merged, so the inbound leg remains ex-HKG. Seemingly there's only a half-avios repricing, not a cash repricing.
It has to be put under the same booking ref for the 2-4-1 to apply across it though.

EDIT: to add, by all means try it, but I would be very surprised if you have two separate one way bookings with separate PNRs with one 2-4-1 applied across both, that would seem to be against the terms of the voucher.

Last edited by KARFA; Mar 16, 2018 at 9:27 am
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Old Mar 16, 2018, 9:29 am
  #652  
 
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Originally Posted by KARFA
It has to be put under the same booking ref for the 2-4-1 to apply across it though.

EDIT: to add, by all means try it, but I would be very surprised if you have two separate one way bookings with separate PNRs with one 2-4-1 applied across both, that would seem to be against the terms of the voucher.
Are you saying that having read cbagent's wiki-bit: "the itinerary will be ticketed as two one way bookings".
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Old Mar 16, 2018, 9:43 am
  #653  
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Originally Posted by pauldb
Are you saying that having read cbagent's wiki-bit: "the itinerary will be ticketed as two one way bookings".
Well I said I would be very surprised if by doing this you end up with two separately ticketed one way reward bookings with two separate PNRs and one 2-4-1 applied across them, and that no repricing of the TFC takes place. I could be wrong of course. If you want to try it and report back that could be very useful.

However, if it is the case that TFC is not repriced than it really is a very poor option when doing a LON-US-LON booking with a 2-4-1 considering the very high TFC for exUS bookings.

Last edited by KARFA; Mar 16, 2018 at 9:49 am
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Old Mar 16, 2018, 9:49 am
  #654  
 
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Originally Posted by KARFA
Well I said I would be very surprised if by doing this you end up with two separately ticketed one way reward bookings with two separate PNRs and one 2-4-1 applied across them, and that no repricing of the TFC takes place. If you want to try it and report back that could be very useful.
My reading of it is that you do indeed end up with two PNRs, only that your Avios are refunded to your account and a manual reference put in...
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Old Mar 16, 2018, 9:52 am
  #655  
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Originally Posted by Beaulieu
My reading of it is that you do indeed end up with two PNRs, only that your Avios are refunded to your account and a manual reference put in...
That's certainly interesting. I really am struggling to see why BA are doing this since a 2-4-1 is supposed to be for one booking which starts and ends in the UK (or JER).

As noted perhaps it would be advantageous for TFC for LHR-HKG-LHR, but it definitely isn't for TFC for LHR-US-LHR.
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Old Mar 16, 2018, 9:57 am
  #656  
 
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I'd agree with that - but I expect this is probably to do with the number of phone calls at approaching midnight UTC as the seats get released, to add as a return sector to a pre-existing outbound ex-LHR. I expect that you'd have to have the outbound flight already for this to work?
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Old Mar 16, 2018, 10:06 am
  #657  
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Originally Posted by KARFA
I really am struggling to see why BA are doing this since a 2-4-1 is supposed to be for one booking which starts and ends in the UK (or JER).
Originally Posted by Beaulieu
... I expect this is probably to do with the number of phone calls at approaching midnight UTC as the seats get released, to add as a return sector to a pre-existing outbound ex-LHR.
That would be one obvious reason for adding what is otherwise (in process terms) a clunky and unwieldy mechanism which is likely to go wrong at some stage (including getting gamed by those intent on gaming it).
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Old Mar 16, 2018, 1:01 pm
  #658  
 
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Originally Posted by ferndownflyer
Hi - does the above from the Wiki still hold true? I just tried to cancel my BA Premium Plus card and the agent was adamant that it would be useless - I couldn't find anything in the T&C's and I'm keen to avoid another annual fee, just to be able to use the voucher I've accrued.

Thanks
Card downgraded in January 2018, booked a outbound LHR to MIA in F on Tuesday online, phoned up weds and added inbound from JFK to LHR in J. No issues whatsoever, no fee for booking either. Bonus info - I tried to book AA F for the return but was told AA flights can't be used with a 241 so got BA J instead.
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Old Mar 21, 2018, 6:22 am
  #659  
 
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Just by way of update re booking with full Avios online at midnight and the calling in once the UK Centre is open. I did this today, booked 2 CW seats to Santiago (having booked the outbound last week) online at 2 minutes past midnight paying full Avios for two SCL>LHR in CW. I then rang in today (at 11.30am, not 6am) and within 5 minutes they had linked the voucher to the return booking and half the Avios used have already been refunded to my account.

Incredibly straightforward, the agent knew exactly what she was doing and all sorted in 5 minutes. Far easier than calling an overseas call centre in the early hours!
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Old Mar 21, 2018, 6:40 am
  #660  
 
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Originally Posted by Bobbie2013
Just by way of update re booking with full Avios online at midnight and the calling in once the UK Centre is open. I did this today, booked 2 CW seats to Santiago (having booked the outbound last week) online at 2 minutes past midnight paying full Avios for two SCL>LHR in CW. I then rang in today (at 11.30am, not 6am) and within 5 minutes they had linked the voucher to the return booking and half the Avios used have already been refunded to my account.

Incredibly straightforward, the agent knew exactly what she was doing and all sorted in 5 minutes. Far easier than calling an overseas call centre in the early hours!
So could you confirm - do you now continue to hold two separate booking references.

Presumably you paid about 209pp for the return and that hasn't been adjusted? If so you paid the ex-SCL YQ of 187pp instead of the ex-LON 175, but not too important a hit.
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