FlyingWelshie

I have an Amex 2-4-1 expiring in November. I am thinking of booking a trip before the end of August then cancelling for an FTV so it will trigger the Amex 2-4-1 extension to April 2022.

Does anyone know if the Amex 2-4-1 I can change my flight companion, or if I rebook the FTV it has to be me and the original passenger?

corporate-wage-slave

I think that was asked last year, and the person concerned didn't revert on how it worked out. My take on it is that the FTV holds the Companion Voucher against the cardholder, but not the previous booking. Therefore when you come to deploy it, you may change your companion to someone else.

alex67500

Thanks. I've got one expiring this coming April so I'll be trying that too. We'll see if things get better by April 22...

maggieholls

I asked the gold line about this this week...

While they will refund your Avios and give you a FTV for the taxes you paid, you cannot use a FTV for taxes so you will have to stump up taxes and use your Amex 241 tax FTV towards another flight inclusive of taxes rather than solely for taxes.

Hope that makes sense!

Anonba

My understanding is FTVs can only be used by the same passengers and Avios bookings that are converted to FTV can only be used to make another Avios booking.

fdem

But doesn’t the companion need to be on the cardholders EC family account

KARFA

putting aside any FTV restrictions, generally if you have a household account you can only book rewards for those in your HHA or on your friends & family list.

for those not in a HHA you are free to book rewards for anyone.

Definitas

Can one of the more experienced FT people please clarify whether this post is correct. I have been looking into accepting an FTV and am pretty certain I read that it could be used to pay taxes and fees for the replacement flight. Which one is correct?

corporate-wage-slave

I must admit I didn't quite understand it, but I think it is in connection with Companion Vouchers, where you would have 2 FTVs as the end result. One for person1 with Companion Voucher plus taxes and fees, and one for person2 which would be taxes and fees only. In this particular context, they can definitely only be used on another redemption booking, they can't be used for flight only, and therefore they can only be used for TFC since there is no base fare on redemption tickets. But you could not then use those 2 FTVs for flight only which may explain the comment.

As ever, try to avoid FTVs and maybe bookings if you can by delaying things to the last moment, so that you can get a full refund.

maggieholls

feel free to probe - I’m merely sharing what I was told by CS on the gold line a week ago in relation to my own 241 - that if I accepted an FTV for, I could then only use that value (avios) of the FTV (not the tax element) towards another cash booking, not to pay the taxes for reuse of the companion voucher. The taxes I paid would be put into an FTV, but that cash value could then not be used for taxes of a companion voucher.

In short: You pay cash (for taxes), plus Avios to use 241. You convert FTV into 2x FTV 1) is an FTV for the 241 avios value and 2) is an FTV for the cash you paid for taxes. You can use voucher 1 (avios) fairly easily but voucher 2 (taxe) cannot be used towards a new fare where you’d pay taxes only (so redemption/241 etc.) even though you used it to pay taxes originally - seems completely non sensical/unfair to me...

My intention in sharing this info is so people do not get caught out by accepting an FTV for a 241 only to find the voucher they have for the taxes they paid in cash is not valid against new taxes so they have to pay again (and use what was a taxes only voucher against a different new booking). BA seems keen on handing out FTVs like sweets so I’d hate anyone to get caught out...

Of course, as is always possible the agent I spoke to could have been making it up and you may have better luck with another!

KARFA

Hi maggieholls. Thanks for the post. I think you may have been given slightly duff information there unfortunately.

As noted, the correct advice is that if you put a reward booking in to a FTV, this FTV will include all the avios, cash, and any vouchers. The FTV can only be used towards a new reward booking, not a revenue booking. When it comes to making a new reward booking both the avios and cash can be used for the avios and taxes/fees/charges required. If there is a 241 included too then this gets put in the FTV for the original voucher owner. With a FTV, nothing gets refunded and it is all on the FTV. The one consistent principle is FTVs resulting from reward bookings can only be used towards making new reward bookings, and FTVs from revenue bookings can only be used for new revenue bookings.

maggieholls

My favourite thing about BA is the inconsistency of the info given by their own reps. Said no-one ever.

Hopefully the OP will get a different CS agent to the one who gave me the duff info!

vintagepilot

As another data point, and assuming the advice is correct, I have just been told by a GGL CS agent that an avios-related FTV, ie an FTV that is derived from an unwanted or cancelled reward booking, can be refunded directly from the FTV if required at a later date. This is not the case with a revenue-based FTV.

Anonba

Yes but you do pay the cancellation of £35 per person.

Globaliser

Is this a flat £35, or is it limited to the amount of cash held on the FTV (by analogy with directly cancelling an award booking where the cash element was less than £35)?