Stranex

Hi all,

I'm attempting the "golden ticket" LON-SYD 2-4-1 Avios redemption shortly and never having done the phoning at midnight wanted to be sure of my strategy!

Appreciate there are some older posts related to this and they make mention of phoning US/Japan (with some mentioning during the last few years they then got transferred to Newcastle or India due to overwhelming enquiries with FTV etc).

Has anyone any recent experience of phoning at midnight to book? Which number/office did you call? What time did you call? (2345-2350 seems to be general guidance?) Were you successful? (There has been recent mention, in particular calling US, of being told it's the wrong department and having to cal another number or worse, being on hold and not being able to get through and seeing your flights dissappear) Has anyone done it using the cabin upgrade as opposed to 241 voucher?

I've done a couple of dummy online bookings at the strike of midnight and have managed to get to the payment page in less than a minute. I understand those talking to an agent will have the flights "reserved" until payment whilst doing it online means they may show as available but but the time you get to the payment page, an agent has removed them from sale? Assuming (!) you can through to an agent, presumably phoning is your best bet with online maybe as backup?

Worst case, I see lots of Avios availability with QTR via Doha which, whilst costing more Avios and not making use of the 2-4-1, would actually be a preferred option (esp for return where flight timings are better for me) so if I miss out, not all is lost. That said, being able to snare the outbound with BA using the 2-4-1 just for that leg (or maybe even a cabin upgrade would work out more cost effective saving the 241) would be my preferred option.

Any help very much appreciated!!

babyg_wc

Id call it a bronze ticket these days.. even before the added fees the peak avios+fees the BA LHR-SYD weren't the best value for money IMHO. Unless youve only just got sufficient Avios for BA, i would fly Qatar, more avios, less fees, better everything else.
But back to the original question, i would 100% ring up as described in earlier posts.. getting to the payment page doesn't mean you have the tickets.. It will most likely result in an error and your tickets gone.. Besides you will need to ring to add the return anyways.

Stranex

Thank you!

if it wasn’t for the 241 voucher I likely would fly Qatar the entire intinerary.

BA off peak one way with a 241 works out at 150k Avios vs 180k for 2 people on QTR. I think outbound the fees are the same?

in addition the flight timings with BA outbound suit us better (can get away in the evening after work and have an “extra” half a day in SYD)

babyg_wc

Hmm i paid way less fees on Qatar when i booked a few moths back, 2 x ppl (one-way)
Avios points debited 180000 Payment Total GBP 800.12, perhaps Qatar are pricing matching now?

Smid

I think the fees were a LOT lower, unless that has changed. Also no need for a 2 for 1, so price it as something where you might be able to use that 2 for 1 elsewhere, and how much it would cost to buy the extra 60,000 avios (about £600).

You are also not locked to LHR and SYD anymore, can do MAN to PER, AKL or elsewhere, QR flys to other cities, apparently you can get lower taxes ex-EU too.

Beergander

I recently tried this for my desired CW return flights from CPT next summer. In all honesty it was a nightmare, I collected various telephone numbers from this forum, set my alarm for 11:45pm, on navigating the phone systems (I Think I went to USA), I was told that I couldn't book from UK and would need to call UK call centre when it opened in the morning. I did this and the flights had gone So I booked WTP to secure seats, luckily I had a little flexibility in my return and was able to change the booking the following day as the seats hadn't been snapped up at midnight. Good luck!

Yorkshire Traveller

Why not make the bookings online at the desired time and then add the returns by phone when they become available?

mikeyfly

As you will be unsuccessful online if someone on the phone already has them held by an agent - which is the case on very busy / premium routes

Yorkshire Traveller

Can an Agent do this? I had assumed that they have access to the award seats at the same time as the general public so it's a matter of who presses the keys on their keyboard the fastest! Perhaps someone that knows the BA systems can advise.

Steve in Olympia

In the past, phone agents have told me that they have put a "hold" on my seats, and then proceeded to the payment process. You can't do that on-line.

Stranex

Indeed, having read numerous threads here, it would appear that a phone agent, once they have your proposed dates and flights entered (within seconds I’d imagine if you’re on the phone as the clock ticks over to midnight) can put a hold onto the seats. If at the same time you’ve searched online and are in the process of entering booking details, these flights have actually been “withdrawn” from sale in the background. The first you will become aware is when you press to “pay” button and, presumably, get an error message as the agent has these on hold for the person who phoned.

Having looked the past few weeks, most nights, the SYD business seats are gone within 2-3 minutes. Very occasionally they’re still there a little later (this morning still available at 3 in the morning….don’t ask!!) but if you need a particular date it’s better to try the phone and maybe have the internet open in the background just in case!

Stranex

If flying from the UK, the fees are not that much different (around £100 pp one way).

As per my original post, the flight timings on the BA15/16 mean we avoid an extra days leave and an extra nights childcare (we’re both divorced) so sometimes it’s not just the money that has to be taken into account. This will a 4 night trip to Sydney (we are limited for above reasons) so time is of the essence too

mikeyfly

Yes. With the best will and internet in the world, it will take you 2/3 minutes to complete and get payment made. The agent has snatched the seats in seconds. You get to the loading page for payment online, then it fails as the transaction can’t be completed. Then you start again and the seats, have of course, gone.

Anonba

To give you an idea its something like this.

A couple of key presses to bring up availability menu, type in 3 letter codes say LHR and SYD, and date 30 Jan, enter number of seat: 2, booking class: U press enter and seats are pretty much held off. Just add names and email address (or prepopulate from Exec club account) and we can save the availability in a booking.

JBLDNflyer88

Bumping this up if anyone has had any experience recently? Booking my second leg CPT-LHR on a voucher and unfortunately don’t have enough Avios to pay full price and call the day after to amend