[tiriavpo]

Mostly less than 10 minutes. Even when the tense queue looks bad, snaking round the entire room, it has moved quickly AND we had nearly all of the e-gates open (plenty of people seemed to be unable to work them though!)

On one trip, we were horrified to be directed to a queue which ran the entire length of the arrival corridor but even that only took 20 minutes in the end to get to the gates.

[tiriavpo]

Yes, unfortunately, reward bookings (with avios) are turned into ‘offline’ FTVs, they can be FTV’d online but you have to call to re-book. Or you can call and FTV it and rebook all in the same call – if you can get through.

Simple cash bookings that you choose to ‘FTV’ are actually turned into e-vouchers which are great as you can use them online.

[tiriavpo]

At the moment, the book with confidence policy applies to journeys planned to be completed by 31 August 22.

Details in BA help pages: https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/information/incident/coronavirus/flexible-booking

[tiriavpo]

You can book something with the 241 voucher, and then ‘cancel’ it and get a Future Travel Voucher (FTV). This is effectively just a credit note from BA that holds all of your contributions (avios and taxes) but crucially also the 241 voucher, until you are ready to re-book, and which remains useable for travel until 30 Sep 23. They hang on to your cash in the meantime so make it somewhere cheap! The risk is that if you cant use the FTV, and cancel it fully, it will cost you £35pp cancellation fee.

Some restrictions, including – the initial booking needs to be for travel prior to 31 Aug 22 (which is the current end date of the ‘Book with Confidence’ policy) and the 241 ‘companion’ has to remain the same throughout. Plenty of other info on this is several threads on here already.

[tiriavpo]

It may not be a error – just that you don’t get avios on new items. Quite a list that don’t qualify: https://www.shopping.ba.com/retailers/apple-store-online-uk

[tiriavpo]

You might find that it is because new Apple products, on release, do not qualify for avios?

[tiriavpo]

241 can be applied across 2 one-ways. As you say, can be good going east but worse to/from USA where a return is cheaper.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 4 months ago by tiriavpo.

[tiriavpo]

Yes, it can be wherever you want, provided there is avios availability. The only other subtle difference is all travel has to be complete by 30 Sep 23 – the normal 241 restriction is that just the outbound has to be before the expiry date.

[tiriavpo]

No you cannot do that. A FTV is just everything you have paid held in credit by BA for a future trip.

What you might be able to do, is FTV your current booking and use the FTV to rebook something cheap like a domestic flight or Paris etc, which would be a lot less in avios and cash. You would need to check first that you would get the balance back as cash and not have it held by BA in a further FTV.

You could also ask whether the 241 voucher has been extended – all vouchers expiring before Dec 21 were supposed to be extended by 6 months so check whether that has been applied, or would be applied if you elected to have it returned. If so, you could cancel completely and get everything back (minus £35pp cancellation fees) and then book a new cheap trip with the 241, and low taxes, then immediately put it into an FTV to keep it alive until Sep 23.

[tiriavpo]

Flyer2022 wrote:

Hi what are the best deals anyone has found between now and the end of March with example that Rob gave?

They are out there – you just need to search around. Googleflights is a good starting place. If you do a somewhere – to london – to destination, (and return) that will count as your 4 flights.

Depends where is convenient to get to, to start the trip – Aberdeen to Istanbul in March: https://www.google.com/travel/flights/s/G5aL

• This reply was modified 3 years, 4 months ago by tiriavpo. Reason: Added quote and formatting

[tiriavpo]

It does include previously booked holidays but there are some strict Ts&Cs – see here:https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/executive-club/offers/holidays-double-tier-points

Main ones – for bookings made prior to 24 Aug it had to be for min 2 pax, has to be min 5 nights with hotel or car for the entire duration and, most importantly, it had to be booked as a holiday. So all together in one transaction, no adding hotel or car later.

[tiriavpo]

I emailed exec-club.socialmedia@ba.com after a month and they were posted with 48 hours, but that was before the recent BA ‘upgrade’. Recent reports are that it is taking a lot longer and requiring repeated prompting.

[tiriavpo]

BA confusingly use too many ‘voucher’ terms.

If you book something with your 241, and the flights are subsequently cancelled, or you decide not to travel, you can elect to have a refund (which you currently have to do by phone) OR a ‘Future Travel Voucher’.

A FTV is really just the existing booking on hold – or in credit. BA keep everything you have paid for you to use in future for new dates. You might have to add more avios or fees if the new dates cost more of either, there will need to be reward availability, and the companion must remain the same. The FTV remains valid until September 23 and your 241 is kept ‘alive’ within it until that date.

[tiriavpo]

Assuming you have a BA Premium Plus card currently, you will not lose avios that have been posted to your BA account. Instead of cancelling it, you could downgrade to the free BA card, and upgrade later when you think you will get more benefit.

ARCC is a different card so you need to apply. Although you will not get a welcome bonus, someone else could get a referral bonus so you might want a friend to refer you for the ARCC.

[tiriavpo]

I am sure that when my double holiday TPs eventually posted, they were each dated as per the original flights. Cunningly, after the BA update, those transactions do not appear anywhere in my statement history so I cant be sure.

Guessing from your post that the critical year is this current one. ending 8 Jan 22?

Historically, BA have been happy to give 2 weeks grace such that TPs accrued early in your new year can be applied to the previous year, to help gain or retain status. This was not possible the other way – ie you could not carry TPs forward.

[tiriavpo]

The only way you can add the inbound to your existing outbound PNR is to call and they can make it a return ticket, but then you pay ‘taxes’ for a return – so you need to check return vs one-way taxes.

If you book them separately, they will never be combined into a single PNR (although a companion voucher can be applied across both legs), and if you ever want to cancel the whole trip it would be twice the cancellation fee.

If you have to call, because the inbound wasn’t available initially, or for an open jaw which can’t be done online, you should not be charged.