 Poster: A snowHead
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I've got about 150000 BA miles and a companion voucher and I would like to try and book Jackson hole for next year (2017). Now I understand about booking 353 days (or whatever it is) in advance but obviously that's only the outbound, do you book that and then risk trying to get an inbound too ? How exactly do you book these things as I've never done this before
Unfortunately we'd probably be going at Christmas so it's likely to be a very popular time to try and redeem miles
All advice from seasoned reward flight bookers welcome; I'm sure there's a wealth of experience on here somewhere
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Yes - you book outbound at T-353 online at midnight/1am, then call to book the return at 6am on the relevant morning. Flyertalk has a lot of details on this - some people have been successful calling other BA offices (e.g. Tokyo) at midnight UK time and getting their UK booking amended. Since avios bookings are cancellable, if you can't get a return leg then you can just cancel and lose £35/person.
I've successfully booked California and Singapore trips using this approach. It's a bit stressful but usually ok. If you have a gold or silver card its a bit easier as they answer the phones quicker for status-holders.
Xmas sometimes sees a very cheap sale of c. £1k return in club to the US, and given miles incur £500/person in taxes, its not always that much cheaper. Similarly, an ex-Eu fare can often be had for £1k to the US.
Have a few alternate airports in mind as well (Denver, Salt Lake, Phoenix etc.) and consider an internal hop if need be.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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@dsoutar, It will be a waste of your companion voucher to book outbound only, as they only work for a single booking.
Unless you are BA Gold card holder, you will find that there are very few 'miles' seats on most flights. This means you need to be very quick to book as soon as seats are released.
You also need to check the taxes that apply, as they are not covered by air miles. For example when flying to Vancouver, a £1000 return flight, would cost 100,000 air miles, plus £400 in taxes.
To book you log onto your BA Executive club account on the BA site, and search for reward flights.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@PowderAdict, you can add return flights onto a companion voucher one-way booking after the fact via the call centre. This is pretty standard practice, I've done it a few times.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Using a companion voucher on a popular route during school holidays I've occasionally booked outbound on the correct date and then inbound early, perhaps a week early to ensure I get both legs on the same ticket (hence using the voucher for both flights). I then check daily for newly released return flights and telephone the Executive Club to change my inbound flight. There is a admin charge for changing flights (£35 per seat?) but it has been a successful strategy for getting the flights I want on popular routes.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| snowdave wrote: |
| @PowderAdict, you can add return flights onto a companion voucher one-way booking after the fact via the call centre. This is pretty standard practice, I've done it a few times. |
Didn't realise that. Presumably there is the same standard admin charge for making a change to your booking?
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I've booked a 'day return' to Dubai on an Amex Voucher when the outbound was released and then changed the inbound leg of the booking a week later when the date I wanted was released. I often find that ex-UK is the problem and there seems to be more availability ex-XYZ.
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@snowdave, I've only booked return flights through the BA site, and the companion voucher is single use there. I can't say that I would have risked wasting it, on the basis that the call centre could extend it later.
My admittedly small experience of non top tier BA call desks has been poor, generally waiting on hold for ages to get though to someone who doesn't know the answer.
btw: what is T-353?
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| PowderAdict wrote: |
| btw: what is T-353? |
T=Intended date of travel
-353=Number of days prior to 'T' that flights go on sale
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| PowderAdict wrote: |
| My admittedly small experience of non top tier BA call desks has been poor, generally waiting on hold for ages to get though to someone who doesn't know the answer. |
Agree about the waiting on hold for ages, but any CS rep I've spoken to at the (non-tier for me) Exec Club has been extremely helpful, often searching for various flight timings, different dates, different destinations, etc until we've found a solution that works.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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By coincidence, just received an email from the Exec Club giving me 15,000 free miles to celebrate 15 years of the partnership between BA and Amex. Happy days!
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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@Gaza, Thanks, a little slow on the uptake there, I read "book outbound at T-353 online" as a website, rather than the date when tickets had been released 
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Worth bearing in mind that you can also use the companion voucher for an open jaw, i.e. Into one city and back from another. Would enable you to juggle SLC and DEN for example.
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You know it makes sense.
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| snowdave wrote: |
| Worth bearing in mind that you can also use the companion voucher for an open jaw, i.e. Into one city and back from another. Would enable you to juggle SLC and DEN for example. |
Done that a few times, but it can't be booked online (or it couldn't last time I booked that option with a companion voucher) so you have to ring up. Make sure you ask if the off-line booking fee can be waived as it's not possible to use this option for online booking.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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@dsoutar, I had this exact problem a couple of months ago because we're flying out to see the solar eclipse in August 2017 and I wanted to get on specific flights which were bound to be super busy.
I went online just before 1am BST on the required date almost a year in advance (I thought it was T-355 but might be wrong!) and booked the outbound fight with the companion voucher as soon as the seats became available at 1am on the dot, as a one way booking.
Two weeks later at 1am I phoned the Exec Club number for Tokyo (using Skype) and the helpful Japanese lady added the return flight to my booking. The extra taxes were charged, but there was no phone booking or change fee.
It was pretty straightforward overall!
BA guarantees to release at least 2 Club World reward seats on every flight at T-355 which is a useful benefit if using a companion voucher given how sparse the reward availability otherwise is.
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Poster: A snowHead
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@musehead, I have wondered why reward flights disappeared before I could book them. You do realise that you have just told everyone else how 'play' the system 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I think most of the regular bookers are well aware of how you play the system, otherwise the flights wouldn't all disappear within minutes of midnight!
A quick look on Flyertalk will reveal a whole sub-culture around earning and spending miles and tier points. Before you know it you'll be booking a cheap first class return to Hawaii in order to get BA Gold status and the ability to use Avios on any flight at any time.
Technically the phone booking fee is only supposed to be waived for transactions that can normally be completed online, but where the website isn't behaving that day. However, some phone agents waive it for anything that can't readily be done online, such as open jaw or adding returns to outbounds.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| dsoutar wrote: |
I've got about 150000 BA miles and a companion voucher and I would like to try and book Jackson hole for next year (2017). Now I understand about booking 353 days (or whatever it is) in advance but obviously that's only the outbound, do you book that and then risk trying to get an inbound too ? How exactly do you book these things as I've never done this before
Unfortunately we'd probably be going at Christmas so it's likely to be a very popular time to try and redeem miles
All advice from seasoned reward flight bookers welcome; I'm sure there's a wealth of experience on here somewhere |
My Experience going the opposite direction (USA-Europe) is it can be easier to redeem miles near holidays. I booked just a few months out using a 2-4-1 companion voucher SEA-LHR leaving next week in CW. (USA Thanksgiving Day Holiday weekend) I've done trips SEA-LHR-MUC several times in BA CW booking about 3-4 months advanced notice for January-March with very little issues. You sometimes might have to have a bit of flexibility +/- a few days to get what you are looking for. Personally I hate those fuel surcharges on BA, and have decided to give up on my BA co-branded Visa CC, and go with another airline in the future. But I have had some great trips on BA in CW & F over the past 2 decades.
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