How Much !!

I wonder if anyone else has been in this position!

I wanted to book 4 reward seats to NYC, checked online and there were 4 in PE on the exact date I wanted to go and 4 in Upper on the exact date I wanted to return. Great I thought.

I rang FC and after 40 mins the phone was answered (Gold Line).

The agent double cheeked and found that there were now only 3 PE seats available for the OB and 4 for the return. (nothing else within the time period I wanted)

So, the agent put the 3 PE and the 4 Upper on hold for 3 days but did them on separate bookings.

Fast forward 24hrs and the elusive 1 PE seat is now available so I ring and again wait almost 40 mins, and the agent puts the extra PE seat on hold and gives me a booking ref just for the one seat.

So now I have 3 separate booking refs

1. 3 persons LHR-NYC in PE
2. 1 person LHR-NYC in PE
3. 4 persons in Upper NYC-LHR

Fast forward another 24 hrs and I ring to confirm and book, the agent says the bookings are all linked but can’t be put on just one booking.

The agent takes the miles then tells me how much the surcharges/taxes are, just short of £3K!. No way I say, they are normally just short of £2K. Whilst on the phone I quickly do a dummy booking and indeed the taxes are showing as just under £2K.

The agent does a dummy booking and says the system shows taxes are jut short of £2k.

Eventually after an hour and several places on hold, the agent says that the surcharges/taxes are correct, as I have effectively 8 one-way tickets and not 4 returns.

But that’s what the original agent said it had to be booked as, as the system doesn’t allow an odd number to be booked as returns (3 out, 4 back).

The agent advises against cancelling the 3 bookings as it’s not guaranteed the seats will be dropped back into the system as reward seats and even if they do someone else may grab them.

Eventually I pay the taxes to get the flights booked as 3 little girls (well 1 big and 2 little) are so looking forward to their trip to NYC, I don’t have the heart to tell them we’re not going.

The moral? Be careful how you book reward seats !!! Always make sure you book them as a return and not one ways on separate bookings as the surcharges/taxes will be a lot more.

Hopefully someone in customer relations (hopefully reading this) will refund the £1k difference once I’ve written in.

I believe that’s correct - taxes & fees for two one-way USA bookings are considerably higher than for a return. It’s the same with BA.

You would also pay significantly more for two one-way cash fares than for a return - that’s just the way it works.

40 min waits for the Au line to be answered... that’s ridiculous and cudos for hanging in there. What time were you trying to call?

But that’s what the original agent said it had to be booked as, as the system doesn’t allow an odd number to be booked as returns (3 out, 4 back).

Could it have been booked as 3 returns and a single?

40 min waits for the Au line to be answered... that’s ridiculous and cudos for hanging in there. What time were you trying to call?

Last night I rang just after 2000 hrs. Finished talking to the agent at about 2200 hrs

But that’s what the original agent said it had to be booked as, as the system doesn’t allow an odd number to be booked as returns (3 out, 4 back).

Could it have been booked as 3 returns and a single?

I guess it could have, but not knowing how the system works I cant be sure. But the agent (the knowledgeable one) should have thought to book it the best way???

Interesting. I've probably booked about 10 reward flights, and every time I have booked them as singles. reason being, they seem to be made available within a day or two of being released. If I was to wait ~ 2 weeks until the return flight was made available, I would risk the outbound flights being snapped up.

Is there a way around this?

With BA booking rewards, I usually book the outbound then when the return becomes available just ask the agent to make it a return, they always do with the return fees not as two singles. So asking a silly interpretation does VS not do this.

Because we have a longer annual holiday to escape winter we book singles if using rewards.
By the time we were ready to book the return a better option for the outbound was available so for £30 fee we changed the day of the outbound and booked returns.
Previously I have just paid the taxes and charges without really thinks how much more it was. At the end of the day it was more important to bag the flights.

Dick D

I almost don't want to ask or know, but is 2x singles much more then 1 return?

I almost don't want to ask or know, but is 2x singles much more then 1 return?

Approx £250 more each, (PE one way and Upper the return)

UC LHR-JFK:

Return - £533.61
One way from LHR - £371.31
One way from JFK - $526.90 (£391)

So a difference of about £230.

I had a different if similarly complex booking for my trip to Boston next March. Three of us going to Boston, one coming back from Boston after 4 days and two of us continuing for a fortnight in New York.

G's out and P's back, but two of the P's coming back were upgrade Y to P credit card upgrades! Then i wanted to upgrade two of the P's to Gs. That took for ever....in total spent over 4HOURS on the phone.

A bit complex but got £6.5k of flights for £1.4. Can't be bad eh?

@gumshoe @chumba WOW - Quite a difference!!

This thread got me looking up for PE reward to HKG. It turns out it’s cheaper buying two one-ways than a single return.

1x PE LHR-HKG-LHR = £458
1x PE LHR-HKG = £314
1x PE HKG-LHR = $325/£32

Two one-ways are £112 cheaper than a single return.