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#961524 by Dohabear
11 May 2023, 07:54
Ok, so, I will try to stop pulling my hair out whilst I write this after 3 different phone calls to 3 different agents about the same thing. I have been trying to book premium (with cash) and upgrade to upper (with points) from Lhr-Lax next year. Outbound secured and on hold for 72hrs. Inbound cannot book as 2 weeks away.
First agent says call back to ‘extend your hold’ until inbound becomes available!
Second agent says no you can’t do that we can only hold for 72hours then the seats are released again.
Third agent offers to book one way flights on said outbound date at a cost of 8K (in premium)! And then book return when available for actual cost (3k ish) and refund the 5k. No way I would trust them yo do that!
Am I missing something here!? Can anyone advise on how you actually achieve this please?
#961526 by mikethe3rd
11 May 2023, 09:30
Interesting one. We often have posters using full mileage and getting agents to add the return to the booking, but I don’t think I’ve ever read about a poster paying cash for PE and then using miles to upgrade.

I can’t imagine any airline holding a fare for two weeks or can’t imagine trusting an agent to orchestrate their third idea successfully.

I’d imagine you’re going to have to wait until the return becomes available. If you really wanted to secure the outbound reward availability, you could book a “fake” return. So your outbound would be your desired outbound date, but then your inbound would be the immediate Sunday after your outbound. Once your real inbound is available, call them to change. If you do this, make sure you do this with an agent and you ask about the different fare codes, implications and financial penalties for amending your booking. I don’t think it will be a lot in the scheme of things.
#961527 by Dohabear
11 May 2023, 11:23
Thank you Mike, I will try your suggestion which is a good idea but will hinge on them agreeing to extend the hold until Sunday when it drops out tonight. We shall see. Thanks for your response.
#961531 by CommanderB
11 May 2023, 17:41
Dohabear wrote:Thank you Mike, I will try your suggestion which is a good idea but will hinge on them agreeing to extend the hold until Sunday when it drops out tonight. We shall see. Thanks for your response.


I agree with Mike's suggestion, book what you can then change the booking.

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