[Froggee]

Oh yes:

https://hfp2026mar.kinsta.cloud/forums/topic/barclays-ug-voucher/

[Froggee]

You may cancel.

[Froggee]

Nope. But in the past I have had these offers trigger from eating in restaurants, buying gift vouchers in spas and the time I got hacked by North Koreans and they took me for every penny.

[Froggee]

Good grief – my ennui levels are at maximum today.

I just tried (on iPad). Not logged in but it must know me from cookies – apart from having to tell it that I am male.

It worked fine for me.

So usual – try a different device, incognito etc. or post the date and flight number and I will have a look.

Remember – you can cancel for free within 24 hours of booking if you were to book and not get the seats you wanted.

[Froggee]

@S13SFC – sadly this is because our strategy is to try and maximise the value of the companion vouchers which sounds like it is the name of your game too. But it feels a bit like flogging a dead horse as the returns when we want to travel are way over budget.

So our last pair of vouchers was used for Orlando to Edinburgh one-way in Upper which we got (second time round) for 150,000 points x 4 minus the two vouchers so net 300,000 points, I won’t talk about the 4x £70 change fee other than saying the lowest price (so far) for October was a couple of weeks after the flights were released.

Obviously you may have an issue that the BA flights will already have been released?

I ended up booking BA flights first so I will also have to pay £140 to BA when I get round to cancelling the return flight with them.

£420 in cancellation fees for optimal October half term flights.

Sad face.

Half term in Orlando again.

Panic stricken face.

[Froggee]

Trust the process.

I believe after one week though, your cvv falls off the booking so they will not be able to take payment. BA will then contact you and ask for credit card details.

Mrs Froggee played phone tag with them on this for several weeks during Covid! They called, left a message. Mrs Froggee called back with card details. They then didn’t ticket the flight in time so called her back. And repeat.

They are very unlikely to cancel your booking.

The main risk is arriving at the airport for an un-ticketed flight. That is a bad thing and by all accounts is very stressful.

So if they haven’t taken payment by 48 hours prior to departure then start panicking. That is when you start badgering them.

But by all means call back once a week has passed and explain the situation.

[Froggee]

I think it is going to be tough.

Booking the outbound leg first is pointless as Virgin would reprice it should you attempt to add on a return on the same PNR i.e. using the 241.

Also with the dynamic pricing, it is unlikely to be at its cheapest the moment the seats are released.

You don’t say which class of travel you are after but in all classes, the pricing can be all over the place for popular routes. It does tend to settle down after a bit.

So my best advice is monitor the pricing on your outbound flight. Once your inbound is released, see if you can live with the total and if is acceptable then book it.

With the Virgin vouchers, it can be the best bet is to use them one way and then use BA for the other although you may not have Avios.

[Froggee]

The unofficial rule appears to be no fee if changes made within 24 hours – probably on the basis that there is no cancellation charge if cancelled within 24 hours.

I cannot tell you the number of times I have tried to book a connecting flight online to get this message:

“❗️ Error
Sorry, there’s a problem with booking this journey online. You can try selecting other flights or contact us so an agent can help you book the flights you have selected”

It’s the pesky IT innit.

If this were to happen at midnight and you just wanted to lock down the flight and then called the next morning to sort it out I would be astonished if you were charged a fee.

I always find if you are nice to the agents, they are super helpful and they have these fees in their discretion.

But your worst case scenario is a £50 fee so if you really want the flights then not the end of the world?

[Froggee]

Yes – you should be able to do this.

You will need to call so pick a day with no travel disruption to do this!

They will split the PNR for each journey leaving three on the original one and putting the cancellee on a new PNR.

They will then cancel.

It could well only cost £12.50 x 2 to cancel as BA tends to limit itself to cash paid on redemptions. They should not charge an off line fee as you cannot do this online.

[Froggee]

Today I am like @AndrewT. I can book any combination.

In the past, I have been like you – getting angry at it.

Try a different browser, incognito mode, different device, banging your head against a wall, logging in, not being logged-in, praying to the IAG gods, a luxury travel concierge, using a different airline, giving up?

[Froggee]

I would say it has been fairly itchy.

Blocked twice.

The first time really made me laugh as I had just signed up for it and literally my first transaction was to buy Mrs Froggee a diamond ring for her tenth wedding anniversary which used up about 90% of the credit limit.

Went through fine.

I then went to Pret A Manger to buy myself lunch.

Blocked.

You gotta love that algorithm.

Second time was when we were in Paris and after a few small transactions I got a text message saying to contact them. I checked the app to confirm the number but could no longer log in on the app which was annoying. I called up and the list of questions they asked was ridiculous – particularly as I did not have access to the app. Credit limit? Last transaction? Do you recognise this transaction for £xxx?

I did not recognise the transaction for £xxx and after wracking my brain said I was very sure I had not made this transaction so maybe my card had been compromised. “Correct. I just made that up to test you” said the customer services fellow.

W.

T.

F.

[Froggee]

I would say gold.

You will get an extra 5,000 points on the overseas spend with it and there is no card fee in the first year.

You could boost your 10,000 points on the £5k spend for <£300 which would get you another 30,000 points and eat where you want to eat.

[Froggee]

@Iainm you can definitely do this and I would add – you will not be able to book from Glasgow online as the system falls over on domestic connections.

So if your wife manages to book the seats from London-Asia at night, then call back in the morning and make sure you select the correct prompts for a booking made with a companion/upgrade voucher as the staff should know what to do.

Explain that you could not book from Glasgow online at night but needed to grab the seats and they should add the Glasgow flights on free of charge as £35 fee can be waived as within 24 hours of booking (does not seem to be a formal policy but I have had it mentioned a couple of times) and there should be no £15 off-line fee as you cannot book these flights online.

Sometimes an agent will say that there will be more fees/taxes to pay. Gently push back on this as it is a reward flight saver. They will then generally agree to send it to ticketing.

Make sure it does get ticketed as it can be these sorts of changes that BA mess up and you do not want to find this out at Glasgow airport!

[Froggee]

Yes the number stays the same.

But you will earn 1.5 points per pound spent on all transactions since the start of your card year anyway. They backdate this. You keep the same card year so that way it’s fair.

[Froggee]

You can’t go T3.

Priority pass lounges at T5 are (apparently) so bad that I haven’t even been to have a look.

The correct answer is to go straight to the British Airways lounge at the B gates. Keep an eye on the departure board and in the fairly unlikely event you need to come back to departures at A gates, walk via the tunnel – do not take the transit.

[Froggee]

What @davefl said

Given that you are paying cash for the Etihad points otherwise, you are getting £325 for 25,000 membership reward points.

You’re over thinking it! I could think of one scenario where you regret using your MR points for every 99 that you are happy with your decision.

Be happy.

[Froggee]

Hello. It is I, Froggee, again.

Thanks for the kind words. Thoughts on thoughts:

– weirdly, we kinda like going to American supermarkets as do the boys. Maybe except for Kermit if he is being stroppy but he is at the age we can leave him at home with a book and he is okay. I have vaguely considered the Uber option but it takes away the flexibility of “hey let’s punish the kids by going to that outlet mall 20 miles away” straight from park thing.
– Mrs Froggee loves Panda Express! Wherever there is a food court in America, we tend to default to the “Chinese” or “Japanese” option as, for us, it is preferable to sweaty pizza, sweaty burger, sweaty sub etc. We have tried many of these “Asian” options and although I would say it is not as consistent as it was back in the day when it had a mere 1,000 or so outlets, Panda Express wins hands down. A fun (not fun) fact is in my past life we owned shares in Cafe de Coral (Hong Kong’s largest fast service restaurant chain) and they decided to expand into North America by buying Manchu Wok which was at the time, I believe, the second largest such chain in North America. Cafe de Coral management always seemed bemused why their North American operations were so poor and at one point I was like “go to a Panda Express and go to a Manchu Wok and compare the quality of food and particularly the freshness of the vegetables and you will understand”. I don’t think they can ever have done this as they ended up selling Manchu Wok for a fraction of what they paid for it.
– I am pretty sure that the Japanese restaurant was Japanese based upon the lady who served us. No way Chinese, very very long odds on Korean and outside chance at Thai. I think part of our problem is you don’t even question eating in any type of Asian restaurant in California where we are more used to. Very different propositions. I am now intrigued what New York would be like. I would imagine more authentic than Orlando!?
– yes I looked at Tampa and also Miami but it is always a case of juggling pricing/availability/timing. I think the later Virgin flight would have been perfect for us but my flying alone jet lag strategy does not necessarily translate to flying with kids jet lag strategy. This is actually the first time ever we have flown back from the east coast as a family so you live and you learn. Next year we are going back to Orlando in October – out with BA and will overnight at Gatwick and are flying back direct to Edinburgh with Virgin. The flight back was at 10pm when booked which was later than ideal but has now been shifted to 7pm which is pretty much bang on I think.
– @Man-of-Kent did you have to say these words out loud. I have the tune in my head again. Grrrrr!
– @Andrew. Orlando in summer? Never again! Made Singapore’s climate feel pleasant.

[Froggee]

Only done one.

£81 to not stay at the Residence Inn Quartermile in Edinburgh.

Chosen as I walked (within one minute) past it every day.

Marriott were doing a double points (I think) but only from your second stay and we were spending $5,000 at a Residence Inn in California so it was very much EV+.

[Froggee]

I guess I would rather not provoke credit card issuers, do not like the fact that Curve seems more prone to bad things happening on their cards and subsequent second rate levels of support, and the fact that I haven’t used it for donkeys so it feels a bit pointless.

I just paid my tax bill and did a bank transfer because the faff didn’t seem worth it any more.

Maybe I’m getting too old for the game.

[Froggee]

In the article “You can definitely CHANGE the date or time of your return Avios flight after the outbound has been flown. I have done this myself. It is a handy feature if a better-timed flight opens up at the last minute, or your trip is going very well or very badly.”

[Froggee]

His Robness has of course written about this:

https://hfp2026mar.kinsta.cloud/2024/06/12/can-you-cancel-the-return-leg-of-an-avios-redemption-after-flying-outbound/

[Froggee]

Now I, Froggee have been emailed.

They are going to shut me down because of inactivity (I stopped using it after Creationgate).

I’m in two minds about re-engaging on the off chance Lloyds actually offers something good.

Any thoughts? I am legacy black if that is still a thing and makes any difference.

[Froggee]

When you call, make sure you listen to the options as it is quite easy to get through to the general avios line. There are specific options for companion voucher bookings (from memory) if you listen to all the prompts. These agents are more competent and more familiar with the vouchers.

Even if the agent refuses to “add on” your domestic connection, I would have thought you should be able to change your origin which should only cost £35 (offline fee should be waived as you cannot do online) as the avios pricing is the same.

I take it there is no longer availability on your Vancouver flight as that could be a simple cancel and rebook. I would not book the domestic leg separately as you would not be protected in the event of flight interruption.

[Froggee]

This is Rob’s article:

https://hfp2026mar.kinsta.cloud/2025/01/03/how-do-barclaycard-avios-mastercard-upgrade-vouchers-work-4/

There is a fairly long thread with a fair bit of info also:

https://hfp2026mar.kinsta.cloud/forums/topic/cabin-upgrade-voucher/

[Froggee]

You don’t mean Emyr do you?

https://hfp2026mar.kinsta.cloud/virtuoso-agent-london/