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BIG NEWS: Use your BA Amex 2-4-1 companion vouchers on Iberia and Aer Lingus

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British Airways and American Express have announced some exciting news today about the British Airways American Express 2-4-1 companion voucher.

Effective immediately, these vouchers can be used on Aer Lingus and Iberia flights.

How does New York for 34,000 Avios RETURN, PER PERSON, IN BUSINESS plus just £213 of taxes and charges per person sound?

Use American Express companion vouchers Iberia Avios

This is particularly good news for those in the Manchester area who will be able to redeem on the long haul flights operated by Aer Lingus to New York, Orlando and Barbados.

The rules are the same as for redemptions on British Airways:

Another upside is that taxes and charges on Iberia redemptions are substantially lower than those on British Airways flights.

Here is an example using Iberia to fly to New York from Madrid (I am assuming that you buy separate flights to Madrid to escape UK Air Passenger Duty):

68,000 Avios FOR TWO PEOPLE IN BUSINESS CLASS, RETURN plus £425 in taxes and charges between you isn’t too bad ….

We will run some articles over the next few days showing you where you can fly on Aer Lingus and Iberia to take advantage of this new benefit. We’ve updated our main article on the key benefits of the British Airways Premium Plus American Express card.

You can see the current card features in our British Airways Premium Plus American Express review here and our free British Airways American Express review here.

There is some other news about the extension of Reward Flight Saver to Club World flights. This is complex and isn’t necessarily a good deal – take a look at our two other articles published today.


How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2025)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

Get 5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, and the standard card is FREE. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review

There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

American Express Business Platinum

50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

Comments (230)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Hbommie says:

    That’s the sweet pill, and very nice too.

    The avios changes on BA could be good or bad depending on your avios stash, looking forward to your article covering this.

  • Vit says:

    Rob, I thought this will be announced next week? Or there is something else in the pipeline?

    Bad (or not so bad for some) news — avios award redemption devaluation? I search LHR – TYO this morning amongst exINV and exEDI. They came up with higher avios required 100k instead of 75k BUT the surcharge and tax are the same!? Something wrong with my BAEC or something to be announced soon?

  • hugo r says:

    Did this article just say there is some bad news to come or am I dreaming it as it’s just disappeared

    • Scott says:

      It did, but it’s now been reworded to state it relates to RFS rollout.

  • Craig says:

    Can companion vouchers be used for first class redemptions now??

    • chris1922 says:

      They always could, with Premium AMEX. Valid in all cabins. free card was economy only.

    • Scott says:

      They always could be used in First. Since the last set of changes to the BA Amex cards, the basic voucher can now only be used on Economy, but the BAPP voucher can still be used for CW or F.

    • lumma says:

      They always could. It was the Lloyds and Barclays vouchers that couldn’t

    • NorthernLass says:

      Yes plenty of us have used them for F flights. The issue has been lack of availability, not the 241 Ts and Cs.

  • Clubx says:

    HKG redemptions are now totally ruined. Why is it now costing 100k one way off peak in Club with £37.20 in taxes when it was only 75k Avios before?

    And even if you pick the 75k option you will now have to pay £140.20 instead. This is very disappointing!

    • Vit says:

      Yes — I managed to get the exINV-TYO yesterday with 82.5k and ~£550 for 2 adults and 1 infant but now it seems to cost 110k and ~£600 but for all exUK airports.

      Agree with HKG return as we are still waiting for the return date to be released. 🙁

    • NorthernLass says:

      That sounds like it has become a RFS fare as mentioned at the end of the article.

  • hugo r says:

    I booked bkk returned in business class in QR via BA website 2 weeks ago 150k points . I’ve just searched and the same dates are now 196k in points ????

  • Chris says:

    searching with an old voucher doesn’t show the Are Lingus flights from UK. Checking on days with availability when searching without voucher

    so definitely new vouchers only

  • Dave Hughes says:

    doesnt this make barclays vouchers (and virgin) far less valuable , i will still earn one from the Premier account Aviops but makes no sense to chase the Barclays one vs say Amex Premium plus one in your partners name , i really cant find much value in the Barclays one living in the North West ??

    • Blair Waldorf Salad says:

      Not much value no, but if you’re single and have a work:holiday situation vastly more flexible than your friends, the 2-4-1 is of little merit versus the Barclays voucher

    • NorthernLass says:

      If you travel to destinations which simply aren’t served from the North West, the BC voucher is incredibly useful.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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