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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?

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.

Use American Express companion vouchers Iberia Avios

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 2024)

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

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

25,000 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 – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a 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, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

Huge 30,000 points bonus until 12th May 2024 Read our full review

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

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

40,000 points sign-up bonus 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.

Category

Aer Lingus and AerClub, British Airways American Express, Iberia and Iberia Plus

Comments (230)

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

  • Wollhouse says:
    8 Dec8 December 07:41

    Has this changed Avios redemptions on other partners?? I’m trying to use avios for EDI-BKK on Qatar as i’ve given up on BA 241 vouchers, and EVERY flight is showing at 300000 avios for business, not the 150000 Qatar say? I can’t see anything that says it’s giving me the “double avios unlock seats” option. have they changed their redemption charts?? i’m on the Qatar website as there’s zero availability via BA (and i believe they’re more expensive anyway?) tia

    • JDB says:
      8 Dec8 December 09:01

      You are seeing the double Avios option; there is a green indicator in the top right of the flight box that says like 2x. That availability doesn’t show on BA. When there is ordinary availability, it should have the same Avios/cash pricing on BA as QR but there can occasionally be quirks.

  • Andrew says:
    8 Dec8 December 07:58

    Will this also apply to the new Barclaycard Avios vouchers or is it just Amex? I’ve got an upgrade voucher sitting in my account

    • Rob says:
      8 Dec8 December 08:36

      It impacts Barclaycard – we will return to this topic.

      • Nick says:
        8 Dec8 December 10:07

        Any sneak peeks on how this impacts Barclaycard? Wondering to switch to BAPP over BC Avios+

      • JP-MCO says:
        8 Dec8 December 10:26

        Interesting! What does that mean? This is coming to Barclaycard vouchers too?

  • Danny Kearney says:
    8 Dec8 December 08:20

    I cant see any options either Man to Barbados or Chicago with Aer Linus – Only BA – how do I choose Aer Lingus?

    • NorthernLass says:
      8 Dec8 December 08:32

      There won’t be any availability if it’s not showing. Aer Lingus award seats are pretty rare – I’ve only ever seen MAN-JFK in economy available and under the new system the avios and surcharges for this seems to have trebled!

    • Rob says:
      8 Dec8 December 08:36

      Very little availability.

    • Blair Waldorf Salad says:
      8 Dec8 December 10:09

      AerClub concierge members will have got precedence on EI seats before you

  • Eshaq Choudhury says:
    8 Dec8 December 08:47

    How would one go about booking aer lingus? Do you need to transfer to another program?

    • NorthernLass says:
      8 Dec8 December 09:46

      No, you book via BA if using the 241, but don’t expect much availability – have a look at the earlier comments.

    • Rhys says:
      8 Dec8 December 09:52

      No, you need to book it via ba.com as that’s where your companion vouchers are kept.

    • Rob says:
      8 Dec8 December 10:34

      Via ba.com but good look finding seats.

  • PG says:
    8 Dec8 December 09:33

    Is this rule of ex-DUB or ex-MAD likely to be applied also to the Barclaycard voucher in the future?

    • NorthernLass says:
      8 Dec8 December 09:45

      I don’t think we can assume it will because it would involve changing the Ts and Cs and Barclays seems to move at a glacial pace! The new 241 was valid on ex-UK routes from the start.

  • SG says:
    8 Dec8 December 09:41

    This is brilliant. I just cancelled an Avios booking I previously made for June with a companion voucher and re-booked with Iberia (to Boston). The overall financial saving is vast (more than £1,200 for the two passengers) and less Avios burned too. Obviously we’re adding a leg from LHR-MAD but that’s a pretty short hop and not expensive.

    • Dave Hughes says:
      8 Dec8 December 14:22

      IB have some really cheap flights from Manchester at the Mo (not sure about elsewhere) , i booked Madrid – Columbia and back from Sao Paulo before all this happened (176000 avios + £400 for 2) positioning flight was £42 , with silver status youll get the free bag and overwing exit seats and lounges , no brainer to start in madrid!

  • SG says:
    8 Dec8 December 09:43

    p.s. Rebooked on Iberia via BA using a new generation companion voucher, I should have said

  • Brian says:
    8 Dec8 December 10:06

    Semi OT: as others may have pointed out, there’s an Iberia offer on Amex now – £40 off £200 spend for me. Might be useful for booking the separate flights to Madrid…

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

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