How do you unlock ‘extra’ Club World Avios seats with the BAPP Amex 2-4-1 voucher?

A reader mentioned recently that we hadn’t done a dedicated article on the additional Club World business class availability that comes with the British Airways American Express Premium Plus credit card.

It turned out he was right. We haven’t looked at this in detail since the feature launched in 2021.

It’s time to set that right as many readers may not be clear how it works.

As part of the relaunch of the British Airways American Express cards in 2021, there was a major change to the 2-4-1 companion voucher which comes with the British Airways American Express Premium Plus.

Cardholders were promised access to ‘extra’ Club World business class seating when redeeming their voucher.

British Airways and American Express have been very cagey about how this extra availability works, and three years on we still have no definitive answer.

It is loosely linked to the number of I-class seats (the cheapest sub-class of business class seats) available, but it isn’t as simple as that. If a cheap cash seat is available in Club World, there is a better – but not guaranteed – chance that ‘extra’ Avios seats will be available using your voucher.

For clarity:

• you only get extra availability with a 2-4-1 voucher issued with the Premium Plus American Express card – it is not a feature of the free British Airways American Express vouchers or the Barclays Avios Rewards vouchers

• there is only extra availability in business class – if you prefer to redeem in another cabin this benefit has no value to you

You can’t see the extra availability without a voucher

Frustratingly, you cannot see the extra availability without a 2-4-1 companion voucher in your account.

This means, for example, that if you have an existing 2-4-1 booking but are considering changing the dates, you can’t check availability unless you have a spare voucher in your BA account.

It isn’t possible to see the extra availability via SeatSpy or other reward seat notification services.

How does the extra availability work?

The key thing to remember is that ba.com does not automatically show you the extra Club World availability just because you have a 2-4-1 companion voucher in your account.

Whenever you search, you need to ensure that the box below is ticked and that you only search for two adults (unless you are using your voucher for a 50% Avios discount on a single ticket):

If you have two vouchers in your account, you can select both and search for four people.

If you only have one voucher in your account but search for three or more seats, the system will only show availability if the additional seats beyond two can be booked from standard availability. Otherwise you see this warning:

Here’s an example

I looked at London to Miami in January 2025.

This is the message you get when trying to use your Premium Plus 2-4-1 companion voucher on a date when additional Club World seats have been made available:

Booking using a companion voucher

This is what you see on 8th January when you use a 2-4-1 companion voucher:

It’s looking good, with eight seats on one flight and 10+ seats on the other flight. (When ba.com does not show the number of remaining seats, it means there are 10+ bookable.)

Booking without using a companion voucher

However, let’s do the same search WITHOUT using a 2-4-1 companion voucher:

Nothing ….

No Club World seats are bookable on either flight.

The difference is not always this stark, of course. January is probably the sweet spot if you are booking in November with a voucher because cash prices usually bottom out 2-4 months before the date of travel. I doubt you’d see such an impact if you searched 11 months in advance.

Is ‘regional variation’ still a thing?

When the extra availability first launched, there was a very interesting quirk.

Because of the way BA prices flights from regional airports, you would often see extra availability if you started outside London.

For example, Manchester to Heathrow to Miami could be booked even when Heathrow to Miami on its own was not available.

This appears to have been fixed now, or at least very sharply reduced.

However, if you search for Club World and still see no availability for a direct flight from Heathrow using your voucher, it is worth repeating the search starting in Manchester, Glasgow and Edinburgh, just in case. Something may pop up if BA is also running a cash deal from those cities, perhaps to compete with a Middle Eastern carrier.

Conclusion

Let’s give credit where its due. Every so often the Avios team pull something really impressive out of the bag.

They did it when they became the first airline globally (I think) to offer guaranteed reward seats on every flight, and they did it again when they introduced the extra availability in Club World for British Airways American Express Premium Plus voucher holders.

Not only does your companion voucher give you two seats for the Avios of one, it also gives you access to seats which no-one else can get. It’s a hugely powerful incentive that makes the £300 annual card fee more acceptable.

Our review of the British Airways American Express Premium Plus card is here. You can apply here. The current sign-up bonus is 30,000 Avios when you spend £6,000 in three months.

The representative APR is 139.2% variable, including the annual fee.  The representative APR on purchases is 30.7% variable.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (December 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:

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

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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 14th January 2025, the sign-up bonus on ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is increased to 30,000 Membership Rewards points. This converts into 30,000 Avios. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 14th January 2025, the sign-up bonus on The Platinum Card from American Express is increased to 80,000 Membership Rewards points. This converts into 80,000 Avios! The spend requirement is changed to £10,000 in six months for this offer. Click here to apply.

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 9th December 2024, there are EXCLUSIVE sign-up offers for our readers on the two Capital on Tap small business Visa cards. You can earn 20,000 points on the Business Rewards card and 30,000 points on the new Pro card. Click here to apply.

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

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.

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