Reply To: Are Barclays Upgrade vouchers any good for long distance flights?

[marks7389]

We’ve used a couple of vouchers for one-ways to Asia for two from LHR, returning on a QR redemption. They work quite well that way round as RFS usually means a flat-rate cash charge for each route regardless of direction of travel, so you’re not paying more on the outbound to cover UK APD which you would booking a QR redemption – plus, of course, the vouchers can only be used on itineraries starting in the UK. At 1p/Avios valuation the overall cost of doing that is generally not much different from using an Amex companion voucher for a BA return from LHR, but you get the superior QR product on the return plus more flexibility on the airports you can fly back from without a positioning flight – albeit it doesn’t unlock the additional business class availability that the BAPP voucher does on BA.

I probably wouldn’t bother for flights to South America. The Amex voucher is so much more valuable in that case as you can use it on Iberia and, as you point out, the cost of travelling with them is so much lower in the first place. Although BA flies ‘direct’ to Buenos Aires, the stop in Rio means it isn’t that much quicker, and Iberia has a choice of 3 flights per day.

We’ve also used one Barclays voucher for a one-way short haul from LHR, though the value there is much lower as it is generally better to go for the lowest Avios / highest cash on short haul. The fact that you can’t with the Barclays voucher means that the upgrade is not entirely covered by the ‘upgrade’ voucher, it just reduces the extra cost.