Advice for best use of BA 241 voucher(s) and Barclaycard Upgrade voucher

[creativekeyboard2]

Hi all – my partner and I have about 220k-240k Avios. Fairly new to the Avios game so would appreciate any help!

We currently have one BA 241 voucher (earned in early 2023), and could have another one in a few months. We also have aBarclaycard Upgrade Voucher (earned in late 2022).

We’d love to go on a trip to Europe in the next few months – is Reward Flight Saver worth it for going somewhere that’s only a few hours away, if we can make use of the ‘luxury’ of lounges etc? Can we instead use the Barclaycard upgrade voucher for this shorter trip? Or better to just pay with cash for economy flights somewhere, and keep all the Avios for future trips?

A ‘big trip’ long-haul would have to be in 2024 (also because of reward flight availability) and that’s where using the Avios + vouchers might make more sense. We went to NYC and Washington DC last year – so would prefer going somewhere else but open to anywhere. But that still leaves a spare voucher (or two!)

Basically just looking for any suggestions that allow us to use it all in a fairly efficient manner without wasting any Avios. Bonus if we can use one in the next few months to good effect (though that might be unrealistic!)

Thanks all!

[NorthernLass]

First of all you need to spend some time reading the articles on here about using avios and the 241 and upgrade vouchers, if you haven’t already, then you’re equipped and ready to book your award seats when you decide on your dates and destinations.
Secondly, that number of avios sounds a lot but it isn’t if you’re planning long haul trips – e.g. an off peak trip to MIA in business class would be 180k for 2 of you using a companion voucher (though there are options to use fewer avios and more cash).
Obviously short haul travel will use far fewer avios and can be very good value if cash prices are high. If you book CE you still get lounge access but the CE cabin experience is inferior to Club World.
Are there any referral and SUB opportunities you are eligible for which would boost your balance?
As for when to go, any time you can travel and there is availability is always good. Avoid school holiday periods if you can as there willl be more availability, fewer peak dates and a more civilised travel experience!

[kiley]

Why not combine the two?

Use the barclays upgrade to reposition in Madrid, have a few days there, then use 2 4 1 on iberia to Central or south America.
Buy a cheap cash fare back from madrid on iberia (if you select the right time) you can get a lie flat A330 from madrid to London which will top back up the avios

You should have plenty of avios for a nice trip!

[Froggee]

I would not use Barclays Voucher for short haul to Europe. It offers poor relative value. And save your 241. Unless you see these expiring, long haul business class is the best value.

For Europe, I’ve found that Avios is offering pretty good value currently, particularly in Club Europe. I use the rough and read Avios = 1p valuation metric in which case I’ve almost always been booking the max cash, minimum Avios option.

Have a look at some places you would like to go, price up redemption flights with and without the vouchers (for Barclays you will only see one option, for the Amex 241 you will see five, I think), value the Avios you need to use at 1p and see how the price compares to paying cash.

But only go somewhere you want to go, not just because it appears to be a good value redemption.

I’ve found availability to the US west coast to be very good recently but whether you would wish to go there is a different question!

[aq.1988]

A note on the BC upgrade voucher; if you only have one, that will only upgrade 2 people one way, or 1 person for a return. And, it will use the max avios, lowest cash option. So if you choose to use it in Europe, it will most likely cost you 50p each one way, but the full avios option (which is usually not great value).

[baec_newbie]

The Barclaycard upgrade voucher (BUV) is as good as useless for short haul European redemptions, because you’re forced to use the highest Avios and lowest £ option. Unless you’re Avios rich and cash poor, this tends to be very poor value compared to one of the other 5 combinations of Avios and cash that you’d have with a voucherless or Amex 241 redemption. Obviously if cash prices are very high and you’re struggling to use up the voucher before it expires then it’s still going to present a saving, but it’s still not a brilliant use of it.

That same constraint also applies to long haul flights with the BUV, but here it’s not as big of a disadvantage because most of the options work out at a similar total cost (assuming a typical Avios valuation of 1p). The main issue is that you need to actually have sufficient Avios to make the booking, and here even a balance of 220k may be tight, depending on where you’re going.

Whilst obviously you stand to make the greatest Avios with either voucher by using them on long haul flights (in theory you could save up to 250k+ Avios on a return Business class booking to Australia), the Amex 241 can also offer half-decent value on European short haul redemptions because of the choice of Avios & £ options.

It’s more flexible than the BUV in several respects, and notably you do get better redemption availability as additional seats are released depending on the availability of cash I-class seats.

This latter benefit means that, perhaps surprisingly, redemption availability for a particular leg can vary depending on your origin and destination. For example you may find that there’s better availability from MAN/DUB/EDI/GLA etc. to wherever you’re going than from LHR – even though you’re taking the same flight from LHR to your destination. You can’t drop the connecting flight to LHR on the outward journey (otherwise your whole booking will be cancelled as you’ll be deemed a no-show), but you can on the return journey, as long as you don’t have checked luggage.

Others have also noted that you could use one 241 voucher to effectively make two trips, by booking something like LAX-LHR-SIN, with a long stopover (weeks or even months) in LHR. The only constraint is that you must complete the entire journey (both outward and return legs) within a year, and that you’ll need redemption availability for all flights when you book, which rules out doing this on the really popular routes (SYD, MLE, JNB etc.) where all the redemption seats get snapped up the instant they get released.

When used for two people, the BUV is only valid for a one-way redemption, so booking a separate LHR-LAX redemption with the BUV for the above example could be an efficient way of using up both vouchers. You’d drop the last leg from LHR-LAX (or wherever) unless you wanted a second trip back there.