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Forums Payment cards Barclaycard Avios Upgrade voucher rubbish availability compared to Amex 2-4-1 voucher

  • h1jfg 32 posts

    Just looking to book a couple of business class seats for next year (LHR to Dubai) and thought I would use my Barclay Upgrade voucher. Only to find that there is zero availability. Tried same search with AMEX 2-4-1 voucher and there is loads of availability. I know one of the benefits of the AMEX 2-4-1 is that you get access to more reward seats, but is the difference really this huge.

    Thinking that the Barclays upgrade voucher is a bit of a waste of time. Especially as when you do find a reward seat it defaults to max Avios price and you can’t change to use less Avios, more cash.

    Rob
    HfP Staff
    2,502 posts

    Unless you are adding in the ‘extra’ seats opened up in CW with a BAPP voucher, availability is identical. The vouchers book into exactly the same Club World seats.

    Admittedly you’re right, there is virtually nothing there Jan-Mar, but the same applies to anyone booking without a Barclays vouchers. Only the ‘extra’ BAPP availability via the 241 makes a difference.

    NorthernLass 9,496 posts

    I used a Barclays voucher to book DXB for December at T-355 as availability was never going to be around for long. Even at max avios it’s a bargain compared to cash prices. Standard J award seats tend to be snapped up pretty much as soon as they are released for the peak winter months, you’ve left it way too late if that’s when you were planning to go.

    h1jfg 32 posts

    Worked out that the issue was down to the fact that I was searching for Edinburgh to Dubai flights via Heathrow. When I searched Heathrow to Dubai the flights suddenly appeared, but still nowhere near as many flight options as with 2-4-1 voucher. I gave up in the end and have just nabbed 2x Qatar business class flights from Edinburgh direct to Doha for £720 plus 170000 Avios. An absolute steal. This is for April next year.

    Bobri 14 posts

    Availability is not identical Rob. You can redeem a 2-4-1 on Iberia iron (and also on AerLingus), while you can only redeem Barlcays upgrade voucher on BA iron.

    Unfortunately for LHR-MAD route this means Club Europe on an A320 instead of enjoying (for only 2,5 hours) a flat bed on Iberia’s excellent A350

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