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I qualified for the BA companion voucher through use of the (free) BA Amex (I have subsequently upgraded to the paid Premier Plus version) and now realise that as a result the voucher can only be used for economy seats. Clearly its value is therefore limited, but does anybody have any suggestions as to how to maximise the value of this voucher? Many thanks.
The only way would be to fly long haul unfortunately
Not at all – economy RFS flights can be tremendous value at peak times. I’ve seen BA charging £800 for a ET seat to TFS at October half term! European skiing destinations can also be a steal with avios.
Also – you can get RFS on some long haul destinations like the USA now, so starting at 25k avios plus £50. This avoids the usually ridiculous surcharges on long haul economy reward flights and would be pretty good use of a 241, especially on one of the shorter routes like NYC or BOS.
- This reply was modified 55 years, 4 months ago by .
No it won’t, because the 241 won’t price off the £50 taxes fare, it will price off the ‘standard’ one.
As others have said, there is no slam dunk value except getting lucky and finding a day where you need to travel but by some miracle Avios seats are still there despite cash fares being sky high. The 1 year validity on the free card voucher cramps your style further.
There is a little bit of value to be squeezed out- USA in the summer, a long Europe flight e.g. Greece or Turkey, Brazil perhaps. Off peak long haul is usually where it doesn’t make sense due to high surcharges vs a low cash price.
The other use may be for something last minute as that is often where I get the best value out of my Avios generally anyway
No it won’t, because the 241 won’t price off the £50 taxes fare, it will price off the ‘standard’ one.
As others have said, there is no slam dunk value except getting lucky and finding a day where you need to travel but by some miracle Avios seats are still there despite cash fares being sky high. The 1 year validity on the free card voucher cramps your style further.
I think there might be a way around that, though. I’ve booked MAN-LHR-IAD for Xmas with MIA-LHR-MAN for the return with a 241. The return is RFS in Y – when I contacted BA to get the avios refunded they happily did this so clearly there’s no bar in principle to using a companion voucher with the long haul RFS flights.
You don’t have to wait till close to the travel date to get bargains either – a few years ago I got 4 x RFS when BA was flying MAN-NCE direct. It was Grand Prix weekend so even when I booked at T-355 cash prices were around £400 pp!
Unless I’m misreading them the T&Cs don’t disallow the use of companion vouchers with RFS (long haul included)
https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/executive-club/offers/terms-and-conditions/amex-companion
If the IT system doesn’t allow the booking of long haul RFS with a voucher online it might be a glitch that requires a call to the centre to resolve by booking for you — or perhaps the T&Cs don’t reflect what BA wanted them to mean.
It’s always been possible to book short haul RFS with the 241, I’d bet it’s an IT issue which doesn’t allow for long haul bookings online. Certainly if it was against the Ts and Cs I would have expected BA to say, “You’ve booked RFS for your MIA-LHR-MAN leg, we’re not refunding the avios”. Interestingly, the system let me add the domestic connection in CE for no extra avios OR cash, no doubt an IT glitch they will spot at some point!
I thought even the new economy-only voucher can be used to start outside UK. So there is some value to pay low surcharges if you have a less than 24hr stopover in London. Say AMS-LHR-x-LHR-AMS. Or even Tokyo or Hong Kong or Brazil to London and back.
- This reply was modified 55 years, 4 months ago by .
Thanks very much for all of the thoughts and suggestions, which are much appreciated. It doesn’t seem straightforward, but I shall try to see what I can find!
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