Companion Voucher and Avios

[funkygal]

Hello everyone, I would appreciate some help please and apologises if these are dumb questions.

I have the The British Airways American Express Credit Card and I’m currently around £2200 spend away from receiving the companion voucher, but the spend has to be done by 20th January 2023. I understand the voucher can only be used on economy flights which I am fine with.

My Household Avios total is 52,188 (my Avios totals 42,559).

I have two long haul trips planned for 2023, Cape Town in September and Hong Kong in November, dates are flexible as long as they are in the same month. We are a family of 3, soon to be 4 (two adults, one child and one infant).

So what I need help on is the best option for me e.g should I try and reach my £2200 spend target by booking flights to Cape Town using cash now and then using the Avios points and companion voucher for HK? Is it worth me spending the money just to reach the target/gain the voucher?

From my research I understand using the companion voucher for long haul economy is not good value. However, I have no interest in the other classes at the moment.

Or would it best for me pay all in cash and just save the Avios for when I can gain better value e.g. on short haul economy flights? Are there other options I should be thinking of? E.g. converting to nectar points.

Thank you for reading!

[memesweeper]

Long haul economy *usually* isn’t good value unless you are booking last minute or need the flexibility that comes with an Avios redemption booking.

Having said that you should do the maths: if economy tickets are north of £700 return then Avios might represent a good choice. My guide is to never accept a valuation, per Avios, of less that 0.7p. Using the voucher will also make the Avios option a little more attractive.

Price up both HKG and Cape Town. Buy the ticket for the least expensive route, and then try and redeem on the most expensive route, *if* you can get better than 0.7p each for your Avios.

[aq.1988]

As above, price up the different options, and use the voucher on the one that gives the best value.

Very quickly looking at cash options for November to Hong Kong, you can get tickets for your whole family for less than £1800 atm, and because you don’t have much avios, you probably won’t get much value redeeming the voucher/using points.

I would probably book cash for HKG now, and in doing so, you will probably be fine to trigger the voucher in time (assuming you can spend the other £400 or so required). Then I would look to use the voucher for CPT, as cash prices are higher.

If you are allowed (I’m not sure, maybe someone else can confirm?), then I would probably use the 241 for one parent (the one that earned the voucher), and child, plus lap infant, and then book a cash ticket for the other parent; the reason being you don’t have a lot of avios to play with.

Unless you have a short haul trip planned before Jan 2024, I would try to use the voucher as you only have 1 year to fly the outbound journey.

[funkygal]

Thank you for the replies so far!

[Super Secret Stuff]

funkygal wrote:

Thank you for the replies so far!

Firstly, love the name!

Secondly, agree with the above from memesweeper and aq.1988.

Only point to add is you might get better value from using the avios to discount a cash ticket, don’t rule it out. I suspect not but sometimes it’s surprising…

[funkygal]

Super Secret Stuff wrote:

funkygal wrote:

Thank you for the replies so far!

Firstly, love the name!

Secondly, agree with the above from memesweeper and aq.1988.

Only point to add is you might get better value from using the avios to discount a cash ticket, don’t rule it out. I suspect not but sometimes it’s surprising…

Thank you!

Are you referring to part payment using Avios? I got the following options, is the first one the best value?

£60 off with 6000 Avios

£120 off with 18300 Avios

£210 off with 38700 Avios

[NigelHamilton]

funkygal wrote:

Super Secret Stuff wrote:

funkygal wrote:

Thank you for the replies so far!

Firstly, love the name!

Secondly, agree with the above from memesweeper and aq.1988.

Only point to add is you might get better value from using the avios to discount a cash ticket, don’t rule it out. I suspect not but sometimes it’s surprising…

Thank you!

Are you referring to part payment using Avios? I got the following options, is the first one the best value?

£60 off with 6000 Avios

£120 off with 18300 Avios

£210 off with 38700 Avios

The first option is comfortably the best value, it values each avios at 1p which is fine, and probably better value than you’ll get from an economy redemption.
IF the cash fares are reasonable, you’re probably best off booking the flights for cash with £60 off for avios, making the £2,200 spend and then redeeming the voucher on your CPT flights (as I understand the cash price is higher). But lots of factors to consider (availability of reward tickets, cash price vs avios price etc). Good luck!

[NigelHamilton]

funkygal wrote:

Super Secret Stuff wrote:

funkygal wrote:

Thank you for the replies so far!

Firstly, love the name!

Secondly, agree with the above from memesweeper and aq.1988.

Only point to add is you might get better value from using the avios to discount a cash ticket, don’t rule it out. I suspect not but sometimes it’s surprising…

Thank you!

Are you referring to part payment using Avios? I got the following options, is the first one the best value?

£60 off with 6000 Avios

£120 off with 18300 Avios

£210 off with 38700 Avios

The first option is comfortably the best value, it values each avios at 1p which is a perfectly reasonable use of avios. Depending on the cash price of the flights, you are likely best off paying cash for the HKG flights, using the £60 avios discount, and then making the voucher value by 20th Jan. Assuming the maths works, you would then redeem the voucher on a CPT return, only issue might be finding availability but that is always easier in economy especially if you have flexible dates.

A final option is using the voucher for a reward booking for 2 people, and paying cash for the other two. You then get BA to link the bookings by calling. We do this for our family of 5 as we only ever have a maximum of two vouchers and it tends to be best to pay cash for at least one ticket (which then also earns avios and tier points). Good luck!

[Anna]

I think your maths is slightly off, Nigel?!

[ATC]

Can you still upgrade from the free BA Amex card to the BAPP and if you have spent over £10k already you’ll be issued with the companion voucher which can be used in all cabins? Thanks.