Companion Voucher & Avios – how best to use?

[lavster]

Hi we got the BA premium card last year, we’ve got our companion voucher and about 40,000 avios. we were hoping to use it to actually get a cheaper than usual trip to Orlando. however looking to just book flights with a companion voucher and some avios (dont have 240,000 f0r the full booking) seems to be no saving at all, in fact its more expensive than booking a flight / hotel package with BA… am I doing something wrong or is it best just to use them for something else?

[Anna]

I strongly suggest you read the articles and threads about avios/companion vouchers on this site before potentially wasting them on a poor value booking.
Your main problem here is that 40k avios doesn’t get you very far, and as per one of said articles you’re best dedicating a year or so to building up a 6 figure balance to get the best out of redemption bookings.
If your voucher is expiring and you really want to use it, consider using it for a 50% discount on the avios required for your ticket (so you’d need 30/35k avios plus £150 in economy depending on whether it’s a peak or off peak date), and booking a BA holiday or other cash booking for the rest of the family.
This isn’t the best use of the avios/241 though, and ideally you should wait until your avios balance has built up further.

[lavster]

Thanks Anna, I think I best get myself a Barclaycard avios card too to build up that balance then 🙂

[Anna]

That’s a very good idea, and also consider any Amex referrals you might be able to make. A better strategy might go to aim for PE seats for your family, which would make the trip much more enjoyable and because of reward pricing structure you wouldn’t need a lot more avios than you would for economy, if you can travel on off-peak dates. There’s no guarantee re PE seats being released, but in reality 6 are being released on many dates.
A bit of an anomaly is that the peak/off peak avios difference for CW to that region is only 10k avios, but for PE, off peak is only 47,500 avios each way, as opposed to 60k on peak dates. As economy seats are 30k each off peak, I think this is a bit of a sweet spot!

[markcunni24]

I only have 30,000 avios at the moment and waiting to boost my balance for off peak flights to Caribbean in Feb/March 2024. Searching on BA to use the 2 4 1 companion voucher will now cost me 32500 avios plus £861, a £261 increase on same 2 4 1 redemption flights taken in March this year which cost me 32500 plus £600. Is this correct or is the BA system not working the discount correctly as the full avios price is 60,000 plus £300. I can buy a single off peak 2 4 1 flight with 50% discount at 30,000 plus £150. Do you think I would be better to book the 50% single traveller ticket and buy a separate ticket for the wife at full price?

[Anna]

Don’t forget BA has introduced RFS on long haul routes this year, as well as having increased surcharges a couple of times since you would have booked your March flights.
Using the 241 for economy seats only makes sense if cash prices are very high so you’d need to look at all the costs before making a decision. If it’s a BAPP voucher, it’s even worse value as you’ve paid £250 for it before you redeem it!