Companion voucher – expires April 2022. How to handle it?

[namster]

Hi All
I have a CV which expires April 2022. I don’t have a companion and I don’t have any plans for travel in April. Any suggestions please

thank you

[NorthernLass]

Have a look at all the threads discussing booking and cancelling for a FTV.

[namster]

Hi All
Is this guide still the latest https://www.headforpoints.com/2021/08/06/how-to-extend-british-airways-amex-2-4-1-companion-voucher/

Can anyone confirm my plan below is sound

1) Book any return flight using the 241 expiring before April 4th 2022
2) few days before departure cancel flight and request a FTV
3) Keep FTV or cash in value include cost of (taxes and 2nd person cancellation)

[tiriavpo]

1. You can book any flight, single or return, with the outbound before the current 241 expiry date and for all travel to be no later than 31 Aug 22 which is the current last date for the flexible booking policy. FTVs are issued by name so the companion you make the initial booking for has to be the same as the one you eventually travel with.

2. You can take the FTV at any time. You would probably want to do it earlier than that, especially if you are looking for reward availability for the eventual trip on a popular route, where you will need to book well in advance.

3. Don’t fully understand you wording, but you can cancel a booking, or an FTV at any time (but only by calling) for a standard reward ticket refund – at which point you lose £35pp cancellation fee.

Overall, if you have no plans for a companion, or there is likelihood of the companion changing, or the companion is as yet unknown, you have nothing to gain by doing any of this.

I also wonder how many reward seats have effectively been ‘lost’ by all the prospective bookings and cancellation, since there is never any guarantee that cancelled seats go back into availability.

[JDB]

One question re the ‘extension’ of 241 to Sep 2023 by putting them into an FTV is that once you use the FTV for a new booking, what will happen to the 241 if you subsequently cancel or make any changes if that is after BWC is pulled? The companion vouchers inside the FTV are not themselves extended; if you cancelled they would be lost if already expired at their expiry date. It would be unfair to those whose vouchers who have expired ‘naturally’ since October (and those who have now made a booking with the FTV) if new extensions were granted just to the FTV ones.

[NorthernLass]

Presumably it would just subject to the normal rules, including re-routing rights if BA was to cancel your flight. You’d get back avios, cash, plus an expired voucher, I would guess. I wouldn’t risk it, anyway, will definitely book trips that I’m intending to take, if they ever start answering the phones again!

[JDB]

NorthernLass wrote:

Presumably it would just subject to the normal rules, including re-routing rights if BA was to cancel your flight. You’d get back avios, cash, plus an expired voucher, I would guess. I wouldn’t risk it, anyway, will definitely book trips that I’m intending to take, if they ever start answering the phones again!

We are definitely planning to take the trip we have booked, but changed plans have become something of a reality, even without BA cancelling. I fear one needs to be realistic that a voucher currently in an FTV or post FTV booking, so effectively extended and due to expire in Sep 2023 isn’t, in the current rules, the same as one with a real expiry in Sep 2023.

[NorthernLass]

Which is why I said you’d probably get an expired voucher back!

[namster]

I have no companion so I gain nothing by letting the vouchers expire, seems to be such a waste ?

[SteveJ]

namster wrote:

I have no companion so I gain nothing by letting the vouchers expire, seems to be such a waste ?

Isn’t a companion voucher always a waste if no companion, by definition? The Barclays account upgrade voucher is a better bet for a solo traveler.

[AJA]

In order to book a flight using the 2-4-1 you need to have a second passenger (the companion). So if you don’t have a companion I am not sure why you would even book a flight in the first place.

Also exchanging the flight for a FTV locks in the passengers so you have to be pretty sure you want to travel with whoever you include in the booking.

I think you are going to have to let the voucher expire which is a waste.

Personally I would not bother holding the BAPP card if I was single. The big advantage of the card is the companion voucher but only if you have a second person to travel with. Paying £250 annual fee in exchange for the earning rate of 1.5 Avios per £1 is not worth it in itself. Assuming you spent £10k (enough to get the voucher) you would only earn another 5000 Avios (ignoring BA spend which earns 3 Avios per £) over the free BA card so are effectively paying 5p per Avios [£250/5000] for those bonus Avios.

[tom1]

the companion vouchers were valid for 2 years originally, and have been extended ( I think), and typically earning the companion voucher takes 6+ months in most cases – so there’s plenty of reasons why hamster may have had a companion at the time of applying for the BAPP card, but not now. Equally, namster may have hoped to have a companion before the voucher expired!

I am in the same boat – didn’t plan to be companionless!

[namster]

Thank you all. I originally had the premium plus card when i received the first 241 vouchers. I also had a partner at the time. I then downgraded to the free card. It does seem like a waste now 🙁

Premium plus card 241 voucher – Oct 2019 – April 2022
Standard Card : Oct 2021 – April 2023

The question is should i leave the BA Amex now and switch to spending on the Barclays if it offers a better deal for single people ?

• This reply was modified 54 years, 8 months ago by .

[AJA]

If you meet the income eligibility for the Barclays account I think I would ditch the BA card and apply.

If nothing else it will start the 2 year counter for Amex bonus again.

Is that no one you could take with you on the 2-4-1? Even on a short haul in CE somewhere is better than allowing it to expire.