Companion voucher use advice

[orion99]

Hi team. Posted a Q about Avios value last week but now want some more zoomed-out advice on using companion vouchers.

Family of four. We have around 280,000 Avios. A big chunk of those were acquired through sign-up schemes; we fly internationally three/four times a year, but usually economy and not enough to accumulate loads of Avios every year.

We do, however, spend enough on our two BA Amex Premium cards to generate two companion vouchers a year.

We will be travelling as a family to Brazil every two years. Would love to fly business but happy enough in economy. We want direct flights from London only… would not be willing to go via Madrid for a saving, because it’s too much faff with the kids. Our Avios pool looks relatively small but have plenty of cash if that helps us get best options.

In first instance, looking to book return trip next summer for four of us using two companion vouchers. The outward leg reward flight is available, but the return is not yet.

Do we:

(a) Wait for the return to become available in order to be able to compare cash price to Avios redemption? We could always use the companion vouchers on a short-haul European trip next year. Could it be that the benefits of paying cash and earning Avios/tier points outweigh the advantage of using the companion voucher, especially as we have the cash?

(b) Use companion voucher to secure the outward leg now? And if so, which cash/avios option?

The cash price for four economy seats is £2400.
70,000 Avios + £400
50,000 Avios + £600
39,000 Avios + £860
30,000 Avios + £1000
20,000 Avios + £1140
13,700 Avios + £1260

Different methods yield different answers:
– using 1p per Avios, the first two options are cheaper (£1100 both) and then they get worse.
– using fixed cash price to work out value per Avios, each us better than the last, which gives a value of 8.5p per Avios.

Is using the ones with fewer Avios a ‘waste’ of the companion voucher element? As in: what should take priority, extracting maximum value from the companion voucher or getting the best ‘per Avios’ value?

Tying myself in knots a bit here…

[NorthernLass]

You might have been better continuing your previous thread, as much of the advice in there still stands. Is your cash price now based on a return journey? Also I think you’re quoting the avios/cash prices for 2 people with a voucher, which makes it more difficult to offer advice about booking for a family of 4.

I wouldn’t normally use a 241 for economy flights, but there are many factors in play here, such as would your budget run to cash flights and could you get better value out of the vouchers on another trip?

Are these peak prices? If so, could you look at whether you can travel on an off-peak date and make your avios go further?

[orion99]

NorthernLass wrote:

I wouldn’t normally use a 241 for economy flights

Why? I get that a lot of people on this site will be ‘power users’ and earn enough Avios to use companion vouchers on business/first class… and I totally get how that extracts max value from the voucher. But we don’t fly for work etc so scope for earning Avios is comparatively low. I’m reluctant to use up a big chunk of our pot by booking business, especially as we need to make it last in order to use the companion vouchers each year.

Our budget could handle the cash flights. But I don’t quite get how the companion vouchers could offer better value in a shorter (European, for example) trip, when the Avios values are likely to be lower.

Oh, and values are off-peak already 🙂

Thanks for the response/patience!

[NorthernLass]

Well you’ve answered your own question there! We don’t fly for work, either, just honed the collecting strategy over the years. I like to mix things up as well, so some years 2 of us would fly on avios/241 and the third one on a cash ticket or BA Holiday where the budget permitted.

If you’re used to travelling in school holidays already, you’ll be aware of the painful price differential – if you were flying, say, to Malaga or Nice in peak season, 15k avios plus £50 (or whatever the RFS fee is now) for 2 seats in CE would be a chunky saving on the £500-£1000 you might well be paying on a cash fare.

Even in economy you can be looking at £300+ pp return to the Med in July/August and your avios pot would cover a few of these. The further you go, the more you save when throwing a 241 into the mix, so 20k avios for somewhere like Tenerife or the Greek islands.

One thing that does strike me – it doesn’t make a lot of sense to be paying the BAPP fee (£300 soon) if you know you’ll be using the voucher for economy flights – do you spend enough to generate a 241 on the free card?

[orion99]

NorthernLass wrote:

One thing that does strike me – it doesn’t make a lot of sense to be paying the BAPP fee (£300 soon) if you know you’ll be using the voucher for economy flights – do you spend enough to generate a 241 on the free card?

Yes, I should consider this. Initial thought was that the 1.5 Avios per £1 helped, but would have to spend £60,000 in a year before that overtakes the £300 fee. We could definitely go to two free ones (or even one of each) and save overall, so thanks for that.

[orion99]

NorthernLass wrote:

If you’re used to travelling in school holidays already, you’ll be aware of the painful price differential – if you were flying, say, to Malaga or Nice in peak season, 15k avios plus £50 (or whatever the RFS fee is now) for 2 seats in CE would be a chunky saving on the £500-£1000 you might well be paying on a cash fare.

So is the idea here that European flights (school holiday time) are expensive in cash but relatively ‘cheap’ in Avios? And perhaps long-haul economy is the opposite?

Using both 241s for Brazil (off-peak, economy) will save us 140,000 Avios, which I thought was quite good… but perhaps not compared to cash prices.

[NorthernLass]

The avios price doesn’t change apart from a small deviation between peak and off-peak, so European flights can be a fantastic use of avios. I flew to Spain in CE at October half term last year and cash price was over £1k by a few weeks before departure. And as well as a genuine cash saving, you’ve got flexibility and the chance to pick something up at the last minute (or cancel) if your plans change.

£2400 for 4 economy returns to Brazil sounds like a really good price, you’d probably pay more than that to get to Florida in the school holidays.

[orion99]

£2400 is only economy singles for now… 🙂

Will wait for the return prices and go from there. Thanks again!

[orion99]

See, outward journey on those dates already up to over £3500, with returns (albeit at an earlier date than I want) £5000… so already looking like a better deal.

[NorthernLass]

But as pointed out in your other thread, it rarely makes sense to book one-way tickets, they are often disproportionately expensive.

[orion99]

I know, but since prices for the return legs weren’t up, I could only compare one-way at the outset. Now more dates have opened up I can compare with return prices, which look likely to be in the £4800-£5000 region at best

[zio]

You are unlikely to get the cheapest cash price immediately seats are released.

[orion99]

You are unlikely to get the cheapest cash price immediately seats are released.

Get that. But not really in a position to ‘gamble’ on seats being available/cheaper later. Certainty is of (non-monetary) value in my case.

[zio]

Totally understand that. Remember that if you make an avios booking now, the comparatively small cancellation fees may make a later switch worthwhile if a really good cash fare pops up.

Sometimes overthinking the “value” of a redemption is a waste of time and energy. You have a particular travel aim in mind and if your avios and vouchers can make it happen then happy daze. That’s the best redemption.

Tbh at 100k avios + £1200 to get the 4 of you there, the cash price would need to be a lot less than what you are seeing now to make the redemption seem stupid. Plus your credit card spend, boosted, will make your avios pot sustainable while rates hold.

Book the outbound flights in the morning!