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I’ve been a member of Amex for several years now and have two Companion Vouchers set to expire this year—one in June and the other in July. I have a BA Premium 241 voucher and a Standard 241 voucher on my account. I’m struggling to find the best way to use them, as I’ve confirmed with BA that I can use both vouchers for economy class, booking four seats for two adults and two young children. However, I’m finding it difficult to secure four available seats on my preferred routes, especially since I’m limited to traveling during/around school holidays. I have over 250,000 Avios and am considering destinations like Dubai, the Maldives,Mauritius,Malaysia, Qatar, and Phuket.
I’ve come across some information about using an open-jaw booking strategy, where you book the outbound flight before the Companion Voucher expires, and then schedule the return flight for August by planning another holiday?
Any guidance or direction would be greatly appreciated Please. Thank you!
You need to book and fly the outbound by the expiry date on the vouchers, so summer holidays is probably out of the question. You might have better luck looking at May half-term.
Open-jaw means to fly into one airport, and return from another, but the land sector to be the shortest distance. E.g, fly to Dubai, return from Doha.
Given that you may be limited to the May half-term, then I would look at Dubai or Qatar, as you may not want to travel as far as the other places for that short a time (availability will probably be harder too).
Just to add to the above, if your priority is getting value out of the vouchers, you would very likely be able to use them to the USA for a week over May half term as availability going west is usually very good.
Also consider short-haul, as cash prices in school holidays are astronomical and the vouchers can offer good value at these times.
You could use the outbound portions of both vouchers, then the other “halves” within 12 months of that, however bear in mind that one-way cash flights can be disproportionately expensive if you don’t have enough avios or other points to get you the other way.
Thank your for the replies.
I will look at the options I have.
Your right, the way prices one way can add up expensive so will have to see what I can find and make the best use out of it.If I book say outbound to dubai with voucher then book cash flight return during Easter/May and then for summer book cash flight to say Qatar and use the vouchers for inbound back to London, is this okay? Do I have to call custumer service at time of booking or can the inbound be added any date before expiry?
Was really looking to use for a long haul trip and experiment somewhere outside of Europe. Maldives, Kl, Mauritius or similar. Good vacation for family of 4
Those are all difficult to get unless you book at T-355, but you’ve a much better chance if you use the voucher to DXB or DOH and connect from there.
You can do what you’re suggesting with the inbound, but you’d need to book that before taking the outbound.
There’s another complication now in that you’re less than T-355 out from your proposed inbound legs, so what you’re going to have to do is find your travel dates and availability and call BA. Ask to book an open-jaw trip with the 2 vouchers, where the outbound is LHR-DXB and the inbound DOH-LHR (or whatever else you go for, within the open jaw rules). Otherwise BA might refuse to add the inbound leg.
There’s some availability to/from MRU this summer; a SeatSpy subscription or free trial if currently on offer may be helpful here (though you need to double check availability on ba.com as it’s not always 100% accurate). DXB/MRU may well work as an open jaw, though I don’t know the mileage off the top of my head.
Thank you, I really appreciate it! I have a SeatSpy subscription and have set up all the necessary alerts, so I’ll keep a close eye on things. I want to make the most of my vouchers and points, which means I’ll need to put some thought into it. Sometimes, the taxes can outweigh the benefits.
Ideally, I’d like to cover two trips, so I’ve checked the air miles distance rules. If it doesn’t work out, then it is what it is.
I would greatly appreciate any additional tips or itinerary examples based on the information provided and everyone’s experiences.
The best use of a voucher and/ or points is some where you actually want to go, not where the voucher will save you the most points and give the most value in my humble opinion.
Maldives, Thailand and such are highly coverted routes for reward seats so are short haul routes in school holidays. You are going to need seat spy
How about open jaw into turkey turquoise coast and out via Istanbul? Internal flight from Dalaman or Antalya to Istanbul are not expensive.
@mario567, a couple of years ago I had an expiring 241 from a pandemic cancellation which I made 2 trips out of. Our local airport is MAN; we don’t mind connecting via LHR on one leg, but both is too much of a PITA. One April we flew MAN-LHR-GIB in CE with the outbound portion of the voucher (great fun as we had the T3 lounges and managed to bag 1A and 1C on the LHR-GIB sector. Returned direct to MAN on EJ.
The following February we flew MAN-AGP on Ryanair, and used the other half of the 241 for AGP-LHR-MAN in ET. We weren’t bothered about being in business class, but we took advantage of BA’s free checked baggage allowance to do quite a bit of shopping in Spain and stock up on supplies of cheese, chorizo and jamón ibérico!I’m planning 2 long haul trips in Jan and April next year, so might use the 241 for MAN-LHR-GCM on the way out, but then have a few days in the US at the end of that trip and fly direct to MAN on VS on the return (dynamic pricing permitting!). We could then plan a road trip through New England in the spring, again flying out on VS, but using the “return” portion of the 241 for the day flight back to the UK either from JFK or BOS.
A long haul holiday with no night flights is pretty much the Holy Grail of travel for me (though much easier when travelling east, due to multiple daytime services on BA and QR).@mario567, a couple of years ago I had an expiring 241 from a pandemic cancellation which I made 2 trips out of. Our local airport is MAN; we don’t mind connecting via LHR on one leg, but both is too much of a PITA. One April we flew MAN-LHR-GIB in CE with the outbound portion of the voucher (great fun as we had the T3 lounges and managed to bag 1A and 1C on the LHR-GIB sector. Returned direct to MAN on EJ.
The following February we flew MAN-AGP on Ryanair, and used the other half of the 241 for AGP-LHR-MAN in ET. We weren’t bothered about being in business class, but we took advantage of BA’s free checked baggage allowance to do quite a bit of shopping in Spain and stock up on supplies of cheese, chorizo and jamón ibérico!I’m planning 2 long haul trips in Jan and April next year, so might use the 241 for MAN-LHR-GCM on the way out, but then have a few days in the US at the end of that trip and fly direct to MAN on VS on the return (dynamic pricing permitting!). We could then plan a road trip through New England in the spring, again flying out on VS, but using the “return” portion of the 241 for the day flight back to the UK either from JFK or BOS.
A long haul holiday with no night flights is pretty much the Holy Grail of travel for me (though much easier when travelling east, due to multiple daytime services on BA and QR).I didn’t even think to do this tbh but what a great use of the voucher! With a 20 month old and hopefully another on the way soon, I expect the vouchers will be used during the school holidays for the foreseeable future!
I’ve been looking at flights to the Maldives, Malaysia, and Thailand, and four tickets are expensive!!—I’d only be able to afford them with my vouchers and Avios!
I do usually have a summer holiday booked with the kids, but I thought I might get lucky this year and fly out twice and save some money on an open-jaw style. Weighing all the options as i need to have availability on seats before I call.
With the vouchers can I only fly from london and return to London?
BA departures are mainly from London with a few regional short haul options (and connections). You can fly from Dublin, Madrid and Manchester with Aer Lingus and Iberia but there are far fewer routes – sounds like you need to do a bit more research on this …!
I’ve been looking at flights to the Maldives, Malaysia, and Thailand, and four tickets are expensive!!—I’d only be able to afford them with my vouchers and Avios!
I do usually have a summer holiday booked with the kids, but I thought I might get lucky this year and fly out twice and save some money on an open-jaw style. Weighing all the options as i need to have availability on seats before I call.
With the vouchers can I only fly from london and return to London?
For some destinations you may find extra availability if you start your journey in a regional airport such as Edinburgh or Manchester.
But you’ll still be connecting at LHR or LGW, BA don’t fly long haul from the regions, sadly.
Noted thanks
Research begins!!!
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