Question around BA Companion Voucher reward flight booking

[BezMan]

I’m planning on using a BA Companion Voucher to fly to from London (in Economy) to Cape Town and back (in Business) in 2025 (for ten days), and looking to call up the US office to get the jump over the online bookings.

However, how can I use my Companion Voucher for both outbound and return legs if I can only book each leg 355 days ahead of time?

[aq.1988]

If you’re booking economy outbound, then you don’t need to bother with the hassle of calling, the seats will still be available if you do it online, as only CW seats, and sometimes PE, get snapped up immediately. They also release 8 seats, so there are plenty.

For the inbound, you probably will need to call if you want CW, and the agent should be able to apply the 2nd half of the voucher.

[NorthernLass]

https://www.headforpoints.com/2024/03/11/how-to-use-ba-amex-241-voucher/

People have reported mixed results with the American line recently, as reported in the long thread on booking the return at T-355 and others.

[BezMan]

Thanks – much appreciated. For context, this will be in the Autumn 2025 half-term, so I expect seats to be more in demand. With that in mind, how much of a risk do you think it would be to wait until the return leg also becomes available, and then calling to book both outbound AND return via the call centre (i.e. will all the outbound reward flights have likely gone)? If I had to book the outbound (Economy) flights online first, I have enough Avios to do so, but could that also run the risk of my not getting through to the call centre in time (once the return Business flights become available), and ending up missing out on the return leg? Or am I over-thinking this…? 🙂

[AJA]

I would buy the outbound online when they are released and then phone to add the return flight when it goes on sale. You are going to have to call to book the return anyway as you are mixing cabins so booking the outbound online means you don’t risk them being snapped up by the time you phone to book the return.

If you miss the return flights in Business you will probably still be able to get the economy tickets or you could just wait until closer to departure to see if more business seats are released for the return flight. Remember also that you can cancel up to 24 hours before the outbound and just pay the £35 per passenger fee.

[BezMan]

Again, thank you – and just to confirm, when booking those Economy outbound flights online, should I use my Companion Voucher, and then have the BA Customer Service contact apply that same Comnpanion Voucher to the Business return flights when they become available?

[AJA]

Yes. You need to apply the companion voucher to the outbound when you book them. You cannot retrospectively apply a 2-4-1 voucher to an existing booking which is what would happen if you just booked the seats.

Then when you phone to reserve the return flights you need to say you want to add them to the existing booking ref XXX123 which used a companion voucher so are expecting to only pay one amount of Avios and the taxes for both passengers.

[BezMan]

One more question… bearing in mind that I don’t have enough Avios to buy all flights outright, i’ll need to use an ‘Avios + cash’ option.

Should I use more cash/fewer Avios on the Economy outbound or the return Business leg?

[AJA]

Ah now I’ve got to the limit of my knowledge. I am not sure how that works with booking reward flights in two different cabins. Usually the cash + Avios amount has to be the same for both outbound and inbound flights.

[BezMan]

Here are the options (for two adults and one child):

Economy out:

Total Price (Including all taxes, fees, and carrier charges):

70000 Avios + £ 225.00
58000 Avios + £ 450.00
50000 Avios + £ 630.00
38000 Avios + £ 750.00
28000 Avios + £ 855.00
17500 Avios + £ 930.00

Business Class back:

Total Price (Including all taxes, fees, and carrier charges)

200000 Avios + £ 712.50
168000 Avios + £ 997.50
150000 Avios + £ 1,252.50
116000 Avios + £ 1,837.50
84000 Avios + £ 2,512.50
60000 Avios + £ 2,917.50

I envisage our having around 180,000 Avios by the time seats become available.

[AndrewT]

Someone with greater knowledge may be along soon, but I think it needs to be the same ‘option’ both ways, i.e. if you select the third one for the outbound the return must also be the third.

[AJA]

You didn’t mention it was two adults and one child until now. You do realise that you can only use a companion voucher for two passengers so you will end up with 2 separate bookings which would be adult and child on the companion voucher and then a second adult on a separate Avios booking? That will also complicate the booking process since you would have to purchase the companion voucher ticket first and then book the separate ticket.

[marks7389]

Bear in mind that you can’t mix different Avios and cash levels for the outbound and inbound sectors (for the companion voucher seats), e.g. if you select the third option on the outbound you are tied to the third option on the inbound.

Also bear in mind that because the voucher seats are effectively half Avios, you’re better off going for the highest Avios band you can on those seats (you may even find buying Avios to facilitate that works out cheaper) and the lowest Avios band for the third seat booking.

As @AJA points out it gets more than a little complicated with three… I would book the third seat as two one-way bookings online as soon as they are released which means the call can focus on the companion voucher return seats, but you are going to have to be quick and have luck on your side to get all three return seats in business class where it is likely only four will be released in total.

If you only end up with the third return seat you then have the choice of cancelling it fee free within 24 hours, or holding onto it and see if the voucher opens up additional availability for the other two seats nearer the time.

[NorthernLass]

You can have more than 2 people on a 241 booking, as long as any CW seats booked are the standard reward ones and not the extra availability ones unlocked by the 241. At T-355 they will most likely be standard ones though.

As above, most BA agents appear to be insisting that the same ratio of avios to cash must be used on each leg, regardless of cabin class.

When you make the outbound booking with the voucher, simply select 2 adults and 1 child when you are given the option to add passenger numbers. If you’re booking economy on the outbound, there shouldn’t be any complications with this.

*Also – if you haven’t got enough avios to book the highest rate, you need to look at whether it actually makes financial sense to have all 3 of you on award bookings. You might be better using your avios plus a lower amount of cash for the voucher holder and child, and making a cash booking or BAH for the 2nd adult. These would have to be separate bookings, but you then wouldn’t have to worry about availability for the 3rd seat.

[BezMan]

Thanks all – some great feedback, that’s really appreciated.

Apologies for not making it clear that there are three of us (two adults, one child); to confirm, I plugged in return London to Cape Town dates (9-22 Aug 2025, Economy out, Business back), and was presented with the following options:

270000 Avios + £ 937.50
226000 Avios + £ 1,447.50
200000 Avios + £ 1,882.50
154000 Avios + £ 2,587.50
112000 Avios + £ 3,367.50
77500 Avios + £ 3,847.50

Since I currently have 148k Avios, the system selected the following:

Total Avios Price per person Taxes, fees and carrier charges* per person Total price
2 Adult 56000 £ 1,122.50 £ 0.00 £ 2,245.00
1 Child 56000 £ 1,122.50 £ 0.00 £ 1,122.50
Voucher used BA American Express Premium Plus Companion Voucher

Your Avios:Total 112000Avios + £ 3,367.50

@AJA, if I were to book everything online, it would be one booking (not two) – I guess the challenge comes when booking the return leg via the phone…or is it? My thinking is for me to book the outbound Economy leg online using the Companion voucher (as everyone seems to suggest), then get on the phone the moment the return leg becomes available, and attach (Business) return flights to the booking.

Or am I missing something?

[NorthernLass]

That’s your best chance of success – if you’ve got time, have a look at the “booking the return with the 241” thread for some pointers.

Just tell the agent you have made booking ref xxxxxx with your companion voucher and now want to add the return for the same 3 passengers.

Just be aware that, as I said above, results with the US office have been mixed recently, and if you’re unlucky and get an uncooperative agent, someone else might bag the seats while you’re trying another number.

[BezMan]

Thanks @NorthernLass – wish me luck!

[AJA]

Good luck @BezMan I hope it all works out for you.

I learnt something new thanks @NorthernLass, I didn’t think you could use a 2-4-1 and add a 3rd full price award ticket in one booking.

[marks7389]

When I responded above I did actually try booking for 3 using a companion voucher, on a one-way to New York as a test given that we normally only book for two and it gave me an error at the Avios/price calculation stage.

Maybe just BA’s flaky IT….

If you can book for 3 in one booking it obviously makes things much easier, albeit at the expense of having to use the same Avios/cash mix across all three seats and therefore making it impossible to unlock the savings available from prioritising your Avios on the companion voucher seats.

[BezMan]

@marks7389 – i’ve also tested this, and managed to get to the final page of booking for three people with Companion Voucher (I obviously don’t want to/can’t for Oct 2025 yet anyway) – one way to Cape Town – and it’s letting me book with the following options (hence, I think it’s just being flaky for you):

Total Avios Price per person Taxes, fees and carrier charges* per person Total price
2 Adult 35000 £ 75.00 £ 0.00 £ 150.00
1 Child 35000 £ 75.00 £ 0.00 £ 75.00
Voucher used BA American Express Premium Plus Companion Voucher
Your Avios: 148,986 Total: 70000 Avios + £ 225.00

BA’s site is (IMHO) very flaky, unpredictable, and sub-standard for a company of its size; it also overcomplicates the whole booking/reward flight process, making what should be a relatively straightforward and linear process a painful one. But hey, that’s probably not a major area of focus for them these days.

[NorthernLass]

Many of us have been booking for 3 or more pax on a 241 booking for years now! The option to add extra people is apparent during the process.

[BezMan]

Another question (which seems to indicate a glitch in the BA booking system); I tried to make/create a one-way booking, using a CP, for two adults and one child from LHR to Cape Town (date happened to be the 25th August 2025, if you want to try for yourself).
That worked – cost came out at 70000 Avios + £ 225.00
I then tried to do the exact same one-way booking for the same number of people, same CP, in Business – and it didn’t like it (despite their being three Business Class seats showing as available on that date).
Simply said, “Sorry there is a problem with booking this journey online. Try selecting other flights.”

Can anyone re-create this ‘bug/feature’, or explain why that may be the case?

[ed_fly]

BezMan wrote:

Another question (which seems to indicate a glitch in the BA booking system); I tried to make/create a one-way booking, using a CP, for two adults and one child from LHR to Cape Town (date happened to be the 25th August 2025, if you want to try for yourself).
That worked – cost came out at 70000 Avios + £ 225.00
I then tried to do the exact same one-way booking for the same number of people, same CP, in Business – and it didn’t like it (despite their being three Business Class seats showing as available on that date).
Simply said, “Sorry there is a problem with booking this journey online. Try selecting other flights.”

Can anyone re-create this ‘bug/feature’, or explain why that may be the case?

did you have a 241 voucher in use when searching?

[NorthernLass]

It would be useful to read Rob’s articles on the vouchers especially as they changed significantly a couple of years ago, however, in short, if the voucher is finding the “extra” availability in CW, you can only use it for 2 people.

[BezMan]

@ed_fly – yes, I did.

@NorthernLass – understood on the CW comment; that said, how would I (or anyone) be able to determine whether the seats showing in the system were the original four seat allocation OR an additional release of seats? Presumably, the very fact that the system throws an error indicates that i’m trying to pull on the additional allocation?