What would you do with: 1 companion voucher, 1 upgrade voucher and 600,000 Avios
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Thanks for reading this post and thanks in advance for any help or inspiration that you can give.
We have been collecting Avios for some time and more recently were attracted by the 241 and upgrade voucher offers from Amex BA and Barclay cards. We now have some vouchers and quite a few Avios but little to no clue how to use them effectively. I have read the guides on how to spend them but I am wondering if some users on this forum would have practical ideas for how to combine the vouchers and points to create a great trip.
So we have: 2 adults that are open to pretty much any destination (but not US as we’ve been there many times), we would like to travel Business class and would like to spend 1 BA Amex Premium Plus Companion voucher and 1 Barclays upgrade voucher ( we actually have 2 of each but because of expiry dates a combination of vouchers would be best, we think?) The first of the vouchers expires in Feb 2025. We also have just over 600 000 Avios.
What would you do with that and how?Thank you 🙂
At the risk of telling you something you already know, the BA voucher enables both of you to travel, return, in business on BA/IB/EI metal for the Avios cost of 1 person.
The Avios cost of a trip varies by destination and by the Avios/cash co-pay combination you choose, but typically a return in Business will be in the 150k-200k range to US destinations or places of similar distance (appreciate you don’t want to go there.)
You could reduce this cost further by flying IB from Madrid. They have several destinations in Latin America, but as an example, to Buenos Aires you’re looking at 100k return in Business, and a lower cash co-pay than BA from UK.
None of the above requires use of the Barclaycard upgrade voucher.Your best approach is to come up with a few destinations you’d like to visit, then start looking into availability. Popular routes get snapped up quickly, often within minutes of Avios seats being released.
I’m slightly flabbergasted that you’ve put all this work into amassing avios and vouchers but don’t have any idea what you want to do with them and got to the point where one of your vouchers expires in 6 months!
So really you need to start by looking at what is available at this point (a SeatSpy subscription can help here as you can search for multiple destinations at the same time), and get something booked as you need to fly the outbound leg by the expiry date.
The 241 can open up extra availability which doesn’t show on SeatSpy, so if you suddenly decide you want to go to somewhere specific, try a search using the voucher on ba.com.
@Scott You can use 241 voucher in first class on BA, but not the upgrade voucher.
With 2 adults you wouldn’t use both vouchers at the same time. The companion voucher is for a return reward flight, and can’t be combined with the upgrade voucher.
So, the answer is to make two trips!
With this little time to go before expiry and Christmas getting in the way, it’s a more a case of what’s available than where you might like to go. The US is the place with plentiful reward seat availability simply because that’s the bulk of BA’s long haul services but if you don’t want to go there, your choices with good a good chance of availability boil down to Latin America or Tokyo, both on Iberia. It’s generally easier to get reward flights on Iberia as there doesn’t seem to be the same Avios collecting culture in Spain and many UK flyers are (irrationally in my opinion) put off by the idea of changing planes in Madrid when there’s a direct flight available from London, despite the obvious saving. I actually rate Iberia’s long haul Business product above BA’s. Generally speaking the saving is 50% going from Madrid when you add the the value of the Avios and cash combined, then add on the cost of the positioning flight to Madrid which can be as cheap or as expensive as you want it to be (best to fly out the day before departure) which needs to be a separate ticket to ensure you’re not hit with high UK long haul departure tax. The return leg can be a through ticket if you don’t want to break your journey in Madrid again.
An alternative way of looking at this is that you get more bang for your buck by doing a direct BA flight as the cost per person is higher before the voucher, but you’ve still got to pay the high taxes and fees x2. BA serves a few destinations in Asia, you can probably forget the Sydney route as that books out a year in advance. Gatwick – Bangkok is a reasonable possibility in low season but that’s old style Club World with 8 across seating which some people like but isn’t very competitive in the sky today. You could strike lucky with some winter sun Caribbean routes on less busy mid-week flights. Only way to tell is to start searching. Mostly you’re dependent on the airline having made some extra seats available if they think those seats are not going to be sold for cash. Availability of this type generally gets better the closer you are to the departure date so it might have to be a late booking if you’re to do something meaningful with your 241 voucher and stay flexible. Or accept that you might have to go back to the US if you want a good choice of destinations and dates.
Get yourself a SeatSpy subscription pronto. It will take the pain out of finding flights even if you cancel after the first month. You are unlikely to find anything in First unless you want US and something cold.
Doing a fly anywhere search for January in Business, there’s good availability and some great locations like Chile, Brazil, loads of Caribbean, even South Africa. So the choice is down to you and what you like, but there are options even at relatively short notice.
You can actually use an upgrade voucher and a 241 to travel together, though it would have to be on separate tickets, as the 241 can also be used for a 50% avios discount for one person.
You can actually use an upgrade voucher and a 241 to travel together, though it would have to be on separate tickets, as the 241 can also be used for a 50% avios discount for one person.
Good point!
You can actually use an upgrade voucher and a 241 to travel together, though it would have to be on separate tickets, as the 241 can also be used for a 50% avios discount for one person.
But would this not cost the same or more points and result in your being on separate PNRs for no benefit?
It’s generally easier to get reward flights on Iberia as there doesn’t seem to be the same Avios collecting culture in Spain and many UK flyers are (irrationally in my opinion) put off by the idea of changing planes in Madrid when there’s a direct flight available from London, despite the obvious saving.
I think it makes sense to go direct if you’re based where London airports are convenient for you, simply because it’s less hassle to go direct.
For someone like me who’s in Glasgow and would therefore be connecting anyway, it doesn’t really make much difference to me to go GLA-LHR or EDI-MAD first to position for a long haul (or indeed EDI-DOH or EDI-HEL).
@Froggee, I meant if those were the 2 vouchers nearest to the expiry dates, it might make more sense to use them. I haven’t done the math but I’m sure there would be some saving over not using the vouchers!
@CJD – agree re positioning, MAD or DUB makes as much sense as LHR if you’re flying from MAN, for example.We don’t know where the OP is based – if they are outside flying from a regional airport will more than likely open up more availability even to hard to obtain destinations such as SYD.
Guys, don’t feed the trolls !
Guys, don’t feed the trolls !
Troll or no troll, the thread has led to some interesting discussions. I’ve certainly learned something!
Guys, don’t feed the trolls !
Troll or no troll, the thread has led to some interesting discussions. I’ve certainly learned something!
Can’t disagree !
I think it makes sense to go direct if you’re based where London airports are convenient for you, simply because it’s less hassle to go direct.
It certainly makes more sense to go direct all things being equal, but if there’s an £800 saving per person on a trip connecting in Madrid, that’s persuasive for a lot of people, particularly if the direct option involves BA Club World rather than Club Suite. Also, the further you fly, the less the connection time makes a difference compared to the overall travelling time (and the greater the saving to be had going thorugh Madrid). Overall it very much depends on where the OP wants to go, if there’s both a BA and IB routing or if it’s just one or the other. Availability is obviously critical as there might be seats on IB but not on BA, whereas flying to the US, it’s likely to be the other way round due to the plethora of BA flights to North America.
I was playing around with my 241 the other day and noticed it opened up CW to MLE in January! Not even from a regional.
Thank you so much for all of your replies and advice/suggestions and thinking points!
At the risk of telling you something you already know, the BA voucher enables both of you to travel, return, in business on BA/IB/EI metal for the Avios cost of 1 person.
Well, I thought I had read the rules on these vouchers but for some reason I believed the 241 was for a single flight for 2 or a return for one. Thanks for pointing that out.
I’m slightly flabbergasted that you’ve put all this work into amassing avios and vouchers but don’t have any idea what you want to do with them and got to the point where one of your vouchers expires in 6 months!
I know!! You are absolutely right. We had dreams of doing lots of traveling, signed up for the Amex BA and Barclay Card for vouchers, and then our dreams were curtailed because we had some health issues in the family. We are determined to put these vouchers to some use though!
Of the vouchers that we have, the 241 actually expires June 25, it is the upgrade that expires in Feb. Am I right in saying that the upgrade voucher can be used by someone else ( ie our adult children) if we do the booking? That’s how it reads in the T&Cs I think?
your choices with good a good chance of availability boil down to Latin America or Tokyo, both on Iberia. It’s generally easier to get reward flights on Iberia as there doesn’t seem to be the same Avios collecting culture in Spain
Great ideas, thank you! We would love to see Japan but I thought that might be one of the trickier routes to get. Flying from Spain also sounds sensible, we are based just north of London and all London airports are within easy reach for a hop over to Spain.
Get yourself a SeatSpy subscription pronto
I was wondering about that and if it was worth it. I will get on to that right now.
So, in summary, that probably means I will try to find some alternative use for the upgrade voucher before it expires and concentrate on finding a Business class flight for us on SeatSpy before June 25.
Thanks again, and if you can think of anything else that I should look out for I would love to hear it 🙂
Yes you can use the upgrade voucher for someone else, I think it would make a lovely gift for an adult child unless they are already used to premium travel! Or you could upgrade a child plus friend or partner, one-way, for even more parental brownie points.
Ok, I have signed up to SeatSpy and as you all predicted availability is not great. I can’t look for flights leaving from Madrid there (unless I am missing a trick?). @Londonsteve and @Scott, is there a site similar to SeatSpy available where I can look for Iberia flights? I have tried going through BA Exec site but with little success.
Ah no, SeatSpy doesn’t show IB availability. I have a feeling that there might be a facility to do this on the IB website, but you’d still need to book via BA if you’re using the 241 (the upgrade voucher isn’t eligible for these).
Thanks, @NorthernLass, I will have a look at the IB website. And yes, our kids and partners would surely love the upgrade :-))
Doing some research on SeatSpy I found quite good availability to Delhi? Is that route less popular or are there simply more frequent flights? It seems odd.
You can also search via the avios app which is quite good at filtering by business and premium economy. Just put in Madrid from the origin destination.
I think it’s not a route that sees a huge amount of tourist traffic, and there may also be competition from Asian airlines.
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