Using your BA Companion Voucher

Have you got a British Airways Companion Voucher but aren't sure how to use it?

Or have you heard about these wonderful 2-4-1 vouchers
and are wondering how they work and how to get one?

Then you’re in the right place!

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What is a BA companion voucher?

A British Airways Companion Voucher - sometimes known as a “two for one” or “2-4-1” voucher - allows you to “buy one get one free” when you redeem Avios for two round trip tickets on British Airways (BA).

Let's say you wanted to travel with your partner from London to Cape Town and back in First. Usually that would cost up to 400,000 Avios plus taxes. With a companion voucher you’d pay just 200,000 Avios plus taxes for both tickets. You save 50% in points!

Now, this is where it can get a little confusing. If you want to use a Companion Voucher for solo travel, you can do that too - getting 50% off the Avios cost of your ticket. 

Using the same route as an example, travelling solo to London to Cape Town and back in Business Class will typically cost you up to 200,000 Avios, plus taxes. With a companion voucher you’d pay just 100,000 Avios plus taxes for your ticket. Another 50% discount in points!

That sounds great.
How do I get a

The only way to earn a BA companion voucher is with a British Airways American Express credit card linked to a British Airways Executive Club account.

American Express refers to its cardholders as members. Your membership year will start on the date your card application is approved. To qualify for a companion voucher, you will need to spend a minimum amount, on your British Airways credit card, within your membership year.

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There are two types of
cards available

British Airways American
Express Credit Card

To earn a 2-4-1 voucher, with the fee-free blue card, you need to spend £15,000 on it within a Membership year. Your voucher will only be valid for a year and vouchers are redeemable when you book a British Airways, Iberia or Aer Lingus Reward Flight in Euro Traveller, World Traveller and economy class cabins. As for Avios earning potential - you’ll earn 1 Avios point per £1 spent on your card. 

It does come with some other valuable benefits. If You spend £2000 in the first 3 months of your Membership, you’ll get a bonus of 5,000 Avios points. You can also earn an extra 4,000 Avios if you refer a friend who then gets approved for an eligible American Express

British Airways Premium Plus American
Express Credit Card

The black Premium Plus card comes with a £300 annual fee. You will receive your companion voucher if you spend £15,000 within a membership year. Your voucher will remain valid for two years and can be redeemed for a companion ticket in any cabin class. You’ll earn 1.5 Avios points per £1 spent on your card.

If you spend £6000 in the first 3 months of your membership, you’ll get a bonus of 30,000 Avios points. You can also earn an extra 9,000 Avios if you refer a friend who then gets approved for an eligible American Express card. But that’s not all, with the premium card you’ll get 3,000 extra Avios when you add the first Supplementary Card to your Account, and an exclusive earn-rate of 3 Avios for every £1 spent with BA Holidays. 

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Will I need a British Airways Executive Club account?

Yes, the British Airways Executive Club is BA’s loyalty programme. It’s free to join and you will earn loyalty points called Avios, when you fly on BA and its partner airlines. You can also earn Avios when you buy things from a range of partners. Anything you buy using your British Airways American Express Credit Card will earn you Avios too.

Your Executive Club account acts as your Avios wallet, so you will need to link it to your credit card account.

When you reach the qualifying spend for a Companion Voucher it will automatically be added to your British Airways Executive Club account within a few days. Once you have earned enough Avios to exchange for a flight ticket, you can use your Companion Voucher to get a 50% Avios discount if you’re a solo traveller, or another free ticket for a companion too, excluding taxes. BA calls tickets that have been bought by redeeming Avios “Reward Flights”.

Which card offers the best value?

For most Reward Flight Finder members the Premium Plus card is likely to offer the best value. In fact the companion voucher offered with this card is one of the most valuable credit card perks in the UK.

If you think of Avios as money, redeeming them for long-haul business class flights will get you the best exchange rate. The difference in Avios points and taxes, between economy class and business class flights, is typically less than the difference in the cash ticket prices. When you are getting two tickets, for same number of Avios as one, the maths is compelling.

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Using a companion voucher for a flight to New York in business class will save you 100,000 Avios on off-peak flight redemptions and 120,000 at peak times. Typically each Avios you redeem on a long-haul business class ticket is worth around 1 pence. So that’s a potential saving of £1,200 for a £300 annual fee. Vouchers earned with the free blue card can only be redeemed for economy class flights. They offer a far lower Avios-to-cash value exchange rate and you need to spend more to earn a voucher in the first place, that will expire in a year.

Of course, it depends on your circumstances and you should only apply for these cards if you can afford to pay your credit card bill each month. You will also need to be able to earn enough Avios to redeem for at least one flight, otherwise the companion voucher isn’t worth it.

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So is the blue BA Amex a waste of time?

Not necessarily. The companion voucher you get with the free card may not be as valuable, in fact you will probably get a better cash return by converting your Avios into Nectar points to spend at Sainsburys. However the free British Airways American Express credit card is still a great way to earn Avios to redeem for reward flights.

If you are a solo traveller or won’t spend enough to qualify for a companion voucher, the free card is almost certainly a better choice. You will earn 1 Avios for every £1 spent on the card.

The Premium Plus card offers 1.5 Avios for every £1 but has a £300 annual fee. So, unless you are likely to spend over £50,000 a year on it, the fee-free card is the best choice for anyone planning on flying solo.

When you reach the qualifying spend for a Companion Voucher it will automatically be added to your British Airways Executive Club account within a few days. Once you have earned enough Avios to exchange for a flight ticket, you can use your Companion Voucher to get a 50% Avios discount if you’re a solo traveller, or another free ticket for a companion too, excluding taxes. BA calls tickets that have been bought by redeeming Avios “Reward Flights”.

How many companion vouchers can I earn each year?

You can only earn one BA Companion Voucher, per credit card account, per year, regardless of how much you spend on it.

If you plan to travel with a partner or friend you can each apply for your own BA credit card to earn a pair of 2-4-1 vouchers. But it’s only worth it if you’ll also earn enough Avios to make use of both vouchers. Don’t overspend on your American Express cards just to get a voucher each.

If your collective spend is sufficient to earn two vouchers, you can each afford to pay the credit card bill off each month and you each earn plenty of Avios, then opening two accounts might make sense.

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Can I use my companion voucher on other Oneworld airlines?

Vouchers are redeemable when you book a British Airways, Iberia or Aer Lingus Reward Flight in Euro Traveller, World Traveller and economy class cabins.

You can’t use your voucher to book flights on American Airlines, Finnair, Qatar Airways, JAL or Cathay Pacific. Even BA flights operated by another airline, such as the ones Comair operate under BA colours in South Africa are ruled out.

Can I book one-way or open-jaw tickets?

A BA Companion Voucher can be used for one-way flight bookings. Vouchers issued after 1st September 2021 can be used to book one-way flights in either direction. Older vouchers can only be used for one-way flights departing from the UK, which has higher air taxes than many other countries.

An open-jaw booking is one where your outbound flight flies to one airport, but your return flight leaves from an airport in a different city. BA doesn’t let you redeem a companion voucher for an open-jaw booking on its website. But it IS possible.

Once you’ve chosen your flights, call British Airways and let them make the booking for you. They will be able to make an open-jaw booking for you and apply your companion voucher to it.

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A few tips:

  • Call Executive Club customer services, rather than the main BA reservations number.

  • If you are in the Bronze, Silver or Gold tiers, call your dedicated number, which you can find on your card or when you are logged into your BA account. Agents handling premium customers are generally more used to handling companion voucher enquiries, in our experience.

  • Make sure you tell the agent, at the start of the call, that you want to use your British Airways companion voucher for your open jaw reservation.

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Can I use my companion voucher for tickets in two different classes?

You and your companion have to fly together, in the same cabin class, on the same flights.

So you can’t fly in First and book your companion a cheaper seat at the back of the aircraft, using the excuse that there was only one reward seat available in First.

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Can I combine or share vouchers with my friends and family?

The golden rule is that the British Airways American Express cardholder has to be be one of the two travellers named on the reservation when you book with a companion voucher. So you can’t gift your companion vouchers to friends and family for them to go on a trip without the cardholder.

Many families pool their Avios in a Household Account. If you have one of these accounts, the second person you book, using your companion voucher, has to be named within your Household Account or on your ‘Friends and Family’ list. You can however use Avios that one household member has earned to spend on flights for another member of the Household Account.

But there is a useful loophole for groups of up to four people. If you have two vouchers to use, issued to the same person, they can be combined for the BA Amex cardholder and up to three other people. This situation might occur if you earned your voucher for the next card year before using a valid voucher earnt previously.

It’s important to note that BA changed its voucher scheme from 1 September 2021. So it doesn’t allow you to combine any valid vouchers issued before that date with newer ones to accommodate a group of four.

Can I use a companion voucher with a Reward Flight Saver deal?

When you book any reward flight with British Airways you have to pay the taxes. Unfortunately the UK has among the highest air passenger duty taxes of any European country, which apply to any flight booking that starts in the UK. (Companion vouchers issued before 1 September 2021 require that you begin your journey in the UK.) Whilst a companion voucher halves the Avios required for two people to travel together it doesn’t halve the taxes due for two flight tickets.

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BA does offer deals called Reward Flight Savers on some flights. Traditionally you paid a £35 flat fee per person and an allocation of Avios for your ticket, with no further taxes owed. Recently BA has let travellers pay more Avios and reduce the fee, in lieu of taxes, down to as low as £1.

However, if you book with a companion voucher, you can only choose the £35 option on a Reward Flight Saver. That’s not a bad thing on a long haul flight though, as if you aren’t using a voucher BA ask for a lot of Avios to reduce the fee below £35. Clearly, particularly if you are flying short-haul economy, you should check if the taxes or fees on a reward flight are higher than the lowest available cash prices. With long haul flights, in premium cabins a reward flight plus taxes will almost always be significantly cheaper than the cash fare, particularly when you use a Companion Voucher.

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How can I reduce the taxes I have to pay?

There are three options you could consider if you want to reduce your taxes, particularly for flights which don’t offer Reward Flight Saver deals.

The first is to start your journey from Jersey. Jersey is outside the UK tax-zone but BA counts Jersey as a UK airport. So you can fly from Jersey to BA’s London hubs and save on taxes. Be careful though, you need to arrive from Jersey to the mainland UK and depart again within 24 hours, otherwise UK taxes will apply. Starting your flight from Inverness in Scotland avoids tax too, because highland airports are exempt from UK Air Passenger Duty (APD). But, unless you live nearby one of these airports, starting your trip far away from where you live is a hassle and you have to factor in the cost of getting there.

When working out your tax saving, don’t forget to deduct the cost of getting to your departure airport. You could also decide to use your companion voucher for a one way redemption, on your return flight to the the UK, from overseas. However you should do the maths on whether the overall saving is worthwhile compared to booking a return flight using points plus a voucher, but paying the extra tax.

What else should I know??

  • You need to book and fly the outbound leg booked with a 2-4-1 voucher before its expiry date but you can fly back whenever you like.

  • You must use an American Express card to pay your taxes on a companion voucher booking, though it doesn’t actually have to be a BA Amex card.

  • If you need to cancel a flight booked with a companion voucher, you will get the voucher back. However, the original expiry date will remain the same.

  • You can’t split your payment for a BA Companion Voucher flight with cash and Avios. “Part-pay with Avios” bookings are ineligible, it has to be a reward flight booking where the full price of the flight ticket is covered by an Avios redemption, minus taxes and fees.

  • You aren’t allowed to change the name of the second traveller after making a booking. To do so, you have to cancel the whole booking, but there is no guarantee that reward flight seats will still be available when you rebook.

  • BA won’t let you use a companion voucher to get a refund of half your points on flights for two that you have already booked using Avios.

  • You can combine ‘Gold Upgrade For Two’ vouchers (earned when you reach 2,500 BA Executive Club Tier Points) with a companion voucher.

  • British Airways will not extend the expiry date of companion vouchers, however they may offer some flexibility on the flights you booked with it, depending on the ticket type or during exceptional circumstances, such as during the coronavirus pandemic. (During the pandemic you could artificially extend your voucher by booking 2-4-1 flights then cancelling them to receive a future travel voucher with a longer expiry date.)

  • If BA cancel your flight you are still entitled to both be rebooked onto new flights or to receive a refund of your voucher and Avios.

  • You will not earn new Avios or BA Tier Points on the flight booked with your companion voucher.

  • You can add an infant under 2 to your booking for two adults, the cost will be 10% of the Avios and taxes required for an adult ticket.

  • Your flights will not be cancelled if you cancel your BA Amex card after making your companion voucher booking.

  • If you earn the voucher, then cancel your card, the voucher will still be valid but you will need some form of Amex card to pay the taxes when you redeem it.

  • If you earn the Premium Plus voucher, it will still be valid for two years, even if you then downgrade to the fee-free BA Amex card.

What's the catch?

Just because you can book a seat with cash through a travel agent or the BA website doesn't mean you can use your voucher. British Airways only offers a small number of seats on each flight for Avios redemptions.

To be able to use your companion voucher, you'll need to find two reward seats on the same flights.

But limited availability means it isn't as easy as it sounds.

What's the solution?

Reward Flight Finder helps you track down those hard to find reward seats. We're rated 4/5 on Trustpilot and have been featured by top publications including Business Traveller and The Sunday Times.

The site makes using your companion voucher easy, whether you know exactly where you want to go or if you're open-minded.

flight✈️Reward Flight Finder can help you track down those hard to find reward seats.

I already know where I want to go.
What's next?

Enter where you want to fly from and to

Enter where you want to fly from and to and what cabin you want to travel in. Make sure you choose two passengers.

See all available dates and head to the BA site to book

See all of the available dates on one page. If the date(s) you want are available, then you can use your voucher. Just head to the BA site to book.

If they aren’t available you’ll want to set up an Availability Alert.

Create an alert and we’ll notify you when new availability is found

We'll check availability for you and notify you when seats become available.

What should I do if I'm unsure where I want to go?

Just enter where you're flying from, what cabin you want to travel in and the dates you wish to travel, and we'll show you all of the available routes on a map. You can head to the BA site to book in one click. You can head to the BA Companion Voucher site to book in one click.

This feature is exclusive to Silver and Gold members.

Try Reward Flight Finder for yourself

Note:

Please note we don't currently support the extra Business class availability that's made available when using an American Express Premium Plus Companion Voucher issued after 1st September 2021.