BA Companion Voucher: Frequently Asked Questions

BA Companion Voucher flights are a benefit offered to UK cardholders of the British Airways American Express cards. There are two types of these cards available to personal account customers, a blue card, which has no annual fee, and the Premium Plus version, which is black and comes with an annual fee.

To be awarded a “2–4–1” voucher you need to meet the qualifying spend criteria.

This article provides some quick answers to questions people regularly ask about this perk.

For a more detailed explanation, read this helpful article on the Reward Flight Finder website.

How do I get a British Airways Companion Voucher?

You need to apply for an American Express British Airways credit card, or Premium Plus credit card and receive approval.

If you spend £10,000 in a membership year on the Premium Plus card, you will get a British Airways Companion Voucher (BACV) which will be valid for two years.

With the standard card, you receive one if you spend £20,000 in a membership year, which will be valid to redeem for twelve months.

You can only earn one BACV per membership year regardless of which version of the card you hold.

What can I do with it?

You can book two reward flight tickets on BA, for the same number of Avios points you would normally need to redeem for one. However, you still have to pay the taxes and surcharges.

Are BA Companion Voucher flights easy to book?

Not that easy. You can’t use your BACV for any ticket, only for reward seat bookings. British Airways releases a limited number of reward seats for every flight when it goes on sale. If it looks like it can’t fill the flight with passengers paying full price, the airline releases more reward seats up to the departure date. You’ll need to find two reward seats together to use your voucher.

Rewardflightfinder.com is a great tool you can use to check reward flight availability and get alerts as new seats are released.

Once you have found available seats, things get more straightforward. Your credit card will be linked to your British Airways Executive Club account. When you make a reward flight reservation on the BA.com website, check the box for using a BA Amex voucher and select the e-voucher you want to use.

What’s the best way to use the voucher?

It’s important to check that you have enough Avios to cover the redemption points required for your booking, you can’t part pay with points on these redemptions. Also, make sure you can afford the taxes and charges, the UK has higher air passenger duties than most other countries. Try not to leave it to the last minute as your outward leg has to be before the voucher expiry date, so plan ahead, reward flights have limited availability.

You are likely to get the best monetary value, using your BACV, if you reserve seats in a premium cabin, such as Club World (Business Class). The difference in taxes and points for these cabins is less than the differential in the cash prices. But of course, this all depends on your circumstances.

Consider routes that are either less popular or have frequent flight departures, these typically have better reward flight availability.

Can I use it on another OneWorld Airline?

No, it has to be used for a British Airways operated or marketed flight.

Can I change the name of my companion after booking?

The cardholder has to be the lead passenger and the companion ticket is non-transferable once reserved. You can cancel and rebook the whole reservation for a fee, but this is treated as a new booking and you might not be able to get the reward flight you had previously chosen.

Is a flight booked with a Companion Voucher eligible for points?

Neither of the two people travelling will earn Avios or tier points for their reward flight redemption.

Is it better than a Lloyds Avios Rewards Card upgrade voucher?

Lloyds Bank used to promote a variety of Avios credit cards in the UK, including an American Express card and a “duo” account that came with both an Amex and a Mastercard. One of the benefits offered, on some of these accounts, was an Avios upgrade voucher. However, Lloyds has now closed all of these cards to new customers. Some Lloyds Amex cardholders were switched to a new version of the Avios Rewards Mastercard, but the upgrade voucher benefit ceased.

How does this differ from a BA Travel Together Ticket?

The Travel Together Ticket is offered in the USA, to cardholders who spend $30,000 within a membership year, using the British Airways Visa Signature credit card. The BA Companion Voucher is a similar initiative, but for holders of the British Airways American Express credit card range in the UK. These sister schemes are exclusive to the territories they are marketed within.

Are there any ways to reduce taxes and surcharges?

You will have to pay the taxes and charges applicable to both tickets for your companion reward flight. The rules on these redemptions make it hard to minimise these charges since you will need to fly from the UK on BA.

You could fly from Inverness Airport which is exempt from Air Passenger Duty charges. Jersey is another option, it is outside the mainland tax regime but treated as a UK departure point by BA. However, these two airports are likely to be inconvenient for the majority of travellers. A more pragmatic solution for most will be reward saver flights. BA caps the charges and fees on these redemptions for departures to Europe and Southern Africa.

Flights on Club Europe (Business Class) at peak times can be prohibitively expensive for couples paying with cash. So using a reward flight finder tool, to discover premium reward seats on these routes, is a smart way to maximise your perk and minimise your costs.