What is a British Airways Companion Voucher Worth?

✈️ What is the BA Companion Voucher?

A British Airways Companion Voucher allows you to book two Avios reward seats for the Avios price of one—the second seat is free (excluding taxes and fees). Alternatively, you can book a Reward Flights for 50% off the Avios cost.

The are two kinds of Companion Vouchers, this post will focus on the more Premium version of this from the Amex Premium Plus card.

An Amex British Airways Companion Voucher can be worth a significant amount, but can also be poor value if used in unfavourable scenarios – especially if you go out of your way to earn them!

Unlike other vouchers from BA and other airlines, earning and usage is not linked to your BA Club status.

🛍️ How to Earn a Companion Voucher

The British Airways Companion vouchers can only be earned via Credit Cards: currently via eligible British Airways American Express Cards specifically:

• • BA Amex Premium Plus (£300/yr): Spend £15,000/year.

  • BA Amex ( free card ): Spend £15,000/year ( however, less valuable benefits).

🧳 How do BA Companion Vouchers work?

✅ 1. Two-for-One or 50% off Reward Flights

• Pay Avios for one seat, get a second seat for for no additional Avios (still pay full taxes/fees per person).

• Use a voucher as a solo traveller for 50% off Avios required.

Once the voucher hits your BA Club account, it will show up when you go to search Avios flights like so..

✅ 2. Useable With 3 Airlines Currently

You can use your Companion Voucher to book Reward flights with British Airways, Iberia or Aer Lingus.

✅ 3. Extra Club World Availability

Access to additional reward seat inventory i.e Club World “I” Class seats, improving chances on peak routes.

✅ 4. Start Your Journey from Anywhere

Previously, it was only possible to use the vouchers if your trip started in the UK. Now you can start your journey anywhere where BA, Iberia or Aer Lingus fly.

Open-jaws and even double open-jaws are also allowed: you can fly London – San Francisco on outbound and Dallas – Amsterdam as return. The only rule here is the distance between your departure and arrival city must be less than the main ( transatlantic in this case ) flights.

This greatly enhances the usability for Brits based abroad or those who may not live in UK permanently at all.

✅ 5. Any Bookings Are Refundable

If you need to cancel a booking, minus the usual Avios cancellation fee, your Voucher will be returned to your account with original expiry date.

✅ 6. Valid for up to 2 years

Your Voucher will appear in your BA Club account as soon as you have reached the spend threshold, and it would then be valid for 2 years from that date.

💷What is a British Airways Companion Voucher Worth ?

If you want to know how to use Companion Vouchers for best value, here it is:

• Companion Vouchers are best used on long-haul Business (Club World) or First Class.

• However, not all routes may offer great value at all times

Examples Routes + Savings

Club World Business Class

London to Cape Town/Johannesburg in Club World off-peak return: ~180,000 Avios + £450 taxes/fees with Reward Flight Saver which has fixed tax/surcharge bandings

• With a voucher: Same Avios for 2 people—saving 180,000 Avios (worth ~£1,800+)
• With a voucher for solo traveller: 90,000 Avios only saving 90,000 Avios ( ~£900 )

London to NYC in Club World return: ~160,000 Avios + £450 taxes/fees with Reward Flight Saver which has fixed tax/surcharge bandings

• With a voucher: Same Avios for 2 people—saving 160,000 Avios (worth ~£1,600+)
• With a voucher for solo traveller: 80,000 Avios only saving 80,000 Avios ( ~£800 )

First Class Reward Flights

There is a little quark however, when it comes to First Class Reward flight pricing, which retains previous Avios pricing before the introduction of Reward Flight Saver to long haul Business Class, which drastically increased Avios required but reduced tax/surcharges components:

First Class availability on Cape Town is almost non-existent at the moment but looking at NYC example above

London to NYC in First Class off-peak return: ~136,000 Avios + £875 taxes/fees

• With a voucher: Same Avios for 2 people—saving 136,000 Avios (worth ~£1,360+)
• With a voucher for solo traveller: 68,000 Avios only saving 68,000 Avios ( ~£680 )

Want to reduce those pesky tax/surcharges element?

The UK has one of the world’s highest aviation taxes, and that remains especially more harsh for premium ticket departures.

Theoretically when looking at trip with Companion Voucher in First Class * – the tax/surcharges should consistently be cheaper ex EU, however this is not always the case.

Does this mean, BA is just simply pocketing those “APD” charges?! I would like to know what else the explanation could be.

Where possible, finding such routes was always buggy as both sectors had to somehow marry up to allow a “First Class” ticketing. You had to search availability for each Club Europe and First Class sector individually and even then they were not always bookable online.

In 2024, I did toy with starting my trip from Barcelona but the availability on my dates meant I could only find something with a Barcelona – Gatwick and then a 3 and half hour connection to make the next sector from Heathrow. It just was not worth it.

This month, when looking at options for another trip I one route to shave off a substantial amount of tax/surcharges..

However, even though you end up saving £475 in this case, you also have to spend an extra 32,000  Avios. So this really is only beneficial for those already residing in EU or if you actually want to make it a 2-in-1 trip also.

* With the introduction of Flight Reward Saver pricing, there is little benefit to booking ex EU for Business Class as these fees are standardised by distance bands.

Maximum Avios Savings?

If you can score reward seats from London to Sydney return for two people in First Class you would be saving a whopping 340,000 Avios that would conservatively be valued at £3400.

However, getting those seats will be an uphill struggle and require diligent planning, time and patience.

⚠️ Drawbacks to Consider

🔁 Overall Thoughts

Having a British Airways Companion Voucher can offer incredible value and £680 to £3400 savings for your trip. To BA’s credit it has made the voucher vastly more useable than pre-2023 with flexibility to start your trip from anywhere and the new Solo discount for single travellers.

Even so it is still better to get 100% off a second ticket than 50% off one ticket !

That said, there are many intricacies involved in booking, especially some odd value proposition between First & Business Class and super tax/surcharges which complicate the value proposition at times, especially if there are any cash sales/promotions for your route from either BA itself or other airlines.

• Best Use: Club World or First Class to long-haul destinations (e.g. Cape Town, Tokyo, Singapore, Maldives etc).

• Avoid: One-way tickets and Short-haul Euro Traveller or routes with low taxes where savings are marginal.

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