BA Premium Amex Companion flights…

[BAggerAll]

I’ve had a BA Premium Amex since just before Covid. I have already lost one voucher due to expiry so was determined to use the others as I pay extra for this card. I have two more due to expire early next year. I’ve just tried to book long haul flights with them but there is zero available for the rest of this year and right up to next year. I was looking to go to Australia, Malaysia or Singapore. Stupidly I assumed you could just pay full fare for whichever flight and the other would be ‘free’ minus the taxes etc. Now I have read they have special companion flights and they release them 355 days in advance. Without manually inputting every destination in the world on BA’s site for the next 9 months, does anyone know an easy way of finding out when companion flights would be valid? Is there an aggregate website etc? I am not a Mensa member but consider myself vaguely above average but navigating this and Avios seems too complex. I have already looked on the flyer forum but even that runs to a billion pages.

The BA reward flight search function is broken at the moment so that might be the problem https://www.headforpoints.com/2023/04/10/reward-flight-finder-feature-in-british-airways-app-broken/

Use seatspy

Look at headforpoints (see last post) or BA flyer talk for advice https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/british-airways-executive-club-446/

Book just after midnight the day they are released for Asia. USA usually easier to get (except SFO or Florida) . Taxes are around £800 each for club at the moment. Almost no 1st availability

You use avois to book them.

Sydney (and Cape Town) are the most popular flights to book with Avios which means your chances of getting those flights are pretty low. Somewhere like NYC with lots of daily flights is much easier.

I don't think BA are flying to Malaysia at present, and Singapore is BA's route to Sydney so those flights won't be easy to get. You'll have to be online/ring BA at midnight on the dot 355 days before to stand even a chance.

You can get Singapore
Be on the phone to Tokyo office or whichever one is open due to timezones as they release. There are club world redemptions on every flight

I have got Singapore in club twice in past year - both by being online as they release

Used to get 1st to Singapore and Hong Kong regularly but that is no more

Wow thanks for the info. Do most of you manage to get all your companion vouchers used then? How do I find out what dates flights are released or is it a rolling thing so you just count almost a year back? Thanks so much for all the info. I wish I had come here first!

It's rolling so seats released 355 days in advance. The are 4 avios club seats on each flight. They go very very quickly for some routes.

Some times extra seats get released throughout the year.

FOUR Avios seats? That’s bonkers! So basically the 2 for 1 is pot luck and it should be seen as a CHANCE of getting a seat rather than a near guarantee? I have just paid for four flights for October. Presumably the chances of me getting two of those as a companion voucher would have been near zero? Does anyone know if shorthaul is far easier?

So tonights release is the Friday before May half term 2024- the 24th May- will be a busy night for midnight (or might be 1am ) button pushing

But they do get released at later points- especially the USA but sometimes Singapore. I pay a small amount to seatspy and set up alerts- you get an email/text when seats are released that you are tracking

4 clubs seats
more premium economy and economy
sometimes 1st but rare since they changed the planes and the 1st is now 6-8 seats

There are sometimes 8 club seats - or more

If a flight isn't deemed as too difficult to get, are you able to book online? Or do you always tend to call?

This is Raffles (Robs) article

https://www.headforpoints.com/2021/04/01/when-does-british-airways-release-avios-reward-flights-2/

I have just been reading a thread from last month on this and I can see it is a massive palaver with people ringing US call centres etc. It sounds worse than trying to get Glastonbury tickets! Stupidly I thought you were rewarded for spending at least 10k a year on your card and forking out a stupidly high card fee every year!

I have only called once. I book online but I know exactly what I want and am ready at midnight GMT, lodged in and all of my credit card details saved etc

@BAggerAll my take on it has been that it would be difficult for us to use for our family of 4 in school holidays, but it'll be good for DH and I when we are doing solo trips together without kids and want to treat ourselves to business class.

It really depends where and when you want to go. If you want to fly to the most popular destinations for Avios redemptions and at one of the most popular times (such as school holidays), yes it can be hard and down to an element of luck because there may well be multiple people chasing those Club World seats at midnight 355 days before.

Basically, the more daily BA flights there are to your destination and the more flexible you are with dates, the better your chances. As I wrote earlier, NYC is usually pretty easy to get (as long as you don't leave it too late). Boston isn't bad. Sometimes you have to be a bit creative. 😜

Boson is easier than New York if you want 1st
Houston is easier than Dallas for 1st
San Jose can be easy than San Francisco in 1st

There are lost of quirks- flyer talk has all the information that you need

India is usually relatively easy to get in CW

What's the difference between 1st and Business?

Used to be substantial but if the business is the new suite not that much

Concorde Room lounge at Heathrow
LPGS Champagne on board
Better food (usually)
Smaller cabin
Larger beds (but CW are pretty decent these days)
Better washbag and you get PJs.

San Jose- in CW- not 1st

@SwedishDeathClearance thank you, really helpful!

I couldn't get the US call centre trick to work this time. Due to summer time, the flights were released at 1am in April. Booked the outward leg fine (4 business class to Barbados with 2CVs) at stupid o'clock.

Night 1 for the return leg, refreshed the page on exactly 1.00.00 (yes, this is ludicrous I know). Selected my four business class seats, paid, got through to the final processing screen while they create your booking. And it said there was an error halfway through. Aagh. I couldn't have been any quicker but someone must have had awesome speed.

Another 1am and I managed it on night 2. The relief because I couldn't face another night of it. I've been more casual about US bookings and you can sometimes wait for both, particularly if you're wanting two not four.

You are being rewarded! The best way to use Avios is for club seats. You save thousands and thousands and it makes achievable/ affordable for a family of four to go club, even if it's just on the outbound or inbound.

The one saving grace is that the new companion vouchers open up more availability than non-CV but still Avios bookings.

We picked up both legs at the same time for four business class flights to California in August using the new CVs.

I think being gold releases more seats as well- certainly on short haul