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Original poster

BA Premium Amex Companion flights…

75 replies

BAggerAll · 04/06/2023 20:21

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.

OP posts:
SwedishDeathClearance · 04/06/2023 21:45

Kentkittypie · 04/06/2023 21:37

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.

Show quote history

Best way is 1st
with £800 fees club isnt always great value as you can get cw for £1300 sometimes. Avios can be converted to nectar and spent which may give better value

fomnt · 04/06/2023 21:45

Last question...so if booking at 355 days out on release, you need to do twice in order to get the outbound and return when each are released? What if you've managed to land your outbound but struggle with the return?

SwedishDeathClearance · 04/06/2023 21:48

fomnt · 04/06/2023 21:45

Last question...so if booking at 355 days out on release, you need to do twice in order to get the outbound and return when each are released? What if you've managed to land your outbound but struggle with the return?

Ideally you need to have some leeway on return dates. I always manage but i have loads of avios and book online and then get BA to merge with the companion voucher and refund the avios but if you are short on avios you need to call them

SwedishDeathClearance · 04/06/2023 21:50

Plus if you miss a year out there is a good chance that more will be released-so you set a seatspy alert

grass321 · 04/06/2023 21:53

fomnt · 04/06/2023 21:45

Last question...so if booking at 355 days out on release, you need to do twice in order to get the outbound and return when each are released? What if you've managed to land your outbound but struggle with the return?

This is the challenge as you can't wait for the return to be released for the popular route. You can't use your CV for the second leg online so you have to phone - but the US call centre kept directing me to other departments when I tried a dry run and i doubt they'd have booked them in time.

But BA have changed their policy and if you have enough excess Avios, you can book the second leg online without using your CV. You can then call BA at your leisure and they'll apply the CV and refund half the Avios. It seemed to work ok when we did this, whereas they said we couldn't retrospectively apply the CV the previous time.

It gets so bloody complicated although I know it's a big cost saving.

fomnt · 04/06/2023 21:58

@grass321 oh gosh that sounds stressful, I'm not sure we'd have the excess available. We will be looking for Nashville, I've no idea how popular that is but can be very flexible on dates, will basically go when we can get flights! I haven't signed up to Seatspy yet because we are just in the early days of building points.

SwedishDeathClearance · 04/06/2023 22:03

fomnt · 04/06/2023 21:58

@grass321 oh gosh that sounds stressful, I'm not sure we'd have the excess available. We will be looking for Nashville, I've no idea how popular that is but can be very flexible on dates, will basically go when we can get flights! I haven't signed up to Seatspy yet because we are just in the early days of building points.

Nashville is ok usually
just looked at a random date Friday 22nd March and there are 5 club world seats

No 1st on the route

grass321 · 04/06/2023 22:03

Actually I think that might be ok to Nashville. Another way to boost points is going via the BA e store when you're buying online. Think I received 10 Avios per pound spent on kwikfit tyres which was a bit of a bonus.

We've also got two sets of the BA premium cards (each as the main account holder and with the other as supplementary card holders). You pay two sets of fees but get two CVs per year.

Also we try to time hitting the CV triggering point so you leave it as long as possible in your membership year if you don't plan to use it imminently.

SwedishDeathClearance · 04/06/2023 22:05

Platinum amex is the way to get points- if you dont have one. Great sign up offer just ended but there will be another

headforpoints always flags them up

SwedishDeathClearance · 04/06/2023 22:06

SwedishDeathClearance · 04/06/2023 22:05

Platinum amex is the way to get points- if you dont have one. Great sign up offer just ended but there will be another

headforpoints always flags them up

Or a BA amex if you dont both have one

fomnt · 04/06/2023 22:09

Thanks both really helpful, we've only just got the Barclaycard (earned 54000 points in our first month so am pleased with that!) we're not planning on going until 2025 so will be timing when we get the Amex, probably early 2024 to try and get a CV lined up for that, we can delay going if we don't build the points up quick enough.

fomnt · 04/06/2023 22:10

The BA Amex was the one we were going to get in DH's name for the CV, and I have the BA Barclaycard in my name.

HundredMilesAnHour · 04/06/2023 22:13

fomnt · 04/06/2023 22:10

The BA Amex was the one we were going to get in DH's name for the CV, and I have the BA Barclaycard in my name.

Make sure your DH gets the Premium Plus card as the cheaper one only gives CVs for economy now.

FusionChefGeoff · 04/06/2023 22:14

Oh God this sounds so complicated I'm not sure I've got it in me!

We've got the Premimum Amex and also a Barclaycard Avios which provides a cabin upgrade voucher.

We've got 1 Amex CV exp 2024 and will qualify for another soon exp 2025 but judging by the sound of this we will be too late to use the early one?!

We are thinking a New York or Vancouver trip. So sounds like maybe New York might still work and now I know I need to get straight into it as soon as that 2nd voucher lands

But does anyone know anything about the Barclaycard cabin upgrade?? Presumably it's going to be nigh on impossible to get Avios availability with CV AND cabin upgrade??

fomnt · 04/06/2023 22:16

@HundredMilesAnHour thanks, it was the one that has a £250 annual fee we were looking at

fomnt · 04/06/2023 22:17

I'm assuming you can't "stack" the BA cabin upgrade and BA Amex CV?

HundredMilesAnHour · 04/06/2023 22:22

The Barclaycard upgrade voucher isn't really an upgrade as such. It means you can get a CW seat for WTP Avios (or a WTP seat for WT Avios) so there has to be CW Avios availability. You can't stack it with Amex CVs.

HundredMilesAnHour · 04/06/2023 22:24

fomnt · 04/06/2023 22:16

@HundredMilesAnHour thanks, it was the one that has a £250 annual fee we were looking at

Good. That's the right one. You need to spend £10k per year to trigger the CV.

fomnt · 04/06/2023 22:34

Great thanks @HundredMilesAnHour we will manage that fine, will just be about timing it right for when we want to utilise I think!

Apologies OP completely hogging your thread!

Original poster
BAggerAll · 04/06/2023 22:49

@Kentkittypie I used some Avios to get about £300 off some economy class fares… Surely they wouldn’t stretch much further if we had gone business or premium? I mean for four of us it would
have been over 8k just for flights which is outside our means right now! I am clearly very stupid about this…

OP posts:
theWarOnPeace · 04/06/2023 23:05

Give them a call. I was on to them for probably over an hour, but got my flights in the end. I had loads of Avios and companion tix but was a nightmare trying to resolve online. 0344 493 0747 was the number I called, they were in the UK and the woman I spoke to was so helpful and trawled through my dates/options and got me and my children onto business fights to the US relatively near to the time (not a year ahead!)

Kentkittypie · 05/06/2023 07:13

BAggerAll · 04/06/2023 22:49

@Kentkittypie I used some Avios to get about £300 off some economy class fares… Surely they wouldn’t stretch much further if we had gone business or premium? I mean for four of us it would
have been over 8k just for flights which is outside our means right now! I am clearly very stupid about this…

Four club world seats
Two companion vouchers
All paid in points (only pay cash for fees)

= achievable!

littlehattie · 05/06/2023 12:41

We booked to go to Mexico about 10/11 months in advance and we were OK with getting business there and back. I think the route must not be as popular as others. Has anyone had issues booking with CV and avios to go to the Maldives return?

SwedishDeathClearance · 05/06/2023 17:11

I got Tokyo in CW for May half term last night
2 flights- 4 seats on each. Mine and another pair went at bang on 1am. All finished and back in bed by 1.04 a

fomnt · 05/06/2023 17:18

Ah well done @SwedishDeathClearance that is on our bucket list