Where to use BA companion voucher?

[HowDidThisHappenDinesh]

We’ve earned a BA companion voucher with amex. Our first one so I didn’t realise how quick some of the routes get booked up and also we hit our qualifying spend in early July so basically we need to book and use the voucher by the end of June 2025.
The reason I’m finding it tricky is it seems a waste to go away in June when the weather is getting nicer here, but all good routes for April or May are gone. We’re already away in December and February so don’t want to go anywhere in March (it’s also my busy time at work).
Suggestions please?
Criteria:

• Don’t want to waste it on Europe (unless it’s a really expensive route), want to get the most value for money! So somewhere long haul.
• Direct flight operated from BA from any London airport.
• Two weeks or so, maybe a week of exploring and a week relaxing. I like city breaks and DH likes doing nothing. So a mix might be nice!
• We have about 90000 avios that I can also use although saving some to visit MIL in southern Europe would be good.

I’ve been looking at Argentina or somewhere in South America as I’ve never been. DH wants to do Japan but I’ve heard June is not a good time to go and there’s 0 availability before that.

The best way is to use them for Business Class long haul. Keep looking sometimes they release extra seats. BA are starting back the Bangkok route this autumn maybe keep an eye on that. We've used - reward flight finder in the past. Costs a small amount but really helpful to find flights - not used it since the new avios came in though.

@Henleylady if the voucher expires next year and they've recently got it I assume they've only got the free card so wouldn't be able to use it on business class.

Correct me if wrong OP.

You are correct @pearvines
I can use it to upgrade class but would rather just go somewhere long haul. We’ve only been doing Europe recently so inspiration for further afield than that is low

How many Avios have you got in total OP? I don't think vouchers can be used on cash purchases.

In terms of value for money, if that is your ultimate goal you won't achieve it in economy, you still have to pay taxes so the value is always best in the higher classes.

I also wouldn't factor in the weather in June personally, June is a lovely month in lots of countries so it seems a shame to me discount it as a month to travel in on that basis alone.

I'd personally look at the US, loads of direct routes, we managed to book Nashville business class with 6 months notice still. Routes like Orlando get really booked up, but US has loads of options. Might be worth looking at Canada, when we went a few years ago the flights seem much costlier than US so you may get better value there.

As pp have said to use the companion voucher ( which is basically a 2 for 1 if there are two if you) you still need to have the avios to pay for one flight to your destination- you can't part pay or pay in cash and use your companion voucher. Where do you have enough points to get to? Work that out or else you might be disappointed.

The carribean often has availability - Barbados, Antigua, Aruba are all regularly served BA destinations. Vegas often has availability in the summer and is a handy start point for a California road trip. The US in general has loads of routes and could be a great option. I've done avios with companion voucher all over the US and carribean. For popular destinations like Japan you need to been ready 355 days out.

Costa Rica or Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia are two locations I have been looking at. Costa Rica is particularly good value at 60000 avios points and only £150 tax per person. Or Vancouver is a great springboard for Vancouver Island and Whistler.

We have lost a couple of these in the past but the website has improved recently. We had one that was running out so went to Amsterdam business class for £2 each plus very little tax. Would normally drive but hey, £2!! Just keep on top of the website! And happy travels!

Oh shite, didn't realise we had to book so early!, thank you for the heads up op!

Remember that you pay taxes on top. On that basis don't book economy as the ticket price is almost entirely tax so you aren't making much of a saving.

Best use is to book in a premium cabin to make use of flat beds, lounges etc. Book Club as a minimum and don't go for Club Europe as it's just a convertible seat in the front of the economy cabin.

90k might get you to the east coast of UK or maybe Middle East. Dubai? Singapore?

Pretty sure we got First with a companion ticket to the west coast for 150k but that was 10 years ago.

You don't have to book a year in advance depending on the route. In fact for some routes it's easier to get flights in the next couple of months, rather than further in advance.

We have used ours for a direct flight from Edinburgh to Florence and the same for Sardinia next year - it may be possible to book flights through Ryanair etc. ( not so sure about Sardinia) but with BA we get a nice experience and save at least a couple of hundred pounds.

Next year I currently have Costa Rica booked, flying from Edinburgh so 4 flights in total, cost 60000 points overall and £300 tax for two.
Although I may need to change that - one of the beauty of the Avios companion flights is you can cancel them for £35 per flight ( domestic and international on the same trip count as one) so it's flexible compared to low cost airlines.

Oh and also sometimes using it for a European route - particularly if they have special Avios flights with reduced tax and points - is a good deal and easier than trying to cobble together an exotic trip to justify "free" flights.
Oh and cape town had some availability a few months ago.

To get the most out the programme read up - the Points Guys info is good. The new scheme has a certain number of avios seats on each flight - hence the 355 days - if you want to guarantee say a particular long haul business flight.

We find avios harder to acquire than the voucher so often let vouchers expire whilst we save up more avios.
Japan would be great in June IMO!
As would most of the USA, a road trip?

Thanks everyone. We ended up biting the bullet and booking Tokyo knowing it will be amazing even it’s a bit rainy (hey, we live in the UK, it’s nothing new! May even be less tourists ?!) We paid £200 pp and still have enough avios left over for a european trip. Or we will just save them for next year’s voucher. I know everyone says the ‘best’ way is to use them on business/first class but we’re not earning enough (salary wise or points wise!) to be there yet and as a PP said, we just have the free card.

You definitely can pay with money and top up with avios (or vice versa), it offers me this option every time I book a flight.

Some great suggestions for next year, I’d like to do the caribbean as I’ve never been. Done a lot of the states so we didn’t fancy it this time but we have friends there so I’m sure we’ll be back. Kuala Lumpur also seems like a good option. Costa Rica would be amazing but it wouldn’t even let me search for that one! Worth keeping an early eye out maybe.

Thanks again for input, I’ve read up on the scheme as best I can but always nice to hear from real people who actually use it. Hopefully in a couple years I’ll be a points pro booking business class 😎

You definitely can pay with money and top up with avios (or vice versa), it offers me this option every time I book a flight.

Can you do that when using a companion voucher though?? That's what I thought you couldn't do, yes def can do a mixture otherwise.

Sounds amazing op, hope you have a lovely time.

You definitely can with the companion voucher, at least with the free card, as that’s what I did! It gave me options of what combo of avios and cash to use. It has to be one of the reward flights though which narrowed my options.

@HowDidThisHappenDinesh oh that's great, thank you, that broadens my options for the next holiday I need to book!

I can see you've already booked OP.

We were in a similar dilemma - I rushed and booked Dominican Republic for 2 weeks in January as those were the only flights available.

When we started looking at accommodation, we realised it wouldn't suit us as it's mainly all-inclusive which would be too samey for 2 weeks.

Anyway, it's cost more Avios and a fee to change, but after signing up for Seat Spy (better than the BA website), I found flights in BC to and from the Bahamas in January. I had to phone BA to make the change.

Good to know about Seat Spy! The panic to book before expiry/all the ‘good routes’ go is real lol