A positive change to the British Airways American Express 2-4-1 companion voucher rules

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• Philondon says:

  1 Jul1 July 08:49

  I never realised taxes and fees were paid per person. So business class to LAX for example is 180000 Avios + £450.00, then we both pay £450?

  • Alan says:

    1 Jul1 July 08:52

    Yep, you’ve always paid taxes/fees/charges per passenger I’m afraid!

  • Andrew J says:

    1 Jul1 July 08:53

    That’s right. The only 2for1 or 50% element is on the Avios.

  • Simey says:

    1 Jul1 July 11:47

    Still amazing value, don’t you think? Paying sub £500 for return BC flights is nothing to scoff at!

    • Harry T says:

      1 Jul1 July 13:46

      Even with a companion voucher it’s the equivalent of £1350 per person if you value an Avios sensibly.

      • Rich says:

        1 Jul1 July 16:46

        For a fully flexible ticket though H.

      • Simey says:

        1 Jul1 July 20:36

        I mean.. sure. But I got over 200k Avios without buying it. All through SUBs and sensible spending through 2/3 years of slow shopping. So for me, it’s as much of a win as it can possibly be in this game.

        • Aston100 says:

          1 Jul1 July 22:28

          What was the opportunity cost of that Avios?

• sayling says:

  1 Jul1 July 09:58

  Is this not really a change by BA regarding the Companion Voucher, rather than AmEx (sort of negating DAs issues with AmEx)?

  I note the conditions for the old vouchers haven’t been changed, though accept there’s only a few months left for any pre September 2021 issued and still valid BAPP vouchers

• NorthernLass says:

  1 Jul1 July 10:22

  Let’s hope BA CS agents are also aware. They can’t tell which Amex is being used, but they can be awkward if the name that goes with the card doesn’t match the voucher holder. I fell foul of this one year when my laptop auto filled my details when redeeming a 241 and I ended up having to cancel and rebook.

  • Rob says:

    1 Jul1 July 10:44

    But, as the article say, there is no name verification. You can tell the call centre the card is in your name, they can type in your name as ‘cardholder’ and it will process regardless.

    • NorthernLass says:

      1 Jul1 July 12:21

      But when you book online, the name is already filled in. I was just wondering if they are going to change this.

      • NorthernLass says:

        1 Jul1 July 12:23

        Also, if you book by phone, you may end up in a verbal tussle with an agent who doesn’t know the rules have changed! They tend not to know about the lack of name verification and can become difficult if you don’t provide the name they’re expecting.

        • yorkieflyer says:

          1 Jul1 July 12:49

          But you can give your own name as card holder

      • yorkieflyer says:

        1 Jul1 July 12:51

        Doesn’t matter even if the card is the dogs as I believe some more unscrupulous folk were at one time taking out supplementary cards in their name, for what reason I forget

  • Harry T says:

    1 Jul1 July 13:46

    Just give your name, Amex doesn’t give a hoot about names.

• NorthernLass says:

  1 Jul1 July 10:28

  When booking an outbound leg with the voucher it’s still showing the voucher holder’s name when it comes to filling in payment details. As we know, this doesn’t affect which Amex you can actually use, but I wonder if someone has forgotten to amend the IT?!

• The Original Nick. says:

  1 Jul1 July 11:04

  Anyone looking for Business class reward seats using 2-4-1 or reward seats to Barbados next June – 19th there’s availability showing now.

• Ross says:

  1 Jul1 July 11:26

  I hope someone could help me with a related question.

  We are a family of three and I have earned 2 companion vouchers and intended to use one voucher as 2 for 1 and the other as 50% off. However, the BA agent would not let me use both vouchers in the same booking. The would also not let me make 2 separate bookings as I must be a named traveller on both bookings. Is this correct and is there any way to use the two vouchers to book one family holiday?

  • Anna says:

    1 Jul1 July 12:52

    The voucher holder normally has to travel on the booking but in the past you could book 4 people with 2 vouchers if both were in the same account. I don’t know if this is still possible with the 50% option. You could try HUACA.

  • yorkieflyer says:

    1 Jul1 July 12:54

    There was always an exemption allowing 2 vouchers to be used together for a family of 4 booking, not sure if it’s changed with the new vouchers and using one for an upgrade, try Huaca

    • yorkieflyer says:

      1 Jul1 July 12:55

      Blimey Anna we’ve simultaneously said exactly the same thing 😎

  • AJA says:

    1 Jul1 July 14:12

    Unfortunately BA is correct. You cannot use 2 of the 2-4-1 vouchers to book for 3 people.

    You can use the new voucher as a 50% off single ticket for yourself, a single voucher for 2 people or if you have 2 of the Premium Plus vouchers you can book for 4 people including yourself on one booking.

• Kraut says:

  1 Jul1 July 16:32

  I tried to cancel my BA Amex 2 weeks ago as I had earned the Companion voucher and they told me I needed to use the same card to book the voucher
  Have just tried again with a link to this story and the section of the BA website quoted at the top and they have told me the same thing again
  Do I just need to cancel my card because it’s an empty threat?

  • Wally1976 says:

    1 Jul1 July 20:46

    So long as the companion voucher is in your BA account just cancel the card and you’ll be fine.

• Clayton says:

  1 Jul1 July 21:42

  Not sure how to tell y’all this but we’ve booked and paid for amex 2-4-1s with numerous non amex cards, let alone the BA one both over the phone and online. Have done for years

  • Clayton says:

    1 Jul1 July 21:44

    Correction: having checked back…

    …. we’ve paid over the phone using both visa & MasterCard.

  • Scott says:

    1 Jul1 July 22:30

    Good for you, but there was a report last year from someone who made a change to an existing 241 booking, used a non-Amex for the surcharge (think they no longer held one) and were hit for the full Avios amount, the voucher becoming worthless.

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