Should a family of three swap who holds their BA Premium Plus Amex card each year?

In June 2022, British Airways made a major change to the British Airways American Express 2-4-1 companion voucher.

You could now book a seat for one person for 50% of the usual Avios required. The 2-4-1 voucher no longer required two people to be travelling.

Everyone was a winner …. except for families of three. Let me explain why, and what you can do about it.

You can see the full list of card features in our British Airways Premium Plus American Express review here and our free British Airways American Express review here.

How does the 50% Avios discount work in practice?

It is as simple as you would hope:

• Go to the Avios booking page on ba.com

• Tick the box to say that you want to use your companion voucher

• Search for availability for one person

This is what you will see:

There is a message saying that you have activated the solo traveller 50% discount.

Whilst the message references the Premium Plus card, the 50% discount also applies to Economy bookings made using a free British Airways American Express 2-4-1 voucher.

Everyone wins …. except for families of three

If you look at who now benefits from a British Airways American Express 2-4-1 companion voucher, there is a gaping hole:

• Solo traveller – since 2022, solo travellers finally benefit from a 2-4-1 voucher, getting a 50% Avios discount on a single ticket (arguably they should get a 50% Avios discount on two tickets covering two trips, but that’s an article for another day)

• Party of two – they have always been fine, since it’s a 2-4-1 voucher!

• Party of four – they have alway been fine if two x 2-4-1 vouchers were used, even if both vouchers were in the same name. ba.com is set up to allow a group of four to book using two x 2-4-1 vouchers held by the same person.

• Party of three – hmmm ….

If you are a group of three people and you have two 2-4-1 companion vouchers HELD IN THE SAME NAME then you are stuck.

ba.com (and the BA call centre) does not allow you to make a booking where two people travel on the first 2-4-1 and the third person gets a 50% Avios discount using the second 2-4-1.

You can’t make two separate bookings because the BA Amex cardholder must travel on each.

If you have two x 2-4-1 vouchers in the same name, you can’t use both at once for a group of three people, with the third person getting a 50% discount.

You CAN book for three, but the third person would be charged at the full Avios rate and only one voucher would be used. You will also see less availability in business class, because the third person is booked from standard Avios availability and not the extra seats which are opened up when using a companion voucher.

There are three ways around this problem

What is a family of three to do, apart from having another child?

There are three solutions:

Option 1 (for average spenders):

The obvious choice is for the two parents to alternate who holds the British Airways Premium Plus American Express card, with the other person cancelling.

As soon as the 2-4-1 voucher is earned on one card after spending £15,000, the card could be cancelled. The second person can then apply and start working towards their own 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000.

This means that you will eventually end up with 2-4-1 vouchers in two different names.

You can then book for a family of three:

• one x 2-4-1 voucher in Parent A’s name is used for Parent A and the child

• one x 2-4-1 voucher in Parent B’s name is used for Parent B to book a solo ticket with a 50% Avios discount

Option 2 (for higher spenders):

If your household spends over £30,000 on American Express cards each year, you may want to consider both adults getting their own British Airways Premium Plus card and keeping both active at all times. My wife and I do this, as it is the obvious choice for a family of four who want one Avios holiday per year.

Whilst you would be paying £600 per year in annual fees, you would be triggering two x 2-4-1 vouchers, one in each name.

This allows you to book a trip for a family of three each year:

• one x 2-4-1 voucher in Parent A’s name is used for Parent A and the child

• one x 2-4-1 voucher in Parent B’s name is used for Parent B to book a solo ticket with a 50% Avios discount

Option 3 (for those with lots of non-Amex spend):

A final option is to bring the Barclaycard Avios Mastercard into the equation.

The Barclaycard Avios Mastercard gives you an Avios upgrade voucher each year. You need to spend £10,000 on the £240 per annum Plus card or £20,000 on the free card.

Importantly, both vouchers are valid for two years and both vouchers can be used in all classes, except First Class.

Just as important, the Barclaycard Avios upgrade voucher is transferable. As long as the cardholder makes the booking, anyone can fly.

This means, for a family of three:

• one adult and a child could travel using a British Airways Premium Plus American Express 2-4-1 voucher

• the second adult could book a separate ticket using a Barclaycard Avios Mastercard upgrade voucher (this can be done irrespective of whether the voucher is in the name of the second adult)

The way the Barclaycard voucher works (and we wrote a full article here) is that it ISN’T really an upgrade voucher. What happens is that you book an Avios seat and pay the Avios price of the next category down. Book Club World and you pay the Avios needed for a World Traveller Plus seat, plus the standard Club World taxes and charges.

One snag with this option is that users of Barclaycard vouchers do not get access to the additional Club World reward seats that are made available to someone using a Premium Plus 2-4-1 voucher. This may make it harder to find the availability you need.

Conclusion

It is frustrating that British Airways does not allow a family of three to use two x British Airways American Express 2-4-1 vouchers (in the same name) for a trip. This would allow two people to benefit from a 2-4-1 deal and the third person to benefit from the 50% solo traveller discount.

You can get around this by alternating which family member holds your British Airways Premium Plus American Express card, or by getting a Barclaycard Avios Mastercard to use alongside it.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2025)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, and the standard card is FREE. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.