Are Upgrade Vouchers very poor value for short haul?

[RichRobinson]

I moved from Amex Premium Plus £300/annum fee & 2-4-1 Companion Voucher To Barclaycard Avios Plus card. High Amex fee & higher £15k spend threshold for Amex voucher being the reason for move.
Now from HfP articles I realise you only have the option to redeem Barclays/Barclaycard Avios upgrade vouchers for the highest Avios/lowest cash option. For long haul PE to CW the pricing is sensible and vfm but for short haul Economy to CE seems very bad value.
Looking at LHR-GIB return Economy in Oct 25 for 2 is 47k Avios + £2, so effectively £472 at 0.01p/Avios. That’s shocking value surely – paid Economy Plus is £348 return for 2? If you could choose lower options such 11,600 Avios +£180 that’s more reasonable, so around £296 equivalent total for an Economy to CW upgrade redemption. Surely most Barclays customers will realise these vouchers are such poor value they’re not worth having except for long haul?

I only fly long haul every couple of years. So if I’m going short haul in the interim should I abandon Barclaycard and go back to Amex Premium Plus? Or will BA/ Barclays realise this and change to offer the full range of different Avios/cash pricing options to retain customers?

[NorthernLass]

The Barclays voucher has been like this from the outset so it’s unlikely to change any time soon, especially given that in some cases they can’t even implement it in the way it currently is (see the relevant threads on here about that and general info on the voucher)!

Value on short haul depends very much on the price of the cash ticket you want. These can be up to £1000 (or sometimes more) in CE at peak times, so your circumstances will determine the value you get.

But for long haul every other year, if you have a partner or travel companion, you should be able to use 2 vouchers with the right timing. You can also use them to book for other people, which you can’t with the 241, if you want to treat someone.

[Candor]

I used a couple for a CE trip to Rome in October, cash prices were around £600 return for Economy and even more for business , so definitely there is some value to have for certain places short haul

[R76]

The Barclays vouchers aren’t quite as good as the Amex ones. But as you note, the card is slightly cheaper and the vouchers are easier to earn – so that’s what you’d expect really.

I also think the calculation changes a bit if you have both the Premier current account and the paid version of the credit card, because then you earn two vouchers a year rather than just one. Although there’s an extra fee, that’s offset by the extra Avios you also earn, so in my mind the second voucher is “free”. And because I’m relatively Barclays-voucher-rich I do tend to use them on short-haul flights, to treat myself to an upgrade which I couldn’t otherwise justify to myself.

So I think there is a type of customer (me) who they suit – but that doesn’t necessarily mean they suit you. Another thing to bear in mind is that using an Amex voucher opens additional availability sometimes, which a Barclays voucher doesn’t.