Using a companion voucher with BA Holidays

American Express and BA have introduced a new way to use your 2-4-1 voucher

For some travellers, this will make no difference, but for those who do use BA Holidays, this is a very useful way to reduce the Avios you need for a trip, or at least get some of those points back. It’s also an excellent way to use up a companion voucher that is about to expire.

What has been announced

Yesterday (20th May), American Express emailed all its cardholders to let them know that there’s a new way to use a companion voucher.

As a reminder, you can “earn” companion vouchers (also called 2-4-1 vouchers) in two ways:

1. By having the free British Airways Amex card, and spending £15,000 in a card year
2. OR by having the paid for (currently £300/year) and spending £15,000 in a card year

There are a couple of key differences between a companion voucher earned on the free card, and on the paid card. The latter gives you a voucher that lasts for two years (versus one on the free card) and it also allows you to use the voucher in the Business and First Class cabins, as well as Premium Economy. The voucher on the free card is for use only in Economy.

It is one of the most valuable Avios “hacks”. The voucher effectively reduces the points you need for a flight in half, which is a significant saving. It’s also easy to use, and in some cases, it gives you more reward flight availability.

Using your Companion Voucher on BA Holidays

The change announced is specific to BA Holidays. This is the section of the BA website that allows you to package up flights, hotels and car hire. The advantage can sometimes be a lower price, but it’s also an excellent way to earn BA tier points.

Historically, you were not able to use a Companion Voucher (or the alternative, Barclays Cabin Upgrade voucher) on a BA Holiday booking. You could use Avios for the booking, either for the entire trip or as a part payment.

This was a problem for Avios collectors. If you’re in a household with two BA cards, you’re potentially collecting two companion vouchers every year. If you were to book a holiday using BA Holidays, that wipes out the ability to use it. That in turn means you could end up with a voucher that you lose.

How does it work?

The process is relatively simple, but it’s important to follow the steps:

1. Book your BA Holiday as normal
2. Within 72 hours of the booking, complete this online form.
3. 25% of the Avios used will be returned to you within 48 hours.

BA are very specific about the window of time you have to complete the online form. My advice would be to do it immediately after you have booked the holiday.

The T&Cs

There are extra rules around using your companion voucher this way. Firstly, this only applies to holiday bookings made before the 20th May 2026 and the 30th March 2027.

• Unlike using the companion voucher on a flight, you only need to book the holiday before the expiry date of the voucher. That is, the date of the booking must be before expiry.
• You can earn a maximum of 200,000 Avios back if you have the (paid for) Premium Plus card. If you have the free BA Amex you can earn back up to 50,000 Avios

Is this worth using a 2-4-1 voucher with BA Holidays?

Given that using a companion voucher for flights will effectively reduce the Avios needed by 50%, and using it with a BA Holiday booking will return 25% to you, it is, on paper, a worse deal.

However, if you have a companion voucher that you expect to go unused, and you have made the decision to book your next trip through BA Holidays, it makes sense to use it. Whilst the maths is worse, you are still getting something of value back.

What’s interesting is that whilst a standard flight booking using a companion voucher requires you to have made your return flight before the voucher runs out, when you use it on a BA Holiday, it only needs to be valid on the day you make the booking.