Leveraging the most valuable Avios hack
It’s one of the most powerful ways to reduce the number of points you need for a redemption. The British Airways Companion Voucher – attained through hitting a certain spend level on a BA American Express card – reduces the number of points you need by 50%.
This post is a guide to leveraging your Companion Voucher across airlines other than British Airways. This has been possible for several years, but the addition of Iberia and Aer Lingus is not well publicised or widely known.
The list: every airline that accepts the 2-4-1 voucher
As of November 2025, this is the list of all the airlines that use Avios as their frequent flyer currency and also allow you to use a BA companion voucher. To book using a companion voucher, you will have to search and then book using the BA website.
All Avios-based airlines that you CAN use a companion voucher on
- British Airways
- Aer Lingus
- Iberia
…and those that you CANNOT (yet)
- Qatar
- Finnair
- Loganair
- Vueling
The big question from most Avios collectors is whether Qatar will accept the 2-4-1 voucher in the future. It would be a significant win if they did, but it feels unlikely right now. Qatar are a viable option for using your points.
We’re now booking more flights with Qatar than British Airways, but they are often inefficient bookings. We end up using more points than we would use if we flew BA. That decision is often based on availability, but sometimes it’s down to the aircraft (such as flying Qatar’s A380).
The airline is popular and generally has full planes. They have a “flexi rewards” scheme that allows you to spend double the number of points to get access to more seats. It feels like they are leveraging points for profit well, so bringing in a companion voucher (and halving the number of points needed) won’t be on the cards.
Finnair is a great airline, but with a relatively low number of long-haul routes, Avios availability is already challenging. There would be no benefit to them bringing in the companion voucher, although you could say the same for Aer Lingus, and they chose to adopt it.
How do you book Aer Lingus and Iberia flights using a companion voucher?
Firstly, these flights must be booked via British Airways. The Iberia and Aer Lingus booking processes cannot see your companion voucher.
That makes the booking process easy. Use the Book a flight with Avios page on the BA website and select your companion voucher. Enter your departure city and destination, along with your dates, and you’ll be taken to a page listing all the available flights.
You may see a combination of BA flights, along with any Iberia or Aer Lingus options. There is usually limited availability on those airlines, so it’s entirely possible that you see only British Airways flights.
Looking at options to fly from Manchester to New York, which is currently served directly by Aer Lingus, there were no options. I tried five different dates, looking for Business Class availability, and came up with nothing.
However, removing the companion voucher does give me some availability. On some dates that I looked it, it was limited to just one seat, meaning that the issue is down to available seats rather than using the voucher.
The reality is that Iberia and Aer Lingus will be less motivated to offer seats using the 2-4-1 voucher. That means fewer available seats versus BA.
How do you get a companion voucher?
To get a companion voucher you must have a credit card. The traditional Companion or 2-4-1 voucher comes via American Express, and they offer two different cards. One free card will reward you with a voucher when you hit £15,000 of spend over a membership year, however that voucher can only be used in economy.
A second card, which carried a £300 annual fee, has the same £15,000 spending target but that voucher can be used across any cabin, including Business and First Class.
There’s also a Barclaycard which allows you to earn a “upgrade voucher”. This operates in a similar way to a companion voucher. The mechanics are that you book into the cabin below what you want, and you are then upgraded to a single cabin above. You use fewer points than if you booked into your goal cabin.
That means booking into an economy seat, to end up in premium economy, however these vouchers cannot be used on any other airline.
Should you use a companion voucher on another airline?
There is a simple answer to this question: if it’s an option, then use it.
Don’t bank on there being availability, but on the off-chance that there is, then by all means book it. Iberia and Aer Lingus have business-class cabins that are fairly comparable to BA’s. Neither airline operate First cabins.
What you will most likely find is zero availability with those airlines, and instead, some options (either direct or connecting) with British Airways.
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