Originally Posted by
chuci
For the amex platinum plus companion reward voucher..just thinking ahead. I'm not a frequent flyer but I may as well get something out of it!
Currently have about 50k points with another 50k coming in from the amex platinum referral bonus s. Planning on signing up for the bapp and getting the 25k bump and companion voucher after 10k spend. So next year I'll have about 150-160k. That's probably enough for 2 person rt in J for a lot of places.
My query is as I'm not a frequently flyer, I'll continue to get vouchers through the years as I will spend 10k on the card but not have lots of Avios. Does the companion voucher allow you to do a mix of Avios and cash if you don't have enough? Reading up it doesn't seem to be possible... In which case what do people in similar situations do? Just lose out on companion vouchers until you have enough Avios again to make it worthwhile?
If you spend £10k on the card, then as a minimum you'll be earning 15k Avios. Probably more as you'd expect some of that to be BA spend, which earns 3 Avios per £.
Reward Flight Saver has now been rolled out to all BA cabins and routes other than F, so you have a choice of six pricing points with differing combinations of Avios and cash. Whilst the most Avios and least cash option generally offers the best value for long haul redemptions (assuming you value an Avios at the usual rate of around 1p), going for the lowest Avios option isn't punitively priced in the same way that the highest Avios option is for short haul.
If you're still short of the Avios you need, you might want to consider the Barclays Premier Avios Rewards scheme (£12 a month for 1500 Avios per month, and the choice of a more restrictive voucher or 7k Avios each anniversary). Balance Booster and Avios subscriptions may also be worthwhile going for.