scottish minnie

After encountering far too many service issues with one of my credit card providers (IHG mastercard) I've decided it's time to find an alternative.

I've had an offer for a BA Amex which I'm considering. It mentions a 2-4-1 voucher which is where my question arises. Apart from work travel my annual BA flight pattern is 3 transatlantic flights from Scotland via London.
is it relatively easy to use the 2-4-1 voucher or are there restrictions on which routes I can use it on?

the £10k annual spend is achievable and one transatlantic club world flight would save me £1700/£2000 so it seems like an obvious choice big I can't help think I'm missing something key.

jerry a. laska

Some say it isn't easy, others don't have any problems. To be assured of the dates you want when booking CW, call in at night when the seats first open up. You should review the following:
BA American Express 2-4-1 Voucher Discussion
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/british-airways-executive-club/1536545-ba-american-express-credit-card.html
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/30593396-post9.html

Blueboys999

fruitcage

CloudGazer

I don't think it will be an issue for your suggested routes but note that all sectors of the 241 must be on BA metal so if you plan to have US domestic flights or AA transatlantic flights then the 241 could not be applied.

sunshinebob

If you gotta go A to B on such and such a date and return of a fixed day later its still workable but the key is flexibility. If you have a degree of it then its a no brainer.

IntVic

Agreed... spending £10k on my premium card per annum is easy, but you do need a healthy bank of Avios. I find at least 150k gets you on long haul flights in CW or First to interesting destinations. Annual holidays using voucher for past four years in CW have been Vancouver, Singapore, Hong Kong (F back), Beijing (F) and this year will be Barbados (F back).

vintagepilot

We find it definitely worth having. If you target the spend you can make a good saving - or fly a trip which you might not otherwise have afforded, but you do need the pool of avios as well as the voucher. Sometimes it is not much of a saving eg around £1100 in taxes for 2 CW returns to South Africa, then along comes a BA sale with AMS-JNB fares at about £1100 per person - but of course you can then cancel your reward booking and get the avios and the voucher back. Bear in mind the main limitation of the voucher which is that it has to be from UK and on BA metal only. But availability to USA is usually pretty good and we have achieved one or more 241 trips to N America each year up to now.

Row9

I think the scheme is excellent, as long as you do some research and understand how to get the best out of it (on this point, FT is very much your friend!). Mrs Row9 and I are travelling 1st class to Vegas and returning CW from San Francisco for a little over £1000 total (plus Avios, of course). As others have said, one of the keys to success is to book as soon as seats are released. Good Luck.

grantsteve

dadio77

If you're spending plenty, and collecting Avios anyway through travel, hotels etc., and flying to North America, then it is indeed a no brainer. Travelling elsewhere takes a bit of planning due to availability, or a lot of flexibility, and the two year expiry (platinum?) is the one to go for when considering the best availability is at T-355.

We've flown to NYCx2 and Antigua in CW in the last couple of years and loved it, and are flying to Qatar this April, as we now have to match availability with school hols (no mean feat!). However taxes seem to be on the rise, well over £600 each for NYC, and if you work in the AMEX fee and value Avios, then it's getting pretty steep. For example I shopped around for the start of the Summer hols and found LHR-JFK-MBJ return for £1126 in Virgin upper class - when comparing to a BA flight from LGW-KIN in CW, and factoring in the additional travel time in both the UK and Jamaica (not to mention extortionate transfer costs to Montego Bay!), I don't think the BAEC 241 worked out well at all - especially as we get a couple of days (inc 4th July) in NYC as well.

I almost feel a little less shackled knowing other deals and airlines are out there and competitive (weird!) but am still collecting Avios and planning next years trip!

dddc

I've found the lack of availability in where I want to go has led me to go to places I wouldn't have considered before to use up vouchers! I've had a fantastic open jaw (in more ways than one) holiday to South America, in to Buenos Aires and out of Rio and another equally memorable trip to Vancouver which ended up going on the Rocky Mountaineer and Canadian trains. It is a case of playing with dates and destinations though.

jimlad48

I recently got one and have loved it. Its worth it for the airmiles, and we put our weekly shop on it and itseasy to rack up the 10k spend.
hoping to get a return 2-4-1 to NYC in F next year as a result. I definitely recommend it.

DYKWIA

I gave up on the AMEX 2-4-1 about 3 years ago after having it for about 10 years. It became increasingly difficult to get 2 reward seats to places I wanted to go, at the times I wanted to go. The previous couple of 2-4-1s had been used to IAH as that was the only place in the US that seemed to have good availability. We made our own way on from there.

The taxes and surcharges are now well over £1k for the 2 tickets (to the US)....

mark2

The Companion voucher can be used on all routes, subject to normal Avios availability of course: only a few seats on each flight. AS with any redemption best to book asap and be flexible.
We usually get at least one per year. As stated above you need to pay taxes and charges for both seats.
Also normally considered to be not worthwhile on long haul economy because of high taxes and charges.