British Airways Avios Points

Longman7

Hi...this is my first time posting so please go easy on me ; )

My wife and I are planing to go to New York this September for a birthday treat. I took out the BA / Amex credit card and have been gathering the points as quickly as I can.

I have now hit the £10k spending and have received my companion voucher. I also have 43,000 Avios points. I haven't yet referred my wife to gather the reward points on my card or to start spending towards the next trigger on the new card that will reward us with a further 25,000 bonus Avios

The goal from this is to (hopefully!) allow us to have a return business class flight.

A couple of Q's for those kind enough to have read my post this far:

1. Can my wife gift me any Avios she earns so we have a bigger pot?
2. Can I use the companion voucher to book a return flight (and so both legs of the companions journey are free - I appreciate we pay taxes etc)?
3. How do I use the companion voucher?

Obviously I could phone BA to ask these, but I'd rather have the most 'valuable'answer rather than the answer they want to give me!

Thanks!

CM66

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/british-airways-executive-club-446/

Have a look at this website, it should answer any questions about earning / spending Avios with BA

blindman

Longman7 wrote: »

Hi...this is my first time posting so please go easy on me ; )

My wife and I are planing to go to New York this September for a birthday treat. I took out the BA / Amex credit card and have been gathering the points as quickly as I can.

I have now hit the £10k spending and have received my companion voucher. I also have 43,000 Avios points. I haven't yet referred my wife to gather the reward points on my card or to start spending towards the next trigger on the new card that will reward us with a further 25,000 bonus Avios

The goal from this is to (hopefully!) allow us to have a return business class flight.

A couple of Q's for those kind enough to have read my post this far:

1. Can my wife gift me any Avios she earns so we have a bigger pot?
2. Can I use the companion voucher to book a return flight (and so both legs of the companions journey are free - I appreciate we pay taxes etc)?
3. How do I use the companion voucher?

Obviously I could phone BA to ask these, but I'd rather have the most 'valuable'answer rather than the answer they want to give me!

Thanks!

Better web-site for these Q's answers is

Headforpoints

1. You need a family account-pros and cons to that
2. Yes-This is the "norm" But there needs to be availability
3. Read the web-site.

Do NOT ring BA their CS is useless

stoneman

Longman7 wrote: »

Hi...this is my first time posting so please go easy on me ; )

My wife and I are planing to go to New York this September for a birthday treat. I took out the BA / Amex credit card and have been gathering the points as quickly as I can.

I have now hit the £10k spending and have received my companion voucher. I also have 43,000 Avios points. I haven't yet referred my wife to gather the reward points on my card or to start spending towards the next trigger on the new card that will reward us with a further 25,000 bonus Avios

The goal from this is to (hopefully!) allow us to have a return business class flight.

A couple of Q's for those kind enough to have read my post this far:

1. Can my wife gift me any Avios she earns so we have a bigger pot?
Open a family account. Then add your wife to it and all Avios get shared between you
2. Can I use the companion voucher to book a return flight (and so both legs of the companions journey are free - I appreciate we pay taxes etc)?
Yes you can, as long as the first leg starts in the UK. The companion voucher which is actually called a 2 for 1 is meant to be used as a return, although you can use it for a single trip.
3. How do I use the companion voucher?
Log into your BAEC account, you will see the voucher there. It will invite you to use it with a link, just follow the prompts.

Obviously I could phone BA to ask these, but I'd rather have the most 'valuable'answer rather than the answer they want to give me!
Don't bother phoning, you will get an agent from the sub continent who will either not understand you or who you will not understand. That's if you get through the 45 minute wait to start with.

Thanks!

My answers are in red

Edit: While I was doing all this fancy !!!! Blindman beat me to it

sandsy

You can only use a 241 voucher where the other passenger's fare is paid with points. It will cost at least 100,000 points for a return trip to New York in business class so you need to get those extra points in the bag, although you do have enough points for economy.

There's also no guarantee that seats bookable with Avios will be available on the days you want - BA only guarantee 2 business class and 4 economy seats on every flight and they can be snapped up from 355 days in advance.

As recommended above, follow flyertalk and head for points to learn how to play the game of maximising value from points and vouchers.

richardw

Read the bit on headforpoints about 241 voucher downgrades.

silvercar

Others have already answered your questions, but wanted to add a welcome to the addiction of Avios collection. We manage a long haul holiday nearly every year, purely based on 2-4-1 voucher and Avios. The key is to be flexible on dates and destination.

malkie76

Longman7 wrote: »

3. How do I use the companion voucher?

When you log into your account click on booking a flight with avois - there's a tick-box for 'use companion voucher' which you select and will half the number of avois required for two passengers. 100k return for off peak, and 120k return for on-peak.

New York is one of the routes with the most availability due to the frequency of flights. Downside is that the flight is short and hence maybe not the best way to enjoy the experience. Lounges in JFK are pretty good, and the pre-flight dining option does allow better sleeping on board.

Do the whole booking online - no need to call unless you want to 2-4-1 and open-jaw (ie out to New York, but back from Washington DC)

edit

Depending on your earning capabilities, First is 136k off-peak, and 160k on-peak. It's definitely a step up from business, and the dedicated Concorde Rooms at Heathrow and JFK are a pretty good place to spend a few hours.

pelirocco

beware of the taxes that you need to pay , Im a bit of a novice on using points but when looking for flights to use them and my companion flight sometimes they came out quite high ,making them almost as expensive as a fullpaid flight with another carrier ..............however I may not have been doing it right lol
I have booked two return flights to Barbados for New year for £275 ish each which seemed a good deal . The flights do go quick tho , i had to go a day later then planned because the flight i wanted went whilst I was thinking about it