Last week,American Express has relaunched British Airways' American Express Premium Plus credit card. Learn more in this article.
As part of the relaunchThe sign-up bonus on the BAPP card has been increased to a whopping 40,000 Avios.
You may qualify for this bonus.
Have you held either British Airways American Express card in the last 24 months?If the answer is no, you qualify for the bonus of 40,000 Avios.You can apply here.
As part of the relaunch there wasA Major change to the 2-4-1 Companion Voucher supplied with British Airways' American Express Premium Plus card.
For vouchers issued after September 1, 2021 (this does not apply to existing unused vouchers),Cardholders were promised access to "extra" seats in Club World Business Class.
British Airways and American Express have been very reticent about how this additional availability will work. I have been officially informed that this is linked to the availability of I class, BA's sales class for discounted Club World seats.
This meant that if a cheap cash seat was available at Club World, an Avios seat should also be available.
We now have some real evidence
A HfP reader carefully timed their 2-4-1 coupon to trigger on September 1st. When it landed in his Executive Club account, he ran some random searches at my request.
The route we used was from London to Los Angeles for a week in July 2022. Did we really see the availability of additional Avios?
This is the message you will receive when attempting to use your new style BAPP 2-4-1 Companion Voucher, confirming that additional Club World seats have been made available:
Let's take a look2-4-1 availability in Club World too Los Angeles for the week from July 9, 2022. This search was conducted late last week, so availability may have changed by now.
BA is currently planning two daily flights to Los Angeles in July 2022. These are numbered BA269 and BA281 - we will use these references below. This means that Avios seats may not be available on any flight, on one flight, or on both flights.
Saturday July 9th
No Business Class availability will be shown with a new 2-4-1 coupon.
The cheapest sales class on the two BA flights is the more expensive R class. No I-class is shown for cash sale.
Sunday 10 July
No Business Class availability will be shown with a new 2-4-1 coupon.
The cheapest sales class on the two BA flights is the more expensive R class. No I-class is shown for cash sale.
Monday 11 July
No Business Class availability will be shown with a new 2-4-1 coupon.
The cheapest sales class on BA281 is the more expensive R class.
BA269 has seven seats in I-Class availability but is NOT bookable for Avios.
Tuesday 12th July
This is where the new style voucher pays off.
They are available with a new type of 2-4-1 voucherat least 10 Club World seatson BA281 (if no seat number is shown the number is 10+). For cash it has 10+ seats with I class availability.
The second flight, BA269, has three I class seats available for cash but NOT bookable for Avios.
If you do not have a novelty 2-4-1 coupon, Club World seats are not available:
Wednesday July 13th
Club World availability goes from zero to 8 on one flight, but remains zero on the second flight despite I class cash tickets being available.
With a new 2-4-1 voucher,There are 8 Club World courseson BA281. For cash, there are more than 10 seats with availability in I class.
The second flight, BA269, is only available in the more expensive R class for cash and NOT bookable for Avios.
If you do not have a novelty 2-4-1 coupon, Club World seats are not available:
Thursday 14 July
Club World availability goes from zero to 10+ on one flight, but remains zero on the second flight despite I class cash tickets being available.
With a new 2-4-1 voucher,There are at least 10 Club World courseson BA281. More than 10 seats in I class can be booked against cash payment.
The second flight, BA269, is only available in the more expensive R class for cash and NOT bookable for Avios.
If you do not have a novelty 2-4-1 coupon, Club World seats are not available.I didn't include a screenshot due to lack of space.
Friday 15 July
Club World availability goes from zero to 10+ on one flight, but remains zero on the second flight despite I class cash tickets being available.
With a new 2-4-1 voucher,There are at least 10 Club World courseson BA281. More than 10 seats in I class are available for cash.
The second flight, BA269, has seven I class seats available for cash and CANNOT be booked for Avios.
Club World seating is not available unless you have a new style 2-4-1 voucher.I didn't include a screenshot due to lack of space.
Saturday 16 July
No Business Class availability will be shown with a new 2-4-1 coupon.
The cheapest sales class on the two BA flights is the more expensive R class. No I-class is shown for cash sale.
What happens if you try to book more than two seats?
A few people have asked in the comments below if anything changes when trying to book more than two seats.
We did some experiments and everything is fine. If you are trying to book 4 Avios seats with a new 2-4-1 voucher for a companion (so you would use Avios on 3 seats and get one free)You still see the additional availability.
This leads to an interesting conclusion –It can no longer make sense to use 2 x 2-4-1 vouchers in the same booking. A family of four may be better off just using one voucher and using the second for their next trip as this would open up additional availability on both flights.
Diploma
OK …. it's not quite as easy as we expected. We're also working on a small sample here, so my conclusions are still a work in progress.
It is NOT the case that "if any I class seats are available for cash, they are bookable for Avios".
Based on these examplesIt seems you need at least eight and possibly more than 10 I Class seats to be available for cash before booking them with a 'new style' 2-4-1 voucher from the Premium Plus card can.
Hopefully this will not be a major limitation on most routes when booked months in advance.
What is impressive is the number of seats that are released. In our example, once the trigger for the required number of I class tickets (whatever tier) was hit, we saw at least 8 and often more than 10 Club World seats available for Avios.These apply to flights where Club World Avios are NOT available to the general public, remember.
If I had to summarize…. it's not quite as good as we thought it would be, but it's not bad. It looks likeThe 2-4-1 Companion Voucher on British Airways' American Express Premium Plus card just got easier to use.
Remember that the 40,000 Avios sign-up bonus runs until November 2nd. You canapply here.
How to collect Avios with UK credit cards (April 2023)
as a reminderThere are several ways to earn Avios points with UK credit cards. Many cards also havegenerous sign-up bonuses!
In February 2022,Barclaycard has launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cardswith a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios.You can apply here.
You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:
Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard
25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher for spending £10,000Read our full review
Barclaycard Avios Mastercard
5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher for spending £20,000Read our full review
There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:
British Airways American Express Premium Plus
25,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucherRead our full review
British Airways American Express
5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £12,000Read our full review
You can also receive generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards that accumulate Membership Rewards points.
American Express Preferred Rewards Gold
Your Best Entry Card – 20,000 points, FREE for one year & four airport lounge passesRead our full review
Die Platinum Card von American Express
30,000 points and unbeatable travel benefits – for a feeRead our full review
Do you run your own business?
We recommend Capital On Tap for limited liability companies.You earn 1 Avios for every £1, which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.
Capital On Tap Business Rewards-Visum
Receive a 10,000 point bonus and an additional 500 points for our readersRead our full review
You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to both sole traders and limited companies and offers a sign-up bonus of 30,000 Avios.
British Airways accelerates American Express business
30,000 Avios sign-up bonus - plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 AviosRead our full review
There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business Cards, the points are converted 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to both sole traders and limited liability companies.
American Express Business Platinum
40,000 bonus points and a £200 annual Amex travel creditRead our full review
American Express Business Gold
20,000 points sign-up bonus and free for a yearRead our full review
Click here to read our in-depth summary of all UK credit cards that earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.
Category
British Airways and Avios