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As a companion piece to our guide to airline companion vouchers in Canada, let’s take a look at the British Airways Companion Voucher.
This voucher works a little differently from the others: it applies to point bookings, and you don’t have to use it on a companion.
The Logistics of the British Airways Companion Voucher
The British Airways Companion Voucher is earned upon spending $30,000 on the RBC British Airways Visa Infinite card in one calendar year. Officially, it takes 6 to 8 weeks for the companion voucher to be credited to your British Airways account, and it expires 24 months after issuance.
The main value proposition of the companion voucher is that it allows you to add a second passenger to your Avios booking at no additional cost, paying only the applicable taxes and fees payable. Of course, there is some fine print as follows:
- Flights must be operated by British Airways
- Flights must depart and/or return to Canada
- Applicable to one-way or round-trip tickets
- Applicable to flights in any cabin class
If you do use it on a one-way ticket, there is no residual value to be applied towards a different trip.
As an interesting quirk, you are also able to use the companion voucher on a solo ticket, and it provides a 50% discount on the number of Avios required.
Maximizing the British Airways Companion Voucher
In Canada, British Airways flies to the following destinations:
- Montreal
- Toronto
- Vancouver
Note that British Airways does not operate aircraft with first class cabins to Canada.
The default approach to maximizing is to book a round-trip for two people on British Airways to a far-flung destination, in the highest available cabin class.
Furthermore, British Airways Avios prices award bookings on British Airways metal on a segment-by-segment basis, meaning if you have a connecting flight, the price is the sum of each segment, which can add up quickly. Therefore, it might actually be better to keep things simple, as you’ll see below.
A Simple Round-trip
As a simple example, consider a round-trip business class flight between Toronto and London.
The cost for one passenger is 176,000 Avios + $820 CAD. If you apply the companion voucher to a second passenger, you would still pay only 176,000 Avios, but the cash component increases to $1,640 CAD because the companion voucher does not apply to taxes and fees.
Objectively, this is fairly good as you’re paying just 88,000 Avios per passenger round-trip in British Airways business class (target a plane with Club Suites, but that’s beyond the scope of this article). British Airways is famous for having high fuel surcharges, and you’re on the hook for the high UK Air Passenger Duty (APD), but halving the Avios cost takes the sting off.
I also selected a Reward Flight Saver (RFS) fare where the Avios cost is a bit higher, and the fees are capped, but note you don’t have the option to “turn it off”, so to speak, as flights with the little coupon symbol are RFS. I personally think RFS fares are better on British Airways metal, anyway.
To Asia on British Airways
Let’s take a more extreme example, travelling all the way from Vancouver to Delhi via London in business class.
You can see that the Avios price is 396,000 with $1,606.38 in taxes and fees. Needless to say, there is no reason to pay this much to fly British Airways compared with other available options. With a companion voucher applied to the second passenger, you’re now paying 198,000 Avios per passenger round-trip to India, which isn’t bad, but the fees are very high at $3,212.76 for two passengers.
I do like that the companion voucher works even for solo passengers. In the first example, you would pay just 44,000 Avios plus $820 for round-trip business class flights between Toronto and London, which is actually a good deal. Even if you book a flight on Aeroplan or another program, the UK APD alone is about half that.
In the second example, I’m still not inclined to pay 198,000 Avios plus $1,606.38 for round-trip business class flights to Delhi, so I’ll take a win on my companion voucher for a simple round-trip to London, either solo or with a friend.
Other British Airways Considerations
British Airways has an award seat guarantee of at least four business class seats per long-haul flight, which is very handy when travelling with a family or a large group.
You can also have two companion vouchers in your account at once since you earn one per calendar year, and it’s valid for two years after that. You may also use two companion vouchers on a single booking.
Therefore, one strategy for, say, taking the entire family to visit the European Christmas Markets, is to use two companion vouchers at once. For four passengers taking round-trip business class flights between Toronto and London, the total cost after applying two companion vouchers would be 352,000 Avios + $3,280 CAD.
Takeaway
The RBC British Airways Companion Voucher allows you to take a second passenger, paying only taxes & fees when redeeming your Avios or a 50% Avios discount if solo.
It’s a personal decision whether spending $30,000 a year on the RBC British Airways Visa Infinite is fair in exchange for a Companion Voucher, but I’d say it’s worth considering if you have any upcoming European travel plans, especially with someone else.
I like that the voucher differs from the ones offered by Canadian airlines, as it applies to award bookings and is essentially a $0 companion voucher, as it erases the entire base fare in points.
