What will British Airways do about expiring BA American Express 2-4-1 companion vouchers?

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One of our other articles today looks at the new Virgin Atlantic policy for extending your Virgin Flying Club status and vouchers due to coronavirus – read here.

We have, unsurprisingly, had a lof of emails and discussion in our comments section about what is happening with British Airways Executive Club status years and British Airways American Express 2-4-1 vouchers.

There is no official publicly-stated policy as yet. However, I wouldn’t be too concerned. British Airways is going to need every bit of customer goodwill it can get when flying starts to return to normal. It would be foolish to remove status from good customers and give them an excuse to run off to Virgin Atlantic, Star Alliance or SkyTeam.

British Airways BA American Express Amex credit cards

Will British Airways extend your American Express 241 voucher?

I have been told, unofficially, that there is a policy in place to extend 2-4-1 vouchers by six months on request.

A reader sent me in some proof (click to enlarge):

In this case, the reader had a voucher due to expire in November 2021. It will now expire in May 2022.

(This seems ludicrously generous, frankly, given that our reader already had 18 months to use it.)

He contacted a specific email address to get this done. I am NOT sharing the email address because, frankly, you should be ashamed of yourself if you are planning to waste the time of BA Customer Services today with a query over a 241 voucher which isn’t going to expire for months.

There are literally thousands of people who desperately need to contact BA at the moment and 99% of them have a more pressing need than the extension of a 241 voucher.

In any event, I fully expect that, at some point, British Airways will automatically extend all unused 241 vouchers by six months. As well as being the right thing to do, it will take the pressure off the call centre. Like Virgin Atlantic, I imagine that an email will pop up out of the blue at some point.

You can learn more about how the British Airways American Express 2-4-1 voucher works in this ‘Avios Redemption University’ article.

Will British Airways extend your Executive Club status?

Will British Airways extend your Executive Club Gold, Silver or Bronze status?

This is a little trickier, although it should not be a hugely difficult IT task to extend all current membership years by a few months.

If you are at risk of dropping at the end of March, remember British Airways has a soft landing policy. A Gold will only drop to Silver and a Silver will only drop to Bronze.

Again, please do not call British Airways to discuss this. Frankly, it doesn’t matter if your status drops at the end of March because you are unlikely to be doing much flying in April anyway.

I fully expect British Airways to make a formal announcement soon. For now, don’t worry about it and don’t block the telephone lines with questions about it. Rest assured that British Airways will need your custom more than ever once things return to normal.

How to earn Avios points from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (December 2021)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards. Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways BA Amex American Express card

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up, no annual fee and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending ….. Read our full review

British Airways BA Premium Plus American Express Amex credit card

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the UK’s most valuable credit card perk – the 2-4-1 companion voucher Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points, such as:

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & two airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital On Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios:

Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa

The most generous Avios Visa or Mastercard for a limited company Read our full review

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus:

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

(Want to earn more Avios? Click here to visit our home page for our latest articles on earning and spending your Avios points and click here to see how to earn more Avios this month from offers and promotions.)

Category

British Airways American Express, British Airways and Avios

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

Greg says:

16 Mar16 March 09:23

I hope the extension also applies to the Lloyds upgrade vouchers with 2 expiring in the next 2 months.

Having said that, unlike the BA 2–41, you can travel AFTER the expiry date with Lloyds
Stagger Lee says:

16 Mar16 March 09:27

Brutal but not unexpected.

Does anyoe know if 2 for 1 voucher, fess etc will automatically be refunded when the flights are cancelled.

I’m not going to ring but just not sure whether to cancel online myself and then ring them at some point in the future re the £35 cancellation fee and any potential voucher extension
- Rob says:
  
  16 Mar16 March 09:35
  
  If you cancel online you pay the £35. It’s in the rules. Avios tickets are not covered by the refund guarantee. You won’t get it back later.
  
  Either cancel now or wait a few hours, which is all it is likely to be.
  - Shoestring says:
    
    16 Mar16 March 09:39
    
    but people reported they got a refund of Avios tickets on the phone in the form of a voucher that somehow also kept the Avios available for the next booking but didn’t refund the Avios to the a/c
    
    sounds complicated but that’s what they said
  - Stagger Lee says:
    
    16 Mar16 March 09:40
    
    Cheers Rob, I assume that means the Avios and voucher will be refunded automatically as and when the flights are cancelled?
    
    I do feel a bit guilty about all of this given the real hardship this is going to cause to a lot of people and companies
    - Rob says:
      
      16 Mar16 March 09:50
      
      Yes
      - Stagger Lee says:
        
        16 Mar16 March 09:50
        
        Thanks again. I’ll stop asking dumb questions now 🙂
  - Leafwarbler says:
    
    16 Mar16 March 09:59
    
    I’ve a 241 flight booking for Denver in 2 weeks – there is currently no option to cancel online. Just this message
    “Change/Cancel booking
    This flight is subject to potential disruption.
    Call us to find out what your options are”
    
    So I guess, rather than hassle them, I’ll just sit it out……..
    - Stagger Lee says:
      
      16 Mar16 March 10:08
      
      I guess they are gradually updating all their systems. My booking for early April has disappeared completely fro the system so I assume it’s in the process of being cancelled.
      
      Just hang on a bit and all should sorted.
RTS says:

16 Mar16 March 10:08

OT – just received an email from Virgin saying they have removed FX fees on the card when using it within the EEA.that’s pretty decent!
- Also says:
  
  16 Mar16 March 12:34
  
  If you can get to the EEA…
Boi says:

16 Mar16 March 10:24

What’s the most reliable number to call to make a Lloyd’s voucher booking?
I have booked an expensive last minute booking yesterday (to fly back today) but want to try my luck to book a reward flight instead
- GS says:
  
  16 Mar16 March 10:33
  
  0344 49 333 49 but good luck getting through to anyone! Even before coronavirus they would take half an hour to answer. I have a Lloyds voucher expiring this month to use so if anyone has luck getting an extension let me know…
Linda says:

16 Mar16 March 10:45

Thank you for your updates Rob, I will also admit posting a query before. BA obviously have inconsistent policy regarding Amex 241 vouchers, mine due to expire 27th March this month, I contacted BA 2 weeks ago to ask if extension was possible, received email advising me not possible….I agree with ‘This seems ludicrously generous, frankly, given that our reader already had 18 months to use it’ ….I wonder if BA Status affects the decision?
- Aston100 says:
  
  16 Mar16 March 13:34
  
  No.
Sloppy says:

16 Mar16 March 10:54

strong word @ ‘ashamed of yourself’ for asking to extend voucher. Shouldn’t we all be ashamed of talking about deals and how one can benefit from whatever is available and how seats are coming up for redemptions?(if we extend the writer’s logic)
I don’t think there is anything to be ‘ashamed of’ in terms of sending that email. It is inconsiderate of course but then so is discussing bonus promos etc
(rant over)
- Anna says:
  
  16 Mar16 March 11:02
  
  Sloppy – you’ve completely misunderstood what Rob is saying here. He is specifically referring to people calling BA unnecessarily at such a busy time. This is nothing whatsoever to do with people trying to make alternative travel arrangements and salvage lost holidays, which will after all at least continue to pump some money into the stricken industry.
  
  What is it with all the virtue signalling at the moment?
  - BJ says:
    
    16 Mar16 March 11:13
    
    Don’t understand why BA do not put a message on their phone line and website stating that they will only deal with callers changing bookings with departure dates within the next 7 or 14 days and then refuse any assistance to anybody who remains on the line with a later departure. Line for new bookings only could take those for any time.
    - Anna says:
      
      16 Mar16 March 11:22
      
      Indeed – I don’t know how easy it would be but could people be asked to input their travel dates on their handsets and only be put through if it falls within the required range?
    - BJ says:
      
      16 Mar16 March 11:32
      
      Not necessary, the CSA just needs to disconnect the call of anybody stupid enough to wait 3h on hold to change a flight in December, ask for a voucher extension etc.
    - planeconcorde says:
      
      16 Mar16 March 12:44
      
      They have already done that at least a few days ago. On the http://www.ba.com home page there is a link “Coronavirus (COVID-19) For the latest information, find out more”. The top of the linked page states
      “We’re currently experiencing extremely high call volumes. Please don’t call or message unless you’re travelling in the next 72 hours so we can help those needing urgent rebooking… “
Chris Jackson says:

16 Mar16 March 10:57

The email address to make contact to extend a 2-1 voucher would be useful to have as I have a voucher with a month until it expires and the opportunity to extend it would be of great value.
- Russell says:
  
  16 Mar16 March 11:23
  
  Same here … I used the online form on BA.com, but that method i fear may create more workload for them than having the correct email. My voucher expires next month.
  - BJ says:
    
    16 Mar16 March 11:43
    
    It will take time but I think in the end they will try to do their best to help everybody the best they can. I think we all should just do the best we can too without adding to their problems and then be patient. While it might not be the case right now, it may soon get to the point that for many, if not most, of us our miles, vouhers, flights etc are the least of our worries.
GS says:

16 Mar16 March 11:06

https://www.businesstraveller.com/features/coronavirus-which-airlines-have-changed-their-frequent-flyer-policies/
Seems like a blanket rule for the companion voucher extension in here.