New British Airways American Express 2-4-1 Avios companion vouchers are NOT being extended

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On Monday we were the first to highlight the six-month extension given to all outstanding British Airways American Express 2-4-1 vouchers.

Whilst not unexpected, this was still a welcome move and one which allows voucher holders to plan ahead for trips later this year and in 2021.

It is important to note, however, that this does not appear to be a blanket extension. On Flyertalk yesterday, someone posted a screenshot of a voucher which had just been issued. It only had the standard two-year validity.

It looks like British Airways did a one-off bit of IT jiggery pokery to extend all existing vouchers (and, for clarity, this includes used vouchers which will now be refunded). This is not, it seems, a permanent change of strategy.

You should assume that any voucher which is close to being issued will come with the standard two-year validity.

This creates the odd possibility that your next upcoming voucher could expire before your previous voucher. My previous voucher is now extended to May 2022, so if I spent £10,000 quickly on the card this year – which isn’t going to happen in the current circumstances – I could have my new voucher only running to March or April 2022.

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

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

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

C77 says:

25 Mar25 March 04:13

M&S offer showing on my BA blue card as a one time offer. Spend £30+ for a £5 statement credit.
The Original David says:

25 Mar25 March 04:46

On the terms of my Amex M&S offer, the first bullet point is (in capitals): THIS OFFER IS NOW ONLY VALID ONLINE.
Cwyfan says:

25 Mar25 March 05:39

Does anybody know if refunded Lloyds vouchers are extend too?

Who do you contact about them these days?
- Qwertyknowsbest says:
  
  25 Mar25 March 07:18
  
  Automatically extended 6 months.
  - Alan says:
    
    25 Mar25 March 08:44
    
    Oh I hadn’t seen that reported – what about standard vouchers that haven’t been attached to a booking yet?
- Kai says:
  
  25 Mar25 March 08:06
  
  I don’t think the voucher is refundable. You just lose it.
- Fred says:
  
  25 Mar25 March 11:17
  
  CONFIRMED: LUVs CURRENTLY ONLY BEING EXTENDED IF EXPIRING BY END OF APRIL 2020
  - ADS says:
    
    25 Mar25 March 12:56
    
    ah – that’s a very big caveat !
    
    presume there’s no way of checking these vouchers either on BA.com or Avios.com ?
- 1nfrequent says:
  
  25 Mar25 March 11:53
  
  My Lloyds voucher was extended to the end of August.
  
  1F
- Kevin says:
  
  25 Mar25 March 19:51
  
  I have spent the required £7k threshold several days before my Lloyd’s Cc annual renewal date and it is almost a month now and I yet received the cabin upgrade voucher. Maybe delay due to the current tsunami? Or who I can I check with as Lloyd’s CS asked me to check with BA and I doubt they know about it.
  
  Anyone got any suggestion?
MikeB says:

25 Mar25 March 06:29

Anti-bacterial cleaning door handles etc is a bit pointless against Covid-19. Its a VIRUS not a bacteria!
- Craig says:
  
  25 Mar25 March 07:01
  
  As long as the product has a high alcohol content then it should work OK.
  - Anna says:
    
    25 Mar25 March 07:20
    
    They seem to add alcohol to hand sanitizer in American products much more than we do here. Looking at numerous mini bottles of hand gel I’ve picked up in the states over the past few years all of them are 68% alcohol even though they are from perfume outlets like Bath & Body Works. Ironically their perceived lack of environmental awareness might help in this situation.
  - Youllnever says:
    
    25 Mar25 March 10:28
    
    I’m guessing they can’t claim it’s anti-viral if the cleaning products they use don’t actually contain alcohol (or a high enough % to kill them).
Stuart says:

25 Mar25 March 06:31

Anti-BACTERIAL…..
IslandDweller says:

25 Mar25 March 06:31

Amex offer…. You’re confident that stores will be open by then…… Seems astonishingly knuckle headed timing by M&S and Amex
- MikeB says:
  
  25 Mar25 March 06:39
  
  It says it applies on-line as well as in store.
- Rob says:
  
  25 Mar25 March 10:03
  
  Our M&S is still open, I spent £20 in there yesterday.
  - ADS says:
    
    25 Mar25 March 12:58
    
    my local M&S has some excellent discounts on salads (up to 90% off) !
Steve says:

25 Mar25 March 07:01

So using the “javascript” workaround to apply for a refund for my cancelled flights. I got the email with the :-

“We have received your information and are currently processing your refund”.

That was 5 days ago. So far no returned avios, 241 voucher or cash.

Does anyone know what the expected lag is for them to get round to processing a refund? I won’t bother trying to phone if others have experienced a long time.

Thanks

Steve
- Spursdebs says:
  
  25 Mar25 March 07:12
  
  Took 10 days for my refund and the voucher I had to call up for as I wanted to rebook something else straight away. Other people’s have been more or less instant. Give it ten days if nothing then start chasing up.
  - Steve says:
    
    25 Mar25 March 08:16
    
    Great thanks, will wait longer.
- Mikeact says:
  
  25 Mar25 March 09:00
  
  I did my first ‘cash refund + Avios ‘ redemption last night about 6pm…….using the workaround . 40000 Avios credited overnight.
- Doug M says:
  
  25 Mar25 March 10:49
  
  I cancelled a flight Saturday 14th March. Nothing yet, no £ or Avios returned, given how their IT struggles in usual times, they’ll certainly be in no hurry to expedite refunds.
- essjay2009 says:
  
  25 Mar25 March 11:42
  
  I cancelled on Sunday evening. Avios was back in my account instantly. 2-4-1 appeared this morning. Cash went back on my Amex also this morning.
Mike says:

25 Mar25 March 07:32

Both my 241 vouchers have been extended by 6 months – first time I logged on to BA website for weeks was just to check them today