Airline credit cards can be overlooked at times in favor of more popular travel rewards cards that earn transferable points. However, there are many fantastic airline credit cards that can provide a lot of value to travelers, especially if you fly fairly often with that airline.
In fact, many airline cards offer valuable and unique benefits that you are not likely to find on many other travel rewards cards. The British Airways Travel Together Ticket, offered as a perk of the British Airways Visa Signature® Card, is one such benefit.
In this ultimate guide to the British Airways Travel Together Ticket, we will detail what it is, how you can earn it, and how you can redeem it for maximum value on British Airways flights.
How the British Airways Travel Together Ticket Works
In order to earn the British Airways Travel Together Ticket, you must be a cardholder of the British Airways Visa card and make $30,000 in purchases on the card in a calendar year. The Travel Together Ticket effectively functions as a companion voucher, allowing you to get a buy-one-get-one international award ticket.
Once you’ve met the $30,000 spending threshold on your British Airways Visa card, the Travel Together Ticket will post to your British Airways Executive Club account in 4 to 6 weeks and is valid for travel up to 24 months from the date of issue.
Restrictions and Rules
Before we dive into how you can maximize the value of the Travel Together Ticket, there are a handful of rules and restrictions that define how it can be used that you should be aware of:
- The Travel Together Ticket is only valid on British Airways award tickets, and cannot be used on any British Airways partner airlines
- You must still pay any taxes and fees due for your companion’s ticket
- All tickets must originate in the U.S.
- The ticket can be round-trip and is valid for any fare class
- Your companion must fly the exact same itinerary, in the exact same fare class, as you
- There must be award space available for 2 passengers in the fare class you want to fly in order to redeem the Travel Together Ticket
- You can book stopovers (this can be especially helpful in reducing fuel surcharges from certain cities)
- You must redeem the Travel Together Ticket 24 months from its issue date
Now that we’ve covered the rules on how you can and cannot use the Travel Together Ticket, let’s dive into how you can get the max value out of it, and when it makes sense to use it.
Hot Tip: See how we planned a once-in-a-lifetime trip for 4 from the U.S. to London using Travel Together Tickets!
How To Redeem the British Airways Travel Together Ticket
Enjoy British Airways’ first class for a fraction of the price when using your Travel Together Ticket! Image Credit: Alex MillerBefore we cover how to maximize your Travel Together Ticket, let’s take a quick look at the British Airways award chart since the Travel Together Ticket can only be applied to award bookings.
British Airways Award Chart
The British Airways award chart is distance-based and divided into peak and off-peak pricing. Award flights are priced by segment, and the number of points required will depend on the season in which you’re traveling.
| Zone/Distance | Economy | Premium Economy | Business | First |
| Off-Peak | Peak | Off-Peak | Peak | Off-Peak | Peak | Off-Peak | Peak |
Zone 1
1 to 650 miles
(Not available in North America) | 4,000 | 4,500 | 5,750 | 6,750 | 7,750 | 9,000 | 15,500 | 18,000 |
Zone 2
651 to 1,150 miles | 6,500 | 7,500 | 9,500 | 11,250 | 12,750 | 15,000 | 25,500 | 30,000 |
Zone 3
1,151 to 2,000 miles | 8,500 | 10,000 | 12,750 | 15,000 | 17,000 | 20,000 | 34,000 | 40,000 |
Zone 4
2,001 to 3,000 miles | 10,000 | 12,500 | 20,000 | 25,000 | 31,250 | 37,500 | 42,500 | 50,000 |
Zone 5
3,001 to 4,000 miles | 13,000 | 20,000 | 26,000 | 40,000 | 50,000 | 60,000 | 68,000 | 80,000 |
Zone 6
4,001 to 5,500 miles | 16,250 | 25,000 | 32,500 | 50,000 | 62,500 | 75,000 | 85,000 | 100,000 |
Zone 7
5,501 to 6,500 miles | 19,500 | 30,000 | 39,000 | 60,000 | 75,000 | 90,000 | 102,000 | 120,000 |
Zone 8
6,501 to 7,000 miles | 22,750 | 35,000 | 45,500 | 75,000 | 87,500 | 105,000 | 119,000 | 140,000 |
Zone 9
7,000+ miles | 32,500 | 50,000 | 65,000 | 100,000 | 125,000 | 150,000 | 170,000 | 200,000 |
Redeeming for Economy Tickets
Now let’s compares some airfare examples to see how you can make the most of your Travel Together Ticket.
Image Credit: British AirwaysStarting with an economy booking, we can see that the above roundtrip flight between Chicago (ORD) and London (LHR) would cost us 26,000 Avios and $650.32 in taxes and fees. So when making this booking for 2 people using our Travel Together Ticket, you will still use just 26,000 Avios, but will still need to pay the taxes and fees for your companion, bringing the total to 26,000 Avios and $1,300.64 for your 2 tickets.
Now is this a good deal? Well considering that a cash ticket for the exact flights on the same dates would cost $836 a person, or $1,672 for 2 people, it is not exactly an amazing deal. In this example, you’re effectively using 26,000 Avios to save $372. This gives you a value of about 1.4 cents per Avios, which is better than our 1.25 cents per Avios valuation, but you can definitely do better.
Redeeming for Business Class Tickets
Now let’s have a look at how much value you can get from business class tickets.
Image Credit: British AirwaysIf you were to fly business class on this flight, the charge would now be 100,000 Avios and $1,789.05 in taxes and fees. So using your Travel Together Ticket would cost 100,000 Avios and $3,578.10 for 2 round-trip business class tickets.
That might sound steep, but when you consider that the retail price of these tickets is $2,684 each, booking 2 tickets would set you back a cool $5,368. So using your Travel Together Ticket this way saves you over $1,790 for your 100,000 Avios, giving a value of almost 1.8 cents per Avios!
Hot Tip: Your business or first class ticket could grant you access to British Airways lounges, like the Galleries First Lounge, Galleries Club Lounge, and Arrivals Lounge. See our guide to the full list of U.S. British Airways lounges for locations, hours, and more.
Redeeming for First Class Tickets
If you weren’t sold already on the business class booking, surely you will be after you see how much you can save on a first class booking. One caveat, though, is that first class availability, especially at off-peak pricing, can be sparse at best. So if aren’t able to be flexible with the dates you travel, then you might have a lot of difficulties trying to book this.
Image Credit: British AirwaysTaking the above New York (JFK) to London (LHR) booking, for example, which is at peak pricing. You would need to shell out 160,000 Avios and $3,567.06 in order to book your Travel Together Ticket on this flight. At first glance, this might seem like a lot of Avios and cash to shell out, until you realize that the cash price of this ticket is an eye-popping $20,036.
Image Credit: British AirwaysThat’s right, booking this flight for 2 passengers would set you back $40,072! So using your Travel Together Ticket saves you $36,505 in exchange for 160,000 Avios — giving you a value of 4.38 cents per Avios!
Bottom Line: While you might be tempted to use your Travel Together Ticket for economy flights to lower the total amount of cash you’ll need to pay, you can get significantly better value by redeeming it for business class or first class flights, both of which allow you to have a luxury travel experience for a fraction of the actual price!
How To Reduce Carrier Taxes and Fees
You’ve probably noticed that British Airways charges some rather large taxes and fees on award tickets compared to other carriers. Fortunately, there are some strategies you can use to help get the cost down — after all, paying north of $1,000 in fees definitely takes some of the fun out of making an award booking.
The easiest way to do just that is by paying for the taxes and fees using your British Airways Visa card. The British Airways Visa gives you a $200 statement credit for award tickets on business and first class flights, and a $100 statement credit on economy and premium economy flights, up to $600 in total statement credits each year.
You can also lower the amount of taxes and fees you’ll pay by avoiding flying home from the U.K. to skip out on paying the U.K. Air Passenger Duty tax, which on business class tickets can add up to £146 (∼$202) per person for flights departing from the U.K.
Final Thoughts
The British Airways Travel Together Ticket is certainly one of the best perks of the British Airways Visa card, and a very unique benefit for airline credit cards in general. While it does require you to put a considerable amount of spend on the card in order to earn it, doing so can be quite lucrative for British Airways flyers — especially on premium cabin award tickets.
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