One of the best benefits offered by the British Airways Visa Signature® Card* is the chance to earn a Travel Together Ticket via spending each year. Like other airline credit card companion tickets, British Airways’ Travel Together Ticket is marketed as a way to double the value of your Avios. Instead of redeeming British Airways Avios for full price award tickets, cardholders can use the certificate to get their first and second ticket on the same itinerary each for 50% of the miles. That’s two tickets for the price of one and a tremendous deal if you leverage it right.
Earning a Travel Together Ticket requires spending $30,000 on the British Airways Visa in a calendar year.
British Airways Visa Signature® Card* Details
First, let’s go over the card details.
Welcome offer: 75,000 Avios after spending $5,000 on purchases in the first three months of account opening, plus 5 Avios per dollar spent on up to $10,000 in gas, groceries, and dining purchases for the first 12 months of account opening
Annual fee: $95
Earning: 3 Avios per dollar on purchases with Iberia, British Airways, Aer Lingus, and LEVEL, 2 Avios per dollar on hotel accommodations when purchased directly with the hotel and 1 Avios per dollar on all other purchases
Other benefits: The card includes a few other perks that can save you money.
- Every calendar year you make $30,000 in purchases on your British Airways Visa card, you’ll earn a Travel Together Ticket good for two years.
- Take 10% off British Airways flights starting in the U.S. when you book through the website provided with your welcome materials.
- Receive statement credits of up to $600: $100 for economy and premium economy seats or $200 for business and first class seats, up to three times per year when you book a reward flight to London traveling on British Airways and pay taxes, fees and carrier-imposed surcharges with your British Airways Visa card.
- Pay no foreign transaction fees when you make purchases abroad.
The British Airways Visa offers significant discount opportunities, but one of the all-around best might just be the Travel Together Ticket.
British Airways Travel Together Ticket Basics
Like any airline credit card benefit, there are various terms and conditions to be aware of, so let’s go over the basics of the British Airways Travel Together Ticket.
Earning the British Airways Travel Together Ticket
British Airways Visa cardholders can earn a Travel Together Ticket after spending $30,000 on purchases in a calendar year, excluding refunds and returns. You can only earn one Travel Together Ticket per calendar year—so if you spend $30,000 on the card right off the bat in January, your spending during the rest of the year won’t count toward earning another one.
Once you hit the spending threshold, you will be issued a Travel Together Ticket in the form of an electronic voucher in your British Airways Executive Club account within four to six weeks of qualifying.
Using the British Airways Travel Together Ticket
Unlike other companion tickets, the British Airways Travel Together Ticket is only valid for award travel. There are two ways to use it: Book a single ticket using British Airways Avios and pay 50% off the total Avios required. Alternatively, book one award ticket using British Airways Avios at full price and get a second ticket on the same itinerary for no additional points.
The Travel Together Ticket is redeemable for one-way or round-trip travel on British Airways, Iberia or Aer Lingus flights originating anywhere in the world.
Each Travel Together Ticket is valid for 24 months from the date of issue, so your outbound travel must take place by that date, but your return can be later.
Limitations to the British Airways Travel Together Ticket
There are several restrictions to using the British Airways Travel Together Ticket you should be aware of before making it a travel goal of yours.
For one thing, the primary cardholder must redeem Avios from their own account and must be the one traveling.
To redeem the Travel Together Ticket, you must find an award for yourself—some dates, routes or classes of service may not be available. If you want to also redeem a second, companion award at no additional miles, there must be a second award flight in the same cabin and on the same flights. That can make it doubly hard to actually use the Travel Together Ticket, though far from impossible given how much award inventory British Airways regularly releases on its own flights. British Airways recommends booking at quieter times like midweek or when schools are in session, being flexible with your dates and booking as far in advance as possible.
Most significant of all, using a Travel Together Ticket exempts you from having to redeem more Avios for a second ticket. However, it does not get you out of paying the taxes and fees on the second ticket. That’s worth noting because these costs add up to hundreds, or even thousands of dollars depending on the flights and the class of service.
Once you earn the Travel Together Ticket, there is no way to extend the expiration, so use it or lose it. You do not have to complete an entire round trip within the 24-month period, but you do have to at least book and fly the outbound flight within that time and book the return leg if you intend to use it as part of a round-trip Travel Together Ticket.
Best Uses for the British Airways Travel Together Ticket
Because of taxes and surcharges, you will almost always be better off redeeming a British Airways Travel Together Ticket for itineraries in business or first class. But even then, you might want to price out paid fares or partner awards with Aer Lingus or Iberia versus those on British Airways to make sure you are maximizing your Travel Together Ticket.
Let’s take a quick example of flights from Chicago O’Hare (ORD) to London Heathrow (LHR) in March 2024, when award seats are plentiful.
Round-trip tickets in economy start at 50,000 Avios plus $200 each. Using your Travel Together Ticket, you’d pay 25,000 Avios (50% off) plus the full amount of taxes. Compare that to buying the same ticket outright in cash for $2,421.
Let’s bump it up to premium economy. Tickets start at 85,000 Avios plus $560 in taxes and fees for the same Chicago to London round-trip flight. Paid fares on the same dates and flights start at $3,353. Now the savings start to become more attractive, especially when booking two tickets. Instead of buying two seats outright at $6,706, you could redeem a Travel Together Ticket with 85,000 Avios and $1,120 total, which is an incredible savings.
The contrast becomes even more dramatic in business class. Chicago to London round-trip flights start at 160,000 Avios plus $700 per person round-trip, so you’d be paying about $1,400 in taxes for two passengers with a Travel Together Ticket. Paid fares are $8,833 per person. So those 160,000 Avios plus the voucher are a deep savings on the cost of a second ticket. In first class, the cost savings are even more extreme—though first-class awards can be more difficult to find.
Don’t forget that prices may be cheaper flying Aer Lingus or Iberia. You could get the same coach round-trip ticket from Chicago to London on Aer Lingus for 34,000 Avios and $484.25—which translates to 17,000 Avios and $484.25 round-trip for a solo traveler or 34,000 Avios and $968.50 for yourself and a companion. There’s a connection in Dublin versus the nonstop you can get with British Airways, but if you want to maximize the Travel Together Ticket, this is an easy way to do so.
One thing to keep in mind as you search—Carrier-imposed surcharges and government taxes tend to be higher for trips to England than if you continue on to another country. So if you can incorporate your Travel Together Ticket into an itinerary that simply transits London en route to another destination, you might keep your out-of-pocket expenses lower.
Is the British Airways Travel Together Ticket Worth It?
Before you commit to the British Airways Visa Signature® Card* and the Travel Together Ticket, think about whether you can use it for the trip you want, and whether the savings will make doing so worthwhile.
It definitely could be if the card’s $30,000 spending requirement per calendar year isn’t onerous and you can save thousands of dollars on a ticket in business or first class. However, if the Travel Together Ticket’s restrictions make using it too difficult, or if you doubt whether you will take advantage of it within the next two years (after which your Travel Together Ticket could expire), you might be better off with other options.
Remember that American Express Membership Rewards points, Bilt Rewards, Capital One miles, and Chase Ultimate Rewards points all transfer to British Airways Executive Club. That means there are plenty of ways to earn Avios without committing to the British Airways Visa. Plus, there are other airline cards with easier-to-use companion tickets that might be handier.
Overall, the British Airways Travel Together Ticket can be worthwhile if you regularly fly British Airways, Aer Lingus or Iberia and can take advantage of it to save on flights you’d be spending more Avios on otherwise.
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