The Barclays British Airways upgrade voucher does not grab the headlines quite like an AMEX BA companion voucher, but it is a very useful perk if utilised correctly.

I’ve already written an article explaining what the upgrade voucher is and you can read all about it here, but in short, the voucher allows you book BA Avios seats in the cabin above the one you have selected, but still paying the lower cabin Avios price.

You still need to pay the full fees and taxes for your chosen cabin but save on Avios. Perhaps not a true upgrade voucher then but it can certainly save you points.

The upgrade voucher has some restrictions when compared to an Amex companion voucher. It can only be used on BA flights, unlike the companion voucher, which can be used on BA, Iberia or Air Lingus.

Upgrade vouchers are earned either through one of the Avios Barclaycards or by having a Barclays Premier account. Crucially, the voucher lasts for two years once activated, which is the same as the Amex companion voucher on the paid for Amex BA Premium Plus card, and better than the same voucher on the free Amex BA card, which only lasts for a year.

How did I used my upgrade vouchers?

What you really want to know is, how have I used my voucher and where am I going?

The answer is Brazil and there are three of us going in Business Class!

When I earned my upgrade voucher, I held the paid for black Avios Barclaycard. On this card, you earn the voucher by spending £10,000 in a 12 month cycle. But because the voucher lasts for two years once activated, I held onto my first voucher and earned a second one the following year.

This could get two of us to a destination and back in an upgraded cabin, but we are travelling as a family of three so a different strategy is required.

Seat availability is key

I had originally looked into the idea of going to Dubai, but we need to travel in late June/early July, so the unbearable heat put me off. Then we had the troubles in the Middle East which effectively ruled that out altogether.

My son had expressed an interest in going to Brazil, which I must be honest, wasn’t on my bucket list. But neither was Japan and I’ve now been twice, so what do I know?

One of the hazards of the upgrade voucher is actually finding availably in a higher class cabin so that you can utilise your voucher. July is winter time in Brazil but a winter over there and one in the UK look like two very different things.

What I found was better availability to Brazil than other popular locations, such as Tokyo and Australia.

That said, when it came to booking our outbound flight, the fact that I needed three business class seats instead of two proved to be a problem.

BA flights go on sale 355 days in advance at 1am in British Summer Time (and midnight in the winter).

I had already successfully completed test runs on other dates to ensure that my vouchers actually worked and I would be able to book my seats online in the fastest possible time.

The UK call centre is closed at 1am and I am not a fan of calling their international call centres because I have found that quite often you either get put through to the wrong team first or get an agent who is not au fait with the vouchers.

For three nights on the run I stayed up to try and book these flights, but it was clear that another force (i.e. the call centre) was beating me. On each night I tried to book a business class flight from London Heathrow to Rio de Janeiro, but found there to be no availability.

What was actually happening was that two Business Class seats were being reserved by someone on the phone each night leaving two still available, but I needed three.

This left me quite frustrated and I was prepared to sit it out and see if BA made more Business Class seats become available nearer the time. In order to maximise my Avios stash I also needed to travel on an off-peak date.

However, just as I was about to call it quits for now and either sit it out or consider an alternative destination, I came up with another idea.

Rio de Janeiro is the most popular destination in Brazil, but what if I was to fly into nearby São Paulo instead? I did a check and bingo! Four business class seats available on an off-peak date that I could travel on.

How many Avios did it cost?

An upgrade voucher will cover one person return or two people one-way with the outbound flight originating in the UK.

By using two vouchers for three people, I have effectively used one voucher to cover two of us and half a voucher for the third person.

So what did this all cost? When using an upgrade voucher, you pay the Avios value for the cabin below, in this case Premium Economy.

A Premium Economy seat from London Heathrow to São Paulo off-peak is 55,000 Avios. So in total, I paid 165,000 Avios plus two upgrade vouchers for three people to fly in business class.

In addition to this, I needed to pay the fees and taxes, which came to a not insignificant £1,058 for the three of us. But that is a drop on the ocean compared to what the cash price of three Business Class seats would be on a near-12 hour journey.

I should also add that we will be starting our trip in Manchester and after booking the flights online, I rang the call centre the following morning to add on domestic connecting flights from Manchester to Heathrow.

On long haul flights, these connections do not incur any further charge, which is very helpful if you live outside of London, but if you don’t book the connection online at the time of booking your long haul flights, you must do it within 24 hours to ensure that you are not charged for amending your booking.

Our planned destination however, is Rio de Janeiro, not São Paulo, so you might ask how we are getting there. The answer is via a local domestic flight that takes less than an hour and costs roughly £70 each with luggage.

We may yet stay in Sao Paulo for a couple of days before catching that flight but that is a decision we are yet to make.

We still need to book return flights for this trip and I won’t be in a position to do this Avios-wise until November, but there is generally decent Avios availability on this route in Economy and I can still utilise half of one of the upgrade vouchers on the return flight, so may even be able to nab some Premium Economy seats, should they become available.

I could also forget about that voucher completely for the return journey and fly with Iberia, who have some flights with lower Avios rates than BA. We shall see nearer the time.

Don’t give up

At one point, I was unsure if I would be able to use my upgrade vouchers in a way that benefitted the whole family, but although we’ll only be going business class one-way, I think we have found an exciting deal that will give the whole clan a fantastic treat and a great way to start our Brazil adventure.

Have you used a Barclaycard upgrade voucher before? Let me know in the comments.

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