British Airways Gold Upgrade Vouchers can now be redeemed on American Airlines
Good news for gold elite members of British Airways Executive Club: Upgrade vouchers can now also be redeemed on American Airlines flights.
Gold Upgrade Vouchers are one of the more valuable perks of reaching a certain number of Tier Points in the Executive Club program. They can be used for a single-cabin class upgrade on a single or return booking. At 2,500 Tier Points, you'll earn one Gold Upgrade Voucher for two (generally referred to as GUF2). At 3,500 Tier Points, you'll earn two Gold Upgrade Vouchers for one (known as GUF1).
Related: Avios vs. Tier Points: British Airways Executive Club status explained
For example, you can upgrade from Euro Traveller to Club Europe or from Club World to first class. The latter of those two is likely more valuable. Until now, Gold Upgrade Vouchers could only be used on British Airways and franchise-operated flights, meaning partner and codeshare flights were not eligible.
However, they can now be used on flights operated by American Airlines, including on upgrades to first class. The following conditions apply:
- Upgrades from economy to premium economy class on AA are not possible, so you are best to look for AA flight without a premium economy cabin to allow you to upgrade directly from economy to business class using the voucher if you want to apply it to an economy flight;
- The voucher may be applied to existing, or new AA flight bookings provided the booking contains a transatlantic sector; and
- The booking must be a cash booking issued by British Airways, unfortunately, redemptions made with Avios (or Advantage miles) are not applicable.
This is more restrictive than how a Gold Upgrade Voucher can be applied to flights operated by British Airways, though it is nice to have this extra redemption option.
For BA flights, you can use the voucher on a new or existing Avios redemption, provided there is reward or redemption availability in the higher class.
Say you've scored Avios seats to New York City on BA for yourself and your other half in Club World but noticed that first class reward space has opened up on both the outbound and return flights. A GUF2 will allow you to upgrade that booking into first class without needing to spend any additional Avios.
The same works for upgrades from World Traveller Plus to Club World or even from World Traveller to World Traveller Plus. For upgrades to Club World, additional taxes are payable, as taxes for premium cabins are higher than economy cabins. The GUF2 upgrades two passengers both ways; a GUF1 upgrades 1 passenger both ways.
On BA flights, the voucher can also be used on a new or existing cash booking. A GUF can now be used to book into the lowest first, Club World and World Traveller Plus cash classes, which are much more readily available than redemption seats.