How To Use Your BA Amex 2-4-1 Starting Outside The UK?

Last September BA/American Express revamped the BA Amex 2-4-1 Voucher with a number of changes. One of these changes was to allow using the voucher on flights that start outside the UK. But why would you want to start your flight outside the UK I hear you ask? Well the main reason you might want to use your BA Amex 2-4-1 Starting Outside The UK is avoiding the Air Passenger Duty as part of ‘taxes & fees’ you have to pay on reward flights. Particularly as BA recently ramped up the ‘taxes & fees’ on long-haul reward seats…

Remember the voucher still needs to be used on BA ‘metal’ you can’t use it on any of its partner airlines.

What countries are best to look at when using your BA Amex 2-4-1 Starting Outside The UK?

Take a look at the following prices for 2 people off-peak return using a 2-4-1 voucher from London and compare to the following countries/places…

New York Return – 100000 Avios + £ 1,570.32
Dubai Return – 100000 Avios + £ 1,210.30
Barbados Return – 125000 Avios + £ 1,112.06
Hong Kong Return – 150000 Avios + £ 1,307.24
Bangkok Return – 150000 Avios + £ 1,316.50
Maldives Return – 125000 Avios + £ 1,457.16

Staying in the UK…

Yes I know we said outside the UK but if you start your journey in Inverness it is exempt from Air Passenger Duty. Similarly, if you start your journey in Jersey (outside the UK but a Crown Dependency) you will avoid the UK’s Air Passenger Duty.

Inverness

New York Return – 100000 Avios + £ 1,245.68
Dubai Return – 100000 Avios + £ 1,045.66
Barbados Return – 125000 Avios + £ 868.88
Hong Kong Return – 150000 Avios + £ 1,142.60
Bangkok Return – 150000 Avios + £ 1,151.86
Maldives Return – 125000 Avios + £ 1,292.52

Jersey

New York Return – 100000 Avios + £ 1,239.82
Dubai Return – 100000 Avios + £ 1,039.80
Barbados Return – 125000 Avios + £ 863.02
Hong Kong Return – 150000 Avios + £ 1,136.74
Bangkok Return – 150000 Avios + £ 1,146.00
Maldives Return – 125000 Avios + £ 1,286.66

Europe

There are obviously many places you can look to start your journey in Europe so for our examples we are going to stick to 3 options that are reasonably close/easy to get to…

Paris

New York Return – 117000 Avios + £ 906.30
Dubai Return – 117000 Avios + £ 764.26
Barbados Return – 142000 Avios + £ 972.86
Hong Kong Return – 167000 Avios + £ 885.26
Bangkok Return – 167000 Avios + £ 854.52
Maldives Return – 155000 Avios + £ 995.18

If you live near London probably the quickest/easiest location outside the UK to start your journey would be in Paris

Amsterdam

New York Return – 117000 Avios + £ 947.42
Dubai Return – 117000 Avios + £ 680.84
Barbados Return – 142000 Avios + £ 892.60
Hong Kong Return – 167000 Avios + £ 805.00
Bangkok Return – 167000 Avios + £ 774.26
Maldives Return – 155000 Avios + £ 914.92

Dublin

New York Return – 117000 Avios + £ 567.30
Dubai Return – 117000 Avios + £ 621.84
Barbados Return – 142000 Avios + £ 834.92
Hong Kong Return – 167000 Avios + £ 742.14
Bangkok Return – 167000 Avios + £ 711.40
Maldives Return – 155000 Avios + £ 857.24

How do I work out if I’d actually save money using my BA Amex 2-4-1 Starting Outside The UK?

The first step is to compare the Avios + ‘taxes & fees’ of both options. For example…

London – New York is 100000 Avios + £ 1,570.32 & Dublin – New York is 117000 Avios + £ 567.30. So that works out as 17,000 Avios more expensive BUT £ 1,003.02 cheaper. The next step is to take away the value of the additional Avios from the difference in ‘taxes & fees.’ We value Avios at 1p (how to value yours) so that means we’d take £170 (17,000 x 0.01) from £1,003.02 which leaves us with £ 833.02 saving.

The second step is to factor in the cost of getting to your start point & back home afterwards, including flights/trains and any hotel stay if needed.

The cheapest return from our closest Airport (London Stansted) is £83.96pp including hold luggage. The cost to get there would be similar to Heathrow Remember when looking at flights you need to allow enough time to arrive clear immigration, collect luggage etc and then go in check-in for your next flight and pass security etc again. We’ve timed our flights to arrive 4 hours before departure to New York & then 4 hours before return to London from Dublin.

Don’t forget if you miss your next flight you wouldn’t be covered, you would be at the mercy of the Airline to let you on another flight without penalty.

That’s why many spend the night before at their start point but remember this will eat into your savings and cost you more time.

So if we take 83.96 x 2 off 833.02 leaves us with a total saving of £ 665.10. Don’t forget this figure doesn’t factor in your time or any snack/food during this time to keep you going 😉

In other instances the maths will work against you, particular if you are starting your journey in Inverness and live in London. The saving is sometimes as little as around £150 which will soon dissapear the time you work out getting up to Inverness to start. So make sure you always check the figures before booking!

Conclusion

As you can see it is possible to make a decent saving on your Avios bookings when using your BA Amex 2-4-1 starting outside the UK. Don’t forget, however, to factor in the cost/time of getting to/from your start point, the increased risk of missing your flight (particularly if you aren’t staying overnight in your start point), and any hotel stays required!