GUIDE: Barclays British Airways Cabin Upgrade Vouchers – Tips and Best Routes

Before you start switching bank accounts or putting spend through a Barclaycard Avios card, here’s what you need to know about Barclays Cabin Upgrade Vouchers.

We’ll go through the two ways to earn a Barclays Cabin Upgrade Voucher, how best to use it (and how not to), and the different ways to redeem it.

What is a British Airways Cabin Upgrade Voucher?

A cabin upgrade is not a traditional upgrade from A to B. You’ll be seated in a higher cabin while paying the Avios required for the cabin below, with the taxes and charges based on the higher cabin.

Cabin upgrade vouchers can be used for:

• One return Avios flight for one person
• The outbound leg of a return flight for two people

You can’t use a Cabin Upgrade Voucher to upgrade to First, only from:

• World Traveller to World Traveller Plus (Economy to Premium Economy)
• World Traveller Plus to Club World (Premium Economy to Business)
• Euro Traveller to Club Europe (short-haul)

The main thing to note is that vouchers can only be used on British Airways-operated flights and must depart from the UK. They are valid for 24 months from the date of issue.

Barclays Cabin Upgrade Voucher Vs AMEX BA Companion Voucher

These two vouchers are completely different. The Cabin Upgrade Voucher is earned via Barclaycard, and the Companion Voucher is earned via British Airways American Express Cards. The companion voucher allows a second passenger to travel on the same Avios booking for no extra Avios or at 50% off the Avios required for a solo booking.

How to Earn a Cabin Upgrade Voucher

There are two different ways to earn a cabin upgrade voucher: Barclays Avios Rewards and Barclays Avios Mastercards.

You can earn two vouchers per year if you have both Avios Rewards and an Avios Mastercard.

Barclays Avios Rewards

To join Barclays Avios Rewards, you’ll need to be a Barclays Premier Banking or Wealth Customer. The Barclays Premier Current account remains the only UK current account that offers Avios.

However, there are strict criteria to join: either an annual income of £75,000+ paid into the account, or personal savings or investments of £100,000+.

You’ll then need to join Avios Rewards, which costs £12 per month and includes benefits such as reduced lounge access via DragonPass Premier+ (access for £20.50 per visit) and 1,500 Avios per month. To put this into perspective, the lowest Avios subscription, at 1,667 per month, is £26 per month.

There are also extra ways to earn more Avios, including life insurance (150-500/month), home insurance (150/month), and mortgages (700/month). You’ll also need to opt to go paperless with Barclays, opt out of Barclays Blue Rewards, be registered for the Barclays app and most importantly, hold a BA account.

Once you’ve been enrolled and paid the fee for 12 consecutive months, you’ll have the option of a Cabin Upgrade Voucher or 7,000 bonus Avios.

Your voucher will be in your BA account within 5 working days, and you will receive a new voucher every 12 months if you remain a member of Barclays Avios Rewards.

Barclaycard Avios Mastercards

Earning the Cabin Upgrade Voucher via a Barclays Mastercard requires meeting a minimum spend threshold. This depends on which card you hold.

As with Barclays Avios Rewards, you’ll have the option of 7,000 Avios instead. This choice will be available to you as soon as you meet the spending threshold. You must meet this in a card year which ends on the card’s anniversary.

Only the main cardholder can earn a Cabin Upgrade Voucher. Supplementary cardholders do not receive their own voucher, although their spending counts towards the main cardholder’s target. Once you reach the spending target for the year, any additional spend does not count towards another voucher. You will start again from £0 at your next card anniversary.

Barclaycard Avios Plus

Monthly fee: £20

Yearly Spend for a Voucher: £10,000

Sign-up Bonus: 25,000 Avios if you spend £3,000 in your first three months.

Representative APR: 80.1%  (variable)

Purchase Rate: 29.9% (variable)

Avios Earning Rate: 1.5 per £1 spent

Income Requirement: £20,000

This card also comes with reduced lounge passes via DragonPass Premier+ for £20.50 each.

Barclayscard Avios

Monthly Fee: FREE

Minimum Yearly Spend for a Voucher: £20,000

Sign-up Bonus: 5,000 Avios when you spend £1,000 in the first three months

Representative APR: 29.9% (variable)

Purchase Rate: 29.9% (variable)

Avios Earning Rate: 1 Avios per £1 spent

The main differences between the two cards are the Avios earning rate and the voucher spend threshold, either £10,000 or £20,000. There’s also the APR and sign-up bonus to consider. 

Finding the Voucher

When logged into your BA account, you’ll find your Cabin Upgrade Voucher under ‘Membership’, then ‘Member Vouchers’.

Discover more in our guide to collecting Avios with Barclays

How to Use Your Barclays Cabin Upgrade Voucher

When searching for flights via BA, go to ‘Book and Upgrade’ and make sure you click ‘Use BA Barclays Cabin Upgrade Voucher and Avios’.

If upgrading to Club World, select ‘Premium Economy’, and the flights shown on the screen should be Club World. If upgrading to World Traveller Plus, select Economy, and the flights shown should be Premium Economy. When upgrading on short-haul flights, select ‘Economy’.

There must be reward availability to use the voucher, but only in the cabin you’re upgrading to. 

When the rates are shown, you will have to pay the full amount of Avios rather than having a list of ‘Avios and Cash’ options. 

Getting the Most Out of Your Voucher: Best to Worst Uses Ranked from 1 to 9

But the best value comes from upgrading a long-haul flight from World Traveller Plus to Club World. Look at the routes where the difference in Avios between World Traveller Plus and Club World is the biggest.

1. Sydney and Melbourne – Save Up to 143,000 Avios

Usual Avios Costs Without Cabin Upgrade Voucher:

• Club World  – 319,000-374,000 + £799
• World Traveller Plus – 176,000-253,000 Avios + £550

With Voucher –  176,000-253,000 Avios + £799

Savings: 121,000 to 143,000 Avios

2. Buenos Aires, Kuala Lumpur, Santiago and Singapore – Save Up to 121,000 Avios

Destinations: Kuala Lumpur, Santiago, Singapore and Buenos Aires

Usual Avios Costs Without Cabin Upgrade Voucher:

• Club World  – 242,000-264,000 Avios + £670 or
• World Traveller Plus return – 121,000-176,000 Avios + £500

With Voucher: 121,000-176,000 Avios + £670

Savings: 88,000 to 121,000 Avios

3. Bangkok, Hong Kong, Mauritius and More – Save Up to 110,000 Avios

Destinations: Bangkok, Hong Kong, Mauritius, Rio De Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Shanghai and Tokyo

Usual Avios Costs Without Cabin Upgrade Voucher:

• Club World – 220,000 – 242,000 + £599
• World Traveller Plus – 110,000-170,500 Avios + £450

With Voucher: 110,000-170,500 Avios + £599

Savings: 71,500 to 110,000 Avios

4. Antigua, San Francisco, Delhi, Johannesburg and More – Save Up to 93,500 Avios

Destinations: Antigua, Atlanta, Austin, Barbados, Bengaluru, Cancun, Cape Town, Chennai, Colombo, Dallas, Delhi, Denver, Georgetown, Guyana, Grand Cayman, Grenada, Houston, Hyderabad, Johannesburg, Kingston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Male, Mexico City, Miami, Mumbai, Nairobi, Nashville, Nassau, New Orleans, Orlando, Phoenix, Port of Spain, Portland (Oregon), Punta Cana, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose (Costa Rica), Seattle, St Kitts, St Lucia, Tampa, Tobago, Turks and Caicos and Vancouver

Usual Avios Costs Without Cabin Upgrade Voucher:

• Club World – 198,000-220,000 + £499
• World Traveller Plus  – 104,500-148,500 Avios + £400

With Voucher: 104,500–148,500 Avios + £499 

Savings: 71,500 to 93,500 Avios

5. New York, Chicago, Dubai, Toronto and More – Save Up to 82,500 Avios

Destinations: Abu Dhabi, Accra, Bahrain, Baltimore, Bermuda, Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Doha, Dubai, Islamabad, Lagos, Montreal, New York (JFK and EWR), Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Riyadh, Toronto, Washington DC

Usual return Avios Costs Without Cabin Upgrade Voucher:

• Club World  – 176,000-198,000 Avios + £399
• World Traveller Plus  – 93,500-132,000 Avios + £350

With Voucher: 93,500–132,000 Avios + £399

Savings: 66,000 to 82,500 Avios

6. Abuja and Jeddah – Save 71,500 Avios

Destinations: Abuja and Jeddah

Usual return Avios Costs Without Cabin Upgrade Voucher:

• Club World  – 154,000 – 176,000 + £250
• World Traveller Plus  – 82,500-104,500 + £200

With Voucher: 82,500-104,500 + £250

Savings: 71,500 Avios

7. Athens, Mykonos, Istanbul, Lanzarote and More – Save Up to 26,500 Avios

Destinations: Agadir, Antalya, Athens, Bodrum, Bucharest, Catania, Chania, Corfu, Dalaman, Funchal, Heraklion, Istanbul, Ivalo, Izmir, Kalamata, Kefalonia, Kos, Lanzarote, Larnaca, Puerto del Rosario (Fuerteventura), Las Palmas (Gran Canaria), Malta, Marrakech, Mykonos, Paphos, Ponta Delgada, Preveza Lefkada, Rabat, Reykjavik, Rhodes, Santorini, Skiathos, Sofia, Tenerife, Thessaloniki, Tirana, Tromso, Zakynthos

Usual Avios Costs Without Cabin Upgrade Voucher:

• Club Europe – 53,500-60,000 Avios + £30 (£250 for Sharm El Sheikh, Cairo and Tbilisi)
• Euro Traveller  – 30,000-33,500 Avios + £2 (£102 for Sharm El Sheikh, Cairo and Tbilisi)

With Voucher: 30,000-33,500 Avios + £30 (£250 for Sharm El Sheikh, Cairo and Tbilisi)

Savings: 23,500-26,500 Avios

8. Ibiza, Barcelona, Ljubljana, Split, Stockholm, Zagreb and More – Save Up to 21,000 Avios

Destinations: Algiers, Alicante, Barcelona, Bari, Bastia, Bologna, Brindisi, Budapest, Cagliari, Dubrovnik, Faro, Figari, Florence, Gibraltar, Graz, Ibiza, Krakow, Lisbon, Ljubljana, Madrid, Malaga, Menorca, Naples, Olbia, Oslo, Palermo, Palma de Mallorca, Perugia, Pisa, Porto, Riga, Rimini, Rome, Salerno, Seville, Split, Stockholm, Tivat, Valencia, Venice, Verona, Vienna, Warsaw, Zagreb

Usual Avios Costs Without Cabin Upgrade Voucher:

• Club Europe –  44,000-49,000 Avios + £30
• Euro Traveller- 26,000-28,000 Avios + £2

With Voucher: 26,000-28,000 Avios + £30

Savings: 18,000-21,000 Avios

9. Edinburgh, Paris, Zurich and More – Save Up to 14,500 Avios

Destinations: Aberdeen, Amsterdam, Basel, Belfast, Bergerac, Berlin, Bilbao, Billund, Bordeaux, Brussels, Chambery, Cologne, Copenhagen, Dublin, Düsseldorf, Edinburgh, Frankfurt, Geneva, Glasgow, Gothenburg, Guernsey, Hamburg, Hannover, Innsbruck, Inverness, Jersey, Luxembourg, Lyon, Manchester, Marseille, Milan, Montpellier, Munich, Newcastle, Nice, Nuremberg, Paris, Prague, Rotterdam, Salzburg, San Sebastian, Stuttgart, Toulouse, Turin, Zurich

Usual Avios Costs Without Cabin Upgrade Voucher:

• Club Europe – 33,000-36,000 Avios + £30
• Euro Traveller return – 20,000-21,500 Avios + £2

With Voucher: 20,000-21,500 Avios + £30

Savings: 13,000-14,500 Avios

You are still getting Club Europe for the Avios price of Economy, but the actual Avios saving is much smaller.

Not Enough Avios?

As you must purchase an Avios redemption to use your voucher, you must have a reasonable Avios balance to make the most out of it. If not, you can either build up a healthy Avios balance before your voucher expires or book a cheaper redemption (e.g. Economy to Premium Economy or Economy to Club Europe). If this is the case, it’s best to save up Avios while your voucher is still valid. If it’s close to expiring and you still don’t have the balance, go with one of the above options.

However, keep in mind that reward availability varies by route and is best booked in advance. If you’re really short of Avios, you can use the voucher for one person one way, but that will halve the savings the voucher could have given you. It’s better than letting the voucher go to waste after all!

For example, you could book a London to Athens trip one way in Club Europe for £15 + 16,750 Avios or a one-way trip from London to New York in World Traveller Plus for 33,000 Avios + £175.

There’s also the option to purchase Avios to add to your balance or to get an Avios subscription in advance. You can also boost the Avios you’ve earned recently. These options don’t offer great value per Avios, but could work out cheaper than paying cash for your flight if you use your Cabin Upgrade Voucher. 

Rules and Fine Print

• If you cancel more than 24 hours before departure, your voucher will be reissued into your account for the remainder of its original validity. 
• You can’t use them with any other non-Barclays vouchers, such as an Amex BA companion voucher.
• Infants (under 2) automatically upgrade with the adult. They will be ticketed into the upgraded cabin automatically and charged the usual infant Avios/taxes for that cabin.
• Must be used at the point of booking
• If one leg can’t be upgraded, and you still use the voucher, you cannot keep the unused portion to apply to another flight later.
• The voucher must be redeemed from the account of the person who earned it, but that person does not have to travel.
• If you decide to upgrade or downgrade your Mastercard during the card year, your spending target will start again.
• Vouchers cannot be used on a BA Holidays booking.

Tips

• As soon as you choose a Cabin Upgrade Voucher, its validity begins. If you want your voucher to last longer, delay making a decision. This only applies to vouchers earned with a Barclaycard. Barclays Avios Rewards vouchers are issued automatically, so you’ll need to make sure you’ve chosen your preferred reward before the issue date.
• As with normal redemptions, finding seats can be hard on popular routes. There must be availability in the cabin above to upgrade.
• You can book for someone else from your account. If you have a BA Household account, the usual household and Friends and Family redemption rules apply.
• If you hold Barclays Avios Rewards and the Avios Plus Mastercard, Barclays will put £5 back into your account each month and give you four free lounge passes each year.

Final Words

A Barclays Cabin Upgrade Voucher can save you a substantial number of Avios if you use it on the best routes. The difference is huge, ranging from saving 13,000 Avios to 143,000! This isn’t a voucher you should use on your next flight. You need to be strategic. Look at the destinations you plan to visit between now and when your voucher expires, check redemption availability, and pick the best use for your voucher.

Routes that save the most Avios often mean reward seats are hard to come by, so you’ll need to plan. You’ll need to make sure you’ll have a healthy Avios balance when it’s time to spend your voucher. You can easily build your balance by transferring Avios via ‘Transfer my Avios’, crediting your flights to BA, booking hotels and BA Holidays, using Avios-earning credit cards, and making the most of sign-up bonuses.

A Cabin Upgrade Voucher is a great benefit, but the income/savings requirements to be accepted into Barclays Premier / Avios Rewards in the first place are high. Yes, you’ll still need to pay the taxes and charges for the higher cabin, but a Cabin Upgrade voucher can still be extremely valuable.