BA Amex Premium Plus vs BA Amex: Which Card Is Better?

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For UK-based travellers who fly with British Airways, the choice between the British Airways American Express Premium Plus Card and the free British Airways American Express Credit Card can easily be worth hundreds or even thousands of pounds in saved airfare every year. Both cards now offer the powerful Companion Voucher and both earn Avios, but they work quite differently in practice. Understanding those differences, and matching them to how you actually travel, is the key to deciding which card is genuinely better for you.

Key facts: what has and has not changed in 2026

Before weighing up which British Airways American Express card is better, it helps to pin down the latest terms as of mid 2026, because there have been several recent changes. Most importantly, both the free British Airways American Express Credit Card and the fee-paying British Airways American Express Premium Plus Card now earn a Companion Voucher when you spend £15,000 in a card year. That threshold rose from £12,000 and now applies to new and existing cardholders after the 2024 changes filtered through.

The second major change is how you can use the Companion Voucher. From 20 May 2026, Companion Vouchers on both cards can be redeemed not only on classic Reward Flights, but also on British Airways Holidays packages that you part-pay or fully pay with Avios. When you do this, you get 25 percent of the Avios you used back into your Executive Club account, up to 50,000 Avios per booking on the free card and up to 200,000 Avios on Premium Plus.

Fees and earning rates continue to separate the two products. The Premium Plus Card now carries an annual fee of around £300, while the free card has no annual fee. In return, Premium Plus generally earns more Avios per pound and its Companion Voucher is more flexible and longer dated. Representative APRs are high and variable on both, reflecting their nature as rewards credit cards, so these products only make sense if you clear your balance in full every month and avoid interest.

These evolving rules mean that any advice from even a couple of years ago may be out of date. When deciding between the cards, you should base your choice on today’s thresholds, voucher rules and your realistic annual spending, not on how things used to work.

Companion Voucher: where Premium Plus really pulls ahead

The Companion Voucher is the headline reason travellers look at BA Amex cards at all, and it is also where the gap between the two products is clearest. On both cards, once you hit £15,000 of eligible spend in your card year, a voucher is deposited into your British Airways Executive Club account. On paper that sounds similar, but how you can actually use that voucher is very different.

On the free British Airways American Express Credit Card, the Companion Voucher can only be used in economy cabins. That means if you book a Reward Flight using Avios in Euro Traveller or World Traveller, you can either bring a companion on the same flights for no additional Avios, or pay half the usual Avios if you are travelling solo. Taxes, fees and carrier charges are still due per person in cash. For example, if an off-peak London to New York return in economy costs 50,000 Avios plus roughly £350 in taxes and charges, you could use your voucher to book two people for 50,000 Avios total plus around £700 in cash.

The Premium Plus Companion Voucher is more powerful. It can be used in any cabin, from economy up to Club World and First, as long as there is Reward Flight availability. In addition, Premium Plus cardholders see extra reward seat availability in Club World on many routes when they book with a Companion Voucher, a quieter but valuable benefit. Take the same London to New York example, but in Club World where a peak return might cost around 160,000 Avios plus about £850 in taxes per person. With a Premium Plus voucher, two people could travel for 160,000 Avios total plus about £1,700 in charges. Cash prices for peak summer business class on this route can easily run to £3,000 to £4,000 per person, so the effective value of the voucher can be well into four figures.

Voucher validity also favours Premium Plus. Historically, the free card’s voucher has been valid for one year while the Premium Plus voucher has been valid for two years from issue. That longer window gives you more time to save Avios and to find seats on popular long haul routes such as London to Barbados in school holidays or London to Tokyo during cherry blossom season. If you mainly fly in economy on short European trips, the free voucher can still be very handy. If you dream of turning hard-to-reach business class cabins into something affordable, the Premium Plus voucher is the real prize.

Everyday earning: does the annual fee pay for itself?

Avios earning rates are the second pillar of value and are easy to overlook when focusing on the Companion Voucher. The free British Airways American Express Credit Card typically earns 1 Avios per £1 of everyday spend. The Premium Plus Card usually steps this up to around 1.5 Avios per £1, with a higher rate again on British Airways and BA Holidays purchases. Exact rates can shift with promotions, but the pattern is consistent: Premium Plus rewards you more richly for the same spending.

Imagine a family that spends £2,000 a month on their card on groceries, fuel, streaming subscriptions, and occasional meals out in the UK, plus an extra £4,000 a year on British Airways flights and holidays. Over a 12 month period, that is £28,000 of card spend. On the free card, this might generate roughly 28,000 Avios. On Premium Plus, the same spending could be closer to 40,000 Avios or more once you factor in the higher earning rate on BA purchases.

At a conservative value of 0.8p per Avios, that difference of around 12,000 Avios is worth roughly £96. If you redeem those Avios for long haul premium cabins where you can often get 1p to 1.5p of value per Avios, the gap is worth more like £120 to £180. Layer that on top of the superior Companion Voucher and you can see how frequent BA flyers often recoup a £300 annual fee fairly quickly through real world use.

On the flip side, if your annual card spend is closer to £8,000 or £10,000, you may never trigger the Companion Voucher at all, and the extra Avios from Premium Plus might only equate to a few short European redemptions a year. In that scenario, the free card is almost certainly the smarter starter option while you get used to managing a rewards card and see how often you actually fly BA.

Who benefits most from the free BA Amex Card?

The no fee British Airways American Express Credit Card is far from pointless. It is genuinely attractive for a certain set of travellers. If you fly BA once or twice a year in economy, mainly on leisure routes, and your annual card spending sits around the £15,000 mark but not dramatically above it, the free card can deliver outsized value without costing you anything in annual fees.

Consider a couple from Manchester who take one main holiday a year, often to the Canary Islands or Greece, plus a short city break from London. They put all their household and travel spending on the free BA Amex. By the end of the year, they have spent just over £15,000 and earned enough Avios for two economy return flights from London to Tenerife off-peak, usually in the region of 25,000 Avios per person plus around £70 to £100 in taxes and charges. With their Companion Voucher, they can either book the two of them for 25,000 Avios total plus roughly £200 in taxes, or they can use their Avios to discount a British Airways Holidays package to the same destination and receive 25 percent of those Avios back.

For that couple, paying £300 for Premium Plus might not make sense. They are not chasing Club World, they are content in economy for relatively short flights, and they value the psychological benefit of a card that costs nothing to hold. The one year validity on the voucher also works fine because they tend to book at least one trip every calendar year. Their main task is simply to concentrate spending on the BA Amex and to book flights as soon as their preferred dates appear, especially during school holiday periods when Avios seats are quickly snapped up.

The free card can also be a sensible “training wheels” option for someone new to rewards credit cards. If you have never held an American Express before, you might want to see how widely it is accepted in your local area, how comfortable you are running spending through a single card and clearing it every month, and how often you realistically fly BA. After a year, with a clearer picture of your habits, you can then decide whether upgrading to Premium Plus is warranted and time this around your next Companion Voucher earning cycle.

Who should seriously consider the Premium Plus Card?

By contrast, the British Airways American Express Premium Plus Card is designed for people who fly with BA regularly or who value long haul premium cabin trips highly. If you travel to North America or Asia in Club World or World Traveller Plus more than once every couple of years, the ability to convert Avios plus a voucher into a second business class seat is extremely compelling.

Take a real world scenario. A London based professional couple like to visit family in Hong Kong every 18 to 24 months. Return cash fares in Club World on London to Hong Kong often run between £2,500 and £4,000 per person depending on timing. Instead, they put around £25,000 a year of spend on a Premium Plus card, reaching the £15,000 voucher threshold by late summer. Over two years they accumulate about 100,000 to 120,000 Avios from spending plus perhaps another 40,000 from flying. With a two year Premium Plus voucher they can then book two Club World returns using perhaps 180,000 Avios plus roughly £1,600 to £1,800 in taxes and charges, instead of paying £5,000 or more in cash.

A similar story plays out for families planning big trips in peak school holidays. A family of four from London wanting to fly to Orlando in August can easily see economy cash fares north of £900 per person and premium economy or business fares far higher. With Premium Plus, two adults could fly in World Traveller Plus or Club World using a Companion Voucher while they pay cash or standard Avios redemptions for children. The enhanced business class reward seat availability open to Premium Plus vouchers can be the difference between securing the flights you need or missing out entirely.

Premium Plus also comes into its own when combining the voucher with British Airways Holidays. Imagine booking a BA Holidays package to Barbados at Christmas, using 200,000 Avios off the price of the package for two adults in Club World and applying your Premium Plus Companion Voucher. Under the new rules, you can receive up to 25 percent of those Avios back, potentially 50,000 Avios or more, and still enjoy the core benefit of the voucher. For travellers who value comfort on long overnight flights and are flexible enough to hunt out good Avios availability, these kinds of redemptions can more than justify the annual fee.

Practical considerations: fees, interest and travel habits

Choosing between these cards is not only about headline perks. There are practicalities that matter just as much. First is the cost of carrying debt. Both cards have high representative APRs when you include the annual fee on Premium Plus, and interest on purchases is also at a typical rewards-card level. You should only consider either product if you are confident you will clear your balance in full every month. The value of Avios and Companion Vouchers can be wiped out very quickly if you are paying interest on several thousand pounds of revolving credit.

Second is your pattern of travel. If your job or lifestyle means you are locked into particular dates, for instance fixed school holidays or conference schedules, you need to be realistic about how easy it will be to find Avios seats on your preferred routes. British Airways guarantees at least a small number of reward seats per flight, but these “Guaranteed Reward Seats” in Club World and First are limited. That is why some frequent travellers appreciate the extra Club World reward availability that only Premium Plus vouchers unlock. Even then, popular routes like London to Maldives over Christmas can be extremely competitive.

Third is how often you travel outside the UK. American Express levies foreign transaction fees on most overseas spending, typically a few percent on top of the exchange rate. If you spend heavily abroad, it can make sense to pair your BA Amex with a separate no foreign transaction fee card for non-sterling purchases, while keeping the BA Amex for UK spending, BA tickets and BA Holidays. This is especially true for Premium Plus cardholders who are trying to hit the £15,000 voucher threshold without paying unnecessary FX fees.

Finally, remember that both cards sit within broader ecosystems. If you already hold other American Express products or if your employer books flights through a corporate programme, check whether combining those points or benefits changes the picture. For some, a general Membership Rewards earning card paired with partner transfers may beat a dedicated BA card; for others who are firmly tied to Heathrow and BA, the airline-branded cards remain the most straightforward route to premium cabin redemptions.

The Takeaway

So which is better: the British Airways American Express Premium Plus Card or the free British Airways American Express Credit Card? The honest answer is that it depends far more on your travel style and spending than on clever card tricks. On paper, Premium Plus is clearly the more powerful product. It offers a more flexible Companion Voucher that works in all cabins and for longer, higher Avios earning rates and enhanced reward seat access in Club World, and new ways to use the voucher on BA Holidays with substantial Avios rebates.

However, that extra power only matters if you can harness it. If your annual spend comfortably clears £15,000, you fly BA long haul every year or two, and you value the comfort of premium cabins, Premium Plus will usually be worth the £300 fee. A single well used Club World redemption for two adults can deliver value worth several times that fee. You just need to be organised about earning, booking early on popular routes and keeping your balance fully paid.

If your flying is more occasional, almost always in economy, and your spending is only just high enough to hit the voucher threshold, the free BA Amex card may serve you better. It gives you a useful economy-only voucher, a gentle introduction to Avios collecting, and genuine flight savings without locking you into an annual fee. You can always upgrade later if your travel patterns and spending increase.

In short, think of the free BA Amex as the right tool for casual holidaymakers and newer points collectors who mainly travel in economy, and the Premium Plus Card as a specialist tool for committed BA flyers who want to unlock long haul premium cabins via Avios and a Companion Voucher. Pick the card that matches who you actually are as a traveller, not who you wish you might be one day, and you are far more likely to end up with a card that genuinely makes your trips easier and more affordable.

FAQ

Q1. Do both BA Amex cards now have the same Companion Voucher spend threshold?
The current spend threshold to earn a Companion Voucher is around £15,000 in a card year on both the free British Airways American Express Credit Card and the Premium Plus Card.

Q2. Can I use the free BA Amex Companion Voucher in business or first class?
No. The Companion Voucher from the free BA Amex can normally only be used in economy cabins, while Premium Plus vouchers can be used in any cabin, including Club World and First.

Q3. How long do I have to use each type of Companion Voucher?
Free BA Amex vouchers are typically valid for around one year from issue, whereas Premium Plus vouchers usually give you around two years, giving more time to save Avios and find seats.

Q4. Can I use my Companion Voucher on British Airways Holidays bookings?
Yes. From May 2026, Companion Vouchers from both cards can be used on BA Holidays packages paid with Avios, giving 25 percent of the Avios back up to certain caps.

Q5. Is the Premium Plus annual fee really worth paying?
It can be. If you use a Premium Plus voucher for long haul Club World or First redemptions, especially on routes like New York or Hong Kong, you can often get value far exceeding the annual fee.

Q6. What happens if I cancel my BA Amex after earning a Companion Voucher?
Your voucher sits in your BA Executive Club account, but you will normally need an eligible BA Amex in your name to pay the taxes and charges when you come to redeem it.

Q7. Can I upgrade from the free BA Amex to Premium Plus and keep my existing voucher?
Yes, you can usually upgrade. Existing vouchers remain in your Executive Club account, but the rules that apply to each voucher depend on which card earned it and when it was issued.

Q8. Will I always find reward seats when I want to use my Companion Voucher?
No. Reward availability is limited, especially in premium cabins and school holidays. Premium Plus can unlock extra Club World seats, but planning and flexibility are still important.

Q9. Is it worth having a BA Amex if I mainly fly from regional UK airports?
It can be, as BA and partner airlines operate from regional airports via Heathrow or Gatwick. Just factor in the extra connection and make sure Avios redemptions fit your usual routes.

Q10. Should I use my BA Amex card for spending abroad?
Both cards charge foreign transaction fees, so many travellers prefer to use them mainly for UK spending, BA flights and BA Holidays, pairing them with a separate no FX fee card overseas.