Whereas award chart candy spots and premium class redemptions have a tendency to draw many of the highlight, one less-discussed method to save cash on journey is by profiting from the annual companion fares that get provided as a perk on sure bank cards.
Just like the identify suggests, companion fares are redeemable when at the very least two individuals are travelling collectively, providing a free or discounted ticket for the second passenger.
In the event you are likely to journey as a pair, companion fares could be a unbelievable method to basically rise up to a 50% low cost in your flights. Moreover, loading up on multiple companion fare and “multiplying” their profit is among the finest methods to scale back prices in the event you often journey collectively as a household or occasion of 4, six, eight, and so forth.
Let’s check out a number of the finest obtainable companion vouchers being provided as a bank card perk.
The WestJet Annual Spherical-Journey Companion Voucher
WestJet’s annual round-trip companion voucher comes as a perk of the WestJet RBC® World Elite Mastercard. As a part of signing up for this card for an annual charge of $119, you’ll earn WestJet {dollars} (WSD) redeemable in direction of the price of any WestJet flight, free checked luggage on WestJet flights, and a companion voucher.
When redeeming the companion fare, the cardholder pays full worth for the round-trip ticket, whereas the second visitor pays:
- $119 for journey inside Canada and the continental US
- $399 for journey to/from Hawaii, Mexico, or the remainder of the WestJet community
Word that the above quantities cowl the bottom fare solely, and you will need to nonetheless pay for the taxes and costs on the ticket individually.
The companion voucher expires one 12 months after it’s issued (it’s a must to ebook by this date), and at that time you’ll be given a brand new annual companion voucher for the next 12 months. Subsequently, so long as it can save you greater than $119 by utilizing the companion voucher yearly, you’re getting nice worth out of holding onto the WestJet RBC® World Elite Mastercard for the long run.
The WestJet {dollars} you earn as a signup bonus will also be mixed with the companion voucher to attain even better financial savings. The signup bonus can be utilized in direction of both the primary traveller’s full fare, or the second traveller’s discounted base fare.
Nonetheless, it’s vital to notice that the visitor travelling on the companion voucher will not be eligible to earn WestJet {dollars} from their journey. And sadly, the companion voucher can neither be redeemed along side Member Unique fares, nor can it’s redeemed in direction of enterprise class tickets in WestJet’s Dreamliners.
To redeem the companion voucher, you merely tick the “Companion voucher” field when trying to find flights on the WestJet web site.
You’ll then have the choice to use your companion voucher in the event you’re trying to find at the very least two passengers.
The most effective makes use of of the companion voucher is inside North America, the place the second visitor travels for less than $119 in base fare. For instance, let’s think about using the voucher on a transcontinental flight between Toronto and Vancouver, booked just a few weeks prematurely.
The full fare costs out at round $940, as damaged down on ITA Matrix.
You’ll discover within the screenshot that the bottom fare contains $705 of the $940 complete fare, with the remaining $235 consisting of assorted taxes and costs. In the event you had been to redeem your companion voucher to journey as a duo on this fare, you’d find yourself solely paying $119 + $235 = $354 for the second traveller, thus incurring a financial savings of $940 – $354 = $586.
Clearly, the upper the unique fare, the better “worth” you’re getting from the companion fare.
Subsequently, in conditions the place base fares are usually a lot larger, reminiscent of throughout final minute journey or peak journey durations, you stand to garner extra worth out of your companion voucher by redeeming it throughout these occasions. Certainly, this can be a basic tendency with companion vouchers.
You may also use the companion voucher for WestJet flights to different locations, reminiscent of Europe. You’d must pay a better quantity of $399 for the second traveller, but it surely’s not essentially the case that you simply’ll wind up saving cash this fashion.
To see why, take a look at how WestJet’s European fares are constructed.
Discover how the bottom fare solely contains $280 ($140 + $140) of the general $1,060 fare. That’s really much less than the $399 you’d must pay when redeeming the companion fare, and also you’d nonetheless be on the hook for the remaining $780 in taxes and costs.
So, remember to take a look at the breakdown of the fare to ensure you’re really getting a superb take care of the companion voucher from WestJet.
It additionally seems that WestJet levies an further $20 charge for some companion voucher bookings, which is buried within the “Different ATC” line on the fare breakdown web page.
Lastly, whereas these examples had been designed with a travelling couple in thoughts, they will definitely be generalized to a household of 4 or extra that should journey collectively. If, say, each mother and father had been to select up a WestJet RBC® World Elite Mastercard, you would double-up on the financial savings for the complete household.
The Air Canada Annual Worldwide Companion Move
In lots of regards, the Air Canada Annual Worldwide Companion Move is just like the WestJet companion voucher, in that it reduces the bottom fare for a second passenger, and it could be used throughout Air Canada’s whole flight community.
The Companion Move permits a second passenger to journey on a reduced base fare when the primary passenger pays full worth for an Air Canada financial system class ticket to anyplace on this planet.
The Companion Move will be redeemed on any Air Canada flights between Canada or the USA and one of many following areas:
- Canada or the USA (excluding Hawaii): $99 base fare
- Hawaii, Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean: $299 base fare
- South America, Europe, Center East, and Africa: $499 base fare
- Asia, Australia, and New Zealand: $599 base fare
The Companion Move can solely be used with financial system fares, together with Financial system (Commonplace), Financial system (Flex), Financial system (Consolation), and Financial system (Latitude). It will not be used for premium financial system or enterprise class flights.
Likewise, Companion Passes will not be mixed with Aeroplan factors, and will not be used for any codeshare flights with accomplice airways.
The Air Canada Annual Worldwide Companion Move is a profit afforded to sure credit score cardholders who meet an annual minimal spending requirement. It’s neither given as a part of a welcome bonus, neither is it assured to be renewed 12 months after 12 months.
Quite, upon spending $25,000 annually on a premium Aeroplan bank card, eligible cardholders may have an Air Canada Annual Worldwide Companion Move deposited into their Aeroplan account.
If it can save you at the very least $599 by utilizing the Companion Move strategically, you’ll have saved the equal of your premium bank card’s annual charge.
When you’ve met the spending requirement, which is determined by your card’s annual renewal date and never by the calendar 12 months, it’ll present up within the “Advantages” tab of your Aeroplan account inside 10 weeks. It’s legitimate for one 12 months from the date of difficulty, however can be utilized to ebook flights past its validity date.
To make use of the Companion Move, merely seek for money flights for 2 folks on Air Canada’s web site. On the backside of the display screen, you’ll see a “Credit and reductions” blurb, which you’ll have to click on on.
If there are eligible flights for the Companion Move, you’ll see the bottom fare clearly marked. You should definitely examine off the field subsequent to your Companion Move, after which click on “Apply”.
When you click on “Apply”, the search outcomes will repopulate, and eligible flights may have a small ticket image subsequent to them.
Whereas the bottom fares with the Companion Move aren’t free, they will nonetheless provide up some nice worth. The standard situations for maximizing different companion vouchers apply right here, too – you’re extra more likely to get good worth out of the cardboard by utilizing it when base fares are usually larger.
One compelling use of Companion Passes could also be along side eUpgrades on long-haul flights. Regardless of base fares of as much as $599, in the event you’re in a position to get an improve to premium financial system or enterprise class, you’d have saved a big quantity in comparison with reserving in a better class of service to start with.
Simply remember to take a look at the breakdown of the fare, maybe by utilizing ITA Matrix, to make sure that you’re getting a superb deal. If the bottom fare is low, and many of the ticket’s value is within the taxes, charges, and service surcharges that you simply’d must pay anyway, you would wind up being disillusioned.
The British Airways Companion Award eVoucher
Lastly, it’s price mentioning that the RBC® British Airways Visa Infinite† grants you a Companion Award eVoucher if you spend $30,000 (CAD) on the cardboard inside a calendar 12 months.
Not like the opposite two companion tickets on this record, the British Airways Companion Award eVoucher is usable solely if you’re redeeming Avios for a British Airways flight originating from and returning to Canada, not if you pay for a income ticket.
If you redeem Avios for 2 passengers travelling on British Airways, the second passenger received’t must pay any Avios in any respect. For instance, if a round-trip flight prices 160,000 Avios for one particular person, making use of the voucher will lead to round-trip flights for 2 pricing out at 160,000 Avios, too.
The Companion Award eVoucher has additionally grow to be relevant to solo travellers, too. In the event you redeem it as a person, it’ll cut back the price in Avios by 50% for a reserving.
For instance, if a round-trip reserving prices 160,000 Avios with out the voucher utilized, it will solely value 80,000 Avios with the voucher utilized.
Whereas which may sound like a superb deal on the floor, anybody acquainted with the British Airways Govt Membership program will know that the gasoline surcharges on British Airways long-haul flights will be fairly substantial. Certainly, RBC even mentions this within the RBC British Airways Visa Infinite’s phrases and circumstances, in order to keep away from giving cardholders the improper concept that they’re getting something near a “free” ticket:
That undoubtedly takes many of the pleasure out of this perk, as a result of in the event you’re paying $600 in taxes and costs per particular person to get to London (along with the Avios required for the primary passenger’s ticket), then chances are you’ll as nicely simply purchase an financial system class ticket for about $700–900 per ticket.
This voucher may doubtlessly being helpful for somebody who needs to fly enterprise class direct from Canada to London. For instance, a round-trip from Toronto to London Heathrow in British Airways enterprise class would value between 100,000 and 120,000 Avios, relying on whether or not it’s peak or off-peak.
In the event you paid 100,000 Avios, plus round $2,000 in taxes and costs, to ebook round-trip continuous enterprise class flights for 2 folks in complete, it wouldn’t be the worst deal on this planet in comparison with the retail worth.
Remember that British Airways made Reward Flight Saver choices obtainable on long-haul routes in December 2022. This implies that you may select to pay extra in Avios and fewer in taxes and costs on flights.
When used along side a Companion Award eVoucher, and particularly in the event you leveraged a switch bonus to earn further Avios, you would wind up getting an incredible deal on a redemption.
Nonetheless, apart from these very area of interest redemptions, you’d probably be higher off redeeming, say, Aeroplan factors or Air France KLM Flying Blue miles to get to Europe as an alternative.
Total, it’s honest to say that the Companion Award eVoucher on the RBC® British Airways Visa Infinite† is rendered much less efficient by the surcharges that British Airways is thought for. Contemplating additionally that you could spend $30,000 on the cardboard to get it within the first place, and it’s most certainly not going to be one thing that almost all cardholders pursue in earnest.
Conclusion
The WestJet RBC® World Elite Mastercard, varied premium Aeroplan co-branded bank cards, and the RBC® British Airways Visa Infinite† provide companion vouchers as a part of their advantages. The perfect methods to make use of every voucher differ, however they’re all helpful in particular circumstances.
Certain, utilizing factors for journey is all the time most well-liked, however it could make sense to pay money for flights in some circumstances. In the event you’re travelling as a pair, you can also make use of companion vouchers for if you’d in any other case must pay money.
You should definitely examine the value breakdown of your required flights to ensure you’re really getting a superb deal, as generally you’d be higher off paying full worth to start with.