The £300 fee scares people off — but the 2-4-1 companion voucher can be worth several times that. Here is the honest maths on when the Premium Plus pays for itself, and when it does not.
“Worth it” comes down to two questions: can you spend £15,000 in a card year, and will you use the companion voucher on a premium-cabin reward flight? If both answers are yes, the card is one of the best value products in UK loyalty. If either is no, you can earn Avios for free instead.
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The British Airways American Express Premium Plus is worth it for high spenders who fly premium cabins on reward flights. The £300 annual fee buys one thing that really matters: a 2-4-1 companion voucher usable in any cabin, earned after £15,000 of spend and valid for 24 months. Used well, it saves far more Avios than the fee costs in pounds. Used never, the fee is dead money.
The card is a voucher-buying machine, not an everyday earner. Judge it on whether you will use the voucher — not on the earn rate, which drops to 1.25 Avios per £1 from 7 October 2026.
A 2-4-1 voucher lets a companion fly the same reward flight for no extra Avios (you still pay the taxes and surcharges for both). The value is simply the Avios you avoid spending on the second seat:
| Example redemption | Avios saved (2nd seat) | Value at ~1.3p |
|---|---|---|
| Club World, London–New York (return) | ~100,000+ Avios | ~£1,300+ |
| Club Europe short-haul (return) | ~30,000 Avios | ~£390 |
| Economy long-haul (return) | ~50,000 Avios | ~£650 |
Illustrative figures only — actual Avios prices vary by route, date and demand. Even the smallest example here comfortably beats the £300 fee. Use the companion voucher calculator for your own trip.
Think of the £300 fee as the price of the voucher. If a single companion redemption saves you more than £300 worth of Avios — which even a short-haul Club Europe trip usually does — the card has paid for itself, before you count any Avios earned from spending. The real question is not “is £300 a lot?” but “will I actually book the voucher trip?” If yes, hold the card in the years you will; if no, drop to the fee-free BA Amex.
Both earn a companion voucher — the difference is the cabin, the earn rate and the fee.
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The AviosArcana Editorial Team
We decode the British Airways loyalty programme in plain English, cross-checking every figure against published card terms. We are not a lender and this is general information, not financial advice.