Obviously ignoring taxes and availability, the best bang for buck would be returns to Australia or something. But that's not practical. With a strong emphasis on reducing fees/taxes and real-world feasibility, what would you spend your hypothetical 241 voucher on?
Because they have to start ex-UK, the best way to reduce the cash element is to stick to RFS destinations. You can go ex JER or INV I suppose to drop APD, but surcharges are still nasty. A lot of people would see that as 'wasting' a 241, but frankly for long haul premium cabins, you're often better transferring Amex MR to Asia Miles rather than BA, regardless of a 241. If you are curious to try Club World/ BA First within RFS, are they still sending a long haul configured plane to Moscow? Otherwise, I think I'd just just choose wherever you genuinely want to go. Club Europe isn't exactly 'aspirational', but it's a perfectly pleasant way to fly for a few hours.
Sadly I came to the conclusion that you're probably right. For all the song and dance about it being the holy grail of MS, it's actually pretty worthless...
I have never earned or used a 2-4-1. It's only useful for those who absolutely MUST fly on BA direct from London. Of course there are lots of people whose partners would divorce them even for suggesting an ex-EU with the family. But for those who are flexible (but don't want to book a year in advance before the J award seats are gone), it's a pretty poor value proposition.
Against all the odds we managed to book a one way flight from Vancouver to Heathrow on-line when the flight was released using a 241 voucher and the return flight separately, both business class, for next year as soon as the flights were released at 1am (British Summer Time). Yes, the general advice is don’t book to North America as separate flights because of taxes and phone BA instead but we’re happy as we’ve saved money on what we’d have paid without the 241 voucher and, on our preferred dates, we would have missed business and only had premium economy. We had to phone BA after booking the return flight to get the Avios reimbursed.
Hong Kong outbound first class with BA 241 voucher and then return virgin airmiles upper class as no tax from hong kong, I believe the whole journey was £400 each to go first out, upper back. I am searching for my next 241 and will bag a long haul with destination tbc
