Reward Seats + Companion Flights

Ok probably going to sound a dumb question but cant really make head nor tail of it on the VS site!

What is a reward seatand what is a companion flight?

It says under the 'companion' flight section that you can reserve a seat for a friend, so is this if you buy a 'full fare' ticket for yourself you can get a second seat by spending some of your miles? Do you also need to pay for the taxes on this seat?

Reward Seat = use Miles for it. So can be a single seat.
Companion Seat = as you described. Also the VS Amex 'Companion' when you buy a higher class fare (Y,B,L,S,W,J,D ?) and they give you a 'free' companion ticket.

However, you need to pay all the taxes and supplements/surcharges so you have to be carefull to get the best value.

Also worth bearing in mind, the companion ticket idea sounds great in principle, however:

A full fare cost + the additional Tax/ VS profit fund contribution (aka.. surcharge B) )/ etc for the extra seat is often similar to 2 cheap seats in the same cabin, especially during sale periods - make sure you check this comparison first.VS are very good at making these companion seats worthless when compared with buying two of the cheapest seats - however there are times when it can work.

The companion seat needs to have a redemption seat available (i.e. the same check as if looking for a reward seat- it is basically one of these).

NH