I've not used my Avios miles in over 2 years and would like to redeem them for flights home to the UK at Christmas.

Having been through the spending my avios on BA.com, it seems as though it's almost equally as expensive to use the Avios miles as it is to book the flights with cash.

A flight from LAX to LHR will cost 25000 Avios + £ 617 (I have 2 flights to book hence using lower amount of Avios).

A cash flight would cost $1060 which is approx £650.

When I previously booked flights to and from the US/UK I was paying around £190 in taxes for a return flight... granted this was probably 4 years ago now.

With all the above said, does the above seem correct first of all or is there perhaps something I'm missing... is it cheaper to book flights via another airline like American?

I guess my question is, why is it so expensive to use the miles these days ?