Originally Posted by beachmouse

Avios can be a very good value for single segment short haul routes on BA and a few other partners like AA and I think Qantas and one of the big players in Japan. Not so much for connecting routes since their pricing is per flight segment and they bite you with hefty fees on long haul award tickets.

i think that the perceived popularity of Avios redemptions is because we’ve got a lot of chatty Brits on FT

My redemption rotation is Alaska-BA-Flying Blue-United because it lets me build free miles in each major alliance (there are some useful sweet spots with FB for me and program changes in 2018 made it easier to keep miles from expiring) with Alaska as a wild card. BA actually isn’t a great option where I live but I got that account first and didn’t want to start over again with AA considering it’s not my primary alliance group