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Your guide to spending Avios [Beta]
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-t...SpendTitle.jpg
images: flickr: hilltopper, WorldofArun, Addu, NymphoBrainiac, kk+, chachahavana, d.r.i.p., Canadian Pacific, jonrawlinson, brendan ó 01 Introduction and overview So you’ve collected a mountain of Avios Points, how do you spend them? Well, being an airline, flights would be the logical thing, but you can also spend them on hotel stays or for car rentals or alternatively transfer them to another member if you wish. Availability varies considerably and it can be a challenge pairing available seats with specific routes on specific dates. Even if you book 11 months in advance, you will often find that certain days of the week are permanently blocked for reward flights. In practice though reward seats often open up closer to the date of travel. We strongly recommend redeeming for Club or First seats as this is by far the best way to get the best value for your miles. You should also ensure that you get a BA affiliated credit card as many card issuers will award you with a companion voucher after you crossed a certain sped threshold. If you only have a modest number of Avios, the best value redemption is probably a 20,000 Avios Upgrade with Avios from World Traveller Plus to Club World between London and the East Coast USA (or another equivalent ‘zone’ at that redemption rate). When spending Avios for flights, there are several options and we’ll cover each of those in turn. It is worth beginning with a cautionary note. BAEC redemption tickets are calculated as a sum of the individual flights contained in your itinerary. So instead of the normal method of categorising destinations into geographical zones or bands, BAEC has adopted a tariff based on individual flight distance, where each zone is calculated relative to the real distance of each flight. Some may find it bewildering that a network carrier replaced what was an easily understood and widely accepted system of calculation with such a complicated one but BA makes the rules and the purpose of this thread is to help you understand them and maximise the value of your Avios points. 02 Redemption types Executive Club members are presented with six redemption types:
All flight redemptions are flexible, subject to availability, are valid for 12 months from the date of ticketing, and are pulled from specific inventory:
* When X class seats have been depleted, Gold members are given access to V class inventory With all redemptions tickets, you will be charged all applicable taxes. fees, and surcharges in addition to the Avios points used to fund the ticket. These extras do add up to a significant sum. When estimating the cash extras, the general rule of thumb is your Avios points are used in place of the equivalent net fare, and so the airport fees, government taxes, fuel surcharges are all assessed as extras and must be paid in cash when you book your redemption. The ITA Matrix Airfare Search (http://matrix.itasoftware.com/) is an excellent online tool for estimating the amount of taxes, fees, and surcharges that apply to your chosen routing. 03 Travel planning We'll begin with a few headline points covering the basics:
Once you’ve figured out where you’re travelling to, who to take along with you, and when to go, the next task is to find available seats. Flexibility is the key. If you find seats on the flights you want on your first attempt, you are very fortunate. Pat yourself on your back. Usually, this part of the planning process involves a little lateral thinking and often quite a lot of time researching. Having the right tools at your disposal is essential. BA.com is good at displaying flight availability but it is not great. Luckily, there are many other online tools that reach the parts BA.com cannot reach. BA.com struggles with multi sector requests. The easy way around this is to search flights individually and tick off your flights in turn. Searching for partner flights on ba.com can be patchy. Some third party tools will display partner flight availability per the respective booking codes, so you need to know what codes to look out for. The following table lists these booking codes by individual carrier. As you can see they are not all the same. https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-L...0codes.002.jpg
Once you have constructed your itinerary, the next step is to contact your local service centre to place the booking. If your booking is relatively straight forward, book it online. This will save you the offline booking fee (£15/€15/US$25). Gold card holders are exempt from the booking fee and other service fees. Note, currently only flights on BA and oneworld carriers may be booked online. You need to call BA to book redemptions on Aer Lingus or Alaska Airlines. 04 Ticket changes and cancellations Date or time changes are permitted up to 24 hours prior to the departure of the first flight sector on your ticket. There is a change fee (£25/€25/US$40) plus an additional offline fee (£15/€15/US$25) which applies when the change is made via your local BAEC service centre Cancellations are also permitted. So long as you cancel your ticket no later than 24 hours prior to the departure of the first flight sector on your ticket, you will receive a full refund of Avios Points as well as the taxes, fees, and surcharges paid minus a nominal redeposit fee (£25/€25/US$40). The additional offline fee also applies to redeposits. For the complete fee table, see http://www.britishairways.com/travel...l/public/en_gb Introduction | Standard reward flights | Multi-Partner reward flights | Reward Flight Saver | Avios & Money | Upgrading using Avios | Using your companion vouchers | Additional Gold benefits | Hotel and car rental redemptions |
Standard reward flights
Standard redemption flights are the most popular option and are good for itineraries involving BA plus one partner carrier or a single partner carrier. The table below sets out the number of Avios Points needed for a single flight. If your itinerary involves multiple flights, you will need to add together the individual flights to reach the total price.
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-8...Tariff2013.jpg Certain routes such as LHR-LCA, LAX-HKG, and JFK-HKG have been adjusted at slightly lower rates than their true distance suggests. BA's Avios Calculator is the higher authority so we recommend you use it to check each flight. 01 Point to point flights Point to point (origin and destination) routes are the easiest to calculate. Using LAX as a theoretical epicente, the figure below illustrates the flight distance zone bands between LAX and a sample of US cities. Using LAX-MIA as an example, Miami is our focus destination and the route is highlighted in cyan. The sector distance is 2,342 miles, so with reference to the standard redemption tariffs table above, we can determine the base cost of this flight using Avios: Band 4 at 12,500 Avios. Using the premium class multiplier, a seat in business class will cost 25,000 Avios or 37,500 Avios for first class. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-g...720/GZ_LAX.jpg Zonal map - Origin Los Angeles, Destination: Miami 02 Connecting flights As redemptions are calculated by individual sector, so each flight must be considered when connections are concerned. Let's look again at the Los Angeles to Miami itinerary but this time we'll introduce a connection at Dallas Forth Worth. Flight 1: LAX-DFW, highlighted in cyan. The sector distance is 1,235 miles which places this as a Zone 3 flight, at 10,000 Avios in economy class (or 30,000 Avios in first class) Flight 2: DFW-MIA, highlighted in red. The sector distance is 1,121 miles, therefore a Zone 2 flight priced at 7,500 Avios in economy, or 22,500 Avios in first class. So combining flights 1 and 2, overall the base redemption cost works out at 17,500 Avios for an economy class one way ticket (plus all applicable taxes, fees and surcharges). So by comparing the direct flight and connecting flight examples we can see value can be gained by booking direct flights. https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-k...AX-DFW-MIA.jpg Connecting flight - Los Angeles to Miami via Dallas Fort Worth The figure below provides us with a further example. This time the routing is on American Airlines from Atlanta to Buenos Aires via Dallas Forth Worth. The first flight ATL-DFW is highlighted in red and with a distance of 731 miles puts it into Zone 2; the connecting flight DFW-EZE is highlighted in orange. It is longer at 5,286 miles and falls into Zone 6. The base fare is a simple calculation, adding both flights: 7,500 Avios for sector 1 plus 25,000 Avios for sector 2 which amounts to 32,500 Avios (plus taxes, fees and surcharges) https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-I...TL-DFW-EZE.jpg Connecting flight - Atlanta to Buenos Aires via Dallas Fort Worth 03 UK and Mainland Spain domestic feeder flights When pricing short haul and long haul redemptions, domestic connections within the UK and Mainland Spain are included in the fare. Taxes, fees, and surcharges associated with these domestic sectors are added to the overall fare however. Using GLA-LHR-JFK as an example, since the domestic feeder (marked as flight 1) is included in the cost of the international sector out of London (marked as flight 2), the base price is 20,000 Avios (per Zone 5, LHR-JFK) plus taxes, fees, and surcharges. While domestic feeder flights are free, they are still subject to normal redemption availablility conditions. So to include a feeder flight, there must be X class availablility (and/or V class for Gold members) for that flight as well availability on the corresponding international flight. BA.com is known to be a bit prickly when it comes to displaying domestic feeder availability so if you find it is not offering domestic connections or if the connection timing is sub-optimal, calling your local BAEC service centre does often pay dividends. Some members have reported BA has bolted on domestic feeder flights on an existing London originating ticket. https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-n...LA-LHR-JFK.jpg Connecting flight - Glasgow to New York via London Introduction | Standard reward flights | Multi-Partner reward flights | Reward Flight Saver | Avios & Money | Upgrading using Avios | Using your companion vouchers | Additional Gold benefits | Hotel and car rental redemptions |
Multi-Partner reward flights
While standard redemptions present an excellent range of route options, they are limited to travel on BA and or one partner airline. Multi-partner redemptions offer an infinite range of options, tapping into the full global network of BA and its partner carriers combined but they usually require a greater number of Avios Points than standard redemptions. In many cases significantly more Avios points.
There are benefits to Multi-partner redemptions, such as a complex booking with a single ticket provides greater protection in the event of irregular operations. Note, the distance bands for multi-partner bookings are calculated as complete journeys. So you apply the accumulated distance to determine the number of Avios needed. https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-I...Tariff2013.jpg 01 Using multiple one way redemptions as a cheaper alternative to multi-partner redemptions You can save significant sums of Avios Points if you avoid stepping into Multi-partner territory but restricting each ticket to a single partner carrier. To emphasise the differences, let's compare two booking strategies for the itinerary illustrated in figure below. https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-7...NRT-PVG_MP.jpg Multi-Partner itinerary - NRT to PVG to HKG to NRT
Introduction | Standard reward flights | Multi-Partner reward flights | Reward Flight Saver | Avios & Money | Upgrading using Avios | Using your companion vouchers | Additional Gold benefits | Hotel and car rental redemptions |
Reward Flight Saver
The Reward Flight Saver (RFS) was introduced in November 2011 and has since transformed the short haul redemption game. Previously, short haul redemptions were subject to the usual high taxes, fees and surcharges and the RFS replaces the variable (and invariably expensive) cash supplement with a much more affordable fixed price supplement.
Available across BA's short haul network, these redemptions are subject to availability of the usual redemption classes. The scope also extends beyond the confines of Europe to include South Africa, by virtue of BA franchise carrier, Comair's network. At present BAEC members cannot redeem Avios for Iberia Express (I2) or Vueling (YV) flights. However, flights on IB may be booked as standard redemptions. For your redemption to qualify as a RFS, all flights in your itinerary must be either BA and also less than 2,000 miles in distance. If your itinerary includes a short haul Air Berlin flight as well as BA flight, this does not qualify as a RFS and so the higher, variable set of taxes/fees/surcharges will be assessed against this redemption ticket. Similarly, if your ticket includes one or more long haul flights (zone 3+), the entire ticket reverts to a standard redemption and is priced accordingly. Several fifth freedom flights operated by BA also qualify as RFS. The qualifying factor being the sector distance is less than 2,000 miles. The fifth freedom allows an airline to sell tickets for travel between foreign countries, as a part of a route connecting to the airline's own country. Bahrain to Doha is a classic example, as are a number of BA services that operate between Caribbean countries beyond London. It is also worth bearing in mind one additional point of qualification. You need to have earned at least 1 Avios point in the 12 months prior to booking to be eligible for the RFS option. https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-s...evised.019.png The maps below provide a small sample of cities within reach of LHR and JNB and their relative distance bands from each origin. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-7...720/GZ_LHR.jpg Zonal map - Origin London https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-M...720/GZ_JHB.jpg Zonal map - Origin Johannesburg Introduction | Standard reward flights | Multi-Partner reward flights | Reward Flight Saver | Avios & Money | Upgrading using Avios | Using your companion vouchers | Additional Gold benefits | Hotel and car rental redemptions |
Avios & Money
The Avios & Money facility allow members to book redemption flights at a lower than published rate topped up by a cash component. These redemptions are currently available on one-way and return itineraries on BA, BA franchise operated flights, and six partner airlines. They can only be booked through BA, either via ba.com or your local BAEC call centre. Codeshare flights are excluded.
The current list of partner airlines eligible for A&M bookings are:
Booking A&M on line is simple, just select "Book with Avios" as your payment type as you would normally do when booking a standard redemption. You are normally presented with a number of options whereby the ratio of cash supplement increases as Avios component decreases. Once you have selected your chosen price option, you cannot change this once a booking is made. While A&M is essentially the same as a standard redemption, we've highlighted A&M in its own section due to a few unique restrictions that exist with these tickets. A&M booking are more restricted than standard redemptions. No changes to either route or carrier airline are possible after the A&M booking is made. You may however cancel an A&M booking and receive a refund of both the Avios and cash components so long as you cancel more than 24 hours before the departure of your outbound flight. If you cancel within 24 hours of departure you will forfeit both components paid. Like standard redemptions, A&M bookings are subject to availability of the usual redemption classes. Also, Avios and Tier Points cannot be earned on A&M flights. Introduction | Standard reward flights | Multi-Partner reward flights | Reward Flight Saver | Avios & Money | Upgrading using Avios | Using your companion vouchers | Additional Gold benefits | Hotel and car rental redemptions |
Upgrading using Avios
Upgrading using Avios (UuA) allows BAEC members to use their Avios points to upgrade either a new or existing cash booking to the next cabin above. This is often seen as a good use of Avios, particularly in terms of upgrading WT+ tickets into Club World. Until the advent of Avios, this process was known as MFU (Miles for Upgrade) and you may still see this term used in FlyerTalk.
You can only upgrade one cabin, however if your particular flight does not offer a WT+ cabin it is possible to UuA directly from World Traveller to Club World. UuA can be used on BA, IB and American Airlines, subject to availability. Note that in EuroTraveller and World Traveller bookings, only Y, B and H buckets can be upgraded. Generally speaking all paid for WT+ and CW tickets can upgraded, subject to availability. UuA draws availability from the same pool as straight redemptions, so you may find making dummy bookings for redemptions the fastest way to find out whether you can deploy UuA. You can also pay for, and then immediately upgrade it, in the same booking; or UuA an existing booking at a later date, see below. You can also UuA one or several legs of a return or multi-city booking, which may be a necessary strategy if availability comes online at different times. The genius of UuA is despite the upgrade being pulled from redemption inventory, the booking retains an underlying commercial fare. This means you earn Avios and Tier Points for your flights in accordance with the original selling fare. If you are a Silver or Gold members it gets better as you'll also earn a 100% Tier Bonus on top of the base Avios. Using London to Chicago booking one way in WT+ and upgraded with Avios to Club World. The upgrade is an up front cost of 10,000 Avios. The flight earns 3,950 base Avios, plus a cabin bonus of 988 Avios, and for Gold/Silver members an additional 3,950 Avios. This reduces the net cost of the upgrade to a pleasingly slender 1,112 Avios. 01 UuA on BA only flights, booked through a BA sales channel You can only upgrade from economy to premium economy if your ticket was sold as either a Y, B, or H fare. You CANNOT upgrade from a cheapy World Traveller fare to World Traveller Plus, although you can upgrade from a cheap World Traveller Plus fare to Club World. One-way UuAs are possible at any time for half the miles, and cherry picking individual sectors for upgrade is also permitted. The good thing about UuA is that you’ll earn Avios and Tier Points for the fare you purchased, i.e. the paid fare you are upgrading from. This is about the only visible ‘difference’ in treatment between an UuA (or, in terms of entitlements rather than ‘earning’ anything, a full award ticket too) versus a fully paid ticket for that class. You are entitled to all the benefits of a normal fare-paying passenger in the upgraded cabin (e.g. lounge access, relevant check-in desks, Spa treatments, etc. as applicable). You can only upgrade one class at a time. The cost in Avios for an UuA is the base (i.e. pure economy reward) mileage multiplied by a certain amount: x1.0 Euro Traveller to Club Europe x0.5 World Traveller to World Traveller Plus x0.5 World Traveller Plus to Club World x1.0 Club World to First So for example, let’s say you want to book a return from London to San Francisco, moving from World Traveller Plus to Club World. The basic fare is (say) £900 including taxes. Upgrading from World Traveller Plus to Club World will cost you 0.5 x the economy award seat mileage (so 0.5 x 50,000 = 25,000 Avios). So for £900 + upward adjustment in fuel surcharges + 25,000 Avios, you get a seat in Club instead of World Traveller Plus. When it comes to changing UuA it can get complicated. If you UuA from a restricted ticket, then those restrictions still apply. If you UuA from a full fare, unrestricted ticket, the base flexibility remains BUT to retain the UuA you must find award availability on the flight you change to. After departure, you will lose the Avios (like for a standard redemption) if you make changes. The Shareholders discount cannot be combined with an UuA and the UuA may be revoked/denied if you try it. However, this is something which may change as BA Executive Club is investigating this. UuA can be extremely problematic when it comes to actually getting credit for the fare you paid – many here regard BA’s back-end systems as a disgrace in this respect! UuA are an oddity, as the system needs to track two fare classes, the one you paid for, and the one you booked into. The problem is, the fare class you book into, is the same as for award tickets. So the system can incorrectly log it as an award ticket, and it comes up on the statement as earning no points or miles. For example, a normal UuA from WT+ to Club, should appear on your statement as J/T (i.e. you sat in J but paid for T). Most of the time, it comes up as J/U instead. To correct this, you need to speak to someone at the service centre. This can take anywhere from 1 to 2 weeks to credit. 02 UuA on BA only flight, booked through a travel agency The ability to upgrade Travel Agent (TA) issued tickets is possible since 17 July 2012, with corporate net tickets from 24 July 2012. Unfortunately, marine fares are not eligible. There are a number of criteria, and broadly follow the same terms and conditions as Upgrade Using Avios (UUA) on a normal booking:
03 UuA on BA, AA, and IB flights UuA can also be applied to American Airlines and Iberia flights and/or tickets combining travel on either of these airlines plus BA. The rules that apply to upgrading BA flights generally apply to AA and IB flights, albeit with a few differences.
04 Calculating the amount of Avios needed to UuA https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-H...HR-IAD-UuA.jpg Sample routing: Stockholm to Washington DC via London Using ARN-LHR-IAD as an example, we can review a couple of different scenarios to give you an idea of how UuA are calculated. Like standard redemptions, each flight is considered separately and in turn.
Introduction | Standard reward flights | Multi-Partner reward flights | Reward Flight Saver | Avios & Money | Upgrading using Avios | Using your companion vouchers | Additional Gold benefits | Hotel and car rental redemptions |
Using your companion vouchers
There are a number of BA affiliate credit cards that give BAEC members an opportunity to earn a companion voucher. For more information on what card issuers offer this benefit and how to go about earning a voucher, see Credit card partners. The concept behind the voucher is simple. You the cardholder may book a redemption ticket, paid for in Avios and you take a travelling companion along with you. The usual taxes, fees, and surcharges apply to both passengers unfortunately, which are paid for by the card holder.
01 Standard conditions:
02 Additional benefits (UK BA Amex Premium Plus)
03 Additional benefits (US Chase British Airways Visa Signature)
Introduction | Standard reward flights | Multi-Partner reward flights | Reward Flight Saver | Avios & Money | Upgrading using Avios | Using your companion vouchers | Additional Gold benefits | Hotel and car rental redemptions |
Additional Gold benefits
01 Additional Gold benefits
02 Exclusive Gold GL benefits A twice per membership year redemption for up to 5 people (i.e. member and up to 4 others) booked into revenue classes (A, D, T, B) rather than award classes. Such GGL redemptions are known in some quarters as Jokers. A third Joker is awarded at 6,000 Tier Points. Note this redemption award will have its own deadline for use, which may be different from your BAEC membership year. Also GUF2 and Jokers can be redeemed together. GUF2 and UuA cannot be combined (as already stated); However, a GUF2 can be used when there are (e.g.) WT+ reduced rate redemptions to leverage into the class higher (so indirectly allowing reduced rate CW when it is not used). Must be booked by phone however Introduction | Standard reward flights | Multi-Partner reward flights | Reward Flight Saver | Avios & Money | Upgrading using Avios | Using your companion vouchers | Additional Gold benefits | Hotel and car rental redemptions |
Hotel and car rental redemptions
01 Hotel redemptions
You can use your Avios balance to pay for hotels, by logging into your BAEC account and going to the hotel booking section of Spending Avios. There is a very comprehensive list of hotels available, including for destinations not served by the BA network. Hotels can be booked completely seperately from any travel arrangements, and you are free to travel to the hotel without making a BA or oneworld flight. Hotels can be paid for entirely by Avios, or there is usually a sliding scale of combining cash with Avios. It is unlikely that this is the most cost effective use of Avios, with two exceptions. Firstly if you are unable or unwilling to use Avios for flying then this is one way to make use of your balance. Secondly, it is generally possible to use just 1,000 Avios and pay something close to a competitive cash price for the room, thereby using a small number of Avios points to leverage a corporate hotel price, when availability through other sources may be hard to find. Hotel redemptions cannot be changed once it is booked. However, it can be cancelled and the Avios refunded. Note that it appears that this service is not available to BAEC members in certain countries. 02 Car rental redemptions Car hire bookings using Avios follow the same menu and similar logic to hotel bookings. Car and hotel bookings can be done together too. As with hotels you can choose a sliding scale of Avios versus cash, including full payment via Avios. Again it is unlikely to be the best use of Avios, but again you can use a small number of Avios to leverage a reasonable rate. As of August 2012, it is not possible to use Avios for car hire bookings in South Africa. In all circumstances the driver needs to be over 23 years old. Note that it appears that this service is not available to BAEC members in certain countries. Introduction | Standard reward flights | Multi-Partner reward flights | Reward Flight Saver | Avios & Money | Upgrading using Avios | Using your companion vouchers | Additional Gold benefits | Hotel and car rental redemptions |
Avios Part Payment
From November 2013, when you purchase flights via BA’s direct sales channels it is possible to shave a few quid off the fare in exchange for a nominal sum of Avios. This feature has been coined Avios Part Payment (APP). APP may be useful if you wish to cash in some of the Avios you have stashed away, and since the you’re still purchasing a commercial fare, you’ll earn Avios and Tier Points once you fly. The conversion rates for APP spend are better £ for point than it is to purchase points. Note, APP is not available at BA airport ticket desks or via travel agents.
Scope and detail
Q&A Can I upgrade a APP booking? Yes. UuA or GUFT vouchers can be applied to a APP booking on the proviso the booking has already been confirmed and ticketed. Can I use APP on a redemption fare to offset taxes, fees, and surcharges? No. APP is not offered with flight redemptions Will I earn Avios and Tier Points on a APP ticket? Yes. You will accrue points, including Tier and Cabin Bonuses just as you would had you not used the part payment option. Will the APP affect the fare rules and conditions of my ticket? No. If you purchase a full fare flexible ticket, the underlying rules are retained. Similarly, if you purchase a restricted discounted fare, the rules governing the underlying fare are retained. How much can I save? In most cases three part payment options are offered
Note, you’ll not be offered options where the discount exceeds the sum of the net fare and carrier charges. |
"02 Additional benefits (UK BA Amex Premium Plus)
•The voucher can be used for one way itineraries •Vouchers are valid for two years instead of the usual one" The U.S. voucher is also good for two years. This feature is not exclusive to the UK voucher. |
Great thread ^
Thank you |
Originally Posted by Grand Union
(Post 19160489)
02 Connecting flights
As redemptions are calculated by individual sector, so each flight must be considered when connections are concerned. Let's look again at the Los Angeles to Miami itinerary but this time we'll introduce a connection at Dallas Forth Worth. Flight 1: LAX-DFW, highlighted in cyan. The sector distance is 1,235 miles which places this as a Zone 3 flight, at 10,000 Avios in economy class (or 30,000 Avios in first class) Flight 2: DFW-LAX, highlighted in red. The sector distance is 1,121 miles, therefore a Zone 2 flight priced at 7,500 Avios in economy, or 22,500 Avios in first class. A few minor inconsequential typos, but I did spot the error highlighted above which should, of course, read MIA. ;) Sustained applause for producing something even I can understand. ^ |
Thanks to you all for putting this together - pretty impressive stuff!
A couple of small comments from me, please, on a first reading:
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Thanks for this.
I'll be back for a more complete read later on, but I believe Avios earned at avios.com are not covered in the summary. They are effectively interchangeable with BA and IB Avios but can offer different availability. I recently redeemed a Reward Flight Saver in G class at avios.com when there was no corresponding X availabilty at ba.com. (No Avios or TPs earned, though.) |
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