cupsandsaucers

Was thinking about spending some Avios on a nice getaway for the wife and kid and I. I was somewhat under the impression that you could use Avios to redeem on flights. (i.e. negating the need to "buy" the ticket). But BA want 120,000 Avios AND a grand!
For a quick hop across the pond in Y!!

So really. What exactly is the point in Avios? are they actually worth anything? What is the point in spending 120,000 Avios (that's a LOT for me) if BA still want to take a grand off me for a couple of economy seats. I don't get it. Haven't checked but I bet the seats alone don't cost much more than a grand. I mean it's a medium haul hop.


I'm probably just doing something wrong but I certainly thought that Avios could be used instead of paying money for the ticket. Is this just a scam or have I got the wrong end of the stick? Sure puts the "compensation" of a couple of thousand Avios people receive for x,y, and z into perspective! Buttons.

If this is indeed correct then what is the best way to use my Avios? Cabin upgrades are out the question because I usually fly WT+ and don't like CW.

WorldLux

Is this another BA rant of yours? Have a read through the guides and recommendations on spending Avios. With a bit of tweaking, you can get more value out of your Avios.

IME, you'd have to be mad to spend Avios on a UK-US East Coast return in Y. Unless the Y fares are extremely high, don't bother with Y awards*.

*The exception being routes and carriers that impose no or negligible YQ/YR and taxes.

mikeyfly

This is old news - Avios are wasted on longhaul Y - either pay cash or book the cheapest and lower the cash element using some Avios

You say you don't like CW - but happy to travel in WT+ ? You can get WT+ exEU for around £500 per person and then take the seats to CW with these Avios. You might have to suffer CW for this amount

Think how many CE upgrades you can buy with the money saved

BertieBadger

There are some very informative guides in the forum dashboard. The one for spending Avios even has its own sticky just above your post. I would thoroughly recommend taking the time to read and digest them, there is much to discover therein.

Globaliser

Really! You've been active on FT for six months, and you still haven't worked this out until now? That's the hardest thing to try to believe.

KARFA

You have selected the worst possible use of avios. As noted above the guides will show you better ways to use them. Alternatively if you are not convinced please send your avios to me, I am sure I can make good use of them

ajeleonard

The madness is people thinking it's a good idea to redeem Avios in economy!

cupsandsaucers

You what?

Oh you mean like these latest posts of mine?

In relation to ABZ lounge


So what you are really saying is I must NEVER be critical of BA here? Ridiculous.
​​​​​​​I'll be critical where I feel it necessary and praise where I feel it necessary. Unless of course the forum is only for BA sycophancy. In which case I have no interest in being here.

cupsandsaucers

Well sorry. We aren't all experts. I did first look for WT+ tickets are they were even more Avios and money. significantly more.

cupsandsaucers

I have 300 posts. I don't eat sleep and live this forum. I am still new and still learning. Amazingly...I thought economy would be better "value" than a higher cabin. Quite understandable from a layman.
I will try and digest the guide.

mikeyfly

cupsandsaucers have you considered CW and reducing the flight by the 100,000 Avios? The cash fare is very reasonable indeed to most places those days after Christmas. If you start I Inverness (easy Back to Back) it's £1,100 each

https://www.google.com/flights/#flt=...99*.GBP.117399

WT+ around £550

https://www.google.com/flights/#flt=...499*.GBP.57499

RollAnotherFatOne

Many people here are staff or with long BA associations, so don't take offence if people are prickly, it's only natural and common place here when someone goes against the grain.

As others probably say, BA redemptions are often best short haul where fees are also lower. Always best to check the cash price with redemption price using 1p = 1 avios as a way of determining value. Obviously this ignores any miles earned so isn't perfect.

BA0197

Well the cost of three tickets in Y on those flights actually comes to £1,969. Another thing to keep in mind is that Avios tickets come with far, far more flexibility than most. It doesn't help that you're flying on a "Peak" day. LH Y redemptions can be good value if flying on an off-peak day with no Saturday night return (these are the sweet spots).

But to be perfectly honest with you, it's not the worst Y redemption in the world. It's during Christmas and there are ways to reduce this cost if you want to get slightly adventurous. Frankly though if you consider Avios solely a value-based scheme, you're doing frequent flying wrong. Keep in mind you get Avios as a consequence of buying a ticket. It's an extra gift from the airline to you for your loyalty. BA are even providing Avios seats to NYC during Christmas for you! If you want to go to New York during Christmas/New Years by all means go! It's about how you feel and the fun of travelling, not about squeezing BA for every penny you could (possibly) get.

BA0197

The OP might also want to consider buying a BA Holidays Package, I'm seeing some quite attractive offers actually.

Perhaps consider upgrading using Avios (I'm see plenty of availability in all cabins actually for those days, and UUA is considerably far better value than a straight redemption in most cases) or if the OP wants the cost to come down, he could start his journey in JER and connect to the LGW service to JFK and fly JFK-LHR on the return as planned. That will save the UK ADP charge.

cupsandsaucers

That would work nicely. Need a holiday! Went on a BA holiday to Antigua and it was fantastic.