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Hi all,

I'm planning a trip (EDI-LGW) and can get a redemption for 8,000 + £35. I'm just wondering how good (poor?) value this is and if I'm just better off spending a bit of extra cash (£70) in total with EasyJet or BA and saving the points for bigger/longer trips in the future.

Many thanks in advance.

corporate-wage-slave

I would only use Avios in that situation if the cash fare was north of £120 versus 8k + £35. Basically assume one penny per Avios and then compare. However that Avios fare is likely to be flexible and to give you a full baggage allowance.

Sealink

Always good to compare the BA cash fare, I often pay the BA cash fare and use some Avios to reduce the price, you'll still earn TPs and Avios.

rakehey

Depends whether you are cash rich or avios rich...but if not rich in either, would go with CWS advice

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Thanks for the advice.

Is it worth getting £10 off with 1,000 or £20 for 2,500 Avios if paying for the fare?

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I've got over 100,000 so it wouldn't make much of a dent. I'd just rather not waste the Avios if its worth holding onto them and using them up for a upgrading on a longer flight if its not good value.

corporate-wage-slave

Reducing the Avios payment can make sense since at £10 for 1,000 it is in narrow terms 1p per Avios value (so much better than using Avios to reduce a revenue fare which tends to come in at 0.65p) but more on the basis that your remaining Avios collection is higher than it otherwise would be. It's difficult to earn Avios for under 1p (though occasionally possible) so you can't replace them much more cheaply and with that higher collection you have more leverage for redemptions which are better value such as RFS. Moreover if there is a really good bargain where you really need more Avios then you want to avoid having to top them up in a hurry since that's likely to be quite expensive, per Avios.

So I would certainly consider 1k for £10, but on the same logic I definitely would not do 2.5k for £20. Note this scale has inconsistent price points, there are some redemptions where particular price points are better value than others, and I've not found an over-arching rule which explains it.

Also note the risk of a devaluation, having a large pool of Avios just for the sake of it may not always be a good idea.

Skipcool3

RobDBA

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Thanks again all.

I decided to book with cash and use 1,000 avios to knock off £10 in the end.

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Could you expand on what you mean by devaluation? Do you suggest that I should be making more use out of my pool of Avios rather than holding onto them?

corporate-wage-slave

Devaluation simply means you get less for your Avios. Avios is a currency of sorts, paid for with hard currency, and the risk of devaluation - or if you prefer "inflationary pressures" - means your pool of Avios could one day be worth less than today. There are two main ways it could happen - either making Avios more difficult to earn, which seemingly never happens, if anything the opposite; alternatively you need more Avios to do whatever it is you are planning. There is a variant, which is probably the more likely scenario: restructuring and changing the programme such that some things are cheaper, others are more expensive. The last change did this in that UuA become more expensive and shorthaul domestic add-ons were removed (both were close to being too good to be true) but off peak redemptions meant many point to point redemptions needed fewer Avios. Either way, it's like having a pile of cash in a non interest earning bank account, which may make sense in the short and perhaps medium term, but unlikely so in the longer term.

I have no specific news in this area and when BA last did this there was a window of opportunity to deploy Avios before the changes came in.