pinniped

Minor flaw in the Avios redemption process, although I blame U.S. airlines for that, not BA: what we call narrowbody F should really be called J.

Not that West Coast to Hawaii is worth even 2x the miles in F, because everybody has a lousy Hawaii premium product, but that would make more sense than 3x.

Spacetime17

Avios also offer tremendous value in South America through oneworld partner LAN, which has decent availability and no fuel surcharges. A round trip Y ticket from JFK-SCL is only 50k Avios, but well over $1000 if bought outright. If you throw in some cash it becomes an even better deal... 25k Avios and $320 (plus airport fees).

To continue the short-hop theme, a flight from SCL to MDZ will set you back $400-$600, but can be had for only 4,500 Avios!

Some more benefits to the BA program --
** Avios are also transferable to Iberia, which opens up more award seats to its own members than to its oneworld partners.

** BA has a reasonably functional website (unlike DL), and no close-in booking fees.

** The bonuses that Amex runs from time to time make Avios fast and easy to obtain without stockpiling large amounts of points in the actual program.

drbobguy

I'm looking to book flights Moscow-Tblisi roundtrip on S7, for 15k avios (7.5k o/w) and just $16. Not insanely expensive, but those are usually over $300 flights, so that's an easy 2cpm on an international flight.

The great thing about Avios is they're good for short hops in lots of different places around the world, not just in the domestic US.

deadinabsentia

BA miles are incredibly valuable. Just dont try and fly BA with them.

Cheap F on short flights, great J values on Cathay or JAL from North America to Asia.

leftpinky

re: interntional flights, got a one way from Zambia to CPT via JNB that was $500 per person for about 30k for two people. Avios are amazing bc you can use them on all these random routes all over the world due to one world but also BA subsidiaries in former colonies. basically anywhere the British empire once ruled...

brooklynmatt

Last night I booked NYC-Nashville for a long weekend, flying tomorrow morning with Avios on AA.

I compared it with AA and UA and it came in way cheaper, of course I was so excited that I blogged about it right away... another key point about Avios is no last minute fees. Total taxes and miles for 2x RT 30K plus $10 VS 50K AA or UA miles plus late booking fees if you don't have status...

Avios for the win.

Plus got to use the SPG Bonus Beginnings at the Sheraton Downtown

Dynastar

People who bad-mouth Avios don't understand their value. Here's two current bookings I have with Avios:

SEA-BZN 4,500 Avios (vs $183, 4cpm)
HND-TKS 4,500 Avios (vs $333, 7cpm)

pinniped

Totally agreed... I kind of get it in the general public, since Avios has flooded the market with these 100,000 mile signup bonuses and people naturally query BA metal first if they know little about the program. Do that...query JFK-LHR only...and you'll think the miles are completely worthless.

But FT'ers should be leveraging the hell out of this program...

I do however enjoy the OP's ironic observation: it's not only that you have to avoid BA metal, but it's a rather convoluted process to use Avios to visit the UK at all. It our case, it would almost certainly be a 2nd PNR - a short paid seat across from DUB, with TXL or MAD being other potential (but more circuitous) options.

exmike

Agree with the avios, esp in japan

Booked 2x HND - KIX = ~$550 for 9000 avios

johnep1

Just booked 3x LIM-EZE in J. 60k miles + ~$150 total vs. ~$5000 to buy the tickets. So about 8 cents per point, not too shabby, especially since even Y ticket cash cost is almost as much as J tickets on this route.

Have received great value on many other Avios redemptions - they're also great for last minute redemptions since there's no booking fee.

Looking forward to booking a few other intra-South America flights this year as well.

Did I love and take full advantage of the old BA program? Yes. Did BA take away some great redemption opportunities? Yes. Did BA replace those opportunities with new ones? Yes.

That last part is key. BA has some fantastic award options out there, as many in this thread have highlighted. 4,500 Avios for a flight - that's just crazy.

redtailshark

Far be it from me to defend the indefensible: either DL SM, or BA's Dilbertian corporate philosophy. As you all know, I cannot be classed as an "apologist" for either.

I will say that both DL SM and BA Avios have valuable uses.

Flying with DL SM is a pita. But for car rentals, as long as I'm GM - another five weeks - and have access to SM Marketplace, they can be a deal. 27k SM for eight days of premium car rental at MIA during high season.... now, that was a deal. The main problem is, DL makes SM very hard to use with multiple levels of obfuscation and incapacity in their redemption system (award calendar mendacity, agents who don't know which partners are redeemable on SM, or worse, do, but lie to you and won't facilitate redemption, etc.). Even if you know theoretically what might be a good value using SM, actually ticketing it is a problem from another dimension.

Avios are the best value for short-haul intra-OZ, intra-EU and so on. In the case of intra-EU, they are a value even on BA metal! 7500 Avios for a one-way from ATH or SOF to LHR to UK provinces...and with unlimited stopover at LHR. The fees and taxes on these amount to just over $20, which is much lower than a similar Star redemption on LH or SN.

By contrast, Avios attempts for TATL redemption are a total waste of time/money/effort - except under special circumstances...e.g. WT+ sale, ex-US, one-way, where for $250 or so, and 25k Avios during one of the winter offers, I was able fly to LHR and - astonishingly for BA in my case - be operationally upgraded into J on this ticket. But usually, it's insulting to face $450 demands for a one-way TATL Y seat, plus the 25k Avios.

pinniped

Was that classified as an award? Or were you buying an underlying discount Y fare and using Avios to upgrade?

I know I've seen references to buying WT+ as a paid seat and then using Avios to upgrade to J - it sounded like it could be done at booking time. Net result seemed not too dissimilar to buying a United W fare that you need in order to be able to use some of their upgrade instruments.

augustus21

Not all flights on JAL from North America are an amazing deal. I fly out of BOS and a J seat would cost 70,000 avios & $323.

If I break up the flight into segments, and fly BOS-LAX (in Y on AA) and then LAX-HND (in J on JAL), it'd be 62,500 avios. A bit better, but still pricey. And the LAX-HND flight would still cost $323 in taxes.

augustus21

Yep. JFK to Dusseldorf in business for 40,000 avios + $2.50, or 20,000 avios + $2.50 in Y.

DC777Fan

Not at all as bad as DL. DL has a few specific uses (Tahiti, LAX-SYD on VA, AF J to Mauritius) that are actually superior to UA/AA/US, but in basically every other way they are worse.

With 100k BA -- really 125k after the spend -- I can get 8 round trips to Miami (or nearly 14 to New York!) from DC on pretty good domestic availability in AA. I can't get more than 2 round trips on any other current sign up offer. If you value the r/t at $300 each, that's $2400 in value from the CC sign up bonus--very solid.

Another cool short haul use is NAS-GCM, which I'm trying to find a use for in the coming weeks.