Aug 13, 2014, 4:37 pm
Last edit by: beltway
With US joining OneWorld in early 2014, British Airways' mileage currency (Avios) offer a potentially advantageous option for redeeming for award tickets, especially on shorter flights.
What are the relevant characteristics/rules for redeeming Avios?
What are the mileage bands in the Avios award chart?
The full chart for redemptions until April 28, 2015 can be found here. Starting April 28, 2015, a new chart will apply.
One enterprising blogger has created interactive maps showing potential destinations reachable on US in each of the mileage bands from DCA, PHL, CLT, and PHX.
What's an example of Avios being better than booking an award on US using Dividend Miles?
Credit: Much of this wiki is based on post #1 by SanDiego1K.
What are the relevant characteristics/rules for redeeming Avios?
- Avios is charged per individual flight segment. The cost for a single connecting itinerary AAA-BBB-CCC is the same as the cost of two separate tickets for travel AAA-BBB & BBB-CCC.
- Avios uses a distance-based chart. (See below.)
- First-class travel costs 3x as many Avios as coach. Unfortunately, this generally makes domestic F redemption unattractive with Avios. In general, US front-cabin seats are treated as first-class for purposes of Avios redemption.
- Effective April 28, 2015, first-class awards will cost 4x the coach award price.
- Business class travel costs 2x Avios. Some North American airlines consider the front cabin to be business for Mexico and Central America routes.
- Effective April 28, 2015, business-class awards for segments >2000 miles long will cost 3x the coach award price.
- You can redeem one-way awards with Avios.
- Avios is region-agnostic. (That is, a given distance costs the same regardless of whether it traverses one or more world regions.) Thus, Avios can provide great value when flying to Hawaii for those who fly coach and can do so in one segment.
- There is no ticketing fee for online booking. If you call instead of booking online, there is a $25 ticketing fee. (Some people have success in getting this fee waived when an itinerary cannot be booked online, making a phone call unavoidable.)
- There is no close-in ticketing fee.
- BA charges $55 to cancel or change a ticket. However, if you cancel online, your cost is capped at the amount of taxes/TSA fees paid; for domestic itineraries on US, this will normally be much less than $55. (This workaround does not apply to changing a ticket online, which will incur the full $55 fee.) You must cancel one day in advance to get the Avios redeposited.
- 1-650 mile flight: 4,500 Avios
- 651-1151 mile flight: 7,500 Avios
- 1152-2000 mile flight: 10,000 Avios
- 2001-3000 mile flight: 12,500 Avios
The full chart for redemptions until April 28, 2015 can be found here. Starting April 28, 2015, a new chart will apply.
One enterprising blogger has created interactive maps showing potential destinations reachable on US in each of the mileage bands from DCA, PHL, CLT, and PHX.
Consider the cost to fly from San Diego to Phoenix, a route under 400 miles. US charges 25K miles R/T, plus $38 (includes $25 ticketing fee), plus a $75 close-in fee for any booking within 14 days of departure. BA will charge 9,000 Avios R/T plus the TSA security fee.
If you live in a gateway city and can fly to Hawaii nonstop, investigate whether booking with Avios is more attractive. Example:
PHX-HNL is 2917 miles. A R/T with Avios is 25K miles (12,500 each way). A R/T with US is 40K miles.
What's the process for redeeming Avios?If you live in a gateway city and can fly to Hawaii nonstop, investigate whether booking with Avios is more attractive. Example:
PHX-HNL is 2917 miles. A R/T with Avios is 25K miles (12,500 each way). A R/T with US is 40K miles.
Go to the Avios award search page; log in; and enter your desired itinerary.
Great! That sounds easy! What's the catch?Unfortunately, there are several practical restrictions on redeeming Avios for domestic travel on US, especially when attempting to book online.
OK, I managed to make an award booking despite all these pitfalls. How do I get my US FF# into the reservation in order to enjoy my US elite benefits?- Most importantly, US "low/saver" awards must be available. (You can confirm award availability at the lowest level by searching on the US site directly or by using a third-party service such as Expert Flyer.)
- The BA search tool cannot generate partner itineraries that include more than one connection. (You can still book each segment as an individual ticket, although doing so will create problems if you wish to check luggage all the way through and/or if you miss a connection owing to flight delays.)
- Even where US has low-level award availability, the Avios search tool will often fail to display it. This is especially true on routes with numerous flights in a single day (such as the DCA-LGA, LGA-BOS & DCA-BOS shuttles), but occurs regularly on numerous routes. There is no workaround except calling BA reservations.
- Recommendation: Always search for one-way awards. The BA search tool is known to display no availability in either direction on round-trip searches when awards are in fact available in one direction but not the other.
- The BA search engine will accept metropolitan area pseudo-codes (WAS, LON, PAR, NYC, etc.) as well as individual airport codes. For better results, try both (e.g., DCA, BWI & IAD as well as WAS).
The American Airlines Twitter team (@AmericanAir) can modify a reservation to enter your US or AA FF#.
Several FTers also report success using the Finnair website ("Choose manage booking and put in your BA confirmation code"). However, this method allows the FF# on a given itinerary to be changed only once; it will not allow subsequent changes.
I want to change my seat but the BA site never gave me a US record locator. What's the solution?Several FTers also report success using the Finnair website ("Choose manage booking and put in your BA confirmation code"). However, this method allows the FF# on a given itinerary to be changed only once; it will not allow subsequent changes.
Look up your reservation on the US site using the BA record locator.
How can I accumulate Avios?- Fly British Airways.
- Credit OneWorld flights to British Airways.
- Open a Chase British Airways credit card, ideally with a generous sign up bonus.
- Move Chase Ultimate Reward points (CSP, Ink Plus, Ink Bold) to your BA account.
- Move AMEX Membership Rewards points to your BA account, preferably during the 2-3 times a year when a bonus is offered.
- Move SPG points to your BA account. 20K SPG points yields 25K BA Avios, and bonuses have been offered once a year.
- Form a household account (see BA forum for discussion) so that miles can be pooled.
US Airways Award Bookings Using BA Avios, as low as 4,500 Avios one way
Aug 13, 2014, 5:13 pm
#166
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Aug 13, 2014, 7:46 pm
#167
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Lucky recently wrote about this issue - BA not matching AA.com availability
advice - call Avios Singapore
What To Do When American Award Flights Don't Display On British Airways Site - One Mile at a Time
http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.c...-airways-site/
advice - call Avios Singapore
What To Do When American Award Flights Don't Display On British Airways Site - One Mile at a Time
http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.c...-airways-site/
Any further leads?
Aug 14, 2014, 9:16 am
#168
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I think it's erroneously released space on the US side - try booking a segment via AA.com (i.e., choose the routes you noted were available on USAirways.com and press continue): the website refreshes and the availability will disappear. Strange thing is that award seats bookable via the USAirways website.
Aug 14, 2014, 9:57 am
#169
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I think it's erroneously released space on the US side - try booking a segment via AA.com (i.e., choose the routes you noted were available on USAirways.com and press continue): the website refreshes and the availability will disappear. Strange thing is that award seats bookable via the USAirways website.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...-space-aa.html
Aug 14, 2014, 10:29 am
#170
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I think I've discovered another bizarre defect in the BA award search tool: searching for one-way awards turns up availability not shown in the results for a round-trip search.
Current example: search for a o/w award DCA-CLT on Oct. 3 turns up three different flights (including one from alternate airport, IAD). However, a search for a r/t with the same departure date and return on Oct. 5 shows no availability in either direction. (This seems to be related to the lack of availability on the return; choosing a different return date -- Oct. 7 -- and doing a r/t search shows availability each way, including the previously hidden outbound options.) Gah, what an awful search tool.
Sum of comment: Never search BA for a r/t. Always search only for o/w awards.
Current example: search for a o/w award DCA-CLT on Oct. 3 turns up three different flights (including one from alternate airport, IAD). However, a search for a r/t with the same departure date and return on Oct. 5 shows no availability in either direction. (This seems to be related to the lack of availability on the return; choosing a different return date -- Oct. 7 -- and doing a r/t search shows availability each way, including the previously hidden outbound options.) Gah, what an awful search tool.
Sum of comment: Never search BA for a r/t. Always search only for o/w awards.
Aug 15, 2014, 1:03 pm
#171
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For those of you having a hard time to get thru BAEC's US call center, please note that you could call ANY BAEC call center in the world to make your bookings. This is a much improved policy since a few months ago.
You can call HKG call center at 0.015 per minute rate for example and they are very competent. They waived the telephone booking fee when the airport was not recognized by BA site but it was definitely bookable as BA award as a KA flight from Guilin to Hong Kong - Guilin airport code KWL is the ONLY ONE airport code out of all the China-Hong Kong routes KA flies that is not recognized by BA site.
Also, you need to actually click thru a select flight to see if it is bookable or a phantom availability. DONT trust the summary page on the availability.
Needless to say, only look for one-way availability so you would see much more availabilities and modify your dates accordingly.
You can call HKG call center at 0.015 per minute rate for example and they are very competent. They waived the telephone booking fee when the airport was not recognized by BA site but it was definitely bookable as BA award as a KA flight from Guilin to Hong Kong - Guilin airport code KWL is the ONLY ONE airport code out of all the China-Hong Kong routes KA flies that is not recognized by BA site.
Also, you need to actually click thru a select flight to see if it is bookable or a phantom availability. DONT trust the summary page on the availability.
Needless to say, only look for one-way availability so you would see much more availabilities and modify your dates accordingly.
Aug 15, 2014, 2:11 pm
#172
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I've been trying to figure this out for a while and could use some clarification. Many of the OneWorld flights allow one-way FF flight reservations, including AA. Are you saying that if I call US Airways Award Travel that I could be allowed to book the one-way points without the RT requirement (i.e. 12,500 domestic vs. 25,000 RT required)?
Aug 15, 2014, 2:20 pm
#173
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I've been trying to figure this out for a while and could use some clarification. Many of the OneWorld flights allow one-way FF flight reservations, including AA. Are you saying that if I call US Airways Award Travel that I could be allowed to book the one-way points without the RT requirement (i.e. 12,500 domestic vs. 25,000 RT required)?
Aug 15, 2014, 2:29 pm
#174
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I've been trying to figure this out for a while and could use some clarification. Many of the OneWorld flights allow one-way FF flight reservations, including AA. Are you saying that if I call US Airways Award Travel that I could be allowed to book the one-way points without the RT requirement (i.e. 12,500 domestic vs. 25,000 RT required)?
If you are using, for example, AA Advantage miles to book the exact same US Airways flight, you would be able to book it for half the miles (assuming there's availability).
Aug 15, 2014, 3:17 pm
#175
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US Airways Award Bookings Using BA Avios, as low as 4,500 Avios one way
I agree on doing the bookings as one way vs rt. Case in point, I've been looking to book ORD-CLT for September. The flights that work is a mixed AA/US and it cost 30k avios for coach, not the usual 9k. If I select either all AA or US then it's 9k. Doing it as one way it prices @ 4.5k avios. Something must be odd when combining different airlines. I double check that I was looking for coach award, and that is what I was booking.
Aug 15, 2014, 3:31 pm
#176
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Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)
When you book two (or more) BA partners on a single Avios redemption, the redemption rates from BAEC's multi-partner redemption chart apply. That rates on that chart (in Coach) are identical to the rates that appeared on AA's old distance-based "Explorer" award chart. You are indeed better off booking AA and US flights as separate redemptions when using BAEC Avios.
Originally Posted by arollins
I agree on doing the bookings as one way vs rt. Case in point, I've been looking to book ORD-CLT for September. The flights that work is a mixed AA/US and it cost 30k avios for coach, not the usual 9k. If I select either all AA or US then it's 9k. Doing it as one way it prices @ 4.5k avios. Something must be odd when combining different airlines. I double check that I was looking for coach award, and that is what I was booking.
Aug 15, 2014, 3:34 pm
#177
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I agree on doing the bookings as one way vs rt. Case in point, I've been looking to book ORD-CLT for September. The flights that work is a mixed AA/US and it cost 30k avios for coach, not the usual 9k. If I select either all AA or US then it's 9k. Doing it as one way it prices @ 4.5k avios. Something must be odd when combining different airlines. I double check that I was looking for coach award, and that is what I was booking.
Aug 15, 2014, 3:41 pm
#178
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I agree on doing the bookings as one way vs rt. Case in point, I've been looking to book ORD-CLT for September. The flights that work is a mixed AA/US and it cost 30k avios for coach, not the usual 9k. If I select either all AA or US then it's 9k. Doing it as one way it prices @ 4.5k avios. Something must be odd when combining different airlines. I double check that I was looking for coach award, and that is what I was booking.
Aug 15, 2014, 7:15 pm
#179
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What is Flight #/Class in question?
Aug 15, 2014, 7:41 pm
#180
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