Part of the British Airways Avios loyalty scheme? Well it’s being devalued from April 18 with many flight rewards increasing in price – especially for premium cabin flyers. We asked Rob Burgess, editor of frequent flyer miles website www.headforpoints.com to explain how to make the most of Avios loyalty points.
Be sure that Avios points are right for you
Surely everyone would love a free flight? In theory, yes, of course! The world of frequent flyer miles is rarely that simple though. British Airways only operates flights to or from London. If you live in the regions, you need to connect in London Heathrow which will add at least two hours to your journey time. If you live in Manchester, it would make far more sense to fly directly to Europe on a budget airline (paying cash) than using Avios points to book a substantially slower connecting flight on BA.
Similarly, long haul economy flights on British Airways are often a poor deal. You need to pay around £300 per person, return, in Air Passenger Duty, taxes and surcharges for your ‘free’ flight. If you could buy a cash ticket for £400+, your miles are effectively worthless.
You will get most value from Avios points if you live near Heathrow and use BA for short-haul flights, or if you want to travel in long-haul premium cabins. A Club World flat bed business class seat will also come with around £500 of taxes and surcharges, but that is still an excellent deal compared to buying that ticket outright.
Understand that Avios points are not free
If you earn all of your Avios points by flying for your job, then those Avios points ARE free – I won’t argue with that! However, most people also build up their points from other sources – converting Tesco Clubcard or Shell Drivers Club points, using a miles-earning credit card, converting Heathrow Rewards points, using the BA Gate 365 online shopping mall, converting hotel loyalty scheme points etc.
All of these ways of collecting effectively cost you money. Instead of using an Avios-earning credit card, you could use a cashback credit card. You could use your Tesco Clubcard vouchers for discounts instore. You could use your hotel points for free rooms. You want to be getting at least 1p of value per Avios point when you spend them to make sure you come out on top.
Credit card sign-up bonuses are a great way to build your Avios
If you collect Avios points, BA will have bombarded you with details of the British Airways American Express card. The free version has a sign-up bonus of up to 10,000 Avios points depending on the current offer. However, did you know that the free American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card comes with 20,000 Amex Membership Rewards points which convert into 20,000 Avios? You can also ‘churn’ these cards by cancelling and applying again six months later, getting another bonus!
In total there are 12 credit cards in the UK that offer Avios points or other points which convert directly into Avios. Head for Points keeps track of all of the current sign-up offers.
Save money on taxes by flying Aer Lingus long-haul
I said earlier that BA wants £300-£500 of taxes and surcharges per person when you redeem for long-haul flights, depending on class. But you could use points to book with Aer Lingus, however – and they only ask for £75!
Aer Lingus flies from Dublin to many destinations in the USA and Canada. You cannot book these seats online – it involves a telephone call to BA. Some 95 per cent of Avios collectors have no idea this opportunity exists. A family of four would save £1,000 in charges on four economy tickets.
The same goes from airberlin ….
German airline airberlin can be booked with Avios points and this one is bookable online. They fly to Abu Dhabi and various US destinations and have flat beds in business class. You need to buy a separate ticket to get to Berlin or Dusseldorf from the UK, but given that you will save almost £500 per person in taxes and charges compared with a BA business class redemption, it is well worth it.
Save £300 in tax on Iberia flights with a simple trick
Most people know that you can move Avios points freely between the BA, Iberia and avios.com loyalty schemes. Most people do NOT know that long-haul Iberia flights are substantially cheaper via iberia.com than ba.com. An Avios redemption from Madrid to Havana will have taxes of around £110 in business class via iberia.com whilst the exact same flight booked on ba.com in business class has charges of around £410.
Understand the Avios pricing chart to make savings
Avios redemptions are priced based on the distance flown. You can make big savings by understanding the sweet spots. Dublin to New York on Aer Lingus is over 3,000 miles so costs 80,000 Avios return (120,000 Avios return after April 28) in business class. Dublin to Boston is just under 3,000 miles and so costs only 50,000 Avios return (75,000 Avios return after April 28) in business.
The same results apply to, say, Qatar Airways or airberlin flights from Germany to the Middle East (usually under 3,000 miles) compared to flying London to the Middle East (over 3,000 miles).
Get a British Airways Premium Plus American Express card
When you spend more than £10,000 in a year on the BA Premium Plus American Express card, you receive a 2-4-1 voucher for an Avios redemption. This makes a massive difference to your collecting. Two business class tickets to New York cost just 100,000 Avios on an off-peak day with a 2-4-1 voucher compared to 200,000 without.
You still pay full taxes on each ticket unfortunately and the vouchers can only be used on BA flights, not partner airlines. There is a £150 annual fee for the card but the sign-up bonus can be as high as 25,000 Avios and the voucher (valid for two years) is well worth the fee.
Rob Burgess is editor of www.headforpoints.com, the UK’s biggest frequent flyer and hotel loyalty points website. The site runs three new articles every day on how to earn more points and how to spend them most effectively.
