flights to new york via avios...expensive!!!! why

downs523

just done a quote on Avios and it wants 80,000 points and a whopping £650 odd. why is this? sure i can get flights cheaper than this elsewhere or am i doing it wrong??

Archergirl

I think it's better to use Avios to upgrade your booking rather than pay for it. How much is the flight in cash?

jackieblack

downs523 wrote: »

just done a quote on Avios and it wants 80,000 points and a whopping £650 odd. why is this? sure i can get flights cheaper than this elsewhere or am i doing it wrong??

For two people?
£325pp for taxes, fees and charges sounds about right for New York

New York (New York), United States
London to New York (New York) flight time 8 hours 11 minutes
40000 Avios OR from 20000 Avios + £160.00 per person
Plus taxes, fees and charges. Prices are per person.

malkie76

Because of the taxes and fees using avois for economy long haul bookings is almost pointless (with the exception that you can book one-ways and they are fully flexible should your plans change). Other economy usage is if you need a last minute booking and only flexible cash tickets are left (potentially around £1500 each).

As above, for the same number of avois you can upgrade world traveller plus tickets (often ~£650 in a sale) to club world (business class).

Or, 80k avois gets you ONE fully flexible business class ticket worth ~£5k

hxm

agree with malkie, I booked one long-haul flight for free just before the changes and in future I'm only using them to do flights into Europe where you just pay a standard £27 charge. Taxes and charges sometimes make up over half the price of your ticket on a long-haul and with avios you have to pay them all now, so you may as well look for a cheap flight elsewhere

jackieblack

malkie76 wrote: »

Because of the taxes and fees using avois for economy long haul bookings is almost pointless (with the exception that you can book one-ways and they are fully flexible should your plans change).

If you are limited to flying at peak times, with peak prices, then this can be another exception - if there are Avios flights available.

Have just checked BA website and the taxes etc for the flights we have booked using Airmiles (before the changeover), if purchased today, would be £329.76.
Total flight price would be £748pp (down from £900 when we booked last September)

mryo77

I just did a comparison between flying to New York with Avios and through BA.com on same day and same time...

If you book through Avios they have the cheek to suggest paying £456 + 24,000 Avios:

Flight price options
40,000 Avios + £326.36
36,000 Avios + £366.36
32,000 Avios + £396.36
28,000 Avios + £426.36
24,000 Avios + £456.36
20,000 Avios + £486.36

Why would anyone do this when you can go to the BA.com website and buy exactly the same flight for £454.16. So if you booked via Avios you would be giving over 24,000 for nothing! This just proves how little value they now have.
Even if you went for the cheapest Avios option where you just pay the Taxes you only save £127.80 in exchange for 40,000 Avios!

Ridiculous!

Mark

budgetflyer

Or you can fly to Prague from Edinburgh or Glasgow and other regional airports for only 9000 Avios + £27 RTN
or Tunis for 15000 Avios + £27 RTN

Read the thread!

Do not use Avios for Economy long haul tickets.
Do use Avios to upgrade from WT+ to Business
Do use Avios for short haul saver fares.

jackieblack

mryo77 wrote: »

I just did a comparison between flying to New York with Avios and through BA.com on same day and same time...

If you book through Avios they have the cheek to suggest paying £456 + 24,000 Avios:

Flight price options
40,000 Avios + £326.36
36,000 Avios + £366.36
32,000 Avios + £396.36
28,000 Avios + £426.36
24,000 Avios + £456.36
20,000 Avios + £486.36

Why would anyone do this when you can go to the BA.com website and buy exactly the same flight for £454.16. So if you booked via Avios you would be giving over 24,000 for nothing! This just proves how little value they now have.
Even if you went for the cheapest Avios option where you just pay the Taxes you only save £127.80 in exchange for 40,000 Avios!

Ridiculous!

Mark

You don't say what date you applied this to, but it would appear not to be at any peak time.

Obviously, the cheaper you can obtain a 'paid for' flight, the lower the value given for the Avios.
At peak times/peak prices though, the value given for Avios increases dramatically - on the day we're flying the same amount of Avios would be worth £418, £290 (226%) more than the value on the date you looked at.

Obviously USA flights with Avios do not give the same value as the old Airmiles scheme did but, depending on when you want to fly, using Avios can still save you considerable £ - if this means the difference to an individual between being able to take that journey or not then this can still be good value.

Lots of people point out that you can get better value from flying short haul using Avios, but if an individual has no need or desire to fly to these destinations that is totally meaningless and irrelevant to them.