Avios taxes

species

Ok probably not a new topic, but after saving our Avios points for many years to get to Australia, we've now discovered that the taxes and fees make it more expensive that buying two tickets from other airlines?!!?!?

Could anyone advise if they know what the best destinations are to use up Avios & by this I mean those with the lowest taxes/fees?

I dont really want to sit and go through every country on the Avios site going through to virtually booking, to see what they are.

The whole thing seems like a massive rip off, but perhaps I am being unfair. We are just so disappointed that after so long we are back to square one. Sigh....

callum9999

species wrote: »

Ok probably not a new topic, but after saving our Avios points for many years to get to Australia, we've now discovered that the taxes and fees make it more expensive that buying two tickets from other airlines?!!?!?

Could anyone advise if they know what the best destinations are to use up Avios & by this I mean those with the lowest taxes/fees?

I dont really want to sit and go through every country on the Avios site going through to virtually booking, to see what they are.

The whole thing seems like a massive rip off, but perhaps I am being unfair. We are just so disappointed that after so long we are back to square one. Sigh....

Aer Lingus Dublin - Boston, any flights within South America on LAN, most Qantas domestic flights in Australia and most domestic flights in the States with American Airlines.

Or flights to Europe with a Reward Flight Saver capping taxes at something like £30 return.

Alternatively, book economy/WT+ flights to Australia and use the Avios to upgrade to Business class.

roundabouthere

I'm going to assume that when you mention using these for buying tickets these will be economy tickets. 99 times out of 100 this is always a very poor use of the scheme. As you have found out due to the large proportion of the ticket price for an economy ticket being taxes and fees which must be paid for in addition to the cost of the miles you get very little saving when buying economy.

The key to using Avios is using them for Business/first where you pay slightly more in taxes but receive far more for your use of the miles.

If you say you have enough now for two tickets to Australia in Economy that is equal to 2x100,000 = 200,000 miles.

If this is a once only use of the miles due to the time it takes to earn them then i personally would use them to go to either North America or South Africa where although sounding slightly perverse you have a longer flight to get full value for your ticket.

East coast USA eg New York and Boston etc start at 80,000 per person in business. For first class this would be 120,000. British Airways allows you to split the ticket class so in theory you could fly out in First and return in Business for 100,000 miles per person. I think with regard to the taxes and fees its going to be around £400 odd per person so you are getting far more value for that expenditure than using them to buy a economy ticket.

All of the above does of course depend on availability but New York tends to be one of the easier places to get availability for. Remember just because BA are selling tickets on a route doesn't mean that those tickets are also avaialable to be bought with Avios.

Mid/West coast america costs slightly more with business starting at 100,000 and currently availability of flights doesn't look great but as long as you're flexible with dates etc you will find something eventually.

Two golden rules to always follow when using Avios
Be Flexible and only ever use it (for 99 times out of 100) in the pointy ends of the plane

[The main reason you would only ever buy an economy ticket with Avios would be if you wanted a ticket last minute where often economy tickets can price out reasonably expensive so it then makes sense to use them or for short intra-Europe trips where you can make good use of the scheme in economy with their saver tickets)

callum9999

roundabouthere wrote: »

I'm going to assume that when you mention using these for buying tickets these will be economy tickets. 99 times out of 100 this is always a very poor use of the scheme. As you have found out due to the large proportion of the ticket price for an economy ticket being taxes and fees which must be paid for in addition to the cost of the miles you get very little saving when buying economy.

The key to using Avios is using them for Business/first where you pay slightly more in taxes but receive far more for your use of the miles.

If you say you have enough now for two tickets to Australia in Economy that is equal to 2x100,000 = 200,000 miles.

If this is a once only use of the miles due to the time it takes to earn them then i personally would use them to go to either North America or South Africa where although sounding slightly perverse you have a longer flight to get full value for your ticket.

East coast USA eg New York and Boston etc start at 80,000 per person in business. For first class this would be 120,000. British Airways allows you to split the ticket class so in theory you could fly out in First and return in Business for 100,000 miles per person. I think with regard to the taxes and fees its going to be around £400 odd per person so you are getting far more value for that expenditure than using them to buy a economy ticket.

All of the above does of course depend on availability but New York tends to be one of the easier places to get availability for. Remember just because BA are selling tickets on a route doesn't mean that those tickets are also avaialable to be bought with Avios.

Mid/West coast america costs slightly more with business starting at 100,000 and currently availability of flights doesn't look great but as long as you're flexible with dates etc you will find something eventually.

Two golden rules to always follow when using Avios
Be Flexible and only ever use it (for 99 times out of 100) in the pointy ends of the plane

[The main reason you would only ever buy an economy ticket with Avios would be if you wanted a ticket last minute where often economy tickets can price out reasonably expensive so it then makes sense to use them or for short intra-Europe trips where you can make good use of the scheme in economy with their saver tickets)

People keep suggesting that but it relies on the assumption that you'd actually pay for those benefits. I doubt I would, ergo using Avios for business instead of economy isn't saving me anything - it's costing me more!

E.g. business class to New York actually costs £531 in taxes, which depending on the dates, is generally more than you can get an economy ticket all-in for. So while you're saving money against the ticket price, you're spending far more (if you place value on your Avios anyway) than you would in economy.

Though now I've said all that, if they have no desire to ever fly anywhere ever again, then they could basically view it as a very cheap upgrade to business.

roundabouthere

I think the benefits make it in my opinion worth it but its up to individuals to decide on what they personally think is or isn't worth it.

I've only ever redeemed my Avios for first/business. My last trip to Australia in first cost £695 each when i booked it (this has obviously gone up since then) so to me that seems a no brainer when compared to buying an economy ticket.

Compare with say San Francisco where flights are more like £600 in economy and the taxes and fees work out less when using Avios than buying a straight-up economy ticket and the Avios ticket is fully flexibly allowing a full refund minus a small admin fee if you choose to cancel up to 24 hours before departure whereas the economy ticket won't.

As with all schemes some people see benefits where others don't

callum9999

roundabouthere wrote: »

I think the benefits make it in my opinion worth it but its up to individuals to decide on what they personally think is or isn't worth it.

I've only ever redeemed my Avios for first/business. My last trip to Australia in first cost £695 each when i booked it (this has obviously gone up since then) so to me that seems a no brainer when compared to buying an economy ticket.

Compare with say San Francisco where flights are more like £600 in economy and the taxes and fees work out less when using Avios than buying a straight-up economy ticket and the Avios ticket is fully flexibly allowing a full refund minus a small admin fee if you choose to cancel up to 24 hours before departure whereas the economy ticket won't.

As with all schemes some people see benefits where others don't

But my point is that it didn't cost you £695 (only around £800 now I believe), it would cost you that plus 300,000 Avios, which are not valueless.

I'm not criticising you at all -just pointing out that it isn't actually cheaper to use them like that. Better value for money certainly (again, assuming you're happy to pay extra for Club/First), but not cheaper. Especially if you just earn them doing things you would have done anyway - in which case they are basically "free money" and it makes sense to see it as such if that's how you like to travel.

roundabouthere

Most of my day to day spending is only ever done through my BA Amex so as you've pointed out most of these come through just living my life so i probably don't assign any great monetary value to obtaining them. If people are going out of their way to earn miles through tesco's buying 60 copies of Cliff Richard's album then obviously they may well see a cost in earning them.

Ultimately i see it as a way of extending the holidays that we go on starting from the moment we sit down in the lounge rather than when we arrive at our destination. To be honest i think when we went to Australia we were far more refreshed than we would have been at the back of the plan so we didn't need a day or two to recover and the same again when we returned home.

To me that benefit alone more than off-sets any associated costs earning them.

opinions4u

My experience of Avios is limited, but as soon as I priced up long haul economy I baulked.

Where I've found value is flights to Prague and Milan.

Additionally, using the points for upgrades long haul - Paying cash for World Traveller Plus and upgrading to Club with points is extraordinarily cheap compared to the usual price differential.

I find Avios hotel prices high but I'm not averse to paying for car hire using the points.

becominganobsessivesaver

Value can also depend on when you are travelling. We've booked flights to cancun over easter costing us £2k in taxes for four of us, we've booked a hotel for £3k. The cheapest first choice/thomas cook package is £5.5k for a hotel of a lower standard than the one we've booked. Economy flights with virgin cost £2,700 for the same dates. We've managed to get 2 seats in CW and two in WTP.
The other advantage we have is that with both the flight and hotel we can cancel at minimal notice and cost.

I am also a huge fan of the RFS we have used several of these from Ncl and they are an absolute bargain!

malkie76

Last minute economy tickets are good use of avios, when the ticket price escalates to the most expensive ticket buckets.

Remember, you also get a fully flexible ticket when you use avios - fully flexible tickets bought with cash are roughly three times the price of a discounted fare. Again, useful if your plans might change.

getmore4less

When people say fully flexable is that just for avios avaialbe dates or ANY date?