Avios - is it any good?

HCaz

Hi,

Can anyone provide any advice / experience of Avios. I have managed to build up a substantial amount of Avios over the last few years and am about to buy a new bathroom using a credit card that gives Avios as a reward for spend on the card.

I was thinking that with the bathroom being a big purchase I could redeem a large amount of Avios and treat myself to some flights later in the year.

However, I've read quite a few negative things about Avios i.e. poor flight availability and generally that you don't get as good a deal as if you just searched and paid for the flights in cash.

Can anyone shed any light?

Thanks

InsideInsurance

Avios or BA Executive Club (you can freely transfer the points between the two) is pretty much the same as any other air miles scheme.

Due to the high tax and fuel duty for flight originating from the UK it is rarely worth while buying a flight with them with the one exception being the Reward Saver Flights for 30 pounds. If you want to go outside of the zone 3 for the reward saver you are normally better using the points for an upgrade rather than for buying the tickets (but then that depends on if you want to fly by a higher class).

Always do your research though because with my flights last long haul flights it was cheaper to buy the tickets using avois + cash than to buy a lower grade an upgrade. When we werent able to travel we also got the benefit that they were automatically flexible tickets (despite being cheaper than the non-flexible cash only) and so got a full refund.

Sign up to a free BA account and look at https://www.britishairways.com/travel/reward-flights-map/execclub/_gf/en_gb?eId=106160 to see the availability for reward flights. Needless to say they do book up fairly fast but for out of season or where you are flexible it is often possible to get acceptable flights.

Doshwaster

Yup, some good advice above.

For short haul flights the availability and pricing is pretty good but for long haul there are few seats available on popular routes and you have to pay the tax - so forget about free trips to the US or Australia. If you are a regular BA flyer then by far the best use of Avios is for upgrades.

If you only have a few thousands then I'd just buy a box of wine or some other treat from the Aviois online store.

HCaz

Thanks for the tips.

[EMAIL="I@m"]I[/EMAIL] have about 40k of Avios at the moment and am toying with using them to try and get a flight to NYC which at the moment looks faesible.

However, I'm wondering whether it's best to continue collecting airmiles or whether to switch to Virgin's equivilent.
I collect Tesco ClubCard points you see and the reviews of Virgin's equivilent gets much more positive feedback than Avios...

jpsartre

If you're a bit flexible with dates and plan ahead it's usually not too hard to find reward seats to NYC. As mentioned before, however, it's rarely worth it for economy seats. Look for Club World or First seats (80k/120k Avios) or upgrades from World Traveller Plus (20k Avios).

RichandJ

InsideInsurance wrote: »

Avios or BA Executive Club (you can freely transfer the points between the two) is pretty much the same as any other air miles scheme.

Due to the high tax and fuel duty for flight originating from the UK it is rarely worth while buying a flight with them with the one exception being the Reward Saver Flights for 30 pounds. If you want to go outside of the zone 3 for the reward saver you are normally better using the points for an upgrade rather than for buying the tickets (but then that depends on if you want to fly by a higher class).

Always do your research though because with my flights last long haul flights it was cheaper to buy the tickets using avois + cash than to buy a lower grade an upgrade. When we werent able to travel we also got the benefit that they were automatically flexible tickets (despite being cheaper than the non-flexible cash only) and so got a full refund.

Sign up to a free BA account and look at https://www.britishairways.com/travel/reward-flights-map/execclub/_gf/en_gb?eId=106160 to see the availability for reward flights. Needless to say they do book up fairly fast but for out of season or where you are flexible it is often possible to get acceptable flights.

Reward Savers are going up from 11/7/13 I'm afraid:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/british-airways-executive-club/1474641-reward-flight-saver-fees-increasing-11-july-35-y-50-c-55-f-rtn.html

opinions4u

A good loyalty scheme needs a few things in my eyes:

1) You can easily value any points, deviate away from 1 point = 1p and you begin to undermine transparency.

2) You can access the goods you want when you want using the reward scheme. Limit availability and you immediately make those you are rewarding for their loyalty a second class citizen.

3) There should be no additional charges for using a loyalty programme.

Avios fails badly on these measures.

InsideInsurance

RichandJ wrote: »

Reward Savers are going up from 11/7/13 I'm afraid:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/british-airways-executive-club/1474641-reward-flight-saver-fees-increasing-11-july-35-y-50-c-55-f-rtn.html

Sorry, forgot to put the * and mentioning that all prices are correct at the date of going to press


As to Virgin -v- BA, personally I have both as I tend to use both as they have been the preferred airlines for a number of clients and I've followed the clients preference as to be on the same plane as "colleagues" plus my reward credit card allows me to transfer points into either.

Given the choice I would fly VS over BA but the amount of destinations is massively more for BA and due to the locations there is no VS equiv to the BA Reward Saver flights.

dickydonkin

opinions4u wrote: »

A good loyalty scheme needs a few things in my eyes:


2) You can access the goods you want when you want using the reward scheme. Limit availability and you immediately make those you are rewarding for their loyalty a second class citizen.
Avios fails badly on these measures.

Many may argue that offering too much availability which will invariably compromise revenue will ensure the company fails.

lady1964

I too would recommend reading various sticky threads on

www.flyertalk.com

the BAEC forum is really helpful.

We have nearly 200K Avios and have found the best use is to buy WT+ tickets and upgrade to Club World, particularly for long haul, which we tend to do twice a year. It's true that availability is sometimes poor, but it does vary from route to route and time of year. Some flights have zero availability for our chosen dates, so we have to be flexible where we can. BA do have several flights to/from NYC daily so if you can be flexible, it's always worth a look.

Doshwaster

lady1964 wrote: »

We have nearly 200K Avios and have found the best use is to buy WT+ tickets and upgrade to Club World, particularly for long haul, which we tend to do twice a year. It's true that availability is sometimes poor, but it does vary from route to route and time of year. Some flights have zero availability for our chosen dates, so we have to be flexible where we can. BA do have several flights to/from NYC daily so if you can be flexible, it's always worth a look.

Yes, a WTP to CW upgrade is by far the best of Avios especially if you are an elite member as you get most of the points back in bonuses so the upgrade is almost free. It is true that the availability at booking time is often poor but if you keep checking regularly then Avios upgrades often open up around 3-4 days before departure.