BA Avios Points - flight more expensive

smash7

I'm not sure if this is in the right board...


I am planning a trip to the USA this year and thought I would use my Avios points to get a reduction in the cost of the flights. I only have 21,700 points and therefore did not expect any substantial saving but, every little helps of course!


Cost of flights if booked without Avios points: £1,358.25
Cost of flights if booked with redeemed Avios points: £1,502.25


Am I missing something here....?!?
Any ideas? Many thanks in advance

marsman802

smash7 wrote: »

I'm not sure if this is in the right board...


I am planning a trip to the USA this year and thought I would use my Avios points to get a reduction in the cost of the flights. I only have 21,700 points and therefore did not expect any substantial saving but, every little helps of course!


Cost of flights if booked without Avios points: £1,358.25
Cost of flights if booked with redeemed Avios points: £1,502.25


Am I missing something here....?!?
Any ideas? Many thanks in advance

You will be hard pressed to find a long haul economy ticket that is cheaper using Avios if you aren't paying the whole thing in Avios (I'm assuming you are paying Avios + money?).

Short-haul eco is cheap and readily available at short notice.

Best value for Avios is to book a Premium Economy cash fare and upgrade using Avios to Business Class.

That's it in a nutshell but I'm sure some other people will add other bits.

InsideInsurance

Avios flights are normally a flexible ticket type, are the prices for booking in cash also flexible or not? I suspect not.

As per the above, the best use of points is almost always an upgrade rather than to buy a ticket with it. Economy in particular is virtually all tax/ fuel supplements etc which is still payable on a miles booked ticket. The only exception to this is the BA Reward Flights which are a flat 35 quid return plus points depending on distance.

steve1500

If you only have 21,000 Avios I would save them for Europe. You can also use them with Monarch

For long haul Avios only come into their own for either up grades as mentioned or if you can get a ticket for a peak time i.e. Summer Hols - but that takes a lot of planning

bb69

Agree about using Avios to upgrade if there is reward availability.

Have you had a look on http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/british-airways-executive-club-446/

A great forum for advice re booking with Avios etc

silvercar

I value Avios at about 1p a point. so if paying with Avios isn't saving you that much money then I would buy the ticket.

jpsartre

Do as BB69 says and look for upgrade options instead. Depending on where you are flying, 20k Avios might be enough for an upgrade both ways. Note that this essentially requires buying tickets in Premium Economy though since only economy tickets from the highest fare class are upgradable.

smash7

Thank you for the replys, I did not realise upgrading was an option, seems a better use of the points to me, especially with a 1 year old! Many thanks again!