AVIOS Points

BuddingLawyer

Hi all

So I've been using my Lloyds AMEX card (have the duo) almost exclusively now over the past few months and have accumulated circa 5k points.

I logged onto the website to see what the offers were like - I was mainly interested in flights. I wasn't looking to see what I could do with my points now, but maybe in the future once I'm totaling 50k+.

I was very disappointed to say the least. Long haul flights seem out the question. I thought I could maybe book a short haul flight to Europe once a year, but after checking Paris for example, it's 18,000 for 2 people + £70 - the same price I would normally pay using skyscanner for example :sad:

What gives? Are there only a few instances where the points would be useful? Is it time to bin the card and look for a better rewarding one?

Edit: A bit of a side question - I'm wanting to pay for my next holiday with the Amex, but only have a 1k limit - can I put more money on the card, over and above my limit, and then pay for the flights using it?

MallyGirl

You cannot put your card in credit - that would violate T&Cs I would expect.

It is quite hard to use Avios these days and certainly not worth it for long haul as you still get hit with the taxes
I did manage 2 club class tickets to Barcelona on Avios last year but think I was just lucky.

reclusive46

MallyGirl wrote: »

You cannot put your card in credit - that would violate T&Cs I would expect.

It is quite hard to use Avios these days and certainly not worth it for long haul as you still get hit with the taxes

I'd disagree with not worth it for long haul. Just not worth it for long haul economy. Club world to US is a lot more than than the taxes you pay.

If your not a big spender collecting Avios is probably not worth it, you could try boosting your pot though by signing up to the Amex gold, you get 20000 Membership reward points (You can transfer MRP to Avios at 1 to 1). This is only any good though if your going to spend £2000 on it in the first 3 months.

The ba amex also gives you 9000 Avios if you spend £1000.

PeacefulWaters

Avios are poor value if you want to use them for economy transatlantic flights.

The £35 plus 9,000 European fares are ok, because they include luggage etc. you rarely get £35 return flights elsewhere.

I've saved mine up with the intention of booking club class return flights to the USA. But even then the taxes cost as much as an economy ticket!

If you're travelling internally within the USA you can get better value out of them, especially with virtually no APD to pay on fares.

Google "best way to use Avios" and read. Learning how to maximise the benefit rather than wasting the miles on hotel rooms and car hire.

reclusive46

PeacefulWaters wrote: »

Avios are poor value if you want to use them for economy transatlantic flights.

The £35 plus 9,000 European fares are ok, because they include luggage etc.

I've saved mine up with the intention of booking club class return flights to the USA. But even then the taxes cost as much as an economy ticket!

If you're travelling internally within the USA you can get better value out of them, especially with virtually no APD to pay on fares.

Agreed, US domestic flights are great with Avios, last year in the sale I got a return from JFK to LAX for about 8000 Avios and about £2 in taxes in First.

pingles

You can certainly get value from Avios but you have to be flexible and probably reach a minimum level of spend to make it worth it.

For me, the biggest earner has been triggering sign-up bonuses and collecting extra points in bonus categories (Amex's Gold card would give double points for Amazon for example).

I also paid for the BA Premium Card that provides a 2-4-1 voucher (making it achievable to accumulate enough points for tickets for me and my wife). It has an annual fee, but, assuming you hit the £10k spend for the year it's value is way more than £150. For me it means a 200k redemption costs 100k + £150 (so not bad at all, accumulating 200k points in a year or so would be practically impossible for me. hitting 100k is quite feasible with sign-up bonuses etc.).

Having said that, check you're spending on your Amex rather than MasterCard (the MasterCard returns 0.2 Avios per £1) and that if you're buying stuff online whether you can buy it through the BA or Avios e-Stores- you'll pick up 2, 4, or even 8x the Avios per £1 (plus what you earn on your card). I was intending on buying an iPad this year, John Lewis had a promo to earn 3 Avios per £1- adding the Avios from the BA card it would've been 4.5 Avios per £1 so about 2250 Avios from 1 transaction.

Make sure you're enrolled to collect Avios through as much of your other spend too (Tesco Clubcard points being a good example).

As for redeeming the Avios- Avios.com has a map that'll show you where you can get and, once you've picked a destination, which months have availability. You'll have to be a bit flexible and book as soon as you can- we booked a trip to Singapore later this year about 12 months before we travel, even then it wasn't possible to get return flights in Club World (so I ended up spending a bit more to upgrade the outbound to First and return in CW).

BA will charge you high taxes but it is possible to travel via European destinations or with other carriers to reduce your taxes. I can't recommend reading http://www.headforpoints.com/the-beginners-guide-to-collecting-avios-points/ enough. The site is incredibly useful.

All in you're probably not going to get a decent return (ie. greater than a good cashback card) unless you redeem on long-haul premium fares, but those will be much better than just pure cashback.

pingles

WRT buying your holiday, you could open the Amex Preferred Rewards card- its a charge card so you'd have to settle the balance but they apply limits differently so you may stand a chance of being able to preauthorise the transaction if you can prove your ability to repay (I've not done this before but they write about it in their documentation).

Plus the PRG has a good intro bonus and you'll get double points on travel spend.

jamesml

I've not used points for short haul flights personally although my brother uses them a lot to fly between Brussels and home at short notice. Generally when I look for short haul flights I leave it too late and there are no reward seats left on the flights I want.

Having said that we used points on long haul to Mauritius (sp) this year for our honeymoon - I can't remember whether we upgraded with points or bought the flights with points completely - either way, there was no way we could have afforded to upgrade with cash, but using the points meant we ended up paying in cash (taxes) similar prices to economy but flew out in CW and back in Business/First. It was well worth using the points for.

InsideInsurance

As others have said, with avios bookings you still pay tax and fuel (exc reward flights). As economy fairs are almost all tax and fuel then there is little benefit in booking these with points.

Avios come into their own when being used to upgrade from economy to other levels, the higher you go the better value generally.

The Reward flights are a mixed bag. I've been to Italy and Ireland using my Avios recently, both were booked late and without avios they'd have been £450 and £200 rather than the £35 I paid.

If you can plan in advance then it may be less sensible to use Avios. Holding One World status just generally going with BA is advantageous to me given I get free seat booking and business class lounge access which all add value -v- getting a budget airline for around the same price with fore planning

battyboimatt

I have to agree using Avois is great, I have just booked LHR to LAX in first class for 75K plus £378.55 for October

billchecker1

You sure thats First and not Club World (business class)?