Does anyone collect Avios?

Neo187

I have been foolishly collecting Avios for the past year. I have been collecting on their site, rather than through a credit card, so when i'm doing online shopping, ill put the purchases through avios first. I've managed to collect 30K+ avios so far, which is very nice. However, I have now only just realised its potentially a waste of time. I went to book a flight to New York to visit a friend, and the total was 28K avios, which is fine. However, you need to pay a fee on top of £330! I checked online flights, and I could find a return with BA on their site for £330! So absolutely no point in using avios! Anyone else had a similar situation? The additional costs on top of using avios seems to make the avios worthless.

k3lvc

Via the original BA Exec club and a BA Amex card I've collected them for years but as the flight taxes/surcharges have gone up so the appeal has reduced. 10yrs ago it was lucrative and I managed a pair of Business Class returns to NY for 50k points and c.£200 but nowadays I only use them for redeeming on their European offers with fees included or for hotel redemptions.

Hopefully if you've managed to collect that number you've done it via a BA Amex card to get the free companion voucher ?

malkie76

You get a fully flexible economy ticket with avois worth roughly three times that of the non flexible cash ticket you are comparing to. This can be useful for some, or for last minute tickets when all the cheap ones are sold.

You should look at other options if this isn’t useful for you, such as upgrading to business (from Premier economy), or a full redemption into business class.

Also you can get cash discounts using avois (rather than a redemption ticket)

It takes some playing on the website to find out what’s good for you.

CM66

Long haul economy redemptions are the worst use of Avios (as you have found out) Have a look at Head For Points for lots of good information on how to get the most from your Avios.

The best value is on European redemption as there is a fixed charge of £35 / £50 return

PeacefulWaters

Long haul economy redemptions are a waste of time unless you value the genuine flexibility of the fare.

Short haul reward flight saver fares and long haul business class fares tend to be the sweet spots. Especially if you can use them on airlines that aren't called British Airways.

Headforpoints web site is an excellent resource that can help you fine tune your points collection and identify redemption sweet spots.

The British Airways section of the Flyertalk forums is also very good.

I'd suggest you further educate yourself on the options. Paying for economy flights and earning Avios towards future higher class flying may be a better choice this year.

stevenhp1987

As above, long haul economy are the worst redemption.

Best to save up for Premium / Business or take several short-haul economy flights where the taxes are capped at £35 return or £50 for business.

Todays article on HeadForPoints is also relevant (and looks like part 1 of several this month): https://www.headforpoints.com/2018/01/02/how-to-redeem-spend-avios-points/

Alisha2008

I use them to cut down the prices of short flights (for example I go to Spain on Sat and I paid half the fare with Avios, I didn't have many), and some friends are flying to Dubai in a couple of weeks and upgraded to first class using Avios, so not a waste of time at all, considering it doesn't cost you anything to collect them.

Nerjafan

As previously said, you're better off using them for short haul European flights where the taxes are capped at £35/50. Also remember to book two onevway flights rather than a return to save a few quid. We book flights to Europe every year doing this,- either city breaks ir beach destinations.
I've been to the US a few times via Dublin with Aer Lingus, as you can use your BA Avios with them and the taxes are much cheaper than BA. Currently looking into using Avios to go to Hong Kong booking with Cathay airlines, another partner of BA which offer cheaper and better options than BA.
The worst option of all is using avios for long haul economy!
I found .Head for points very useful in explaining all the different options.

silvercar

Long Haul Business/ First class flights are a good use of Avios, as are economy short haul. Anything between is a waste of money and Avios.

We've gone long haul each of the last 3 years with a companion voucher and Avios and paid about the same in real money as a cheap economy fare.

Don't forget the benefit of being able to cancel a flight and get the Avios back with 24 hours notice.

steve1500

Also worth pointing out you can use them with partner Airlines. We are using them to fly from Miami to Barbados with American

10k in Avios & £5.70 in fees

theonlywayisup

We take 4-5 long haul (mid haul) flights in F each year. The "fee" is somewhere in the region of £500 each. That's a far more effective way to spend Avios/BAEC points.

As has been suggested, read Headforpoints and perhaps take out an Amex card or two.