AVOID Barclays Avios/British Airways deal (scam)

dkiernander

Please do not be suckered in (like me) into the Barclays British Airways/Avios Scam if you are motivated by the free flight upgrade deal.

Firstly I believe Barclays are wholly innocent in this scam, I 100% blame BA.

The deal is, pay 12 pounds a month and get 1,500 avios per month, plus an annual voucher for a return cabin upgrade for one person OR 70,000 avios (which is not the default, you have to switch that in the Barclays app) 

For the last 4 years I have flown transatlantic with British Airways every 6 weeks or so to see my wife and children (so consider myself competent at booking flights), and thought this could be a banking perk that would suit me.

However, even if you accept the onerous terms and conditions with availability for flight bookings they do not allow comparison of costs between different flight.

If you don't have enough avios you cannot book the flight, and if you follow the link to buy more avios ( I purchased 1,779 pounds worth) they then UP THE NUMBER of avois you need for the flight, making it cheaper to just buy the flights with no voucher and no avios.

Combine that with the site intentionally changing the dates you book, claiming you have 2 or more tabs open (I did not), shifting the cabin class availability whilst trying to compare the flights and a complex series of steps which if missed out altered what was offered it was 4 hours of wasted time.

The better alternative is the annual 70,000 avios plus the 18,000 monthly avios, and even then it is not worth it.

88,000 avios is claimed to be worth 440 - 880 pounds.  I was just asked for 80,000 avios to reduce return economy flights London to New York by 300 pounds (they claim that 80,000 is worth 400 pounds minimum).

..and if BA do want to respond, I am not daft, I can book flights on your regular system in about 5 minute, and I do not accept any arguments over "dynamic bookings"  or "seats being booked whilst I was on line" as these were multiple flights being looked at on off peak flights a significant way in the future.

Forumites, please do yourself a favour... keep the money in your own pocket and chose flights on a day you want to fly, to a place you want to fly, with the best airline for that route.

I now have 2 of these vouchers that are worthless.

silvercar

Then again there are sites that are very popular where people share experiences on the easiest way to use these sorts of vouchers. They also report successes eg the flyertalk BA board and Headforpoints.

I have never heard of dynamic pricing on BA reward or upgrade flights, there are even tables available to show you what a flight would cost in Avios terms. Are you confusing reducing the price of a flight by using some Avios with booking a reward flight from the start?

"88,000 avios is claimed to be worth 440 - 880 pounds.  I was just asked for 80,000 avios to reduce return economy flights London to New York by 300 pounds (they claim that 80,000 is worth 400 pounds minimum)."

That is reducing the price of a flight by using Avios - never a good use of your Avios, instead try and book a reward flight saver. A return from London to New York will be 50,000 (peak=60,000) Avios in economy. You could upgrade using your voucher. Alternatively, if you took the Avios rather than keep the voucher, premium return would be 85,000 (peak=120,000) These numbers do not change.

When you compare the price of flights with the reward booking, are you comparing like for like? Reward flights are cancellable until 24 hours before hand, whereas buying a cancellable flight is expensive.

bagand96

It's the choice of a Barclays Upgrade voucher or 7000 Avios (not 70,000)

The Barclays and Barclaycard upgrade vouchers are usable to upgrade the cabin of your booking when booking a reward flight. The reward flight much be paid entirely in Avios, that's always been the Terms. They can't be used on an Avios + Cash booking.

Head For Points has a really good article explaining it https://www.headforpoints.com/2024/09/05/avios-upgrade-voucher-from-barclays-premier-barclays-avios-rewards/

The amount of Avios required  for a reward seat shouldn't change, to my knowledge BA don't yet apply dynamic pricing. It will change however based on Route/Class/Dates (peak and off peak)

However if you're looking to reduce the amount cost of a cahs fare by using Avios that isn't always the same. https://www.headforpoints.com/2025/04/21/what-is-an-avios-point-worth-9/

Theres many ways to use Avios and how you choose to do it will vary the value you get. 

Some of the other issues you describe are a function of BA's terrible website and IT. Unfortunately you just have to grin and bare it but you can usually get there in the end.