Avios points are pretty well useless now

LittlePants · 12 February 2018 at 1:33PM

Sorry this is a rant, but I need to let off steam.

I have used Avios points for many years booking ferry crossings. This year I tried to book again only to find that ferry travel has been removed. Having spent all my Tesco Clubcard points on purchasing Avios points I am now extremely annoyed to find that I cannot use them. The only offers available are extremely expensive and so far, although I have tried several options from booking a flight, to car hire to a private transfer, Avios charges come up every time at about 3 times what I can buy the flight/carhire/transfer for direct.

The 9250 points I now have are absolutely useless. Apparently if you live in London you may be OK. Flights booked out of London are available, (or so Avios tells me) but seeing as I live in Cumbria, that is a little unrealistic.

I am REALLY annoyed about this change, and the fact that Avios didn't inform their members of the changes well enough in advance to refrain from wasting Tesco Clubcard points on purchasing Avios points. These it appears are pretty well useless to me now.

Avios informs me that Martins Money tips say this is a great scheme. I can't find any reference to it, but would really appreciate a further investigation as to whether this is still a good scheme - because to my mind it is worse than useless, and certainly NOT a money saver.

Return Flight from Manchester to Geneva recently investigated - £350+ return via Avios. Flight booked vis Jet2 £49.50. RIP OFF of the first order.

Does anyone else have similar experiences?

Nick_C · 12 February 2018 at 1:41PM

Avios is essentially an airline rewards scheme, and it works well for airline rewards.

It's particularly good for long haul flights in First or Business (but not economy) or short haul "Reward Flight Savers".

Like most airline schemes, redemptions outside of the airlines are not great.

I've got over 10,000 Virgin miles and nearly 13,000 AA miles - now they are useless. But my partner and I flew business class to LA last year using Avios, and we have enough to do the same again.

On the smallest scale, you can use avios to pay for food and drink on short haul economy flights.

Alikay · 12 February 2018 at 1:47PM

I think Avios is pretty good, as loyalty points schemes go, but we have them as DH earns them for business travel: I'd never swap Tesco Clubcard points which have lots of redemption opportunities for Avios which are more restricted.

I agree the flights aren't that great - we live in the Midlands so in general use Ryanair/Jet2 flights from our local airports. What about using your Avios towards a hotel stay or afternoon tea?

jpsartre · 12 February 2018 at 1:50PM

LittlePants wrote: »

Avios informs me that Martins Money tips say this is a great scheme. I can't find any reference to it, but would really appreciate a further investigation as to whether this is still a good scheme - because to my mind it is worse than useless, and certainly NOT a money saver.

There is no such thing as a good or bad scheme simpliciter, it all depends on what you want from it. If your only interest is in ferry crossing and you can no longer use Avios for this purpose then it's obviously not a good scheme for you. I use Avios for flights on a regular basis and find that it's great value (and no, I don't live in London) so for me it works.

Your flight comparison makes little sense to me as you cannot book Jet2 flights using Avios so whatever you're comparing it's not like for like. BA reward saver from MAN to GVA (via LHR) will cost you £35 + 9000 Avios (8000 if travelling on an off-peak day). Of course, you can always find examples where Avios presents very little (or even negative) value just as you can find examples of the opposite. E.g. an Avios ticket on a flight to FRA from LHR this afternoon will cost you £17.50 + 4500 Avios vs £567 for a cash ticket.

richardw · 12 February 2018 at 2:27PM

Btw BA have increased their non stop flights for summer from MAN starting mid May.

theonlywayisup · 12 February 2018 at 2:46PM

LittlePants wrote: »

Sorry this is a rant, but I need to let off steam.

I have used Avios points for many years booking ferry crossings. This year I tried to book again only to find that ferry travel has been removed. Having spent all my Tesco Clubcard points on purchasing Avios points I am now extremely annoyed to find that I cannot use them. The only offers available are extremely expensive and so far, although I have tried several options from booking a flight, to car hire to a private transfer, Avios charges come up every time at about 3 times what I can buy the flight/carhire/transfer for direct.

The 9250 points I now have are absolutely useless. Apparently if you live in London you may be OK. Flights booked out of London are available, (or so Avios tells me) but seeing as I live in Cumbria, that is a little unrealistic.

I am REALLY annoyed about this change, and the fact that Avios didn't inform their members of the changes well enough in advance to refrain from wasting Tesco Clubcard points on purchasing Avios points. These it appears are pretty well useless to me now.

Avios informs me that Martins Money tips say this is a great scheme. I can't find any reference to it, but would really appreciate a further investigation as to whether this is still a good scheme - because to my mind it is worse than useless, and certainly NOT a money saver.

Return Flight from Manchester to Geneva recently investigated - £350+ return via Avios. Flight booked vis Jet2 £49.50. RIP OFF of the first order.

Does anyone else have similar experiences?

I can understand your frustration if you exchanged for a certain deal only to find it isn't there, but did you check before you exchanged?

FWIW I don't live in London, I live further from an international airport than you do I bet....and yet I still manage to spend my Avios. I find the best redemptions apart from RFS (reward flight saver) are F or J long haul. That being said, we went to Rome last weekend for the rugby in CE and it basically cost standard Avios redemption and £50 in real money for the taxes on a flight that was costed at £2kplus on the day. I think I easily consumed £50 worth of food and champagne in the lounge and on the flight.

PeacefulWaters · 12 February 2018 at 3:16PM

Red wine it is then.

Or Prosecco.

CM66 · 12 February 2018 at 3:59PM

Its completely subjective - i think Avios are great. I've just booked 2 business class return flights to Toronto for 100k miles and £800

Nick_C · 12 February 2018 at 4:54PM

CM66 wrote: »

Its completely subjective - i think Avios are great. I've just booked 2 business class return flights to Toronto for 100k miles and £800

How did you manage that?

To get two flights for 100K you must be using a 241 voucher on BA metal.

The fees and charges come out at £513 each when I look!

Edit: Are you starting in Inverness? or Jersey?

CM66 · 12 February 2018 at 5:39PM

Nick_C wrote: »

How did you manage that?

To get two flights for 100K you must be using a 241 voucher on BA metal.

The fees and charges come out at £513 each when I look!

Edit: Are you starting in Inverness? or Jersey?

Sorry yes - omitted a few details, its an EX-Jersey and a BA 241 voucher!

Nick_C · 12 February 2018 at 6:03PM

Surprised how much late availability there is to Toronto! Enjoy your trip.

Avios points are pretty well useless now

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