Good guide. I'm thinking that my Avios should be used for: (1) Long-haul flights with the likes of Finnair and, once it has sorted itself out, Qatar. (2) BA Club Europe flights. (3) Buying the odd extra legroom seats on BA long-haul. On my Club Europe reward flights last week, I noticed that it was the 4th of 6 points/cash combos that offered the best value - and that was counter-intuitive.
That last point is particularly interesting. I tend to just automatically select the old points/cash combo but seems like it’s worth always doing the calculation
Uber UK has partnership with BA £1 for 1point, on rides and Ubers trains + (if you book trains uber gives you 10% of the value of ticket in uber credit)
BA's Avios program is just terrible! We (my wife and I) have points on United, AA and BA. BA Avios are by far the hardest to spend. There is barely any availability. When there is, it's usually poor value or terrible connections. It's easier to book BA flights through her AA account using AA miles. BA is a dirty monopoly protected by the British government against the interest of their own citizens.
@@GWJUK I don't know what you're talking about. Even as a Gold cardholder, they only give you availability in their Business Class in Europe. That means economy seats, economy legroom with some food served, for twice the price of economy. Economy seats almost never open up. Only dumb Brits who's never experienced US frequent flyer programs would defend BA. It's like the constant nonsense in British media about how the terrible NHS is "world class". It is not. It's "patriotic" British delusion. BA's FF program is really, really bad in international comparison. I don't think it's patriotic to defend a terrible national institution. What's patriotic is calling out their gaslighting, so they finally step their game up.
Nice to discover the deals to Doha. You're forgeting Iberia, when you reedem your Avios on them expecially with 50% discount avios promo, u get great deala to US, Central and South América.
watching this video from New Zealand, i don't believe we have Avios points here., but we do have Airpoints with our national carrier Air New Zealand.Airpoints can also be earned by using a airpoints card in most shops/stores through-out NZ.
Hello, is it wise to book an award ticket with avios or should I book an economy ticket first and then upgrade it to a business class. which one has more value
You’ll typically get better value with a full award ticket rather than upgrading, particularly on routes that qualify for reward flight saver. For upgrading you can only go up one class too, so if you want business on long haul you’d need to buy the premium economy fare if upgrading
My wife and I are flying business class from LGW to YVR return for £450 each. We used around 160000 Avios and a companion voucher. That's a winner for us. PS. The companion voucher opens up more rewards flights.
@merkerface when we applied the companion voucher to our return flights to YVR from Gatwick we got a notification telling us that more flights were open to us. It certainly looked like it from our previous searches.
Do you know the logic behind CPH-DOH for an incredible 20k Avios and £40? I had to go see it myself to believe it. The pricing doesn’t seem to follow the usual BA partner airline pricing based on distance?
Just saw your post on head for points! Thanks for sharing the video. If this is just a pricing glitch I’m glad I’ve got it booked before it gets noticed!
Can you direct me to any links or advice on using avios points in canada? It seemed a little tricky to redeem when i tried. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I'd like to use some points before they expire so i dont need to keep topping up in case they expire. 🙏
Do you currently hold your avios with BA? Best bet if you’re based in Canada and don’t have plans to fly to the UK with BA might be to use points on American Airlines flights to or via the states. If you do choose that option you’d be best off transferring your avios to a Qatar account as you can book American Airlines flights with Avios via the Qatar website for less than with BA.
How do you see where is available to fly to with the companion voucher. DO you have to type in all the destinations and check or is there a page that shows you what is available?
They have the reward flight finder that will show general availability but to specifically search for companion voucher availability I believe the only way it is to do individual searches
I’m personally flying with BA on a cash ticket to Copenhagen and then taking a Finnair flight using avios to Doha soon. Won’t always work out better due to the cost of flying outside the UK to position yourself for the avios flight, but can be some significant savings if the connecting flight is inexpensive or if you can get there using relatively few points
Am i right in thinking the BA (Blue AMEX card) will only allow you to get economy flight tickets when using companion voucher? If i wanted business class i have to avoid using companion voucher and just use straight up Avios Points?
You can either transfer the points to a Qatar account via combine my avios and then book via Qatars website, or you can actually book via the BA website. When booking a reward flight on BA availability for some partner airlines should show if they fly the route being searched
The main ones that use avios as their loyalty currency are BA, Qatar, Iberia, Finnair, Aer Lingus. But you can also book others through BA such as American Airlines and Qantas.
Good guide.
I'm thinking that my Avios should be used for:
(1) Long-haul flights with the likes of Finnair and, once it has sorted itself out, Qatar.
(2) BA Club Europe flights.
(3) Buying the odd extra legroom seats on BA long-haul.
On my Club Europe reward flights last week, I noticed that it was the 4th of 6 points/cash combos that offered the best value - and that was counter-intuitive.
That last point is particularly interesting. I tend to just automatically select the old points/cash combo but seems like it’s worth always doing the calculation
I use BA Avios points all the time when travel from DFW to ICN. I typically get 2+ cents/point which beats AMEX 1 cent/point
Charles, this is the BEST video which you have made - absolutely stunningly useful, any chance of making a downloadable summary??
Don’t have anything downloadable yet, but if I ever find the time to get a website set up I will include this kind of thing
Their redemption on domestic American and Alaska flights are hit or miss, but there when I need them.
Get rid of the background music 🎶 it’s very distracting and isn’t helping your presentation at all!
Noted, thanks!
Uber UK has partnership with BA £1 for 1point, on rides and Ubers trains + (if you book trains uber gives you 10% of the value of ticket in uber credit)
BA's Avios program is just terrible! We (my wife and I) have points on United, AA and BA. BA Avios are by far the hardest to spend. There is barely any availability. When there is, it's usually poor value or terrible connections. It's easier to book BA flights through her AA account using AA miles. BA is a dirty monopoly protected by the British government against the interest of their own citizens.
SH availability is pretty easy so Europe is within reach
@@GWJUK I don't know what you're talking about. Even as a Gold cardholder, they only give you availability in their Business Class in Europe. That means economy seats, economy legroom with some food served, for twice the price of economy. Economy seats almost never open up. Only dumb Brits who's never experienced US frequent flyer programs would defend BA. It's like the constant nonsense in British media about how the terrible NHS is "world class". It is not. It's "patriotic" British delusion. BA's FF program is really, really bad in international comparison. I don't think it's patriotic to defend a terrible national institution. What's patriotic is calling out their gaslighting, so they finally step their game up.
Nice to discover the deals to Doha. You're forgeting Iberia, when you reedem your Avios on them expecially with 50% discount avios promo, u get great deala to US, Central and South América.
I’ve actually got an Iberia trip booked for next year to Central America. You’re right, the points savings are great!
watching this video from New Zealand, i don't believe we have Avios points here., but we do have Airpoints with our national carrier Air New Zealand.Airpoints can also be earned by using a airpoints card in most shops/stores through-out NZ.
Hello, is it wise to book an award ticket with avios or should I book an economy ticket first and then upgrade it to a business class. which one has more value
You’ll typically get better value with a full award ticket rather than upgrading, particularly on routes that qualify for reward flight saver. For upgrading you can only go up one class too, so if you want business on long haul you’d need to buy the premium economy fare if upgrading
My wife and I are flying business class from LGW to YVR return for £450 each. We used around 160000 Avios and a companion voucher. That's a winner for us.
PS. The companion voucher opens up more rewards flights.
Can you explain how the companion voucher opens up more flights?
@merkerface when we applied the companion voucher to our return flights to YVR from Gatwick we got a notification telling us that more flights were open to us. It certainly looked like it from our previous searches.
Do you know the logic behind CPH-DOH for an incredible 20k Avios and £40? I had to go see it myself to believe it. The pricing doesn’t seem to follow the usual BA partner airline pricing based on distance?
I’ve no idea to be honest, I only discovered this recently and definitely looking to book it soon.
Yes, very interesting! Thanks for the video 👍
I raised this on the HfP forum with credit to your video.
Just saw your post on head for points! Thanks for sharing the video. If this is just a pricing glitch I’m glad I’ve got it booked before it gets noticed!
i recently checked the route CPH - DOH, but could not get the same rate, the rate is now 55.000 avios
Can you direct me to any links or advice on using avios points in canada? It seemed a little tricky to redeem when i tried. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I'd like to use some points before they expire so i dont need to keep topping up in case they expire. 🙏
Do you currently hold your avios with BA? Best bet if you’re based in Canada and don’t have plans to fly to the UK with BA might be to use points on American Airlines flights to or via the states. If you do choose that option you’d be best off transferring your avios to a Qatar account as you can book American Airlines flights with Avios via the Qatar website for less than with BA.
How do you see where is available to fly to with the companion voucher. DO you have to type in all the destinations and check or is there a page that shows you what is available?
They have the reward flight finder that will show general availability but to specifically search for companion voucher availability I believe the only way it is to do individual searches
Is it best to fly to Copenhagen and then fly with a partner airline to reduce Avios spend ?
I’m personally flying with BA on a cash ticket to Copenhagen and then taking a Finnair flight using avios to Doha soon. Won’t always work out better due to the cost of flying outside the UK to position yourself for the avios flight, but can be some significant savings if the connecting flight is inexpensive or if you can get there using relatively few points
Am i right in thinking the BA (Blue AMEX card) will only allow you to get economy flight tickets when using companion voucher? If i wanted business class i have to avoid using companion voucher and just use straight up Avios Points?
Yes, if you want to use a companion voucher for business class you need the voucher that comes with the BA Premium Plus Amex (black card)
Thank you for the response :)
How do you book with partner airlines like quatar ?
You can either transfer the points to a Qatar account via combine my avios and then book via Qatars website, or you can actually book via the BA website. When booking a reward flight on BA availability for some partner airlines should show if they fly the route being searched
How do I found witch company accept my avios? (From Amex) Sorry I'm new in this world 😅
The main ones that use avios as their loyalty currency are BA, Qatar, Iberia, Finnair, Aer Lingus. But you can also book others through BA such as American Airlines and Qantas.
Thank you!
Does the Barclays upgrade cabin voucher include Qatar airways?
Sadly not. Only works on BA unfortunately
@@charlesontravels thanks Charles. In that case I will change my 12 month award to 7000 Avios points.
@@charlesontravels but then again cabin upgrade is worth a lot