Avios to launch ‘redeem your points for a discount on a cash ticket’?

I have mentioned before that I have it on decent authority that Avios will launch a scheme later this year to allow you to pay for all or part of a cash ticket with your Avios points. 

I was interested to see that some people have received a survey from Ipsos Mori asking for their views on the idea.

I was sent over some screenshots of the options that the survey laid out.  Respondents were asked for their enthusiasm about the following scenarios:

• Redeem 5,300 Avios for a £40 cash saving on a Club Europe ticket (0.75p/Avios)
• Redeem 9,000 Avios for a £130 cash saving on a World Traveller (Economy) long-haul ticket (1.44p/Avios)
• Redeem 60,000 Avios for a £700 cash saving on a Club World ticket (1.17p/Avios)

The questionnaire said that the tickets will be treated as standard cash tickets and will therefore earn standard Avios and tier points when you fly.

Now, as ever, the devil is in the detail here.

I do not, for a second, believe that you will be getting 1.44p per Avios redeemed.  That would be ludicrously generous.  The ONLY scenario I can see where this would happen is if the number of Avios you could redeem was capped.

There are two ways BA could play this, as I see it.  At present, if you redeem your Avios points for a hotel stay, you get 0.58p per Avios of value compared to booking the same room for cash – I did a long post on this a while ago.

If you are able to pay the ENTIRE cost of a flight in Avios, the redemption rate will be low – probably the same 0.58p per Avios they use for hotel redemptions

If you are only able to pay a small part of the cost of a flight in Avios, the redemption rate can be a lot more generous, possibly above 1p.  You will still be paying out a lot of cash for your ticket, though.

BA seems to be considering both scenarios.  One of the questions, for example, is

‘If you were booking a flight for £500, how attractive would the option be of paying £370 + 9,000 Avios?’

However, a second question is:

‘If an easyJet flight was £100 and you could book the same flight on BA for 5,300 Avios, how attractive would this be?’

We need to see how this plays out.  My personal view is that BA should allow you to redeem for the full cost of a flight in Avios, even if this means a lower redemption rate per Avios point.  It will, for a start, stop people being able to claim that they can never use their Avios points.

For long-haul economy flights, the rates will actually look pretty attractive – it is very poor value at the moment redeeming for long-haul economy with their £375+ fuel surcharges.

Keep an eye on Head for Points for future developments on this.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2024)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.