Wobbles in Crawley? Unprecedented 50% bonus for buying Avios launches tomorrow

JamesW says:

I had been intending to blow most of my Avios at some point on two or three first class returns somewhere making use of a 2-4-1 voucher. I have spent also Avios along the way on European trips every year whilst saving the bulk up for a fancy first class trip.

However the more I’ve thought about biting the bullet and blowing all my airmiles on some premium long haul flights before April 28th, the more I’ve come to realise how much I actually value using Avios for european redemptions. Pretty often when I’ve used avios rather than paying for European flights I’ve been doing so at fairly last minute prices. So whilst its true that I could have flown from x-y with Ryanair if I’d booked the flights 3 months earlier for the same as I’d pay in the RFS fee with Avios, the fact is those same flights when I book them are well over £100 and even as much as £300 each. Then the few Avios plus £35 / £50 saves me an absolute fortune.
Just yesterday my parents & I have an urgent need (not life threatening or anything) to visit family in Dublin. We can go in a couple of days time for 9,000Avios + £35 each whereas Ryanair is currently costing £100 each (from a far less convenient airport). Infact we had dates we initiually HAD to fly on to be there for a specific time & date (not just ASAP) and those initial dateswere over £270 EACH on the losest cost airlines at the time (Ryanair & Aer Lingus) !! With Avios again being just the RFS charge. So if that need hadn’t changed we’d have been paying £105 for three flights using Avios instead of a shocking £810. That’s a bloody good saving and a cracking Avios value, so its not only premium cabin long-haul which can prove incredible value.
As someone who is pretty poor at planning little breaks way in advance I do find the RFS routes an absolute bargain.

Therefore I’m thinking that I’m going to let the ‘dream’ of flying around the world in BA’s First Class for £500 pretty much die off and keep enjoying the ability to save hundreds & hundreds on short-haul last minute flights. Besides, having flown BA club world to a few places with work and Emirates business class (A380s mostly) when paying my own money I think that Emirates club class looks the same, if not better, than BA’s first class hard product. Sure food & wine might be a bit better but in terms of comfort it doesn’t look to me like BA F is any better than EK J.
Of course I haven’t actually flown BA F !! And there will be people who disagree.
But when I look at Emirates business class with 4 seats across an A380 and compare it to BA’s F its very, very similar. It certainly is far better than BA’s J at 8 seats across !!!!!!!!!!!

So I’m happy paying for EK J when I want long haul luxury and burning avios for short-haul last minute flights, which are an absolute bargain & save hundreds.

When I want a BA first class long haul flight, I’ll pay for an Emirates business class flight & get 95% of the service for a fraction of the price 🙂

Let the arguments commence 🙂

thesaver79 says:

Am I right to say that that I would get much more than 1p per Avios if I use the Lloyds upgrade voucher?

Don says:

Raffles thanks for your suggestions regarding using LH miles and the fact they don’t expire for 3 years.

My FB Silver status lapses end of March and I think this means by miles expire forthwith. I’ve got 36k to use. Any good suggestions? I’d probably bite on a 50% EU redemption in J class but the o/w J awards are a pain cos I wouldn’t be able to get back cost effectively. I know you don’t bother with FB for obvious reasons so perhaps anyone can give me some tips.

Cheers to all.