More Avios flight booking quirks …. confusion over Gold Priority Reward pricing
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I wrote a piece yesterday covering the confusion that is occuring when readers try to book a British Airways American Express 2-4-1 voucher trip by adding a return flight to an existing one-way booking.
This isn’t the only bit of Avios booking confusion at the moment.
There is also confusion at the British Airways call centre over Gold Priority Rewards.
What is a Gold Priority Reward?
Very simply, a British Airways Gold member can book a seat on ANY BA flight using Avios. The catch is that you have to use DOUBLE the normal amount.
You cannot use an American Express 2-4-1 voucher. You cannot book on BA CityFlyer services from London City Airport. Your flight must be booked more than 30 days before departure.
There is some further information on the BA Gold benefits page here.
These rewards are poor value for long haul – how does 240,000 Avios + £550ish of tax for a return to Dubai in Club World sound? For short-haul European bookings, these rewards have some use. Let’s take our standard run to Hamburg to visit the parents in law.
A standard Avios reward ticket on a peak day is 9,000 Avios + £35 taxes
A ‘Priority Reward’ would cost me 18,000 Avios + £35 taxes
Let’s look at the costs here. If a flight has no Avios availability, it is likely to be a busy flight. This means that the cash price is also likely to be higher than average. Let’s assume we are heading to Heathrow from school on a Friday afternoon and need to be on a particular service.
Assume £175 return to Hamburg for cash in Economy, Friday night to Sunday night, booked six weeks in advance. Knock off the £35 Reward Flight Saver tax charge and I am saving £140 for using 18,000 Avios points.
This is not the greatest use of Avios by any means – we are looking at 0.78p per point.. However, I am locking in a hard cash saving and I get to travel on the exact flights I want, with flexibility to cancel if a last minute birthday party invite comes in. 0.78p per point is also not a terrible deal.
Importantly, I also can cancel the BA ‘Gold Priority Reward’ and switch to a normal reward at any point as long as seats open up.
The best use of Gold Priority Rewards flights is for ski resorts at February half term. British Airways likes to push up economy tickets to £500 if you want Saturday to Saturday – which is what the hotels often insist on – and this is an excellent way to avoid that. It arguably justifies a push for a Gold card on its own if you are getting close.
But things have changed …..
As we have covered extensively on Head for Points over the Summer, British Airways is currently trialling a new structure for short-haul Avios pricing.
As well as the standard option (9,000 Avios + £35 to Hamburg) you are now offered a series of options requiring as little as £1 in charges. This is what Hamburg shows on ba.com for a peak day:
16,000 Avios + £1
12,500 Avios + £21
9,000 Avios + £31
6,600 Avios + £71
5,600 Avios + £81
5,000 Avios + £91
You’ll note that the ‘original’ price of 9,000 Avios + £35 is not available.
How should a Gold Priority Reward be priced?
This is the million dollar question.
If you try to book a British Airways American Express 2-4-1 redemption on short-haul, you pay the ‘old’ price. In the case of Hamburg above, this would mean 9,000 Avios + £35 for ticket one and 0 Avios + £35 for ticket two.
The issue comes when trying to book a Gold Priority Reward.
You are paying ‘double Avios’. But ‘double’ what?
When I booked one on Monday, I paid what I expected to pay. 18,000 Avios (2 x 9,000 Avios) + £35. This wasn’t the Avios bargain of my life but it was reasonable versus the cash cost.
Reports from other HfP readers, however, suggest that you are often asked to pay double the lowest the cost option above. This is crazy. In the example above, I would have been asked to pay 32,000 Avios (2 x 16,000 Avios) + £1 for an economy trip to Hamburg. Given that you need to book a Gold Priority Reward 30 days in advance, you will rarely find dates where 32,000 Avios + £1 made sense.
Other reader reports suggest that agents are confused over what to charge but, after discussion with supervisors, charge the ‘old’ rate of 9,000 Avios (x 2) + £35.
So …. if you are booking a Gold Priority Reward on short-haul, make sure that you pay the correct amount. You can find the ‘old’ price in this HFP article listing the cost of all Avios reward flights, route by route and class by class.
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:
Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard
Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review
Barclaycard Avios Mastercard
5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review
There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:
British Airways American Express Premium Plus
25,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review
British Airways American Express
5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review
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.
American Express Preferred Rewards Gold
Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review
The Platinum Card from American Express
40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review
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.
Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa
Huge 30,000 points bonus until 12th May 2024 Read our full review
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.
British Airways Accelerating Business American Express
30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review
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.
American Express Business Platinum
40,000 points sign-up bonus and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review
American Express Business Gold
20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review
Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.
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