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What is the best value Avios flight per mile?

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What is the best value Avios redemption per mile flown?  Or, put another way, what’s the furthest you can fly for the fewest Avios?

This is a sister article to our ‘Avios price list’ (the only place online where you’ll find the full Avios redemption chart – it’s not on ba.com now). It shows you where you find the best value – if, that is, your idea of ‘best value’ is travelling as far as you can from London for the fewest Avios.

We have put together a list of the flying distance of each long and mid haul British Airways route and compared it with the Avios required for a Club World off-peak redemption.

What is the best value Avios flight per mile?

Distances are measured using the ‘great circle route’ ie. the most direct path between origination and destination.

If you ever need to work out the distance between two cities, we recommend Great Circle Mapper at gcmap.com.  Use airport codes in the search box, eg LHR-CPT for London Heathrow to Cape Town, and click ‘Distance’.

Hopefully this gives you a better idea of the value of different routes, although you should remember that ‘value’ is subjective.  If you don’t want to fly to Kuwait, for example, it doesn’t matter how ‘cheap’ a redemption would be.

As we always say, the ‘best’ Avios redemption is one that takes you to somewhere you really want to go.

What is the best value Avios redemption based on distance?

The winner based on ‘Avios needed per mile flown’ is Sydney. Just 13 Avios will get you one mile nearer Sydney in a Club World flat bed on that route.

Take a look and see what you think. The table shows you the Avios per mile you need to redeem for a Club World redemption.

We have used the ‘highest Avios, lowest cash’ pricing option offered for each route. For mid haul and long haul routes, this tends to be the best overall value. It is not the best option on short haul but those routes are not included below.

What is the best value Avios flight per mile?

You could, arguably, adjust the table to reflect the different surcharges between routes. At the end of the day, however, this is only meant to be a bit of fun.

Don’t forget our earlier HfP article which shows every British Airways route and the Avios required to fly it.

Here is the ‘best Avios redemption per mile flown’ chart, based on BA’s route map at the start of 2025. Amman, Tel Aviv and Cairo are excluded as they are operated on short haul aircraft.

DestinationClub World Avios
off-peak (one-way)		Miles flown
(one-way)		Avios needed
per mile
Sydney145,000 + £387.510,66513.60
Cape Town90,000 + £237.56,01014.98
Santiago110,000 + £312.57,24915.17
Buenos Aires110,000 + £312.56,91515.91
Johannesburg90,000 + £237.55,63515.97
Tokyo100,000 + £287.56,22016.08
Mexico City90,000 + £237.55,53016.27
Singapore110,000 + £312.56,75516.28
San Diego90,000 + £237.55,47016.45
Los Angeles90,000 + £237.55,45516.50
Mauritius100,000 + £287.56,05516.52
San Jose (C’Rica)90,000 + £237.55,42516.59
Kuala Lumpur110,000 + £312.56,59316.68
Hong Kong100,000 + £287.55,96516.76
Bangkok100,000 + £287.55,95816.78
San Francisco90,000 + £237.55,36016.79
San Jose (CA)90,000 + £237.55,36016.79
Sao Paulo100,000 + £287.55,89016.98
Male90,000 + £237.55,29517.00
Phoenix90,000 + £237.55,25517.13
Las Vegas90,000 + £237.55,23017.21
Rio de Janeiro100,000 + £287.55,74517.41
Shanghai100,000 + £287.55,72017.48
Chennai90,000 + £237.55,11517.60
Grand Cayman90,000 + £237.55,08517.70
Bengaluru90,000 + £237.55,00417.99
Cancun90,000 + £237.54,96518.13
Portland (Oregon)90,000 + £237.54,91418.32
Austin90,000 + £237.54,91018.33
Houston90,000 + £237.54,82018.67
Turks and Caicos90,000 + £237.54,82018.67
Hyderabad90,000 + £237.54,79518.77
Seattle90,000 + £237.54,78518.81
Dallas90,000 + £237.54,74518.97
Vancouver90,000 + £237.54,70519.13
Kingston90,000 + £237.54,68019.23
Aruba90,000 + £237.54,67919.23
Denver90,000 + £237.54,67019.27
New Orleans90,000 + £237.54,61719.49
Tobago90,000 + £237.54,49520.02
Mumbai90,000 + £237.54,46520.16
Cincinnati80,000 + £187.53,96320.19
Port of Spain90,000 + £237.54,45520.20
Chicago80,000 + £187.53,95520.23
Miami90,000 + £237.54,43520.29
Tampa90,000 + £237.54,42520.34
Grenada90,000 + £237.54,36020.64
Orlando90,000 + £237.54,35520.67
Nassau90,000 + £237.54,33020.79
Punta Cana90,000 + £237.54,29020.98
Nairobi90,000 + £237.54,25021.18
St Lucia90,000 + £237.54,22021.33
Islamabad80,000 + £187.53,75021.33
Atlanta90,000 + £237.54,20021.43
Barbados90,000 + £237.54,19521.45
Delhi90,000 + £237.54,19121.47
Pittsburgh80,000 + £187.53,71521.53
Nashville90,000 + £237.54,17621.55
St Kitts90,000 + £237.54,14021.74
Washington DC80,000 + £187.53,67521.77
Baltimore80,000 + £187.53,62522.07
Antigua90,000 + £237.54,07522.09
Philadelphia80,000 + £187.53,54522.57
Toronto80,000 + £187.53,54522.57
New York80,000 + £187.53,45023.19
Bermuda80,000 + £187.53,44023.26
Abu Dhabi80,000 + £187.53,43223.31
Dubai80,000 + £187.53,40523.49
Abuja70,000 + £102.52,96023.65
Jeddah70,000 + £102.52,95123.72
Kuwait70,000 + £102.52,90024.14
Boston80,000 + £187.53,26024.54
Doha80,000 + £187.53,24024.69
Montreal80,000 + £187.53,24024.69
Accra80,000 + £187.53,17025.24
Bahrain80,000 + £187.53,15025.40
Lagos80,000 + £187.53,11525.68
Riyadh80,000 + £187.53,06526.10

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2025)

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 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 card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

Get 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

30,000 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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large 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, and the standard card is FREE. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review

There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business

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

50,000 points when you sign-up 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.

Category

British Airways and Avios

Comments (40)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • mc109 says:
    24 Jan24 January 10:25

    Does anyone remember the old paper airmiles? I got my first lot back in 1990: I bought a pair of trousers for £30 and 100 airmiles. I could have chosen 20 quid and no miles, so I paid a tenner for 100 miles! Madness you might think, except in those days, I’m pretty sure 1 airmile meant 1 actual mile, so 100 airmiles was half what was needed for a one way flight to Paris (and I don’t think there was any extra cash element either). It still took me another 8 years before I had enough to make a redemption – and that was on Eurostar of all things.

    • flyforfun says:
      24 Jan24 January 10:46

      My first airline FF program was with NorthWest airlines. I had a round the world ticket where I earned the miles (24k or 29K miles I think) and they sent me a paper voucher to redeem. I did my first Florida trip with it, but didn’t realise that their routing was horrible. Gatwick-Detroit (6hr layover)-Orlando. With delays it was nearly as long as my flights to Australia!! Coming back was MIA-MSP(just 2hr layover this time)-LGW. Pretty sure that was the last time I flew NW and haven’t flow it’s takeover company, Delta. All my flying went to AA and BA, solely because AA was the US designated corporate customer. Still have miles with them I need to burn!

    • Garethgerry says:
      24 Jan24 January 15:32

      They were translated into avios at14 avios per airmile

  • Garethgerry says:
    24 Jan24 January 10:26

    Best value is of course somewhere you really want to go

    • G says:
      24 Jan24 January 11:11

      Vs paying cash fares. Rob often makes this point. And also there want to go and “need to go”.

      I’ve got an economy flight to Malta booked, but at 1.3p per avios. It is 30% cheaper than cash, with flexibility to cancel. I feel more comfortable in that because I have to go due to a wedding – than some redemptions at 2p per avios, purely for my own holidays.

  • Jimbob says:
    24 Jan24 January 12:27

    The most expensive are 5+ hrs in an economy seat with the delights of a dry sandwich, soppy quiche & poor excuse for a scone in CE 😆

  • BP says:
    24 Jan24 January 13:42

    The best value I ever got was booking the Babybus LCY-JFK on points but still getting awarded full avios and tier points as if it was a cash booking.

    • Charlie says:
      24 Jan24 January 23:29

      Ye olde Airmiles G class. Last minute bookings. They didn’t pay for themselves, but they very nearly did 🙂 LATAM MAD to FRA also nearly paid for itself if you upgraded to biz with a small bit of cash at the gate. The best redemptions, in my view, were the complimentary domestics on inbounds that could be changed by golds for nil. At one point, I had about 60 banked. It literally was a case of arriving at LHR, calling the gold line, and shifting a banked domestic to the next available flight that day. 🙂

  • TimM says:
    24 Jan24 January 14:49

    The very best value Avios redemptions are when you only need a one-way ticket and it is almost exactly the same cash price as a return, as long-hauls often are.

    My use-case to join or return from a repositioning cruise but I am sure there are others.

  • Garethgerry says:
    24 Jan24 January 14:49

    At 15 avios per mile to Cape town I can see why my heads I win if I can get 241 ticket, tails I break even if I’m forced to resort to a gold priority reward at double avios.

  • Tim says:
    24 Jan24 January 17:00

    I got a good one last Sept, Madrid to Bogata rtn business 85,000 £200.

    • Joe says:
      24 Jan24 January 20:08

      I’ve just booked this. Slightly more as my outbound date is peak (Christmas) but incredible value given the time of year, route and product!

  • Charles says:
    24 Jan24 January 19:30

    It still lists Seoul somehow!

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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