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Hi,
I have been searching around and try to see if I can use the Avios for something reasonable. I have been looking for HKG-KUL and the taxes and fee for both CX and MH made up of more than 65% of a paid fare – on top of 33k avios! Then I was looking for AA domestic flights and 2 Y tickets costs me 105k Avios! I don’t seem to find a decent way of using them. I looked for domestic japan flights and the availability is horrible (not to mention the tax they charge compared to AA) compared to using AA miles. Am I missing something?Have you tried searching for BA flights? They have reward flights saver (look for a little cash icon) so more options to mix cash and Avios for a genuinely good deal, but you need some activity on your account for this. Most American routes are decent value too, they’re tied to mileage rather than revenue so shorter flights will save you a lot of cash. I just saved $400 flying Phoenix to Seattle by spending 19k Avios. Without knowing your specific journeys I doubt people will be able to help you further!
Have u tried looking at HKG-KUL on Qatar? Easy to move avios from BA <-> Qatar
Off peak SIN / KUL / HKG to London redemption with Qatar J one way is 75k avios + £175.
Finnair from SIN / HKG is slightly more avios and half the taxes IIRC.Another option is to book WT for cash and upgrade the outbound or inbound using Avios to WT+ or book Wt+ and upgrade using Avios to CW. The latter may require you to buy a small number of Avios as I have a feeling it is 50k per passenger but then you’d get at least get Tier Pointa in the cabin you booked plus some Avios back both on the base fare and any YQ payable (if there is any) to upgrade to the next cabin.
Off peak SIN / KUL / HKG to London redemption with Qatar J one way is 75k avios + £175.
Finnair from SIN / HKG is slightly more avios and half the taxes IIRC.Finnair is 62.5k avios and peanuts in taxes to HKG/SIN.
You appear to have a bit of a scattergun way of looking at destinations. You need to be much more organised.
Start using this table which shows the avios and approx cash needed for every BA route (with exceptions of those added after this list was created)
https://www.headforpoints.com/2023/02/13/how-many-avios-points-do-i-need-to-fly-to/
And when you do some detailed searches you’ll get options for paying fewer avios and more cash and vice versa.
You’ll have far more luck on short haul than long but there will still be plenty on long haul on less popular routes or those with several flights a day.
Another option is to use them to part pay a cash flight or BA Holiday – though the value doign that wont be the best the more you use. But on a short haul club flight to say AMS or BER you should get offered £30 off for 3,000 avios which is a penny per avios value.
Thanks a lot!
I haven’t been able to see any rewards saver when I looked. I am thinking about using them for domestic US but it seems that it only makes sense when I use them for shorter flights.
I was trying to move the miles to Qatar but then 2 members of the household accounts are under 18 so that’s a no go.
I am based in Copenhagen so I’d need a feeder flight to London. I guess that’s extra avios for that.
Does anyone know whether domestic US award flight with avios comes with free checked bag? Or intra Europe flight?
Thanks once again for your help!
Where are you looking? There are hundreds of thousands of available seats. You need to have had activity in your BAEC account in the last 3 years to qualify for actual RFS pricing, though.
You can use avios to get to London, or book a cash flight. You can start in other cities though, as noted, e.g. MAD.
US domestic luggage allowance depends on your OW status, if you have no status you pay per checked bag. If you book, for example, CPH-LHR with avios, you will get the standard checked allowance based on status (so 1 x 23kg for blue, etc).
I am looking for redemptions that is not just a 10% discount vs. cash price like the one I mentioned hkg to kul with avios. I have been searching and I don’t understand why people think that paying £1000+ 2800 avios in economy from London to Japan is cheap. I paid 1000€ for one way economy and the other way in PE with LOT (I have status with Star Alliance) during Christmas. I guess it is more desirable to fly direct.
Award flight with AA using avios doesn’t come with checked bag? But it includes a checked bag if flying with BA? UA award includes a checked bag.
Does it make sense to redeem one way business class to either Asia or North America from Copenhagen?
It does sound like you need to go right back to the start with your research on all this, for example you seem to be confusing award bookings with a different process which allows you to use avios to discount cash flights, which is rarely good value. Read as much as you can on here then try again!
Start here:
https://www.headforpoints.com/category/avios-redemption-university/
Agree. If you’re getting 1p+/Avios compared to the cash ticket price then you’re doing OK. If you want 2-4p+/Avios then you probably need to be flying Club/First with a 241 voucher (which is where I look to spend). But flexibility is always required if you want to get maximum value AND want to travel specific routes/destinations.
As your based in CPH have you tried Finnair redemptions? Are some articles on here about that? Not sure if the deal to DOH from CPH is still on?
Are you searching for book with avios or book flights and is offering avios discount?
I was also wondering if you were looking at booking flights and getting a discount for using Avios, this probably won’t give you the value you are looking for. You need to log into your BAEC account and click book flights with avios and then reward flight saver.
I was also wondering if you were looking at booking flights and getting a discount for using Avios, this probably won’t give you the value you are looking for. You need to log into your BAEC account and click book flights with avios and then reward flight saver.
That’s what I was thinking but then I did log in.
I went to DOH one day city tour organized by QR and it was really boring, so I don’t see any reason going to DOH.
It was really weird with BA website though, last week it was so down that I couldn’t even log in and whatever it displaced made no sense – like those figures I told you about. Now it seems more “normal”.
I think I might have found something interesting – flying from SEA to KOA in economy 32k per person in Y + 22 EUR in taxes – cash price almost 600 EUR per person.
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