Barclays Avios upgrade voucher v specified amount of Avios – annual bonus
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Has anyone been written too yet and offered Avios instead of an upgrade voucher as their annual reward ?
No. They said it was coming but I’ve not heard anything else (and it’s never been officially mentioned to us by Barclays staff – its only ever been mentioned in an email they sent out).
Was just thinking about this as my Barclay Premier Voucher should hit 12 months next month.I am more interested in Avios than a Barclaycard BA Voucher as i have 3 Amex ones which are better sat in my account to use.
Was just thinking about this as my Barclay Premier Voucher should hit 12 months next month.I am more interested in Avios than a Barclaycard BA Voucher as i have 3 Amex ones which are better sat in my account to use.
There is no official word on this but the suggestion is that the alternative might be 7k – 10k Avios so if this is correct, the voucher may often be the better alternative.
Was just thinking about this as my Barclay Premier Voucher should hit 12 months next month.I am more interested in Avios than a Barclaycard BA Voucher as i have 3 Amex ones which are better sat in my account to use.
There is no official word on this but the suggestion is that the alternative might be 7k – 10k Avios so if this is correct, the voucher may often be the better alternative.
I’d happily take 10k Avios instead of the Barclays ‘upgrade’ voucher all day long.
At a cost of £15 a month for the premium card (with Premier bank account), the voucher has ‘cost’ £180 to generate (a basic sum not taking into account the value placed on the Avios generated from spending….cos it’s late where I am right now and basic is all I can do).
At the usual valuation of 1p per Avios, 10K = £100. Thus you have recouped just over 6 months worth of the card fee for a voucher that I would personally struggle to generate anything more than £50-60 on when using short haul. Not sure I’d ever bother using it long haul – too many downsides what with the nonsense max Avios pricing, having to fly on BA metal, and the charges, fees and taxes (CFTs – hoping to start a trend to rename TFCs in the correct order of p155taking) that are still high compared to ex-EU (I can do ex-DUB at zero marginal cost due to personal circumstances).
You’re also getting the 18,000 Avios from the monthly earning, so worst case should be spending £180 for £280 worth of points at 1p per Avios.
It’s still not amazing, particularly compared to some of the semi-regular sign up bonuses, and even Blue Rewards (5% interest on £5k is £150 assuming 40% tax, plus £5 a month is a net £210 gain vs. £100 gain above)
I’ll be interested to see if there’s a big exodus from Avios rewards after 12 months. I’ll be eyeing an easy 30k+ AMEX bonus as soon as I’m eligible again
At a cost of £15 a month for the premium card (with Premier bank account), the voucher has ‘cost’ £180 to generate (a basic sum not taking into account the value placed on the Avios generated from spending….cos it’s late where I am right now and basic is all I can do).
At the usual valuation of 1p per Avios, 10K = £100. Thus you have recouped just over 6 months worth of the card fee for a voucher that I would personally struggle to generate anything more than £50-60 on when using short haul. Not sure I’d ever bother using it long haul – too many downsides what with the nonsense max Avios pricing, having to fly on BA metal, and the charges, fees and taxes (CFTs – hoping to start a trend to rename TFCs in the correct order of p155taking) that are still high compared to ex-EU (I can do ex-DUB at zero marginal cost due to personal circumstances).
I hear what you are saying.
But what if the voucher came from the free Avios card? What would you accept in lieu of it?The upgrade voucher with its annoying price options gives you a return flight to the US east coast or ME, off peak, for 85k avios (plus cash element which you have to pay regardless). Without the voucher it would be 100k avios, so that example makes the voucher worth 25k avios, if my sums are right. That would be the point at which I would start considering it.
*Actually that’s wrong because my example is out at off peak and return at peak but it’s close enough and I can’t be bothered re-calculating!
Sums seem weird. Off peak, flying J to US East coast
With voucher 85,000 + £350
Without voucher 100,000 Avios + £850
or
Without voucher 160,000 Avios + £350
(These are the two best options)So if you could use the voucher thusly then it is worth either [15,000 Avios + £500] or 75,000 Avios depending on which of these options you’d choose.
Without wishing to bring up Granny Froggee’s Cincinnati trip again, I used it thusly and got ~£600 value from it.
Yes, so if you want to pay the lowest cash amount and max avios anyway, using the voucher can be a very good option, especially when the cash price is £3315 as in my example!
Now you put it like that, I’m going to value it at 75k avios …
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush so let’s say 37,500 Avios…
And it doesn’t matter which of the options you would have chosen on a redemption, the Barclays voucher is always very valuable for long haul business.
@Froggee good to hear from you; responding to your yodelling call above. Currently in Argentina for a month, so slightly less omnipresent to keep up with latest grifter updates (from others, not your respectable self) and three hours adrift so just finished fine dinner accompanied by extreme high altitude wines and very low altitude prices.
Phew. Glad you’re doing well @JDB. I haven’t had to do that since Beetlejuice.
Argentina does sound lovely. I’ve never been but a former colleague swore by the place and visited far more often than could be justified by the investment opportunities offered by the banks.
At a cost of £15 a month for the premium card (with Premier bank account), the voucher has ‘cost’ £180 to generate (a basic sum not taking into account the value placed on the Avios generated from spending….cos it’s late where I am right now and basic is all I can do).
At the usual valuation of 1p per Avios, 10K = £100. Thus you have recouped just over 6 months worth of the card fee for a voucher that I would personally struggle to generate anything more than £50-60 on when using short haul. Not sure I’d ever bother using it long haul – too many downsides what with the nonsense max Avios pricing, having to fly on BA metal, and the charges, fees and taxes (CFTs – hoping to start a trend to rename TFCs in the correct order of p155taking) that are still high compared to ex-EU (I can do ex-DUB at zero marginal cost due to personal circumstances).
Not sure the relevance of the “£15 a month for the premium card” – this offer (as per email from Barclays in November) pertains to the anniversary on Avios Rewards, nothing to do with the credit card which by chance also gives an identical voucher…
I now have 4 of these given 2 Barclays Premier anniversary awards and 2 from Barclays credit card spend, so am watching to see what they offer in terms of an Avios award instead as its unlikely I will get through them all!
I now have 4 of these given 2 Barclays Premier anniversary awards and 2 from Barclays credit card spend, so am watching to see what they offer in terms of an Avios award instead as its unlikely I will get through them all!
Are you under the impression that you can trade them in for some Avios?
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Sorry clicked wrong button! Am aware we cant translate into avios at the moment, but there may be the opportunity to do so later in 2023 so going to keep watching
I think @Aston was trying to say that what seems to be proposed is that some customers might be given the choice between a voucher and some avios at some future point – not the option to convert vouchers which have already been earned.
I think @Aston was trying to say that what seems to be proposed is that some customers might be given the choice between a voucher and some avios at some future point – not the option to convert vouchers which have already been earned.
Ah, thanks. Better start looking how I can spend them in that case!
It’ll depend on how many avios you have due to the lack of options given by the voucher.
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