Best routes to redeem Avios

[ejhcardiff]

So I’m fairly new to points. I have maybe 60k in Virgin points and 70k in Avios.

With Virgin points the benefits are clear if you find a really off-peak day/bright green square on SeatSpy. I’ve kind of worked out the places that give really good value from trawling between Caribbean and Indian destinations (both likely places for me to want to fly).

On BA I’ve just realised that a premium return from London to Hyderabad India costs about £750 with a lot of points and the same flight for cash is about £900. So a terrible use of points.

I know BA is more predictable in that the rates are either off-peak or peak. But without going through every BA destination on SeatSpy – what are the good value destinations where the avios will REALLY save you money against the cash price?

Here in the UK getting points is fairly limited. I’ve already used the Amex Platinum, and now the Barclaycard Plus. So I really don’t want to blow all of my points for a £150 reduction…

Short haul I’ve been looking at Madeira and Gran Canaria where there are some savings to be had from redemption flights – are these as good as it gets?

thanks for the help everyone 🙂

[Richie]

If you have children and want to go on a trip in the half term holidays October, February, May and can book 355 days in advance, there are bargains to be had.

[Scott]

BA doesn’t have destinations that are ‘good value’ per se. Destinations are grouped by Avios cost according to distance.
The value would be measured against the cash fare for wherever you wanted to fly to, but in general long-haul rather than short-haul and business rather than economy (exceptions as stated above would be economy flights during school holidays when cash fares are very high.)

[davefl]

Start here https://www.headforpoints.com/2024/08/29/how-many-avios-do-i-need-to-fly-to-2/ then read the rest of the articles under the Avios section at the top of the home page

[NorthernLass]

Apart from European destinations at peak times, you really haven’t got enough avios to get the best value. You mention the Caribbean as somewhere you want to travel, and these tend to command high cash prices, especially in business class (think £2.5k to £3k return). If you can find another 20k avios, you could get to any of a number of Caribbean islands which BA serves, in Club World, and maybe look at returning on Virgin if you find a good deal (seemingly unlikely in Upper Class, though, these days). Or do it the other way around.

You need to be booking at T-355 when BA releases its award seats to get the best choice on popular routes like the Caribbean. When you want to travel is also really important, because at peak times you’ll be competing with more people for those seats. Virgin is slightly different now as all seats can be booked with points and there’s no real guarantee of when you’ll see the best pricing!

[Londonsteve]

There are many ‘bargain’ options with Avios but if you live in the UK, it’s unlikely you’d want many of them. Things like domestic flights within the US and Japan are good value due to the modest Avios and very low taxes element. With only 70k Avios and assuming you wanted something for two people, the stand out bargain is flying in Business with Iberia to one of their long-haul destinations. You don’t have enough Avios for two business returns even to the east coast of the US, but, Iberia offer a variety of Avios and cash mixes, many of which offer similar value assuming you value at Avios at 1p. You can even go for a very low Avios high cash option which can be well priced, the obvious downside being that you’re having to cough up a lot more cash but can still yield a very good overall fare.

Reward flight saver tickets to fly short haul on BA remains one of the best value ways to spend Avios, especially if you’re taking luggage.

[jj]

At the risk of sounding trite, the best value redemption is a flight to a place where you want to go. I would start that way and work backwards.