How I mis understood the benefits of using Avios on short haul European flights
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I always thought that I should use my Avios points wisely for business long haul flights and never on European flights booking months in advance.
All that changed when I looked at flights to Lisbon this September to October. Paying with cash and avoiding early morning and late night flights and those with connections in Madrid the best that I could come up with was £530 return for two and there were not many of those.
I then started to look at flights using Avios. 47,000 (worth a minimum of £313 converting to Nectar and using at Sainsburys) plus £2 = £315. Then I discovered the sweet spot of 11,600 (worth £77) plus £180 = £257. Thats a saving 52% over the cash fare and I use up very little of my Avios balance.
In addition I can cancel for a small fee. Don’t fully understand if I get the Avios and cash back or just one of those. Clarification please.
This is how I use all my Avios lately for flights – even Ryanair / Easyjet are pricey for Europe at decent times at the moment but Avios availability has been quite plentiful. Usually go CE as a little treat / more space with infants
IF you cancel more than 24hrs before you get all the avios back + all the cash minus £35pp. If you paid less than 35 then you just forfeit that amount
I think the needle has shifted in terms of where redemption value lies. It certainly used to be long haul Club & First, but the taxes & fees became so outrageous that Club has to me looked marginal for a good long while and First redemptions are almost as rare as rocking horse poo now. (I did however last week book a Club reward to SA using my Amex 2-4-1 voucher to half the Avios, which was far better value than the cash fare).
You will see even more dramatic bargains in ultra peak times (Feb half term ski flights etc) where you might see a one way cash fare of £600 or the ability to drop a few avios to get the same seat…
Yep – I know that every year we’ll go to Nice at the end of
May and somewhere Xmassy mid-Dec, so just lock those
in with Avios at -355!It’s why I use mine for short notice domestic flights.
An economy HBO fare can hit over £600 at the weekend or 9000 Avios + £35. It’s the best value for me.
Using avios to book short haul flights has always been a bargain at peak times – even well-served destinations like Malaga can be £300/400 pp in economy in the school holidays. Less of a bargain since BA started charging the same amount for a domestic connection but this year I’m using up a couple of expiring 241s to fly the outbound from T3 in CE to enjoy the lounges then doing the inbound on LCCs direct to MAN.
This is primarily how I use my (usually modest) Avios balance – for peak-time or even last minute flights within Europe which of course are usually very expensive. The best ‘value’ (from an Avios perspective) usually is the least Avios most cash option – and of course you get the benefit of checked luggage. Which we definitely need as a family – so basically Avios flights are a no-brainer the vast majority of the time, the only issue is availability.
However if you want the most flexibility, the opposite – most Avios least cash (usually £0.50 per person) is best. As when you cancel you get all the Avios back, and only have to forego the cash price. The cancellation fee is £35 but if the cash paid is less then that is all you forego.
If you fly to Spain, Iberia flights (booked through the Iberia site, you’ll need to do Combine My Avios) can be even better value as on some Avios tariffs there no change or cancellation fees, and I think seat selection is free also.
Seatspy came up trumps for us when were invited to a wedding in Palma over May Half Term, cash flights have never dropped below £500 each on easyjet, and are currently £1100 via BA. Personally I still get good value in long haul club world as we can only travel during the school hols.
I second this too. I have a big pot for overseas flights but I also keep booking club Euro. And try to remain positive about it. Especially in high season it still makes a difference.
It is a good saving, even compared to easy/Ryan rates sometimes.As a data point, I recently cancelled my economy flight from Gatwick to Dalaman booked using Avios using £35 cash option (return trip). When cancelling it showed the refund amount of £34 per ticket, and the same has been refunded to the bank. So just charging £1 cancellation fee. Not sure if it’s BA IT that worked in my favor or there has bee some change in the policy.
As a data point, I recently cancelled my economy flight from Gatwick to Dalaman booked using Avios using £35 cash option (return trip). When cancelling it showed the refund amount of £34 per ticket, and the same has been refunded to the bank. So just charging £1 cancellation fee. Not sure if it’s BA IT that worked in my favor or there has bee some change in the policy.
Similar, cancelled a one way RFS flight online and it shows as 0.5p cancellation fee. Yet to get the refund but might be a quirk due to BA moving towards the £1 as default award redemption.
It’s why I use mine for short notice domestic flights.
An economy HBO fare can hit over £600 at the weekend or 9000 Avios + £35. It’s the best value for me.
Ah ah, short notice 🙂 when 2023 xmas bookings became available earlier this year I booked a few tickes where economy R/T was over £1k.
Agree with all this, and CE has a relatively small surcharge when paying by Avios which makes the upgrade worthwhile.
And, as a bonus, one of the privileges of living in the UK is that most of the places that I want to visit can be reached on one of those reassuringly good value short haul.flighs.
Agree with all this, and CE has a relatively small surcharge when paying by Avios which makes the upgrade worthwhile.
I think that only works if you don’t already have lounge access & fast track etc with status. Otherwise it feels to me like you’re paying an awful lot for a bleak salad and a bottle of fizz.
Agree with all this, and CE has a relatively small surcharge when paying by Avios which makes the upgrade worthwhile.
I think that only works if you don’t already have lounge access & fast track etc with status. Otherwise it feels to me like you’re paying an awful lot for a bleak salad and a bottle of fizz.
That’s not what us slightly older folk are paying for, even with status! When we are travelling as a couple, I don’t want to be stuck in a middle seat or next to a large tattooed person, I don’t want to be stuck in a boarding crush, scrabbling to find overhead bin space or having everything crushed. The club cabin may have the same seats but has 1/3 fewer people so feels more spacious. The CE food is perfectly OK (and better than CW) although I wouldn’t pay for it in a restaurant. Club Europe is just overall a bit more comfortable and more civilised. In our view, a very worthwhile small extra price.
Agree with all this, and CE has a relatively small surcharge when paying by Avios which makes the upgrade worthwhile.
I think that only works if you don’t already have lounge access & fast track etc with status. Otherwise it feels to me like you’re paying an awful lot for a bleak salad and a bottle of fizz.
That’s not what us slightly older folk are paying for, even with status! When we are travelling as a couple, I don’t want to be stuck in a middle seat or next to a large tattooed person, I don’t want to be stuck in a boarding crush, scrabbling to find overhead bin space or having everything crushed. The club cabin may have the same seats but has 1/3 fewer people so feels more spacious. The CE food is perfectly OK (and better than CW) although I wouldn’t pay for it in a restaurant. Club Europe is just overall a bit more comfortable and more civilised. In our view, a very worthwhile small extra price.
Once again, I find myself agreeing with everything @JDB says. Here are two real-world examples of why the CE surcharge is worth every penny.
A few years back, I sat next to a human mountain on a flight to Barcelona. He could scarcely fit between the armrests, and his rolling flesh spilled liberally across my seat. The flight was full, so I had no option but to curve my back sideways to escape his involuntary embrace. After two miserable hours, I staggered off the aircraft with a painful back that persisted for weeks.
On another trip to Barcelona (I often go there for work), we waited three hours after boarding before being allocated a take-off slot. I was sat next to a stranger and squeezed against the window with us both having baggage under the seat; by the time I arrived home, my knee had swollen like a balloon, and I couldn’t run for several weeks.
Anyone who can afford it is mad not to travel in Club in my view.
Well the theoretical seating algo has evidently been kind to me as a silver and with group 2 boarding you’re no closer to the front.
Perhaps I need to reconsider my life choices – am far from young – but if an obese person sat next to me I’d expect either them or me to be offloaded.
As a data point, I recently cancelled my economy flight from Gatwick to Dalaman booked using Avios using £35 cash option (return trip). When cancelling it showed the refund amount of £34 per ticket, and the same has been refunded to the bank. So just charging £1 cancellation fee. Not sure if it’s BA IT that worked in my favor or there has bee some change in the policy.
Gosh – thank you @shub
That’s worth a separate post on its own. I had a pair of seats to Marseille for the Rugby World Cup I wanted to cancel. I’d grudgingly bought them for the 7:10am flight at T-355 when I couldn’t get the 9:25am ones.
Seatspy to the rescue a couple of months later and after an alert I bagged the 9:25am albeit in economy rather than Club Europe. I don’t really care as I’ll have the window and my normal body-mass-index friend will have the privilege of sitting in the middle.
So I cancelled them just now for 50 pence a seat.
Also of note was that the 7:10am is sold out. Despite this the Avios seats went back into reward inventory. So you can buy two seats now with Avios but not cash. So this conclusively proves (to me) that T-355 seats do go back into reward inventory as others have suggested although someone did say that closer to the time of the flight they don’t get returned.
Anyway – thanks again @shub. I suspect you’ve saved me £64.
I had a pair of seats to Marseille for the Rugby World Cup I wanted to cancel. I’d grudgingly bought them for the 7:10am flight at T-355 when I couldn’t get the 9:25am ones.
I opted for BHX-CDG-MRS and NCE-CDG-BHX. England vs Argentina in Marseille and England vs Japan in Nice. I suspect your allegiances may lie elsewhere 😉
I also fine CE more refined and feel it’s worth paying a bit more for, certainly with avios. The middle seat makes a massive difference to me however.
Mrs K and I flew with jet2 last year to the canaries and the service was acceptable, but there was a very tall man in the row on the way out that made it very tight on the row (thankfully there was room for him to move after takeoff). On the way back it was packed and the lovely older lady next to me accidently spilt her tea on me.
I felt like I endured those flights, but I enjoyed my previous CE flights previously to the canaries. To me, that’s a difference worth paying more for.
Hah @AFKAE
Well I kinda support Scotland but I can’t take it too seriously given performance this millennium.
I’m envious of your Nice weekend. With hindsight I wish I’d gone for Scotland vs Tonga there. Nicer city and no hopes/expectations as by then we’ll be out.
As it is, in the melee for tickets, all I could manage was a “Marseille city pack”. I’ve ditched the South Africavs Tonga tickets that came with it but still have England vs Argentina (as well as Scotland vs South Africa biensur)
I’m in two minds about going to see England vs Argentina. I think it could be a fascinated match for a neutral but it feels a wee bit off depriving a rabid Englishman (or indeed Argentinian) of the opportunity.
But I’m spending an obscene amount of money on a hotel for two nights as am minutes from the stadium so we’ll probably go. I considered staying near the station in Avignon but life is too short.
@Froggee I’m staying in the South of France between the two games.
For England vs Samoa I’m flying to Brussels staying there and TGVing it over to Lille.
I’ve also got one of the semi finals and 3rd vs 4th play off-both in Paris.
Apologies to all for the thread diversion.
As a data point, I recently cancelled my economy flight from Gatwick to Dalaman booked using Avios using £35 cash option (return trip). When cancelling it showed the refund amount of £34 per ticket, and the same has been refunded to the bank. So just charging £1 cancellation fee. Not sure if it’s BA IT that worked in my favor or there has bee some change in the policy.
Did you and YC cancel booking on line or by phone? Thanks
Cancelled online.
Before you confirm it shows the Avios and cash that you are being refunded so there should be no risk in having a look!
As a data point, I recently cancelled my economy flight from Gatwick to Dalaman booked using Avios using £35 cash option (return trip). When cancelling it showed the refund amount of £34 per ticket, and the same has been refunded to the bank. So just charging £1 cancellation fee. Not sure if it’s BA IT that worked in my favor or there has bee some change in the policy.
Thanks just worked for me too, 2 lots needed cancelling so £68 x 2 back good post.
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