Newbie – cost benfit analysis!?

[asifkazi]

Hi Everyone,

I’m new to the Avios game and after years of looking over the fence at points collectors have decided to start collecting Avios in the hope that we, as a family, can enjoy some amazing flight experiences.

I’ve being crunching some numbers and believe that in the first year alone we can accumulate between 182,400 and 237,400 Avios points with an outlay of £444 or £549 respectively. This works out to around 408 Avios per pound or £432 Avios per pound.
This is through a combination of Amex Platinum, Barclaycard Avios\Barclaycard Avios Plus and Barclays Premier. We are relatively high spenders (£50k/year) so can achieve the triggers for bonuses and vouchers

I’ve calculated the cost for the upper points total as follows,

– Amex Platinum
£300 (£650-£200-£150… £350 is the value I put on dining and travel insurance as I would spend on those anyway)
80,000 bonus plus 26,000 through spending = 106,000

– Barclays Avios Rewards
£144 (£12 per month)
25,000 bonus plus 1,500 per month (18,000) = 43,000

– Barclaycard Avios Plus (me)
£45 (normally £20 per month but includes £5 discount and only keeping for 3 months until i trigger £10,000 upgrade voucher then downgrade card)
25,000 bonus points plus 15,000 through spending – 40,000

– Barclaycard Avios Plus (wife)
£60 (keeping for 3 months until i trigger £10,000 upgrade voucher then downgrade to free card)
25,000 bonus points plus 15,000 through spending – 40,000

– Barclays mortgage
8400 points – as we also have a Barclays mortgage we’d get an additional 700 Avios per month for having the Rewards account.

The lower points total is if I use the free Barclaycard Avios card and my wife does not at all, however this means we will only get 1 upgrade voucher as the trigger is £20,000.

So, i guess my questions are…

Does this sound like a viable strategy?
Am i over complicating this?
Do my numbers stack up… is this actually achievable?
Is this good value?
Is it good value to pay an extra £100 for another 50,000 points by going for the Plus credit card?
Is it better to get the upgrade voucher or the 7,000 Avios points?

Apologies for the length of this post, number of questions and if the answers are obvious, still trying to get my head round the value of points.

Thanks
A

[Garethgerry]

Avios are worth nothing till you spend them.

Rob says 1p per avios.

But it depends on how you spend them . Spent on the right longhaul business flight together with a Amex BA companion voucher, you can get 5p or more per avios. The companion voucher can double the value of your avios. You would earn enough for 4 longhaul club tickets if you played it right , a companion card for each of you. I notice you have other pay for cards but not a BA Amex premium. Read Robs article, it’s the best value pay for card with BA avios

[asifkazi]

Thanks for the reply.

Noted on the BA Amex Premium… that does seem like better value with the companion voucher offering, i’d completely missed that thinking i’d have to wait to be eligible again after having the Platinum but this is not the case.

Appreciate the tip.