-
They have landed in my BAEC account and I am given the opportunity to Boost them all.
I normally just boost the odd 2000 here and there that I drip-feed into my BAEC account from my MR account.
I’m not good at working out points per avios even though I know the standard seems to be 0.92p, as these points are a SUB and therefore ‘free’ is this good value, am I getting them for 4.2p ?
I will need to pay more in cash than I ever have before which is a bit scary, but don’t wish to miss this if it’s a good opportunity, as I can’t manage us getting anymore SUBs in the near future? Thanks to anyone who replies.
Hi @Misty. I think most people on here would agree that if you buy avios it’s advisable to have a specific redemption in mind where you’ll get better value than you paid for them. BA could devalue them at any time so you could in theory end up losing out by spending a lot of cash.
That said, you can definitely still get outsize value on expensive cash routes, plus the flexibility of a redemption booking is a substantial benefit.
Thank you Northern Lass, I have two to three weeks before I have to decide if to boost them or not, as they hang around for 30 days. I normally do a x 3 Boost as I like to keep topping up the account. Maybe this time I will just do a x 2. I’ve booked 3 returns in CE for 2 people since I started doing this, and felt I got decent value. Now have a 241 so could possibly contemplate CW.
I’m not a hard core collector like some on here so when I get a chance to bank some cheaply I do tend to take advantage.
Glad your back safely from your holiday
@Misty expanding on what @NorthernLass said, while there is a devaluation risk when you hold chunky Avios balances, if you want to be ready to snap up good redemptions opportunistically then you ideally need to have a decent working balance in your account. For example, if BA drop a load of additional redemption seats on a particular route, as is often announced on here, then you’ll want a few 100k miles available to grab your reward return. This is how I’ve done Club Suites to the Maldives for instance.
Only you can decide what is in your circumstances a reasonable value of Avios that you are willing to have accumulated for such scenarios but let me tell you it feels great when you are able to snap up a Club World dream long haul 😀
Thank you for you comments Guernsey Globetrotter, I think this is probably why I am tempted as I feel it’s good to have 100/200K or more fund for if a dream destination comes up, if not I will gradually work my way through them anyway. I think I was hesitating because I have never boosted 30,000 in one go before. As the opportunity for decent Subs seems to be dwindling, this will be one of my few chances of acquiring a lot of avios in one go at a reasonable price 🙂
You mentioned possibly doing a x2 boost.
I might be wrong, but I think you pay slightly more if you do a x2 boost (.94p) instead of a x3 boost (.92p).
Probably insignificant on small amounts, but still something to think about before you decide the boost level and quantity of Avios.Personally I would boost them, as I like to keep a balance of 200k+ Avios just in case an unexpected redemption opportunity comes up, and I usually need to use boosts to keep my balance that high as I don’t earn many Avios from flying or directly from credit card spend. The majority of my Avios come from SUBs, boosting, and buying through other avenues, and I aim for less than 1p per point.
As others have said, it’ll come down to your risk tolerance of a possible devaluation.
My opinion is to have enough avios for next two years worth of travel.On the devaluation, am cautiously optimistic that there is less chance of it happening anytime soon.
First reason – the peak of covid revenge travel is over. Businesses have gotten used to less official travel and are not going to suddenly start splurging. Airlines are increasingly reliant on leisure travel. Usually devaluation happens when demand for cash tickets is going up, not on the way down.
Second – BA and many airlines have already put up the cash component so high that redemptions aren’t hurting them much like in the past. Any redemption in J or F gets them a decent wedge of cash.
Finally – by allowing avios to be used as a common currency, any devaluation by BA will result in avios flowing out to QR and AY and BA will have to pay cash to QR or AY. Yes, there is a chance all 3 can devalue at same time, but that’ll kill the golden goose. The common currency to an extent keeps a lid on unilateral devaluations.
The earn now and burn now argument I well understand, however if one sees your circumstances changing through say retirement there is a case for building up a war chest at reasonable cost and living with a risk of devaluation
Thanks everyone for such helpful responses.
@Aston100, I’ve just checked and you are right re the slightly better rate at x 3, I think I was focused on the monetary difference between x2 and x3, but I guess if I go for it I might as well go for it at x3.
@gavin454 I’m a similar type of collector as yourself, I don’t earn many avios from flying, the majority of my Avios come from SUBs, boosting, and buying through other avenues. I try for less than 1p per point. However I do earn quite a few from channelling all our spends through avios earning cards if possible. I can’t see us obtaining any more SUBS for a long time, as P2 and myself both have Gold amex SUBS, and he has had the BAPP sUB, and I have the barclaycard SUB. I can’t bring either of us to go for platinum due to its high fee, but am happy to keep Gold long-term.
@BBbetter devaluation isn’t high on my radar TBH, I’m mainly interested in paying less than I would for cash tickets and maybe getting in to premium cabins if possible. I do value the flexibility quite highly, I normally compare what I am paying to the fully-flexible ticket.
@HampshireHog we are early retired already so the ‘war chest’ analogy is relevant for us now, that’s why this seems like a good opportunity.Having read and digested all the above I think I will go for it at x3.
Less than 1pp Avios and a 2-4-1 is IMHO a no-brainer if you can afford it and want to travel in Club/First. With the caveat that you’re flexible on dates/locations – otherwise you can be waiting a long time for those elusive seats that never appear.
I don’t worry so much about devaluation, but the flip-side is BA need to take into account INflation and costs. Your £1 last year might only be worth 90-95p this year, but if your Avios is still worth the same….. 🤔
My other half and I had a similar quandary last year, decided to spend £800 on boosting 3x our Barclaycard SUB Avios…and a glitch on the Boost page meant that we ended up boosting it TWICE. Rang up to see if it could be rescinded, it was refused (after getting sent from BA to Amex and back again) – never mind the fact that we shouldn’t have been able to boost twice. So we grumpily decided to let it stand.
A couple of months later I spotted MAN-SYD availability in Club World on the perfect dates for my girlfriend’s school holidays (her being a teacher). Think it was 340k Avios with the companion voucher, plus £650 each. No availability shown on SeatSpy so I’m pretty sure it was thanks to BA having a sale on and the cash value of the CW seats dropping below some magic threshold.
Either way, neither of us flies with work so we’d never have been able to get those flights if we hadn’t (accidentally) spent £1600 on Avios. Works out to £1450 each, which we’re pretty happy with as it’s less than most economy fares to Australia. So it’s well worth having a stack of Avios in your account if you’re thinking of a dream holiday in the next year or two.
Oh no, I think I messed up.
Transferred around 140k MR into BAEC.
Went to boost it and realised the cut off is 300k.
So It is going to cost me more than 1p per Avios.@Mahinda, that was a great deal! I suspect your companion voucher opened up extra regional availability – if this is something you can take advantage of in future, there are articles and threads on here about this and other perks and quirks of the 241.
@Aston100, I don’t understand, surely 140k MRs = 140k avios?@Aston100, I don’t understand, surely 140k MRs = 140k avios?
Yeah it does, but when you boost that by x3, it exceeds 300k.
Anyway, I edited my post above, but somehow the edits didn’t make it for some reason.
I realised that boosting by x2 solves the problem, but costs more per Avios.Ahh, I understand now! Only ever boosted 10k to 30k, once, I think to help trigger the Barclays upgrade voucher! I need to trigger my next one now, so may revisit, though currently sitting on over 400k as all my upcoming summer bookings are cash to (hopefully) hit gold.
Unpopular opinion .. no never unless there’s a redemption right now that I need Avios for.
Buying at 0.92p of actual cash is far too expensive and justifying a low average cost of acquisition because some were free, they weren’t if you paid a sub for the card / gave up cashback via another free card.
If you want to boost your balance look at the Avios estore before any and all purchases, get subs on other cards etc etc
look at the Avios estore before any and all purchases
That site is my cashback of last resort. never tracks for me, and people I know have had avios clawed back.
Thanks to all of you, I find it so helpful to hear everyone’s point of view on these matters. As mentioned with a 241 only just being triggered (valid for 2 years ?), it does seem a bit of a no brainer to do the boost. I am a bit worried that I am paying 0.92 for them as it seems high, but presumably less than when there is an Avios sale, also it requires a sale to be on at the exact time I see my dream flight.
@Mahinda, that sounds like a double edged sword, getting double, but kind of being forced into it. I’m not big on the idea of Australia, I don’t think we could managed the hours, but it sounds like you have a bargain, I’m hoping there will be some kind of long haul deal that will peak our interest as the months roll on.
@TGLoyalty I do use the Avios estore but get mixed results from it. I did book a hotel for next year via hotels.com which is saying I will receive approx. 1,800 avios 90 days after completion of stay, but it’s a long way off, if I see attractive flights in the near future.Another issue I have is I prefer to use small local companies, we need new carpets and are giving the job to a one off high street firm, who have given us good service in the past but don’t take amex. I thought about using John Lewis for the Avios, but was then a bit meh about it as I would rather keep my high street functioning if at all possible. Plus John Lewis have a disconnect between their sales staff and their craftspeople, or at least that happened to me the last time I bought carpet from them.
@NorthernLass I think this will also help us trigger the Barclays voucher, although I haven’t yet read through the mega thread on using it – saving that for a rainy day………Hmmm, not ignoring you all, just did a long reply but it must have gone in the spam filter.
No Avios is “free”. I sub to the AMEX (for 241) and Barclays (for the cheap Avios and upgrades) – AND 2x 200k Avios via BA subs. Fantastic redemptions on late short-haul and on CW/First (less than £3k equivalent for 2x First USA returns).
Not exactly Ryanair prices, but if you’re travelling CW/First for the same price as PE I’d call it a win. It’s quite difficult after travelling CW/First on Avios to either downgrade or stump up for a cash ticket 😁
I’m looking at the boost page now. But it’ll cost me 1.75p per avios to do 3X on 16800 avios. This is definitely not worth it.
Back in January BA gave me the chance to boost all my earned avios for the last year at 0.95p per avios. I boosted 3X up to 300k for £2700. This was definitely worth it. The reason I think it’s worth it is that I have multiple companion vouchers to use and so the avios go twice as far.
I’m intrigued to know how you are seeing a preferential rate at the moment.@Aston100 100% they love a clawback or readjustment but I do only use for the major retailers. Never bank on it but in some cases it’s the only option and if it’s 1% or 1 Avios I’ll go for TCB because as I said money is money.
But for example I did 2 referrals and got 4x spend on my platinum and managed to put the full £15k (help from some family and a few larger electronic purchases that we needed to make) so 81k points in the last 3 months plus 35k for staying with my Platinum charge for another year (pay monthly 😉 ).
I’m about to make another referral from my gold for 14k and 3x points on £6k spend for the next 3 months (not sure if I’ll get it as I got the 45k on the platinum) but again potentially another 26k more than my normal spend.
Theres ways to rack up lots of points without paying anything like 0.92p for them.
PS @Ian M you can only buy/boost 300k at the 3x 0.919p price so that’s why you’re now seeing 1.7p as you’d already boosted the max
@Ian M – 0.9p is the normal rate – are you sure you are selecting the 3 x boost? You have to slide the thing to the right to get the best value!
Or have you maxed out the number of Avios you can boost at beneficial rates in a calendar year? IIRC there is a cap of 300,000 and 1.76p sounds like the ‘standard’ Avios purchase price outside of the Boost option?
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
Popular articles this week:
