Redemption sweet spots

[sturgeon]

Apologies if this exists somewhere as it most likely does. I have c. 250k virgin miles with multiple CC vouchers to use so have decided to not renew the card to start burning through these miles for redemptions.

I’ve decided to sign up for the BA premium Amex instead, mainly for the 42k sign up bonus and I’ll see if I decide to renew a 2nd year after qualifying for the 2-4-1 voucher.

I also have a barclays premier account so qualify for the upgrade voucher there.

For Avios, it’s an absolute minefield of info for me with regards to the best redemption opportunities. Particularly to start the journey in another country. I’m very flexible with my dates and would happily choose my holiday destination based around a great redemption opportunity (ie like the ANA redemption offers with Virgin). Are these published/updated regularly somewhere? Any good redemption offers on Qatar?

If the cash price for business class is similar then it makes no sense for me (ie 100k avios plus £700 tax if I can buy a ticket for a similar amount).

Thank you.

[Peter K]

That’s a very broad range of options there, so you’ll need to narrow it down yourself a bit.

Firstly, long haul only or short haul? Do you want to fly BA first to make it more special?

City break, beach break, snorkeling break, exploring break?

How much are you willing to spend at the other end? Maldives would be super expensive for example.

At the moment you’ve basically said where in the entire world should I go! 😃

[sturgeon]

Haha, to a degree I am open to anywhere! But realistically looking to redeem long haul business unless there’s an attractive rate for first. Tend to prefer a beach break or at least somewhere with a mix of beach and city. I’ve been to Dubai many times, a decent amount of North America so not really looking for there (unless there’s a very decent option starting in Dublin or AMS/Paris etc)

[Peter K]

Consider the Caribbean then. Limited options to fly there keep the cash prices quite high. Both BA and Virgin fly there (if you can get availability) and of course the beaches are great.

[Blindman67]

sturgeon wrote:

Haha, to a degree I am open to anywhere! But realistically looking to redeem long haul business unless there’s an attractive rate for first. Tend to prefer a beach break or at least somewhere with a mix of beach and city. I’ve been to Dubai many times, a decent amount of North America so not really looking for there (unless there’s a very decent option starting in Dublin or AMS/Paris etc)

Look at flights on Iberia from Madrid.

Open an IB account (transfer AVIOS to the IB site) and book on that site. Taxes are way cheaper and pre Covid options were good to South America.

I started my RTW trip from there and flew to South America J class-then onto the Galapagos-Lima-Easter Island-Papeete-using Avios. Very low taxes, though mostly economy TBHO.
Then used American Airline miles PPT to SYD
Air Aisia to Myanmar
Avios Myanmar to Cyprus then home.

I never use AVIOS on BA from UK

• This reply was modified 54 years, 4 months ago by .

[Whatsthepoint]

It sounds like you’re some way off getting enough Avios to use a Companion Voucher yet. When you do, you can only use it on British Airways ‘metal’ so cannot use it on Iberia. Not sure about the Barclays upgrade voucher though. When you do have enough though, I thought, compared to cash prices, Mauritius is a good option. CW tickets often £3k and above, Avios only £150k return with companion voucher. Alternatively, as has been said above, the Caribbean or Florida are best bets for sun, see and sand. For your Virgin miles, I recently used 2 vouchers to get two of us to Orlando, which worked out quite well. I understand that there are also good redemption opportunities to Virgin partners, but again can’t use the vouchers on partners.

[Londonsteve]

I am also very interested in this topic and like the OP, happy to consider varying my holiday plans to extract the most value from my cache of Avios (and smaller cache of money). Value hunters will seldom have lots of money to spend at their destination(s) therefore the likes of Mauritius are not practical. It’s a lovely island paradise for the well-off who might ordinarily even consider spending £3k to fly in J and then a similar amount to stay there for 14 nights, therefore redemption seats with very high BA cash component might even represent ‘value’, especially with a 2-4-1.

I redeemed a couple of years ago on IB in J to a zone 6 destination where the local costs were affordable and had a great trip. The implied cost of the fare was less than BA would charge merely for the cash component when flying a similar distance, before one considers the considerable value of 100k+ Avios on top. At the same time I enjoyed IB’s J product with direct aisle access, the outstanding Velasquez lounge at MAD and on a balance, likely to be slightly better Spanish catering compared to what BA would attempt to serve you.

Would be delighted to learn of great value redemption options (Finnair to SE Asia?) wherever they might be in the world, either leaving directly from the UK or ex-EU to where one can affordably fly on a positioning flight with RFS or on a low cost airline. I’ve even considered the possibility of a multi-leg trip, sewing together a few great value redemption opportunities in J and thus getting a flavour of disparate destinations.

[meta]

Mauritius is not that expensive of a destination. It has far more affordable and reasonable accommodation than say Seychelles, let alone Maldives. My parents paid about £700 for 10 days for example in a very nice 3/4 star hotel right on the arguably best beach in Mauritius. I paid silly money as well few years ago, but I did use my hotels.com vouchers. And restaurant prices are not that high unless you eat in Michelin-star restaurants. There is always a promo on a hotel wherever you go.

[Cranzle]

meta wrote:

Mauritius is not that expensive of a destination. It has far more affordable and reasonable accommodation than say Seychelles, let alone Maldives. My parents paid about £700 for 10 days for example in a very nice 3/4 star hotel right on the arguably best beach in Mauritius. I paid silly money as well few years ago, but I did use my hotels.com vouchers. And restaurant prices are not that high unless you eat in Michelin-star restaurants. There is always a promo on a hotel wherever you go.

I agree. In my experiance Mauritius is the best ‘value for money’ destination when compared with Maldives & Seychelles.

[Londonsteve]

That is interesting to know, thank you. Is Mauritius better value to get to with a partner carrier, Finnair or Qatar perhaps?

[sturgeon]

Thanks everyone. I noticed the same for Mauritius when looking at holiday destinations recently, it’s actually quite reasonable for top hotels.

I don’t mind paying for a decent hotel but typically no more than £300 a night tops. I will soon have c. 100k avios, collecting more from my Barclays account plus any spending on my Premium BA Amex that’s about to arrive.

I find the idea of an ex EU Flight intriguing but with todays news of BA hiking taxes for redemptions this seems more sensible. I just do not want to redeem avios and taxes when I could pay a similar cash amount and earn tier points/more miles and hence make barely any saving. The ex EU thing intrigues me as I question how fun it is to start your luxury trip on a crammed ryanair flight to Madrid or Amsterdam or whatever, for all that hassle, to then fly back in reverse for what may be a 7-10 hour business flight? And then do the same on your return? Although I’ve read a one way back to the U.K. won’t attract the same sky high taxes so maybe the crammed economy positioning flight is only needed on the way out.

[Benilyn]

Make a holiday out of it if you can spare the extra days off.

[Whatsthepoint]

Going back to the Mauritius accommodation discussion. Even a cursory look on Tripadvisor, VRBO or AirBnB will show a large choice of good quality accommodation for all budgets. For next January, we’re got a very well reviewed studio apartment with shared pool overlooking the beach for about £50 a night, another more upscale direct beach access villa for about £150 a night and finally a boutique, beach front, adults only hotel, half board, for £250 a night. That’s great value IMHO. It reminds me of some of the larger Caribbean islands for choice. Also plenty of places to eat out at all price points. Mauritius also has loads to do.