Reward flight costs more than buying it?

[Ajj81]

Hi all,

I have Amex BA premium card and have a reward flight voucher. Trying to book this for 2*Adults and 1 child and it’s gives me the option to use the voucher and then pay about £1200 (no avios).if I look at the same flights direct on BA and it’s £1200 for all 3 of us to fly.

So what’s the benefit in the reward flight? Has anyone else had this or is it just the time of year in booking? As if this is the case then there is no benefit to having this card.

Any ideas why?

Thanks

[Rui N.]

Yes, happens a lot. You have to do the maths to see if is worth it – this case seems clearly it does not, others is not so obvious.
Just because avios don’t work in one single instance doesn’t mean the card is worthless.

[Peter K]

I’m not sure how there are no avios on a reward booking, as there is no reward element?

If it’s in economy then reward flights usually give you pittance for your avios but sometimes it’s okay and in more premium cabins it’s often better value.

[The Savage Squirrel]

£1200 cash and no Avios vs £1200 cash and no Avios? You seem to have been looking at the same cash fare on both occasions 😀

Anyway, have a look at the beginner articles on this site (click Avios on the top menu and see the articles underneath) – they will explain where the value in Avios and your 2-for-1 is: which is generally in booking business class or First class tickets.

Economy tickets will seldom get you much discount against simply using cash – and will burn a lot of Avios to do so – the Avios spend will be poor value in most cases. It is also worth remembering that Avios tickets are flexible though – so significantly superior to the inflexible cash ticket you are comparing against.

[Caps44]

I think for a family of 3…you can only book over the phone?

[Cornishrex1]

Economy tickets will seldom get you much discount against simply using cash – and will burn a lot of Avios to do so – the Avios spend will be poor value in most cases. It is also worth remembering that Avios tickets are flexible though – so significantly superior to the inflexible cash ticket you are comparing against.

I m really interested in this response. I have been with Virgin to date, and we recently flew to Miami and back for 2 adults and a child for about £770, using Virgin points and a companion voucher. Economy. I was very happy. Can’t remember the points used but didn’t take that long to save them up with the paid virgin CC. But more recently, I wanted to book flights to Rio and back. And of course that is where I found the limitation of Virgin – their limited destinations. I have ended up booking three full price tickets via BA at a cost of £2900 (for next year’s rio carnival), and feel a bit gutted at the cost. I resolved to switch across to BA Avios points moving forward, so I have diligently transferred my current account to Barclays premier earning Avios points, and I was going to sign up to BA Amex for the points offer and pay the £250 fee. But we only fly economy. I am really not interested in business class – did enough of that in my job years ago and the novelty wore off (although spending every Sunday in the virgin lounge at Heathrow was pretty cool). If what the OP and others say above is true, then I may be wasting my time. Virgin offer good flight deals on points in economy (but seemingly not so great with their partner airlines). Are BA points not comparable in that regard? Should I just stick with my virgin card (the paid one with 241) if I only want economy flights on points?

[Rob]

This is actually the outcome we want.

To make all redemption options worthwhile you would need to move to revenue based redemptions. Club seats would then be around 500,000 Avios (see what Delta or KLM charge – occasionally over 1m miles in Business).

With no link between cash and Avios pricing you will get exceptional deals – some good, but some exceptionally bad. As you’re not forced to take the bad ones, you win overall.

[Bill_B]

With RFS you should still be able to get 1p+ per avios on a lot of routes in economy. For example, an economy redemption to Buenos Aires is 80k avios + £250 and £1050 is already close to the floor for cash prices with tickets going above £2000 for some dates. With the 241 you would be paying £250 to save £400 or more.

[ed_fly]

Bill_B wrote:

With RFS you should still be able to get 1p+ per avios on a lot of routes in economy. For example, an economy redemption to Buenos Aires is 80k avios + £250 and £1050 is already close to the floor for cash prices with tickets going above £2000 for some dates. With the 241 you would be paying £250 to save £400 or more.

agreed RFS and a 2-4-1 in economy can easily get over 1p per Avios in peak times. Economy redemptions have no aspirational feel, but in some cases are a good pound for pound redemption option.

[Rui N.]

Indeed. I booked an Economy flight to an EU destination for Christmas that was priced at over £1000 per person return. Good deals can be found!

[Peter K]

Cornishrex1 wrote:

I am really not interested in business class – did enough of that in my job years ago and the novelty wore off (although spending every Sunday in the virgin lounge at Heathrow was pretty cool).

Has it worn off for your +1 and child however? 🙂

[TGLoyalty]

I’m totally confused by the whole question here

The way to work out if something is “cheaper” isn’t just the cash element but the total value of points and cash.

I’d use 0.8-1p personally and no less than 0.7p as you can get that via nectar.

Then remember the flexibility of Avios flights cancel for £35 Vs basically non refundable.

Obviously cash flights being the same as just the taxes isn’t a good deal but honestly considering cash fares at the moment is truly surprised that situation exists right now!

[BuildBackBetter]

@Ajj81, what do you mean ‘no avios’? Are you looking at the right option?

[The Savage Squirrel]

Cornishrex1 wrote:

Economy tickets will seldom get you much discount against simply using cash – and will burn a lot of Avios to do so – the Avios spend will be poor value in most cases. It is also worth remembering that Avios tickets are flexible though – so significantly superior to the inflexible cash ticket you are comparing against.

I m really interested in this response. I have been with Virgin to date, and we recently flew to Miami and back for 2 adults and a child for about £770, using Virgin points and a companion voucher. Economy. I was very happy. Can’t remember the points used but didn’t take that long to save them up with the paid virgin CC. But more recently, I wanted to book flights to Rio and back. And of course that is where I found the limitation of Virgin – their limited destinations. I have ended up booking three full price tickets via BA at a cost of £2900 (for next year’s rio carnival), and feel a bit gutted at the cost. I resolved to switch across to BA Avios points moving forward, so I have diligently transferred my current account to Barclays premier earning Avios points, and I was going to sign up to BA Amex for the points offer and pay the £250 fee. But we only fly economy. I am really not interested in business class – did enough of that in my job years ago and the novelty wore off (although spending every Sunday in the virgin lounge at Heathrow was pretty cool). If what the OP and others say above is true, then I may be wasting my time. Virgin offer good flight deals on points in economy (but seemingly not so great with their partner airlines). Are BA points not comparable in that regard? Should I just stick with my virgin card (the paid one with 241) if I only want economy flights on points?

Glad the Miami trip worked for you. I’d imagine that a few of the florida holiday destinations at peak fare times then points economy seats may indeed offer good value. Economy will certainly do at times, it will just be less frequent than in higher cabins.

If you are wanting to very travel to specific destinations on very specific high-demand dates then no frequent flyer scheme is going to fully meet your needs. Did you check whether BA offered the availability on the route you were interested in on those dates….? If you have time&place specific travel goals and wish to use points then having options in several schemes gives you the best chance of securing what you want using points – but this may dilute your points into uselessness, so only you know whether you have enough points generation to allow you to do this.

[Gosia44]

Rui N. wrote:

Indeed. I booked an Economy flight to an EU destination for Christmas that was priced at over £1000 per person return. Good deals can be found!

Correct, EU destinations for Christmas regularly hit £600 return and often £1000. RFS for 15k avios + £35 including suitcase works well for me, just needs to be booked well in advance.