Using Avios with oneworld partners

[Aston100]

Not done this before.
Results are more expensive than cash bookings.
Perhaps I’m doing something wrong.

Domestic flights within Malaysia, with MAS in Economy.
Examples:
KUL > SDK. BA site: 9000 Avios + £9.10 / Malaysia Airlines site: £69 fully flex (or £54 for basic economy)
BKI > KUC. BA site: 6000 Avios + £7.90 / Malaysia Airlines site: £52 fully flex (£37 basic economy)

Those basic economy tickets include food, 20kg luggage and some limited flexibility (at a cost) so almost (but not quite) what you get with the avios tickets. The fully flex tickets are superior to the avios tickets and still cost less.

Is there any point booking foreign domestic flights (oxymoron…) with avios? Or are these just bad luck?

[Alex G]

Can be worthwhile.

Japan for example.

A one way in economy from HND to FUK is just over £100 cash, or 7500 Avios plus £3

Regional tickets can also be good value.

[polly]

We ended up buying PEN KUL tkts for about £15, avios was c £12 plus avios, hope it works out.. it’s better if eg we are flying DPS to KUL, then in J it’s def worth the avios and cash…

[Jon]

One thing to factor in – if you’re buying multiple tickets on MH, Economy Flex gets you 10% off your next one (but the next one has to be in Flex also, which will in turn get you 10% off your next one, and so on). So buy your cheapest route first 😉 But note that it doesn’t apply to multi-sector bookings, so leave any of those to last.

One route where Avios is almost always cheaper is KUL-SIN or vv. IIRC something like 6,000 Avios plus not much £, verses a near consistent SGD130 / MYR500 / £90 ish each way.

[newsmike48]

Hi
Got excellent value for using Avios on Quantas domestic.
eg Business Class SYD-MEL cash price AUD 634 (approx £380 at time of booking) or 12500 Avios + £21.90
You can of course argue about the value of AUD 634 for a 90 min flight but we had a lot of luggage, the Quantas lounges were far superior to most BA ones, it was a proper business class seat, like US domestic First, good food and excellent wine -made BA short haul look like very amateurish by comparison.

[Aston100]

Found this on the Qatar Airways site.
Confirmed via a dummy booking that they are indeed charging 20k / 40k avios for KUL > SDK.

This feels expensive, especially given the BA avios price, and of course the fully flex fares direct from the MAS airline site.

[Aston100]

Jon wrote:

if you’re buying multiple tickets on MH, Economy Flex gets you 10% off your next one (but the next one has to be in Flex also, which will in turn get you 10% off your next one, and so on). So buy your cheapest route first

Thanks Jon. I didn’t notice this until you mentioned it.
Very useful as I will be taking 3 flights with MAS. So definitely no point in me using Avios within Malaysia.

Thanks again for that.

[Ghosty]

I have just booked LAX to Honolulu on AA for 13,000 avios and £5. Google flights had same flight at £198 (un-flexible)
If my sums are correct! thats 1.48p per avios value.
I’m thinking of taking out an avios subscription to replace the miles at a lower rate.

[NorthernLass]

AA redemptions can be terrific value but just be prepared for AA changing/cancelling/being delayed/generally messing you around!