Cashing in the Avios
Discussion
I’ve currenly got 118,000 Avios. Realistically I don’t collect many with only the odd tesco voucher and a little bit of fuel topping them. I’m looking at flights for the family to Orlando and I can cash in 117,500 Avios for £650 discount off the flight for 5 of us. Is this just throwing the points away? I was going to keep topping them up and take the missus Qatar QSuite etc in a few years.... quite a few years as our youngest is 2.5yrs.
Answer isn’t mx5.
Answer isn’t mx5.
Edited by Jamesgt on Sunday 18th November 05:42
I’ve currenly got 118,000 Avios. Realistically I don’t collect many with only the odd tesco voucher and a little bit of fuel topping them. I’m looking at flights for the family to Orlando and I can cash in 117,500 Avios for £650 discount off the flight for 5 of us. Is this just throwing the points away? I was going to keep topping them up and take the missus Qatar QSuite etc in a few years.... quite a few years as our youngest is 2.5yrs.
Answer isn’t mx5.
Answer isn’t mx5.
Edited by Jamesgt on Sunday 18th November 06:27
It will make it just under a grand for 5 of us to go to Orlando rtn with luggage and seat selection, food etc. Seems like a race to the bottom with these carriers now having to pay for seat selection and luggage. I would look for reward flight availability on the dates you want to travel and book as many of these with the avios you have and then book cash flights for the balance. The reward flights offer better value than just using avios to discount a cash fare. You can then pay for seat selection on the two bookings to keep you together.
If you don't need to travel in the same cabin, you have almost have enough points for two premium economy return seats (130k avois plus £869 taxes)
If you don't need to travel in the same cabin, you have almost have enough points for two premium economy return seats (130k avois plus £869 taxes)
Tim330 said:
I would look for reward flight availability on the dates you want to travel and book as many of these with the avios you have and then book cash flights for the balance. The reward flights offer better value than just using avios to discount a cash fare. You can then pay for seat selection on the two bookings to keep you together.
If you don't need to travel in the same cabin, you have almost have enough points for two premium economy return seats (130k avois plus £869 taxes)
Thanks for that. That makes much more sense. I can travel premium with the oldest and wife can travel economy with the two younger ones. I didn’t think of splitting the tickets. I will have a look at that. If you don't need to travel in the same cabin, you have almost have enough points for two premium economy return seats (130k avois plus £869 taxes)
That seems like a rip off to me. BA even though they’re giving bonus avios when you purchase them would charge you approx £1400 to buy 118,000.
Could you use them to upgrade for the night flight back instead?
Personally I’d save them for a later date. If you had a companion voucher from a BA Amex you could very nearly get two returns in business class to somewhere in the US for the points you have (need 125,000 off peak).
Could you use them to upgrade for the night flight back instead?
Personally I’d save them for a later date. If you had a companion voucher from a BA Amex you could very nearly get two returns in business class to somewhere in the US for the points you have (need 125,000 off peak).
djc206 said:
That seems like a rip off to me. BA even though they’re giving bonus avios when you purchase them would charge you approx £1400 to buy 118,000.
Could you use them to upgrade for the night flight back instead?
Personally I’d save them for a later date. If you had a companion voucher from a BA Amex you could very nearly get two returns in business class to somewhere in the US for the points you have (need 125,000 off peak).
A rip off is probably a bit strong. But certainly redeeming them for the equivalent of 0.5pence per point is poor value.Could you use them to upgrade for the night flight back instead?
Personally I’d save them for a later date. If you had a companion voucher from a BA Amex you could very nearly get two returns in business class to somewhere in the US for the points you have (need 125,000 off peak).
I agree with your last point - save up a bit more, then double it up with a companion voucher, and redeem for a couple of decent seats long-haul.
Not sure about avios but Amex to Virgin are tricky. Book around 11 months in advance to LA and frankly give approx leave dates and four weeks later before return. So basically give me four weeks in June,July, whatever dates .
Managed two PE this summer with just tax to pay, and two PE this xmas again with points .
60 k points per PE seat.
Flying virgin gold I can change locations without any cost, which I did this summer switching LA for Seattle for the outward flight, returning from LA .
Search ‘shops away’
Managed two PE this summer with just tax to pay, and two PE this xmas again with points .
60 k points per PE seat.
Flying virgin gold I can change locations without any cost, which I did this summer switching LA for Seattle for the outward flight, returning from LA .
Search ‘shops away’
BA have just released 50,000 additional redemptions so definitely check that out as availability is fairly decent, rather than using them to discount flights.
I'm booked for Miami in February (from Edinburgh) and it was circa £500 "taxes and fees" and 120k avios each although I had a 2 for 1 Amex voucher which made it a decent deal.
To me the best use of Avios is transatlantic Premium Economy in a sale (normally discounted to £750) then upgrade to CW using Avios, which is normally around 20k per sector.
I'm booked for Miami in February (from Edinburgh) and it was circa £500 "taxes and fees" and 120k avios each although I had a 2 for 1 Amex voucher which made it a decent deal.
To me the best use of Avios is transatlantic Premium Economy in a sale (normally discounted to £750) then upgrade to CW using Avios, which is normally around 20k per sector.
Edited by tim0409 on Sunday 18th November 19:44
tim0409 said:
BA have just released 50,000 additional redemptions so definitely check that out as availability is fairly decent, rather than using them to discount flights.
I'm booked for Miami in February (from Edinburgh) and it was circa £500 "taxes and fees" and 120k avios each although I had a 2 for 1 Amex voucher which made it a decent deal.
To me the best use of Avios is transatlantic Premium Economy in a sale (normally discounted to £750) then upgrade to CW using Avios, which is normally around 20k per sector.
I was going to mention using the avios to upgrade from PE to CW but unfortunately I don't think the OP would find 5 CW reward seats on the same flight. I'm booked for Miami in February (from Edinburgh) and it was circa £500 "taxes and fees" and 120k avios each although I had a 2 for 1 Amex voucher which made it a decent deal.
To me the best use of Avios is transatlantic Premium Economy in a sale (normally discounted to £750) then upgrade to CW using Avios, which is normally around 20k per sector.
Edited by tim0409 on Sunday 18th November 19:44
HotJambalaya said:
Your target value for avios is 1p per avios, I wouldn’t like to redeem at anything at less then that rate. It’s worth considering the ba premium amex, after you’ve spent 10k you’ll get a 2-4-1 voucher which can make redemptions much better value.
Yes, work out how much you are getting per point. I've just booked a couple of trips and opted for £30 off for 3,750 points - 0.8p each. If you redeem more, the amount you get per point drops, so you are getting less value.At the other end of the scale, BA did an offer in October giving £100 off for 5k points - so 2p per point.
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