Falling in love with British Airways Avios….Again.

Posted by Noob Master on Jan 10, 2013 in Avios, Award Booking, British Airways, travel tips, Uncategorized | 2 comments

It happens all the time. I remember my love for Avios when I redeem them for a redic low fare. Then I forget about them again, and become pre-occupied with the pretty girl, a.k.a. Ultimate Rewards points, as I should.

But when it comes time again for me to pet my Avios balance, I’m always left happy. Check my latest series on maximizing Avios points if don’t know about the value they pack.

• Part 1: Intra-European: British Airways, Iberia, airberlin, Finnair
• Part 2: Intra-African: Comair
• Part 3: Intra-Australasian: Cathay Pacific and Qantas

This last weekend, I went on an award booking spree, and British Airways Avios played a key role in my bookings. These are the bookings I made in my tipsyness.

Boston – Dublin

Jordan wants to go to Ireland, so what kind of husband would I be if I didn’t make it happen? Plus, she’s dying to do the Guinness tour in Dublin. Yeah, she’s that cool.

We all know that British Airways has a distanced-based award chart and that they have hefty fuel & tax surcharges on longer flights. However, you can fly from Boston to Dublin for only 25,000 round-trip in coach, or 50,000 round-trip in business class! That’s a steal, and the taxes are low because it’s on Aer Lingus and a shorter flight. Sweet spot.

I ended up booking Bos-Dublin, one-way for 50,000 Avios and $61.14 for BOTH of us in business class on Aer Lingus. This is one of the best values around. I had to call into British Airways because I couldn’t make the booking on their website. Shocker. They did waive the phone booking fee without a problem.

This booking made me fall in love again with British Airways Avios.

We may even use Avios again for our positioning flight to Boston, or I’ll use our Southwest Companion Pass. We have time and options.

Dublin – LHR

We don’t want to spend more than a couple of days in Ireland, so we used some Avios to get over to London. We will be traveling with friends who have lived in London, so it’s going to be a good time getting escorted by people who know their way around. Can’t wait.

Here’s what our short flight cost us:

Dub-LHR

I’m more than happy to spend 9,000 Avios and $45 for the both of us. I checked out Ryanair and the fares were affordable, but they kill you with fees on bags and other silly things.

DFW – Miami

We’re taking a cruise out of Miami in April, so I went ahead and booked our flights there. We’re going out of DFW since we will be seeing family the week before, and it’s a better rate with Avios. We would have to connect through Dallas most likely anyway.

Here’s the damage:

DFW – Miami

That’s right. 15,000 Avios & $5 for both of us! I can live with that.

Ways to get British Airways Avios

There’s a 50,00 offer on the British Airways Visa Signature® Card. You will get 50,000 Avios after spending $1,000 in 3 months, though.

There’s a 30% bonus on American Express Membership Rewards transferred into British Airways until January 14th. I transferred over 50,000 Membership Rewards points to top off my British Avios balance for the previous bookings.

British Airways is also a transfer partner of Ultimate Rewards. The points transfer at a 1:1 ratio. I wish Chase would come out with transfer bonuses to their loyalty partners. The Chase Freedom® Visa , Chase Sapphire Preferred®, Ink Bold® Business Card, and Ink Plus® Business Card all earn Ultimate Rewards points.

As you can tell, there are many ways to earn or top off your British Airways Avios account. Always make sure you have a plan or upcoming travel before you go transferring points out.

I’ve always found value with Avios, and find them to come in handy often. I highly recommend earning Avios, and looking for ways to maximize their value.

[Disclaimer: I receive a referral credit for the cards mentioned in the post above. Thanks for the support if you decide to apply through the Noobtraveler]

— Noob Master