# Avios-British Airways points--Amex 50% bonus--should I?



## elaine (Apr 25, 2012)

new Amex offer--50% bonus Avios points for transferring AMEX points to British Airways. I am thinking of transferring some points to use Avios for intra-European flights for our family of 5 for next year. Pros/cons?


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## x3 skier (Apr 25, 2012)

BA has some of the worst surcharges on FF tickets for trans Atlantic flights. No clue if that holds for intra Europe flights as well but I would run some test cases first before the transfer of points.

I generally use rail or LCC for intra Europe, including night trains which save a night in a hotel. I did that from Lisbon to Madrid last year and it was pretty nice. 

Cheers


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## Ken555 (Apr 25, 2012)

Yes, BA has high taxes when flying via London, but...If you're flying business, they have a fantastic product. If coach, I don't see the advantage of BA. For intra-Europe, I also suggest the LCC's. I flew Germanwings last year and it was fine.


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## akp (Apr 25, 2012)

*There are lots of great values with Avios!*

I just did my transfer last night!  

Some of the BA best redemptions are short haul flights within the US.  Kansas City to Chicago is only 9000 Avios roundtrip with about $12 in fees.  I can fly my family of 5 roundtrip for 30000 Membership Rewards points (30000 x 1.5 = 45000).

Another great use of Avios is within south america.  I priced some one way tickets the other day at $288 each, but only 4500 Avios plus the $12 fee.  For my inter-Peru flights, I will save thousands of dollars by using Avios instead of paying out of pocket.

There are other good redemptions, also, but those are the meaningful ones I've found.  I would say if you have a good use for them, this is a great time to do it.

There are many great blog posts about good use of Avios from travel bloggers I follow.  If you're interested, I can dig up a few links.  Just PM me.

Anita


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## x3 skier (Apr 25, 2012)

akp said:


> Another great use of Avios is within south america.  I priced some one way tickets the other day at $288 each, but only 4500 Avios plus the $12 fee.  For my inter-Peru flights, I will save thousands of dollars by using Avios instead of paying out of pocket.
> 
> Anita



Are these BA or one world partners?  I have a ton of AA miles and if they are available on AA, I need to check it out.  

Cheers


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## julienjay (Apr 26, 2012)

Anita, can you help me understand if this would be a good idea for me? I have a family of 4 and we live in Los Angeles. Are there any good deals from Los Angeles? It's wild you can fly your whole family for 30,000 miles. (We have about 100,000 membership rewards points.)


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## x3 skier (Apr 26, 2012)

*Avios points aren't miles*

I figured out it takes 2.5 "regular" miles to equal 1 Avios point. 

Therefore you have to multiply 9000 Avios by 2.5 to get the equivalent of AA Miles or 22500 miles which is better than usual deal. But for a family of five it will be the equivalent of 112500 miles.

Because of the disparity between Avios Points and FF Miles, I doubt the MR points exchange 1 for 1 with Avios Points so be careful.  

I am still very interested in the South American info even if it is 11250 miles and not 4500. 

Cheers


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## SuzanneSLO (Apr 27, 2012)

julienjay said:


> Anita, can you help me understand if this would be a good idea for me? I have a family of 4 and we live in Los Angeles. Are there any good deals from Los Angeles? It's wild you can fly your whole family for 30,000 miles. (We have about 100,000 membership rewards points.)



I beleive domestic awards using Avios are distance based.  Short haul which gets no break on AA FF, will get a break when using BA Avios to book.  I recently look at Santa Barbara to LAX and it was also 9,000 Avios RT.  You should play around on the website and see what comes up for the detinations you might be interested in.   -- Suzanne


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## akp (Apr 28, 2012)

*I'm sure there are some good deals from LAX with Avios*



julienjay said:


> Anita, can you help me understand if this would be a good idea for me? I have a family of 4 and we live in Los Angeles. Are there any good deals from Los Angeles? It's wild you can fly your whole family for 30,000 miles. (We have about 100,000 membership rewards points.)



It depends where you want to fly. 

Avios are distance based with short flights being great deals because they are low points but high $$$.  (not sure about the comment above about 1 Avios equaling 2.5 miles?)

It takes 25000 Avios plus $22 to fly RT from LAX to Honolulu in coach.  (approx 17K MR points with the 1.5 transfer)

35000 Avios + $100 to fly RT fro LAX to Cancun.

It takes 9000 Avios + ? (maybe $15?) to fly RT from Kansas City to Chicago.

Pay attention to fees and look for the deals from LAX and I bet you'll find something worthwhile!

Good luck,

Anita


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## Carolinian (Apr 28, 2012)

The good deal on intra-Europe has been BD (British Midland or BMI), whose Diamond Club ff program I have been a member of.  The purchase of BD by BA's parent has set off a scurry to burn BD miles, as what some are referring to as BA ''inches'' are less valuable than BD miles.  The intra-Europe use of Avios (sometimes called Adios on the BD boards) is usually not good value.

I would concur with using LCC's for intra-Europe rather than an ff program. BD has been great with 4500 miles (and REAL miles not points) for one way short haul intra-Europe and 6000 for mid-haul within Europe and Eurasia.

The BA ''taxes'' problem is not just the outrageous APD flying out of London, but the horrendous YQ (fuel surcharge) imposed by BA itself on award tickets on its own and some partner metal.  The efficient use of Avios / Adios would be on partner airlines where there is no YQ as in the examples mentioned here by some other posters.


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## x3 skier (Apr 28, 2012)

akp said:


> It depends where you want to fly.
> 
> Avios are distance based with short flights being great deals because they are low points but high $$$.  (not sure about the comment above about 1 Avios equaling 2.5 miles?)
> 
> Anita



I be the first to admit I know little if anything about Avios but when I checked some TATL awards on the AA and BA web sites, it was 100000 AA Miles and 40000 Avios points for a Business Class award. I deduced it was a ratio of 2.5 to 1. I ignore the stupendous BA surcharges on flights to Europe.

Since Avios is distance based, maybe the ratio is not constant or they may be 1 to 1 and the distance just changes the equivalent miles.

I only use my miles for Business Class to Europe but this Avios thing intrigues me if I can get to South America with a lot fewer number of MR points via BA or One World partners AND no big surcharges.

I think I will check www.thepointsguy.com

Cheers


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## x3 skier (Apr 29, 2012)

*I am now a fan of Avios*

To find out more about Avios, I went to the points guy website and found this blog entry. 

http://thepointsguy.com/2012/04/maximizing-british-airways-avios-series-spotlight-on-taxes-and-fees/

As a result, I have changed  the impression I had about the comparability of Avios to "regular" FF Miles. The ratio is undetermined since it can take more or less Avios than FF Miles for any given trip as far as I can see with it generally less for non-stop short haul trips and the same or more for long haul or trips with a stop and change of flights involved BUT for my usual trips in Business Class to Europe, the fees for using Avios are ridiculously large. 

The link I posted above also resulted in my getting a BA Visa card that has several great features. 50000 Avios for the first spend (plus up to 50000 more) no foreign exchange fees AND a Chip and PIN card for use in my European trips.

Additionally, I am considering transferring some of my stash of MR Points to Avios. Since the deal is good to the end of May, it gives plenty of time to do more research. Right now, it looks like a good plan to use Avios to get to a gateway that has low FF Miles in Biz Class to Europe or Elsewhere. That even might make it easier to find those low miles awards to foreign destinations. 

Thanks to all who helped make me smarter about this version of FF Programs. 

Cheers


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## Ken555 (Apr 29, 2012)

Thanks for the link. I hadn't looked into the BA program in some time, since their last 100k promo cc offer, and for some reason didn't get one then. This link shows the ability to use only 25k miles on AA from LAX-Kauai, and I assume it's similar to other airports in Hawaii since it's all based on distance. This is a very good offer, even compared with my current use of SPG points transferred to USAir during their 50% promo where the 40k flights on United actually cost ~22k SPG points. I'm tempted to get the BA card just for the potential of the four additional flights to Hawaii, not to mention it would be nice to have a card again that doesn't have foreign transaction fees.


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## akp (Apr 29, 2012)

*FF flights + timeshare = great marriage*

There are some fantastic FF redemptions available if you read and study the systems.

Each time you book a TS vacation, take some time and scan FlyerTalk and some key FF blogs (Points Guy, Frugal Travel Guy, Million Mile Secrets, Mommy Points) for tricks and tips on the best redemption for where you're going.  

Since TS vacations are usually booked a year or more out, you have plenty of time to get a new credit card that has a great companion fare or signup bonus, or shift spending to an appropriate card to get award tickets.

My next major trip (5 of us to Peru) will not use any timeshare weeks or points but will be mostly free thanks to airline and hotel miles. 

Anita


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