Not long ago BA released the first batch of flights that were all Avios seats. These sold out in less than 24 hours, so if these new ones are of interest, run don’t walk to buy them! 

British Airways unveiled its next Avios-Only flights today, opening up hundreds of additional reward seats over the 2024 Easter period.

The first Avios-Only flights were revealed last month, on which 100% of the seats are exclusively available to Executive Club Members as Reward Seats. The first two were to Sharm El Sheikh in November 2023 and Geneva in February 2024.

Following the success, British Airways has opened five more return journeys that will operate as Avios-Only flights in 2023 and 2024. Members will have the opportunity to travel on both Avios-Only flights or combine them with other available travel dates.

Reward Seats are those that can be purchased using Avios at static rates. British Airways guarantees a minimum of 12 and 14 Reward Seats on all other short and long-haul flights respectively as standard, whereas Avios-Only flights mean that every seat is available to purchase using Avios. Members booking the Avios-Only flight can do so in any cabin as they normally would through ba.com.

Customers with British Airways American Express Credit Cards will also be able to use their Companion Vouchers on the Avios-Only flights, entitling them to a second seat for just the taxes and charges, or half the amount of Avios.

To book, log into your Executive Club account on www.ba.com as book as usual  

Avios-Only flight costs

The post HURRY: British Airways releases more Avios only flights appeared first on Turning left for less.

Spending Avios can sometimes be tricky.  We now regularly bring you a look every fortnight at what routes have the best Avios availability, thanks to Reward Flight Finder.

If there is a particular focus you would like in an article for Avios, let us know in the comments below. 

What is Reward Flight Finder?

Reward Flight Finder offers a free and paid service to find Avios seats for a whole year’s worth of flights at a glance. One of the most useful features is available on the paid plan where you can set alerts when Avios seats are released on the flights you want. You can also use the map feature which shows you all the Avios destinations available on a particular date.

There is currently a fault with BA’s own yearly availability calendar as it is not showing return flight availability correctly, so it’s a good time to think about using RFF instead. I find it much quicker to use than BA’s version, with only one step to go through to access the data. 

RFF offer monthly and yearly plans. Here are the options:

Silver membership – from £3.99 monthly or Silver Annual £39.99

Silver membership includes:

• Unlimited reward seat searches
• Get reward seat Alerts within 1 hour
• Worldwide Map tool
• Set up to 5 Alerts at once
• Get email Alerts

Gold membership – from £6.99 monthly or Annual £69.99

• Unlimited reward seat searches
• Get instant reward seat Alerts
• Worldwide Map tool
• Set up to 20 Alerts at once
• Get email Alerts
• Get SMS Alerts

You can find out more and sign up here.

This time we are taking a more general look at Avios availability for popular destinations. If there is something you would like us to focus on please let us know in the comments below.

Keep checking Reward Flight Finder for the latest availability. 

New Feature for Reward Flight Finder

RFF has added a new feature to their website, which is aimed at helping new Avios collectors, and seasoned collectors at a glance.  They have created an Avios Calculator where people can see the points required for any BA reward seat route in a couple of clicks. From here, they can then make a flight search if they wish.

The price shown is the starting price for each cabin for off peak travel. This is useful in several ways as it shows you the old base level of Avios which is usually the best value for long haul travel. Obviously, you can then see the RFS pricing where you can use more Avios and less cash when you check online at ba.com

Top Avios flight availability

Short Haul

London – Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik, Croatia, is a popular city break destination for Avios reward seat bookings, but at the moment there are some good opportunities to book a break over summer and autumn. August has a few days where there are between 4 and 6 Economy seats available both outbound and inbound, and there’s good Business Class availability too. Again, September through to November have dates where there are up to 6 Economy seats up for grab both ways. 

London – Naples

Another hugely popular destination for weekends away or longer holidays as it is the gateway to the Amalfi Coast and Sorrento. There’s very little in the way of Economy reward seat availability up until October, however, if you’re thinking about October half term with the kids or an autumn break there are some dates with 5 and 6 Economy seats available to book. November and December have excellent availability for both Economy and Business Class seats. And if you’re planning for the February half term there are loads of Economy seats up for grabs. 

London – Faro, Portugal

If you’re looking for a late booking for the summer, Faro is a good bet.  Portugal flights are typically booked solid through summer but right now there is some decent availability for Economy reward seats at the end of June, and Economy seats in July and August too, with some dates having 4 or 5 available. Business Class seats are consistent over the summer period, with lots of days showing 2 to 4 seats available to book. 

London – Valencia 

Valencia makes for a great city break, or a lovely family holiday just outside of the city at the nearby coastal villages and towns. There’s pretty good availability in August in both Economy and Business Class, so those looking for a late summer booking should take a look. Quite a few dates still have 2 and 3 Economy seats, or 4 Business Class seats to book. From September onwards reward seat availability is excellent right through until March 2024, so if you’re seeking an October half term break, romantic weekend or grown-ups holiday Valencia is worth considering. From September there are loads of dates with 6 Economy seats and 6 Business Class seats up for grabs. 

Long Haul 

London – Cancun

Business Class seats are hard to come by for Mexico, particularly in our winter months when people are looking for sunshine breaks. However, at the moment there are some good Business Class reward seats available. June, July and August have a few dates where up to 4 seats are available to book. November and December, surprisingly, have a fair few dates where there’s a great selection of Business Class, and March 2024 currently has loads of availability. But book these ones fast because Mexico is a very popular reward seat destination year round. 

London – New York

Although it’s right up there as one of the most popular Avios reward seat destinations, reward seat availability for New York tends to be consistently decent because flights are so frequent. 

However, right now, availability is particularly excellent if you’re looking to book seats. July has an abundance of Business Class seats, with many dates having up to 6 up for grabs. First Class also has loads of availability, with quite a few dates having 2 or 3 seats. If you want to fly for fewer points Premium Economy can be a good shout on the New York flights because many journeys are in the day, and the flights aren’t too long. There are lots of dates with up to 6 Premium Economy seats.

This same trend continues over August, but come September to December, you’ll struggle to find any First Class availability. Premium Economy and Business remains good though. 

London –  Port of Spain,Trinidad and Tobago

This is a very rare occurrence, but if Trinidad and Tobago sounds like a dream destination you’re in luck. There are consistent Business Class seats available a couple of times a week from September to March 2023 both outbound and inbound, with some dates having 4 Business Class seats up for grabs.

London – San Francisco

Another in-demand route which has a lot of availability popping up at the end of 2023/start of 2024. From November there’s excellent Business Class availability, with a fair amount of dates showing up to 6 seats available. Outbound and inbound First Class seats start to make an appearance from mid-December, and from January there are lots of dates with up to 4 First Class seats to snap up. 

Even if you don’t fancy San Francisco itself, it’s the gateway to plenty of other areas such as Napa and Sonoma for wine, driving Highway 1, visiting Monterey or Carmel, and driving to Lake Tahoe or Yosemite. 

The post Avios Reward seat availability – Cancun, Tobago and more plus new Avios calculator feature appeared first on Turning left for less.

Spending Avios can sometimes be tricky.  We now regularly bring you a look every fortnight at what routes have the best Avios availability, thanks to Reward Flight Finder.

If there is a particular focus you would like in an article for Avios, let us know in the comments below. 

What is Reward Flight Finder?

Reward Flight Finder offers a free and paid service to find Avios seats for a whole year’s worth of flights at a glance. One of the most useful features is available on the paid plan where you can set alerts when Avios seats are released on the flights you want. You can also use the map feature which shows you all the Avios destinations available on a particular date.

RFF offer monthly and yearly plans. Here are the options:

Silver membership – from £3.99 monthly or Silver Annual £39.99

Silver membership includes:

• Unlimited reward seat searches
• Get reward seat Alerts within 1 hour
• Worldwide Map tool
• Set up to 5 Alerts at once
• Get email Alerts

Gold membership – from £6.99 monthly or Annual £69.99

• Unlimited reward seat searches
• Get instant reward seat Alerts
• Worldwide Map tool
• Set up to 20 Alerts at once
• Get email Alerts
• Get SMS Alerts

You can find out more and sign up here.

This time we are taking a more general look at Avios availability for popular destinations. If there is something you would like us to focus on please let us know in the comments below.

Keep checking Reward Flight Finder for the latest availability. 

London – Dubai

This is a very rare occurrence because Dubai is always an in-demand reward seat booking. There are some Business Class seats popping up in June through to October both outbound and inbound. Again from January, through February there is some good Business Class availability. 

London – Bermuda

London – Johannesburg

Another in-demand reward seat route. Like Dubai, Johannesburg regularly features in the most searched destinations on Reward Flight Finder. Amazingly, there are some Business Class and First Class seats available to book both outbound and inbound from May, through to the end of August. September to December has some good Business Class availability. 

It is relatively simple to get from Johannesburg to Cape Town by air with regular flights at regular intervals.

London – Buenos Aires

A couple of Business Class spots have opened up in July, both outbound and inbound. These are sure to go quickly though, so if Argentina is on your bucket-list act fast. 

I can highly recommend Buenos Aires as a place to visit with beautiful architecture, fantastic food wine and a thriving speakeasy bar scene.

London – Sao Paolo

If you’re looking to book a winter getaway, there are some good reward seats available to Brazil. November and December 2023 show a good selection of reward seat availability both outbound and inbound. 

You can check further availability using Reward Flight Finder. 

The post Avios Reward seat availability – Dubai, Bermuda and more appeared first on Turning left for less.

Some options to consider may be lounge access or onboard food and drink in the short-haul economy. You can find all the ways to BA spend Avios other than flights on this BA page. 

Whether you’re not planning to fly or you’ve already paid in cash, you may be wondering, ‘Where can I spend Avios Points on things other than flights?’ You can spend Avios on holidays and even wine. Here’s everything you need to know.

 

Using Avios to Buy Food on Board

If you are an Executive Club Member, you can pay for buy on board using Avios via the British Airways app. You can also pay with your Executive Club card if you are a Bronze, Silver or Gold Member.

Make sure you update your British Airways app before travelling and log into the app before putting your phone on flight-safe mode so your Avios balance can be displayed.

Here are some example prices for spending Avios on food and drink at the Speedbird Cafe:

Tom Kerridge – Ham Hock and Smoked Cheddar Sandwich – £4.20 (600 Avios)

Tom Kerridge Mediterranean Chickpea Flatbread – £4.20 (630 Avios)

Tom Kerridge West Country Cheddar Ploughman’s Sandwich – £4.20 (600 Avios)

Tom Kerridge Chicken, Bacon, Celery Brioche Sandwich – £4.50 (645 Avios)

Tom Kerridge Steak & Ale Pie – £4.50 (645 Avios) (read review here)

Afternoon Tea Box Sultana Scone, Clotted Cream and Strawberry Preserve – £4.95 (710 Avios)

Pullin’s No.13 Shortbread – £2.60 (230 Avios)

Haribo Starmix 250g – £3.25 (465 Avios)

 

CRU Kafe Fresh Roasted Organic Coffee – £2.80 (400 Avios)

Cadbury Hot Chocolate – 280 (400 Avios)

Twinings English Breakfast – 280 (400 Avios)

Harrogate Still Spring Water 500ml – £2 (290 Avios)

Coca-Cola Classic 330ml – £2.30 (330 Avios)

 

The Uncommon Wine of England `Gerald` Bubbly White Wine 250ml – £8 (1145 Avios)

Freixenet Italian Prosecco DOC 200ml – £6.50 (930 Avios)

Pannier Brut NV Champagne 375ml – £17 (2430 Avios)

Kloof en Berg Sauvignon Blanc 187ml – £6 (830 Avios)

Viña San Juan Spanish Merlot-Syrah-Tempranillo Wine 187ml – £6 (860 Avios)

Grey Goose L’Original Vodka 50ml – £6 (860 Avios)

Johnnie Walker Red Whisky 50ml – £5 (715 Avios)

St. Remy Xo Brandy 50ml – £4.50 (645 Avios)

 

Spend Avios Points on Hotels

Avios can be redeemed for thousands of hotels worldwide, saving you money on your trip even if you already have your flights. There are always plenty of Avios Hotel deals, so take a look and grab a bargain! 

Here’s what I found when looking for a one-night stay on 17th October 2022:

 

Spend Avios Points on Car Rental

Use Avios with Avis and Budget car rental available at thousands of airports worldwide. A vast range of pick-up and drop-off locations and executive club members benefit from a free additional driver with Avis.

Please note that you must be at least 23 to redeem Avios on car rental, and the service isn’t available to members from certain countries.

Here’s what I found when searching for a car rental on 17th-22nd October 2022:

 

You can redeem points with a mixture of cash and Avios points, just like flights.

 

Spend British Airways Avios Points on Activities and Experiences 

 BA offers the chance to buy with Avios on experiences around the UK, including attractions, spa days, theme park tickets, and Disneyland Paris tickets. Find out whether BA experiences are of good value in this post.

A quick search revealed the option to book a Colosseum tour in Rome for 4,950 Avios and a Park Guell and La Sagrada Familia Guided Tour for 14,500 Avios.

 

Nectar Points

In 2021, Nectar partnered with Avios, allowing Executive Club members to transfer Avios Points into Nectar points and vice versa.

Each Avios point is worth 0.08p when transferred into Nectar points. That means that if you have 1000 Avios points, you’re sitting on 1,600 Nectar points, and if you have 10,000 Avios, you’re sitting on 16,000 Nectar points.   The points can be spent at Sainsbury’s, Argos, eBay UK, and more! 

 

Spending Avios on Gift Vouchers

To spend Avios points on gift vouchers, you’ll need to transfer your points into Nectar Points, where your points can be redeemed for gift cards. Gift cards are available for things such as The Eurostar, The Daily Mail, Cafe Nero, eBay, Argos and Sainsbury’s. 

 

Donation Campaigns

Whether you have many Avios you don’t know what to do with or want to use your balance (or some of it) to make a charitable donation, now you can.

BA runs regular appeals where members can donate to Avios. A recent example is the NHS appeal which has now finished.

However, you can also donate Avios to charity by transferring your points into Nectar Points. The charities you can donate to depend on the time of year, but currently, you can donate to Comic Relief.

Customers can also donate a minimum of 125 Avios points to any charity in the BA Better World programme. You can donate here: https://bacommunityfund.co.uk/avios BA are also matching donations currently.

 

Transferring Avios to Someone Else

Whether you want to gift some of your balance or you know someone that needs some extra Avios to have the trip of a lifetime, you can transfer Avios to someone else. You can donate a minimum of 1,000 Avios and a maximum of 200,000 Avios every calendar year. To gift Avios, you must have collected or redeemed Avios in the past 36 months.

How to Transfer Avios

Log in to your Executive Club account and enter the details of the person you wish to send to. You can also leave a personal message for the person.

Cost

You have to pay to transfer Avios to someone unless you are a Gold or GGL cardholder. The transfers now cost a flat fee of £15 or $20/€20. This is a huge improvement even on transferring small amounts versus the variable fees previously that started at £25. 

 

Spend Avios on Wine and Champagne

You can also spend some of your Avios points through the BA executive club on wine, champagne, and spirits via ‘The Wine Flyer‘.

If you order through BA.com, you can get free wine from the world’s best wine producers delivered straight to your home or office. However, from 30th September 2022, you can no longer use Avios to buy Laithwaites wines.

The minimum amount of Avios needed to buy alcohol through the BA executive club is 6,500, but you can also make a part payment which starts at 1,000 Avios. To order alcohol from the Avios store, you must live in the UK and be over 18.

Current Prices Include:

The Explorer Selection Twelve (6 wines from Georgia, Hungary, Patagonia, California, Portugal and Australia) – £179.98 or £10.98 +17,100 Avios.

Old World Classics Selection Six (the best of Italy, France and Spain) – £94.99 or £6.49 +15,185 Avios.

Prosecco Selection Twelve (Veneto, Italy) – £169.98 or £8.48 +20,190 Avios.

Altitude Alpine Strawberry Pink Gin – £35 or 5,125 Avios

The post Guide to spending Avios part 3 – Non-Flight Rewards appeared first on Turning left for less.

One of the easiest ways to get enough Avios for a business class flight is to use a voucher. There are three main ways to get a voucher. The first two are by owning a particular credit card, and the 3rd is by earning 2500 tier points as a member of the BA executive club.

Getting vouchers

British Airways American Express cards offer the best reduction in Avios. There are two of these, one free and the Premium Plus version, which costs £250 per year. If you want the companion voucher, you may be better off with the Premium Plus version as the spend to trigger the voucher is £10,000 per year versus £12,000 on the free card. Even  £10,000 may sound like a lot, but if you get a companion card and channel two people’s spending through it for a year, it is achievable for many people. I put absolutely everything on my credit cards, even a small amount like £1 for parking, for example.

The other credit card to get a voucher is the Barclaycard Avios Mastercard. The upgrade voucher can be used for a one category upgrade except for Club to First which is excluded. See below for more details. 

Finally, if you earn 2500 Tier points with British Airways you get an upgrade voucher for two people. This can be used on cash or Avios bookings and is not subject to Avios availability. At 3500, you get two vouchers for one person. These can be booked online or by phone.

BA American Express Companion Voucher

You can see your voucher on BA.com by going to your Executive Club account page. So how do you book with a voucher? When you go to book a flight with BA you will notice that there is a check box for BA Amex voucher to select at the top of the booking form. It should show if you have one available.

The key rules to know are:

• Expiry date depends on which card you got the voucher from. The free card voucher has an expiry for one year, and the Premium Plus version has two years. This means that the voucher has to be booked and the outbound leg flown within that period.
• Cancelling the booking more than 24 hours before the flight means you can get the voucher back into your BA account and the Avios refunded. Once you have started your journey you can’t cancel the booking, only change it for £35. 
• Cabin class British Airways American Express® Credit Card Companion Vouchers can be redeemed in economy cabins, while British Airways American Express® Premium Plus Card Companion Vouchers can be redeemed across all cabins. This can make the American Express® Premium Plus Card worth the premium fee!
• Mixed class bookings are allowed, but both people must fly in the same class. These can be booked on ba.com.
• Domestic connections before a long-haul flight do not require any additional Avios. You should include them on the same ticket if you need them.
• The cardholder must travel.
• Open jaw. If you can’t find a return flight for a destination, consider an ‘open-jaw flight’. This is when you fly to one airport and return from a different one. This is allowed with the companion voucher but can only be done by calling BAEC. The open jaw must have the distance between your arriving and departing airport as shorter than either of the flights to or from London. For example, LFR-SFO, LAX-LHR would be acceptable as the distance between Los Angeles and San Francisco is clearly shorter than the two transatlantic flights.
• You must use an Amex card to pay the taxes and charges on your booking. These will be payable for both tickets including the companion one.
• You can book the outbound leg at 355 days before when they are released and then book the inbound separately when that becomes available. BA should combine the tickets or add the return leg and not charge you a change fee if the inbound was not available when you first booked. 

All the rules can be found here.

New versus old BA American Express Companion vouchers

There have been several changes for vouchers issued since September 2021.  You can usually tell new vouchers apart as they are called “BA American Express Premium Plus Companion Voucher”.

Differences with the new style vouchers

• These new vouchers also have access to more business class seats as when you book, you will shown I class seats as well as the normal Avios seats available.
• You can also use the new vouchers to get Reward Flight Saver pricing which means less cash and more Avios or stick with the old rates of Avios. 
• Finally, if you want to travel solo, new vouchers can be used for 50% off the Avios element of the ticket instead of taking a companion. 
• Vouchers issued since September 2021 can be used for departures starting outside the UK, unlike older vouchers.

Drawbacks of BA Credit Card Vouchers 

• High Fees, Taxes and Surcharges: British Airways Companion Vouchers can have high fees, making them expensive to use. If two people are booked onto a flight with your companion voucher, you must pay fees for both people. Sometimes it can be almost as cheap to get a low price ex EU fare, and then you earn more Avios and tier points as well.
• You will no longer save as much money starting your trip outside the UK with BA, and they have changed the taxes and charges to be in line with the UK.
• Vouchers from the old system (Pre September 2021) and the new system can’t be redeemed on the same booking: This can cause issues if you’ve accumulated more than one companion voucher over time.
• Old vouchers can only be used with RFS on long haul, which means you now need substantially more Avios to use them although you will pay less cash. 

Using Your Companion Voucher with Aer Lingus and Iberia

If you’ve earnt a new style companion voucher with American Express, you can now also use your BA Companion voucher to book Aer Lingus and Iberia Reward flights. This applies to all card members who’ve earnt a companion voucher since September 2021.

Both airlines require fewer Avios on many routes as well as much cheaper taxes. For example, Iberia normally only charges 68,000 Avios and £425 to New York in business class return versus British Airways’ standard 110,000 Avios plus £853.01. 

You book them in exactly the same way as BA flights. Select the route you want (after ticking box to use companion voucher), and it will show you any Iberia or Awer Linguis flights available on Avios on that route. 

Upgrading flights

Using the BA website you can either upgrade an existing booking or make a new cash booking and upgrade at the same time.  You can upgrade an existing booking with Avios using the ‘manage my booking’ area of the website.

The miles needed to upgrade are the Avios for the cabin you wish to upgrade to minus the Avios for the cabin you make your booking in. Ironically the cost is often better during peak periods as due to the different Avios requirements, the difference between the two classes is less. 

The advantages of upgrading are that you need fewer Avios but still earn miles and tier points on the booking (for the original class, not the upgraded one), which can offset the cost of the Avios. However, the Avios needed to upgrade can be high, and you need to pay the tax difference between the classes. But from Club to First there is no difference normally. Between World Traveller Plus and Club World it is likely to be several hundred pounds more. 

How to save on taxes and charges

Taxes and charges can be pretty high, around £600-£900 per person for a business class long haul ticket. This is partly due to UK APD but also determined by the charges of each airline. 

An End to the Low Tax Avios Loopholes

Prior to December 2022, the amount of cash Vv Avios paid was directly related to BA surcharges, taxes (including air passenger duty) and other fees. If you started your journey in the EU, you could have benefited from other surcharges. Now, the cash element paid does NOT directly correlate to the tax paid by BA. This no longer applies.

Other ways to minimise the cash element

The main way to minimise taxes and charges is to fly with a different airline. The best airlines for this are: Aer Lingus, Alaskan, AA domestic flights Qatar and Iberia.  Sometimes it is cheapest to buy two one-way redemptions, such as with Cathay, due to the tax rules for a particular country. These can all be booked in the same way as a BA flight through ba.com.

Reward Flight Saver

On short-haul when you have earned 1 mile in the last year, you are eligible for reward flight saver redemptions. (if you need to, you can earn 1 mile easily by using the BA eStore shopping portal to buy something small).

Reward Flight Saver means you pay the Avios and a flat fee in cash. This is currently £35 economy and £50 Club Europe return. If you are eligible, it will show the Reward Flight Saver fares. It can also be even cheaper to book two one-way flights, so it is worth looking at both options.

BA recently introduced RFS on long haul. This has some advantages for those that are happy to save up  more Avios in order to pay more cash. However, as part of this BA put up the standard non-RFS taxes and charges on a number of routes. This was the third post-Covid rise in taxes and charges. 

Barclaycard Upgrade Vouchers

Avios Mastercard credit cards are now available with Barclays. If you hold an Avios Mastercard, you can earn flight upgrades and a range of other travel-related perks. With a Barclaycard upgrade voucher, you can pay the Avios requirement of the next lowest class.

For example, if you book a Club World business class Avios seat to Boston, you would pay the World Traveller Plus Avios requirement but the Club World taxes and charges.

Two card types are available:

Barclaycard Avios:

• No Monthly Fee
• New customers get a bonus when spending a set amount in the first three months.
• 1 Avios for every £1 spent.
•  A cabin upgrade voucher each year if you spend at least £20,000 within the card year. Upgrade vouchers last 2 years.
• Barclaycard’s Entertainment perks
• Mastercard World Elite privileges
• 25.9% APR (variable)
• Up to five months of Apple TV+, Apple Music, Apple Fitness+, Apple News+ and Apple Arcade for free

Read More Here >>>

Barclaycard Avios Plus

• £20.00 fee per month
•  1.5 Avios for every £1 spent.
• Access to Mastercard’s Priceless.com with further benefits is also included.
•  A cabin upgrade voucher each year if you spend at least £10,000 within the card year. Upgrade vouchers last two years.
• Barclaycard’s Entertainment perks
• Mastercard World Elite privileges
• Airport Lounge Membership at a discounted rate of £18.50 per lounge pass, per person.
• 75.0% APR (variable)
• Up to five months of Apple TV+, Apple Music, Apple Fitness+, Apple News+ and Apple Arcade for free

Read More Here >>>

If you’re interested in getting one of these cards, they are now available to both existing AND new customers. There’s also the option for solo travellers to upgrade on both legs of the journey. 

Here are the rest of the series of spending Avios guides:

GUIDE TO EARNING AVIOS – PART 1 FLIGHTS AND CREDIT CARDS

GUIDE TO SPENDING AVIOS PART 1 – HOW TO GET THE FLIGHTS YOU WANT

GUIDE TO EARNING AVIOS – PART 2 HOTELS, SHOPPING, CAR HIRE AND MORE

The post Guide to spending Avios part 2 – using Amex companion & Barclaycard upgrade vouchers appeared first on Turning left for less.

So you have a nice pile of Avios burning a hole in your pocket, and you want to spend them. Simple? For anyone who has ever tried to redeem flights and failed you will have realised that earning the Avios was often the easy part. In this article, I will explain how to stand the best chance of getting the flights you want. In part 2,  I will explore how to use vouchers, upgrading, choose airlines for lower taxes and use Avios for rewards other than flights.

The basics

There are three ways to use Avios for flights:

• Avios Part Payment – reduce the cash price for your flight with as little as 1,000 Avios. The more Avios you use, the less cash you’ll need to pay. These tickets are not reward flights, so only offer flexibility for the fare class purchased. They are usually poor value compared to full redemption.

• Reward Flight Saver – pay as little as £1 and 18,500 Avios for your next flight to Europe, or from £100 and 50,000 Avios to destinations further afield. Reward Flight Saver offers a fixed cash cost, inclusive of taxes, fees and carrier charges plus an Avios amount. You will pay more Avios but less cash using these for long haul. You must have earned at least 1 Avios in the past year to qualify. These are available on BA only. 

• Reward Flight – using just Avios, only paying taxes, fees and carrier charges and full flexibility with your ticket. These are available on a wide range of airlines as listed below. 

How to get the flights you want

Timing is key

The easiest time to get the availability is to book the day the flight is released for redemptions. This is 355 days before the flight between 12-1am. British Airways guarantee at least 4 Business class seats on every flight are made available at this point. The same does not apply to First Class which varies from flight to flight. The flights are not always loaded up online immediately so if it is a very popular route you may want to call a BA office that is open at midnight to secure it. There have been reports of some offices refusing to do this in the past but it is worth a try. Ideally you want to call about 5 minutes before to go through security.

However, there is a catch to booking at D-355. If you are booking a return flight that means only the outbound flight would be available on that day. Don’t be tempted to wait as by your return date -355, the outbound flights will have probably gone.

There are ways around this depending on how you are paying for your flights. If it is a simple redemption, you can just book 2 one way tickets. Obviously, if you book the outbound, then there is no guarantee you will get the inbound. However, Avios flights can be cancelled up to 24 hours prior, albeit for a £35 fee. If you are using a BA Amex companion voucher, you should buy the outbound flights at D-355 and then as soon as the inbound flight is available, telephone British Airways for them to add the flight to the booking. There should not be a charge for this if the flights were not available at the time of booking the outbound. 

How to find availability

Consider which airline

The first thing is to be flexible and consider all the airlines that could be used to get to your destination, rather than just sticking to British Airways. This could cost you more Avios at BA off-peak times as other airlines except for Iberia and Aer Lingus are charged as peak prices all year.

You can use Avios on any oneworld airline as well as several others. Remember, you can open an Iberia Plus, or Qatar account if you want to redeem Avios for airlines featured in their schemes by using the combine my Avios feature to move Avios from BA.

British Airways Companion vouchers are now also redeemable on Iberia and Aer Lingus. This applies to all card members who’ve earnt a companion voucher since 2021. However, these can only be used for routes starting outside the UK.  Both airlines require fewer Avios on many routes as well as much cheaper taxes.

Here are the airlines you can redeem Avios on through British Airways:

• Aer Lingus 
• Alaska Airlines.
• American Airlines.
• British Airways.
• Cathay Pacific.
• Finnair.
• Iberia, including Iberia Express and Air Nostrum.
• Japan Airlines.
• Malaysia Airlines.
• Qantas, including QantasLink and Jetconnect.
• Qatar Airways.
• Royal Jordanian.
• Royal Air Maroc.
• SriLankan Airlines.
• SUN-AIR of Scandinavia

Here are the airlines you can redeem Avios on through Qatar Avios: 

• Bangkok Airways,
• JetBlue,
• LATAM,
• MEA
• Oman Air,
• RwandAir,
• S7
• Virgin Australia.

Here are the airlines you can redeem Avios on through Iberia Avios: 

• Avianca
• Iberia including Air Nostrum
• LEVEL,
• LATAM,
• Interjet (only when linked to an Iberia flight to/from Mexico)
• Binter Canarias
• Vueling

There are also special rates for flights with two or more oneworld partners, or British Airways plus two or more oneworld partners. These often work out cheaper for longer flights and round the world. Find out more in this article. 

Use all the tools available

There are a number of tools available that can make it much easier to find availability. I particularly like the British Airways Reward Flight Finder tool where you can search for 3 destinations at once for a whole year ahead. 

Reward Flight Finder and Seatspy are new types of websites, external to BA. With these, you can search for availability to a destination for a whole year and set up alerts for when availability changes.

Another option if you are struggling to find your flights is to sign up with ExpertFlyer. With Expert Flyer Pro you can set up availability alerts. This means you can set an alert so that you’ll be informed when award availability opens up on a particular British Airways flight for up to 30 flights at a time. It costs $9.99 per month, but you can do a 5 day trial for free. You also get lots of other useful benefits with it. 

The British Airways reward flight categories to search for are:

• First Class Award — “Z” class
• Business Class Award — “U” class
• Premium Economy Award — “P” class
• Economy Award — “X” class

You can also use it to find the additional seats available for holders of the new style voucher for Club World – i class.

Using Reward Flight Saver (RFS)

Reward flight saver is best value areas of the British Airways Avios redemption scheme, open to anyone who’s earnt at least 1 Avios in the last 12 months. The reward flights are now available to use on ALL long-haul flights and in Club World (business class) as well as Premium Economy (World Traveller Plus) and economy (World Traveller). Executive club members in the US can now also use this.  Previously, the tool could only be used on short-haul for economy and business class (Club Europe) and economy on some long haul flights.

Avios flights also include baggage. You could get Return Club World RFS flights for as little as £350 plus 160,000 Avios, or return World Traveller Plus RFS flights are available from £280 plus 85,000 Avios.

The tickets are priced much lower than the taxes and charges would normally be. If RFS is used along with a BA companion voucher, fewer Avios are needed. You can also use your upgrade vouchers and travel without a companion for 50% off the total Avios cost.

BA also guarantees that a minimum number of Reward Seats are available to book on every flight to and from London Heathrow and London Gatwick. This includes:

• Eight in Euro/World Traveller
• Two in World Traveller Plus
• Four in Club Europe/World

Consider your destination

The easiest way to get flights is to be flexible on destination. I don’t mean go on a completely different holiday but look at whether you could go to a less popular destination nearby and get a connecting flight. This could be available all on one Avios ticket if you are lucky. America is a great place for this, as there are so many options.

If you can’t get all the flights on Avios you can get either a cash ticket to connect and perhaps earn a few miles on AA or try to get another redemption on AA nearer the time. Taxes can be very cheap on these.

Obviously, you need to consider any Covid restrictions still in place.

Examples of the best place to do this where connecting flights are relatively simple are (these include destinations where other oneworld airline fly not just BA:

• For West Coast USA – look at Los Angeles, Las Vegas, San Diego, Denver, San Francisco, Phoenix, Oakland, Seattle, Portland, Vancouver and San Jose. Houston and Austin also tend to have better availability than some of the Californian airports, but it is a much longer flight with the connection as Texas is quite far south (3 hours+ longer), so it depends on how determined you are to use your miles.
• For Florida – look at Miami, Tampa, Orlando and Atlanta. New York can be another option, but the flight time is in excess of 3 hours to Florida.
• For East Coast USA & Canada – look at New York JFK and Newark, Toronto, Montreal, Boston, Washington, and Philadelphia. Bear in mind if you go to a different country, you will have to go through immigration twice
• For South Africa and Mauritius, look at Johannesburg, Cape Town and Mauritius
• For Northeast Asia – look at Beijing, Shanghai (you don’t need a full visa for a transit from the UK) Hong Kong, Seoul and Tokyo Narita/Haneda.
• For South East Asia – look at Bangkok, Hong Kong or Singapore
• For the Middle East – look at Doha, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Bahrain.

Here are the rest of the series of spending Avios guides:

GUIDE TO EARNING AVIOS – PART 1 FLIGHTS AND CREDIT CARDS

GUIDE TO EARNING AVIOS – PART 2 HOTELS, SHOPPING, CAR HIRE AND MORE

GUIDE TO SPENDING AVIOS PART 2 – USING AMEX COMPANION & BARCLAYCARD UPGRADE VOUCHERS

The post Guide to spending Avios part 1 – how to get the flights you want appeared first on Turning left for less.

Nectar 

You can convert your Nectar points into Avios and vice versa. You can collect Nectar points with everyone from Sainsbury’s and Argos to eBay and Esso, so your points will soon add up. Collect 250 Avios for every 400 Nectar points converted. Nectar has replaced Tesco Clubcard. 

The Wine Flyer

The Wine Flyer offers wines, craft spirits and beers selected exclusively for Executive Club Members. Subscribe to collect 15 Avios per £1 spent or make one-off orders to collect 10 Avios per £1 spent. Offers end 31 January 2022.

Heathrow Rewards

Collect points on virtually everything you do at Heathrow — shopping, eating, drinking, parking and using Heathrow Express — and convert your points to Avios. You can redeem your Heathrow Rewards points for Avios at a ratio of 1:1, with a minimum transfer of 250 points. 

The Bicester Collection^TM

Shop for luxury brands bargains at The Bicester Collection in Europe, nine open-air destinations. There are savings of up to 60% in 1,300 stores of fashion and lifestyle brands. You collect Avios at the same time at a rate of 5 Avios per £4 spent, which includes food and drink outlets, not just the shops. 

High Life Shop

You can earn Avios when you purchase High Life Shop products onboard British Airways flights, or when you shop online and pre-order directly to your seat onboard. You can choose from a wide selection of fragrances, gadgets and accessories on your flight or visit highlifeshop.com to see the full range of products on offer.

You can collect two Avios for every £1 you spend, which is rounded up the nearest pound.

Remember to ask your Cabin Crew member to swipe your Executive Club card when you pay.

Marriott Bonvoy^® points

You can convert your Marriott Bonvoy points into Avios at the following rates:

• 9,000 Marriott Bonvoy points into 3,000 Avios
• 30,000 Marriott Bonvoy points into 10,000 Avios
• 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points into 20,000 Avios
• 90,000 Marriott Bonvoy points into 30,000 Avios
• 120,000 Marriott Bonvoy points into 40,000 Avios

You can also get 5,000 bonus Avios when you transfer 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy^® points to Avios in one transaction.

You can either exchange online or contact customer support.

Convert your Marriott Bonvoy points to Avios

IHG One Rewards points

Convert your IHG One Rewards points into Avios and collect bonus Avios.

You will need to have collected at least 10,000 IHG One Rewards points before you can exchange them for Avios.

10,000 IHG One Rewards points convert to 2,000 Avios.

Convert IHG One Rewards points for Avios

World of Hyatt points

Convert your World of Hyatt points into Avios, 5,000 World of Hyatt points are initially required for each exchange into Avios.

You’ll get 1 Avios for 2.5 World of Hyatt points converted.

5,000 World of Hyatt points for 2,000 Avios, and thereafter increments of 2,000 points can be converted into Avios within the same transaction.

Additionally, when you choose to convert 50,000 World of Hyatt points you will receive a 5,000 Avios bonus.

To convert points into Avios, sign in to your World of Hyatt account, select ‘Earning Options’ then ‘Convert points to Miles’ and choose ‘British Airways’ under Travel Partner.

Alternatively, call your nearest Hyatt Worldwide Reservation Centre, or if based in the UK you can call 0845 888 1234.

Convert your World of Hyatt points into Avios

Radisson Rewards points

With Radisson Rewards you can choose to convert your Radisson Rewards Points automatically in increments of 10,000 Radisson Rewards points which entitles you to 1,000 Avios.

You can also exchange points yourself in the following increments:

• 2,000 Radisson Rewards points into 200 Avios
• 50,000 Radisson Rewards points into 5,000 Avios
• 100,000 Radisson Rewards points into 10,000 Avios

You can exchange your Radisson Rewards points into Avios online with Radisson Rewards, or by contacting the Radisson Rewards customer service centre. In the UK call +44 20 3196 0494.

For Americas : Convert your Radisson Rewards Americas points to Avios

For EMEA & APAC : Covert your Radisson Reward points to Avios

Hilton Honors points

You can convert Hilton Honors points into Avios using the Honors Reward Exchange.

You can exchange in increments of 10,000 Honors points which convert to 1,000 Avios.

Convert your Hilton Honors points into Avios

ALL Rewards points

Exchange your ALL Rewards points into Avios when you have a minimum balance of 4,000 ALL Rewards points which will provide you with an equivalent of 2,000 Avios.

To convert your points, simply log into your ALL account, select ‘Manage my ALL Rewards points’ and choose the ‘Convert my points into airline miles’ option. After you have submitted your request, your Avios will be credited to your British Airways Executive Club account within approximately 6 weeks.

Convert your ALL Rewards points to Avios

MeliáRewards points

You can convert MeliáRewards points into Avios when you have a minimum balance of 100 MeliáRewards points which will give you 30 Avios. MeliáRewards points can be converted in multiples of 100.

To convert points into Avios automatically, log into your MeliáRewards online account and select Executive Club as your “preferred partner” in your profile before the hotel stay. You can also transfer MeliáRewards points to Avios whenever you wish by selecting “transfer points between programmes” in your MeliáRewards online account.

Convert your MeliáRewards points into Avios

Avis

Collect 5 Avios per £1 spent and enjoy other benefits when you choose Avis for your car rental

Avis has thousands of rental locations worldwide and offers discounts for BA Executive Club members with higher discounts for higher-status holders. You can find the page here. 

• Collect 5 Avios per £1 spent.
• Get a free additional driver with every rental.

Budget

• Collect 2 Avios per £1 spent when you rent with Budget.
• With over 3,150 locations globally in more than 120 countries, it has never been easier to rent with Budget.
• Offering a simple car hire experience for value-conscious travellers.
• Enjoy a wide range of additional products and services, from GPS rental to child seats.
• Our fleets are constantly renewed, so you’ll be driving some of the very latest models, all at great value prices.

Find out more about Budget

Terms and Conditions apply

Fly drive for even more Avios

Book your Avis or Budget car rental with flights as part of a British Airways holiday package and you’ll save money on the price and earn 1 Avios for every £1 you spend on holidays — that’s on top of the regular Avios you’ll earn for the flights, car rental, hotel and tours elements of the package. You also get double tier points when you book five days car hire as part of a BA Holiday until 31 December 2023. 

Find out more about flight + car holidays

Zipcar

Zipcar is the world’s largest car sharing club, providing members with access to cars and vans near their home or work. To rent a car members just search, book and unlock via the Zipcar app.

There’s two ways to drive: pick up and drop off a Roundtrip car or van from its own dedicated bay. Or, take a one-way Zipcar Flex: cars that you can pick up and drop off in most of London, as well as Heathrow T5.

• Collect 1,000 Avios when you join Zipcar and collect 50 Avios on every booking.
• A convenient and affordable alternative to the costs and hassles of owning or hiring a car or van – as a member, you have access to thousands of vehicles near you.
• Travel one-way to or from Heathrow T5.
• Reserve a car for a minute, hour or day, only pay for the time you need.
• Fuel, insurance, and Congestion Charge are all included in the reservation cost.

Join Zipcar now

Terms and Conditions apply

Travel extras 

Lounge Pass

Purchase a Lounge pass and enjoy access to non-British Airways airport lounges across the globe, no matter what airline you are flying with or cabin you are travelling in.

• Choose from 600 non-British Airways lounges, at over 350 airports worldwide, including more than 45 in the UK
• Collect 5 Avios per £1 spent, when you book on the British Airways Lounge Pass website
• Pre-booking is available up to 15 months in advance*, for access to an airport VIP lounge from £13.50 per person

*Due to Covid-19, a number of lounges in affected areas are temporarily closed, and when booking you will be informed that it is ‘temporarily unavailable’.

Airport Parking by ParkVia

Collect 5 Avios per £1 spent when you book parking with one of our great-value airport car parks.

• Park near the airport with quick transfers.
• Parking available at airports.
• Secure and convenient.

Cruise118

Planning a Cruise? You can now collect Avios on all major cruise lines with our partnership with Cruise118, the award-winning and ABTA /ATOL protected travel agent. Offering access to the best deals and discounts on a wide range of cruises, Cruise118 can tailor any package to meet your needs and offer specialist knowledge from their team of Cruise Concierge.

To book, visit the dedicated Cruise118 in partnership with British Airways Executive Club website or call their dedicated Cruise Concierge team.

Collect 3 Avios per £1 spent on all major cruise line by providing your booking agent with your British Airways Executive Club membership number.

Terms and Conditions

Heathrow Express rail transfers

Heathrow Express is the smarter way to travel between Heathrow and central London – departing Heathrow and Paddington every 15 minutes, taking just 15 minutes.

• Travel in comfort and style, whilst avoiding London’s traffic congestion and the ticking taxi meter.
• Collect 5 Avios for every £1 spent on tickets.
• Just enter your membership number when you purchase tickets in advance using the dedicated Heathrow Express website for Executive Club Members. (You cannot collect Avios on tickets purchased on the train, at the airport or via any other website.)
• To be eligible to collect Avios, the name on the ticket must match that of the British Airways Executive Club account holder.
• Avios will be awarded 21 days after the booked travel date; Avios will not be awarded for tickets cancelled. Avios are not awarded for credit card bookings, delivery or amendment fees.

Valet parking at London Heathrow

Collect 5 Avios per £1 spent when you pre-book valet parking at London Heathrow airport:

• Drive to the terminal and a driver will park your car for you.
• Your car will be waiting at the terminal on your return.
• Available at London Heathrow Terminal 3 and Terminal 5.

We’ve made it even easier for you to collect Avios with British Airways by partnering with leading lifestyle and finance brands. Earn Avios by signing up for a subscription to The Economist or The Spectator, discovering a new way to invest with Nutmeg, collecting Avios with American Express and much more.

Uber

From taking rides to booking trips by coach or train, Uber helps you get around on the ground. Now however you choose to ride in the UK, you’ll collect 1 Avios for every £1 you spend. Simply link your British Airways Executive Club and Uber account in the Uber app, to start making your little trips add up to bigger ones.

The British Airways Prepaid Mastercard^®

The British Airways Prepaid Mastercard is a simple way to collect Avios when spending abroad or for those that do not want a credit card. 

The card has no foreign exchange fees*, 1 Avios for every £2, €2 or $2 spent, a welcome bonus treat, safe and secure payments with Apple Pay and Google Pay.

*Terms and Conditions apply.

BPme Rewards

Fuel your future adventures as we partner with bp to give you a boost on your Avios. You can now convert your BPme Rewards points into Avios, collect 25 Avios for every 40 BPme points converted. You’re already buying fuel and more with bp. Now let it help you go even further.

Here are the rest of the series of spending Avios guides:

GUIDE TO EARNING AVIOS – PART 1 FLIGHTS AND CREDIT CARDS

GUIDE TO SPENDING AVIOS PART 1 – HOW TO GET THE FLIGHTS YOU WANT

GUIDE TO SPENDING AVIOS PART 2 – USING AMEX COMPANION & BARCLAYCARD UPGRADE VOUCHERS

The post Guide to earning Avios – part 2 hotels, shopping, car hire and more appeared first on Turning left for less.

Even if you think you know everything about Avios collecting and spending, you may find this series of articles teach you a few things. There have been huge changes over the last couple of years, so it is worth refreshing yourself where you may be missing out on getting Avios or all the spending opportunities.

We will be running the whole series of earning and spending Avios over the next few days.

Earning Avios – The basics

Avios (formerly airmiles) is the miles currency used by the British Airways Executive Club but they can be earned and redeemed on a large number of airlines and partners. They are the easiest way to travel in business or first class for the least amount of cash, particularly when combined with vouchers that I will discuss below.

The first step for a beginner is to make sure you join not only the BA Executive Club but also Avios.com via Aer Club, Qatar Privilege Club and Iberia Plus. Each offers something slightly different. In the case of Iberia some of the best offers require you to have been a member of the scheme for at least 90 days so it’s best to just join now.

You can easily move Avios between the schemes but probably will want to credit most of your flying to British Airways in case you earn enough to gain status. For Iberia Plus, you will also need to earn at least 1 Avios before you can partake of some of the offers such as transferring miles to someone else. Moving miles in from American Express does count. 

Make sure every time you fly, you check whether the airline gives Avios. There are also some partners outside the oneworld alliance who give Avios. You must enter your BA Executive number when flying on a non-BA flight/booking. 

The basic rules for earning on a BA Executive Club account are:

• Codeshare flight on any airline booked through British Airways with ba flight number – earn Avios and tier points
• Oneworld member – earn Avios and tier points
• Codeshare booked through Oneworld member but non-oneworld flight – no Avios or tier points (except Emirates booked on Qantas)

Which airlines can I collect Avios on?

Through British Airways Executive Club (BAEC)

Obviously, British Airways is included but did you know that if you book your flight with a hotel or car you can get an extra 1 Avios per £1 spent on top of the regular Avios? You can also use a BA Premium Plus Amex credit card to pay and get 3 Avios per £1 spent instead of the usual 1.5 Avios per £1. You are generally better off crediting Avios to your BA account if flying BA as you get a better rate, particularly if you have status.

Iberia has recently introduced spend based Avios earning on flights, and BA is due to do this in 2023. 

• Aer Lingus (no tier points unless codeshare)
• Alaska Airlines
• American Airlines
• Cathay Pacific
• Emirates when booked on a Qantas codeshare
• Fiji Airways (Oneworld Connect)
• Finnair
• Iberia
• Japan Airlines
• Malaysia Airlines
• Oman Air (joining 2024)
• Qatar Airways
• Qantas
• Royal Air Maroc
• Royal Jordanian
• S7 (currently suspended)
• Sri Lankan Airlines
• Vueling (have to collect through Vueling account)

Through Aer Lingus Aer Club

• United Airlines

Through Qatar Privilege Club

• Oman Air
• Rwandair
• Bangkok Airways
• Jet Blue

Ways to maximise your earnings

Many people forget that there are lots of ways to earn Avios, not just flights and credit cards. I will go through all the easiest ways to earn Avios, starting with credit cards today and other ways to earn in part 2.

Credit and charge cards

There are numerous credit cards that can get you Avios, not just the Avios and British Airways branded ones. Many of the American Express cards, such as Marriott, Preferred Rewards Gold and The Platinum charge card, also can give you Avios by converting the points afterwards.

For example, some Amex cards give you Amex Membership Rewards, which can be converted into Avios. The earning rates aren’t always as good, but they do give you the flexibility to move the rewards into other schemes such as Virgin Atlantic and some hotel groups. You can leave the points in the Amex scheme until you need them and then transfer over very quickly to the relevant scheme. This can be a very useful backup stash if you are just shy of being able to afford a redemption.

Credit and charge cards which you can get Avios from include:

• British Airways American Express Card – There are two versions – a free one and a premium one (the Premium Plus) with a fee of £250 per year. The card has the potential to get a companion voucher after spending £10,000 on the premium card and £12,000 on the free version. You also get bonus Avios when you use the Premium Plus Amex to pay on britishairways.com.
• American Express Platinum card – 1 Avios per £1 spent. Lots of other benefits such as travel insurance, status in hotel loyalty schemes and car hire excess insurance. 
• American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Card – 1 Avios per £1 spent
• Barclaycard Avios and Avios Plus (can earn upgrade vouchers)
• Marriott American Express (can transfer Marriott points into Avios)
• HSBC Premier World Elite MasterCard – Earn 2 points (1 Avios) for every £1 of eligible spend you make in sterling and 4 points for every £1 spent in non-sterling currencies. £195 annual fee, card only available to HSBC Premier current account holders. 

For business owners there is also

• Capital on Tap Visa (limited companies only) £99 to join the rewards scheme. 1 Avios per £1. 
• British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

All the cards have different earning rates, and some can include an enhanced earning rate for the first few months. Make sure you look at all the benefits of the card versus the fees charged to work out which is right for you. The two Avios cards I currently own are the BA Premium Amex for the earning rate and the companion voucher and Platinum Amex due to the flexibility to transfer points into different airline schemes. I also have the Marriott one for the Marriott perks rather than for transferring to Avios. 

How to maximise your gain from credit cards

Make sure you keep an eye out for the sign-up bonuses. These vary throughout the year and can be as much as 70,000 Avios for an Amex BA Premium Plus card. If you are aiming for a bonus make sure you read the fine print. Often if you already hold a particular type of card with the credit card company or have held one in the last six months you are not eligible for the sign-up bonus. There will nearly always be a minimum spend required to get the bonus so make sure it is achievable for you.

Does one of your friends or family have the card you want? Often if they refer you, you both get a bonus which can be more than the normal one. Once you have the card, why not get your partner or spouse one and refer them too?

Make sure you check TopCashback for credit card cashback before applying for a card. For example, when I took out the Lloyds Avios card the cashback almost paid for my yearly fee.

Become like the Royal Family and never use cash! Use your credit card like a debit card and use it for everything as well as paying it off in full every month. With contactless payment it is so easy to use a card for even the smallest things.

If you are married or have a partner, you should both take out a card. That way you both get the sign-up bonus. If you will struggle to make the minimum spend for the 2-4-1 voucher, why not get them a supplementary card to both use one account towards the spend?

I will continue the list of way to earn Avios in tomorrow’s article – Beginners’ guide to collecting Avios part 2

Disclaimer: Turning left for less is a journalistic website. Nothing here should be construed as financial advice, and it is your own responsibility to ensure that any product is right for your circumstances. Reviews are based primarily on the ability to earn miles and points and do not consider interest rates, service levels or any impact on your credit history.

Here are the rest of the series of spending Avios guides:

GUIDE TO SPENDING AVIOS PART 1 – HOW TO GET THE FLIGHTS YOU WANT

GUIDE TO EARNING AVIOS – PART 2 HOTELS, SHOPPING, CAR HIRE AND MORE

GUIDE TO SPENDING AVIOS PART 2 – USING AMEX COMPANION & BARCLAYCARD UPGRADE VOUCHERS

The post Guide to earning Avios – Part 1 Flights and credit cards appeared first on Turning left for less.

Virgin Atlantic’s tribute to the Queen

Virgin Atlantic has named its newest aircraft in honour of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II. The airline’s brand-new Airbus A330neo will have the name ‘Queen of the Skies’ with royal registration G-VEII, in tribute to the late monarch.

The move marks the second time the name Queen of the Skies has been used on a Virgin Atlantic aircraft. Back in 2004, her late majesty unveiled an Airbus A340-600 with the same name at a ceremony in Toulouse. The event was part of a state visit to France to celebrate the centenary of the Entente Cordiale.

Virgin Atlantic has a long history of naming its planes after famous, strong women, including ‘Diana’ in tribute to Princess Diana. Accompanying ‘Queen of the Skies’ in Virgin Atlantic’s current fleet include ‘Lady Emmeline’ (G-VLIB), which pays homage to the founder of the Suffragette movement and women’s rights activist, Emmeline Pankhurst.  ‘Fearless Lady’ (G-VEVE) celebrates the life of the mother of the airline’s founder, Eve Branson.

British Airways no longer sending replacement Executive Club items?

I had been seeing a few people getting error messages when trying to order Executive Club replacement items like physical cards. These seemed to be typically Silver Club members. However, today when I went to investigate it as even a GGL member, they have now completely removed the option to order a replacement card or luggage tags. Given that tags get lost on checked-in luggage extremely regularly by BA’s own baggage handlers, I think this is pretty stingy. There was always a limit on how many you could order, which was fair enough. 

Now the only option for me is to order a digital card by email, saving or printing. 

So it appears that the error messages were being caused by the fact they were about to remove them altogether! 

In early 2020, British Airways stopped automatically sending Bronze, Silver and Gold Executive Club members physical membership packs in the post. However, you could still get luggage tags and a physical card by requesting it in your membership area. 

BAEC status cardholders not getting bonus Avios?

Another email I had from a reader this week was about getting fewer Avios than expected as a Silver card holder. I thought this was also isolated, but then another query popped up on Flyeralk for the same thing. 

The online calculator has also been showing the same tier points for Blue as for any other status, which is incorrect. 

You should receive the following bonus Avios for your status:

• Bronze – 25% bonus Avios
• Silver – 50% bonus Avios
• Gold – 100% bonus Avios

I do wonder if this is related to the promise that BA will be moving to revenue-based earning for Avios on flights in 2023. However, assuming they follow the Iberia model, you would still get more for having status. Or it may be yet just another “feature” of BA’s IT system. 

If you notice you are missing Avios in this situation or any other, here is what you need to do to claim:

• Claim via this page
• If that doesn’t work call British Airways Executive Club
• As a last resort, there is someone on Flyertalk called BAmissingAvios who you could message and used to do claims, but they have been unresponsive recently, so it is not clear if they are still doing it.

Let us know if you have experienced the same issues in the comments below. 

The post NEWS: Virgin Atlantic’s tribute to Queen, BA no longer sending cards/tags? and Silver Avios bonus missing? appeared first on Turning left for less.

I have had quite a few people asking about how to make status, and with all the cancellations due to weather there may be a few more! So I thought I would do a quick round-up. 

If your flight gets cancelled and you route a different way or don’t fly at all, it’s worth speaking to BA by phone. They have something called original route credit for last-minute changes, where they will usually award you the original number of tier points you were due to earn when flights are cancelled on the day. It is also worth asking if you didn’t fly at all due to a BA cancellation as, again sometimes, they will allow you to make your status anyway. 

If you don’t need the full 80 tier points on a standard European return you could do one way Club, one way economy. Economy tier points start from 5TP up to 20TP. 

Requirements for BA status

Until 31 December 2022 you can renew or upgrade your status for 75% of the usual requirement. This no matter what the start date of your TP year, you must have got the full discounted tier points by 31 December. Note your account will not show you have made status until the end of the year at the reduced level. 

So this makes the requirements:

• Bronze: 225 Tier Points or 18 eligible flights
• Silver: 450 Tier Points or 37 eligible flights (Silver members with renewal dates July-September
  2022 will given a 50% reduction in the amount of tier points needed – from 600 to 300 TPs)
• Gold: 1125 Tier Points
• Gold Guest List: 2250 to renew or 3750 to earn it for the first time

From 1 January 2023, these thresholds will revert to:

• Bronze: 300 Tier Points or 25 eligible flights

• Silver: 600 Tier Points or 50 eligible flights

• Gold: 1500 Tier Points

• Gold Guest List: 5000 Tier Points to qualify or 3000 to renew

It is also worth bearing in mind that you will also need a set number of eligible flights on BA to make or renew status. That’s 2 for Bronze and 4 for Silver and Gold.

These must be:

• ‘Marketed‘ means the flight will have a BA flight number (in your itinerary or on your ticket).
• ‘Operated‘ means the aircraft that you travel on is a British Airways aircraft (including franchises and BACityflyer).
• ‘Marketed and operated by Iberia‘ means the flight will have an IB flight number and the aircraft you travel on is an Iberia aircraft (including franchises).

Reward bookings and agency or industry discounted bookings are not eligible.

General principles

• European short-haul PLUS (the longest) flights in Club Europe get you 160 tier points return
• Book it as a five day BA holiday (car hire or hotel), and that gets you 320 tier points
• If routeing to the west coast of the US or Hawaii, consider adding a change of aircraft in New York to fly transcontinental. That will add an extra 140 tier points each way and is usually the same price. 

Here is the list of short haul PLUS destinations:

• Algiers (need a visa)
• Antalya
• Athens
• Bucharest
• Catania
• Chania
• Corfu
• Dalaman 
• Funchal
• Gran Canaria
• Heraklion / Crete
• Istanbul
• Kalamata
• Kefalonia
• Kos
• Lanzarote
• Larnaca
• Malta
• Marrakech
• Mykonos
• Paphos
• Ponta Delgada
• Preveza Lefkada
• Reykjavik
• Rhodes
• Santorini
• Skiathos
• Sofia
• Tenerife
• Terceira Island
• Thessaloniki 
• Tirana

Last-minute tier points runs in December

If you fancied going between Christmas and New year:

All in business class from London:

• Day trips to Manchester for £318 (80 TP return)
• Day trips to Newcastle for £288 (80 TP return)
• Amsterdam return from £384
• Hamburg from £381 return
• Sofia (160 TP) from £529 return

Helsinki to Lisbon 280 tier points (Finnair) £825

Early 2023 (all business class)

• London on British Airways to
  • Sofia from £276 in March (160TP)
  • Athens from £376 (160TP)
  • Istanbul £344 (160TP)
  • Luxembourg £174
  • Edinburgh £189
  • Dublin £193
• Helsinki to Malaga £532 (Finnair) (280 Tier points)

In the next 6 months

In business class return (positioning flights not included in TPs)

• Oslo – Dubai (400 TPs) £1,484 Qatar Airways
• Sofia – Dubai (400 TPs) £1,088 Qatar Airways
• Sofia – Singapore (560 TPs) £1,655 Qatar Airways
• Dublin – New York £1,284 (360 TPs) British Airways
• Dublin – Los Angeles £1,497 (640 TP if routed via New York) British Airways

The post Best British Airways tier points runs – including December for the 25% reduction appeared first on Turning left for less.