British Airways

The British Airways Executive Club is one of my favourite loyalty programs when it comes to redeeming miles for short-haul travel. British Airways uses a distance-based award chart, meaning that the shorter the flight, the less miles you will pay (or the longer the flight, the more miles you will pay).

The best values of Avios points (British Airways miles) are for travel on nonstop short-medium haul flights. The reason why flights should be nonstop is because British Airways not only charges based on distance, but they also charge per flight.

British Airways Award Chart

The Executive Club features a distance-based award chart, meaning that the number of Avios points required will be determined based on:

• the distance of each flight in your itinerary
• the number of flights in your itinerary

If there is more than one flight in your booking, each flight is calculated separately and then the cost of each flight is added up. This is why you should almost always book short-medium haul nonstop flights to get the most value out of your Avios.

For example, a flight from London to Barcelona is 713 miles, meaning it will cost:

• 6,500 Avios in Economy off-peak
• 7,500 Avios in Economy peak
• 12,750 Avios in Business off-peak
• 15,000 Avios in Business peak

Peak and off-peak dates are determined by British Airways each year.

British Airways Award Routing Rules

There are none. Really. Because British Airways uses a distance-based award chart and adds up the cost of each flight separately, they have no real routing rules. You can book any routing you want, but the cost in Avios for your entire booking will be determined by the cost of each flight in your booking.

You will need to call the Executive Club over the phone to put together more advanced routings. The British Airways website usually won’t show you more than two flights together.

Search Award Travel: Searching oneworld Award Space using British Airways

Fly British Airways to Europe

Best Ways To Redeem British Airways Avios

My favourite use of British Airways Avios points is for short-medium haul nonstop flights in Economy Class.

Here is a list of my favourite ways to redeem Avios (all flights should be nonstop for the best price in Avios):

• Flights around Europe
  • flights to/from London on British Airways
  • flights to/from Madrid/Barcelona on Iberia
  • flights to/from Helsinki on Finnair
  • flights to/from Dublin on Aer Lingus
• Flights around North America and Caribbean
  • flights on American Airlines
  • flights on Alaska Airlines (especially around the West Coast)
• Flights from West Coast USA to Hawaii
  • only 13k Avios one-way in Economy on American Airlines or Alaska Airlines
• Flights around Asia
  • flights to/from Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific
  • flights to/from Japan on Japan Airlines
  • flights to/from Kuala Lumpur on Malaysia Airlines
  • flights to/from Sri Lanka on SriLankan Airlines
• Flights around Australia
  • flights on Qantas Airways
• Flights around the Middle East
  • flights to/from Doha on Qatar Airways
  • flights to/from Amman on Royal Jordanian
• Flights from East Coast USA to Europe
  • on Aer Lingus to Dublin
  • on American Airlines

This is definitely a long list, but it isn’t 100% of the ways you can redeem Avios. Like I mentioned, you should generally aim for short-medium haul nonstop flights in Economy to get the most value from your Avios.

Here is a list of specific ways I generally redeem Avios:

• Seattle/San Francisco/Los Angeles to Hawaii
  • for just 13k Avios and $5.60
  • cash prices can be $350+ one way!
• London to Paris/Amsterdam/Brussels/Frankfurt/Berlin/Copenhagen/etc.
  • for just 4,000 Avios off peak and minimal taxes
  • cash prices can be over $250 last minute
• Boston or New York to Dublin on Aer Lingus
  • short Economy flight, can be usually overpriced
• Sydney to Melbourne/Brisbane on Qantas
  • or any short-medium haul Australian flight
• Hong Kong to any Asian destination on Cathay Pacific
• Tokyo to North Asian destinations on Japan Airlines

There are an infinite number of ways to redeem Avios, but those are my favourites as I often fly those routes and cash prices can be insanely high… especially last minute.

Collecting British Airways Avios

Collecting Avios is incredibly easy, there are a number of ways including:

• Flying with British Airways
• Flying with oneworld or other airline partners
• Spending money on the British Airways credit card
• Transfer points from AMEX
• Transfer points from Chase
• British Airways Shopping Portal
• Car Rental

The beauty of Avios points is that you just need as little as 4,000 to redeem for a flight – just 4,000 points can save you hundreds of dollars!

In Conclusion

Avios are one of my favourite points as they can significantly save money on short-haul travel, especially during peak times and on short flights that can cost a fortune (especially if booking last minute). All of my Avios points redemptions have been under 12,500 points and therefore I believe I am truly maximising the value of Avios.

One really important thing to note is that you should never redeem Avios for long-haul flights as the cost is not worth it – not to mention travel on long flights should never be on British Airways as they impose massive fuel surcharges on award tickets.

British Airways Executive Club Avios points are an incredibly useful points currency for short-medium haul nonstop flights on oneworld and other airline partners. You can easily search and book all oneworld flights directly on the website, while you will have to call over the phone to book non-oneworld partner airlines.

Happy Booking!

The post Best Ways To Redeem British Airways Avios appeared first on Travel Miles 101.

British Airways, a member of oneworld

Searching for oneworld award space isn’t as easy as searching for Star Alliance award space. With Star Alliance, you can simply use United.com and the website will display many flight combinations on ALL Star Alliance Airlines.

The important thing to note is that the British Airways search tool will generally NOT display more than two flights (one connection) – while your desired routing might have award space, nothing is guaranteed to show up on British Airways unless searching segment by segment (i.e. Boston – Hong Kong – Bangkok might not show up, but if searching each flight separately it should if there is award space).

oneworld Member Airlines

The oneworld alliance doesn’t consist of many airlines, however, that isn’t an issue as oneworld carriers serve lots of destinations around the world – so flying on oneworld isn’t an issue. As a reminder, if you have miles with any of these airlines, you can redeem them on any of these airlines. Some airlines, like American Airlines, also partner with many airlines outside of oneworld – so your miles can take you even further.

Important Details about British Airways’ website

British Airways website, which is really good at showing nonstop flights with award space but really bad at showing connecting flights with award space. Here are some important things to note:

• You must be registered with the British Airways Executive Club to search for oneworld award space (free registration)
• You should ALWAYS search each segment separately (i.e. you want to fly Cathay Pacific from Boston to Bangkok via Hong Kong – so you would first search Boston to Hong Kong and then Hong Kong to Bangkok)
• oneworld Award Space that shows on the British Airways website is generally bookable using any oneworld airline (just call your other airline and provide flight details found on BA’s website)

British Airways’ website isn’t perfect and therefore if you find yourself getting errors, it is best to switch browsers or clear your browser history. To verify award space found on BA’s website, you can always call American Airlines (and hold the flights for free for 5 days if you wish).

Searching oneworld Award Space

To begin you search, you should have in mind what oneworld airline you would like to fly and if they fly that route. My favourite way to check if an airline operates the routing I want, is to visit the airport Wikipedia page and check to see what airlines operate flights to/from that airport. For example, if I want to fly Cathay Pacific, I would visit Hong Kong Airport’s Wikipedia page and see where Cathay Pacific operates flights to/from Hong Kong.

To start searching you will want to visit this page:

https://www.britishairways.com/en-us/executive-club/spending-avios

You will need to scroll down and click on “Book a reward flight” under the “Reward flights” section.

Search for oneworld flights using BA

Once you click the button, the website will ask you to login to your British Airways Executive Club account (if you aren’t already logged in). Once you have logged in, you will be presented with the “Book flights with Avios” page where you can type in your desired route and date. You will want to also check the box that says “One way only” – searching one-way at a time is much simpler and quicker. Finally, select your desired class of service.

Search for oneworld flights using BA

When you click “Get flights” the website will ask you if you would like to add a stopover, simply skip this step by selecting the “NO” option and clicking “Continue“. You will then be brought to a results page:

Available Flights using Miles

As you can see, on our desired route and date that we initially typed in, we have 1 First Class seat and 2 Premium Economy seats available using miles. If there is no availability on your desired date, simply click on the calendar above and check other dates.

You can repeat the steps above to search for connecting flights or other itineraries.

Booking oneworld Award Flights

Once you have located oneworld award space using the British Airways website, you can book these flights using any oneworld miles. Keep in mind the routing rules and permitted flights on award tickets will apply from whatever airline’s miles you are using. So if you are using American Airlines miles to fly Cathay Pacific, the award rules of American Airlines will apply since AA is the issuing airline of the ticket.

How many miles will the ticket cost me? The ticket will always cost the amount of miles required by the issuing airline (the miles from the airline that you are using). For example, if I am booking a Cathay Pacific flight using American Airlines miles, AA determines the cost in miles – not Cathay. So the same flight might cost 70k AA miles when redeeming through American Airlines or 100k Cathay Pacific miles if redeeming directly with the airline. It is always wise to check which airline offers the same flight for the lowest cost in miles.

In Conclusion

Searching for oneworld flights using the British Airways website is relatively easy. Remember to always search segment by segment and not the whole itinerary at once – BA’s website will usually not display flights with more than one connection (if that).

As always, if you have any questions, please post them below and I wish you happy searching and booking!

The post Searching oneworld Award Space using British Airways appeared first on Travel Miles 101.

One of the best of those sweet spots is to use British Airways Avios miles to fly on either Alaska Airlines or American Airlines for only 13,000 Avios for a one-way flight between 2,001 – 3,000 miles in actual distance.  That means a round-trip costs 26,000 Avios instead of the normal 45,000 you’d expect to pay with other currencies.

British Airways Avios are readily available through the British Airways Visa Signature Card, Chase Ultimate Rewards transfers as well as transfers from American Express Membership Rewards points.

There are 10 different US cities with direct service to Hawaii that fit this sweet spot:

• Anchorage, Alaska
• Bellingham, WA
• Los Angeles, CA
• Oakland, CA
• Phoenix, AZ
• Portland, OR
• Sacramento, CA
• San Diego, CA
• San Jose, CA
• Seattle, WA

See below for all Hawaiian airports served through these 10 cities plus tips on how to book American Airlines and Alaska Airlines flights with British Airways Avios miles.

Anchorage, Alaska (ANC) to:

• Honolulu International Airport, Oahu (HNL) on Alaska Airlines
• Kahului Airport, Maui (OGG) on Alaska Airlines (seasonal flight)
• Kona International Airport, Big Island (KOA) on Alaska Airlines (seasonal flight)

(Map source: Great Circle Mapper. The essential tool for British Airways Avios flight distances)

Bellingham, Washington (BLI) to:

• Honolulu International Airport, Oahu (HNL) on Alaska Airlines (seasonal flight)
• Kahului Airport, Maui (OGG) on Alaska Airlines (seasonal flight)

Los Angeles, California (LAX) to:

• Honolulu International Airport, Oahu (HNL) on American Airlines
• Kahului Airport, Maui (OGG) on American Airlines
• Kona International Airport, Big Island (KOA) on American Airlines
• Lihue Airport, Kauai (LIH) on American Airlines

Oakland, California (OAK) to:

• Honolulu International Airport, Oahu (HNL) on Alaska Airlines
• Kahului Airport, Maui (OGG) on Alaska Airlines
• Kona International Airport, Big Island (KOA) on Alaska Airlines
• Lihue Airport, Kauai (LIH) on Alaska Airlines

Phoenix, Arizona (PHX) to:

• Honolulu International Airport, Oahu (HNL) on American Airlines
• Kahului Airport, Maui (OGG) on American Airlines
• Kona International Airport, Big Island (KOA) on American Airlines
• Lihue Airport, Kauai (LIH) on American Airlines

Portland, Oregon (PDX) to:

• Honolulu International Airport, Oahu (HNL) on Alaska Airlines
• Kahului Airport, Maui (OGG) on Alaska Airlines
• Kona International Airport, Big Island (KOA) on Alaska Airlines (seasonal flight)
• Lihue Airport, Kauai (LIH) on Alaska Airlines (seasonal flight)

Sacramento, California (SMF) to:

• Kahului Airport, Maui (OGG) on Alaska Airlines

San Diego, California (SAN) to:

• Honolulu International Airport, Oahu (HNL) on Alaska Airlines
• Kahului Airport, Maui (OGG) on Alaska Airlines
• Kona International Airport, Big Island (KOA) on Alaska Airlines
• Lihue Airport, Kauai (LIH) on Alaska Airlines

San Jose, California (SJC) to:

• Honolulu International Airport, Oahu (HNL) on Alaska Airlines
• Kahului Airport, Maui (OGG) on Alaska Airlines
• Kona International Airport, Big Island (KOA) on Alaska Airlines
• Lihue Airport, Kauai (LIH) on Alaska Airlines

Seattle, Washington (SEA) to:

• Honolulu International Airport, Oahu (HNL) on Alaska Airlines
• Kahului Airport, Maui (OGG) on Alaska Airlines
• Kona International Airport, Big Island (KOA) on Alaska Airlines
• Lihue Airport, Kauai (LIH) on Alaska Airlines

Booking American Airlines and Alaska Airlines Flights with Avios

When using Avios miles, it’s important to note a few things:

• You pay by the flight segment, so you need to find a direct flight in order to book for 13,000 Avios one-way.
• You need to find “Saver” award availability in order to book with a partner’s mileage currency.
• In order to get top value out of your Avios, you really need to book Economy seats. BA raised the mileage requirements on partner Business and First class awards and we do not recommend them.

To find Saver award availability for these two airlines, we highly suggest you use American’s site AA.com to find award seat availability.  You aren’t booking here with your BA miles, you are simply confirming the availability of the Saver seats.

Once you find the MileSAAver Economy award seats (the MileSAAver Economy seats will show up as 22,500 miles each way on AA’s website), you will note the date, time and flight number and then book your award seats to Hawaii using British Airways Avios.  To book:

• Log into your BA Executive Club account and book online with your miles

The post Sweet Spot: West Coast to Hawaii using British Airways Avios Miles appeared first on Travel Miles 101.

There are now nine US airports with ‘sweet spot’ redemptions to Ireland! (hint: six of them qualify for 26,000 Avios round-trip flights eight months a year)

First, a background:

Aer Lingus is now owned by the same parent company as British Airways and they just formed their new program called AerClub using the familiar “Avios” currency.  There has been some doom and gloom in the past few days as it appeared the famous ‘sweet spot’ from Boston to Dublin (and Boston to Shannon) for only 12,500 Avios one-way in economy (25,000 round-trip) was being massively devalued in a somewhat sketchy manner.

This is somewhat true as here are the new Avios requirements:

• 13,000 Avios one-way in off-peak times
• 20,000 Avios one-way in peak times

During the peak times (mostly summer), the increase is a much more significant 7,500 Avios each way.

Five New Cities to Ireland Round-Trip for 26,000 Avios

The big news is that there are now five new airports (plus Boston which makes six) that can take advantage of this Aer Lingus sweet spot to Dublin (and Shannon from JFK and Boston)!  They are:

• Chicago
• Hartford
• Newark
• New York
• Washington, DC

Fights to Ireland from these airports were previously 20,000 Avios one-way, but the wonderful change is that they now qualify for the ‘off peak’ award chart!

So that means one-way flights the eight months detailed above as off peak are now only 13,000 Avios (26,000 Avios round-trip).  That’s absolutely incredible!

Even More Sweet Spots from 3 Additional US Cities

The other 3 US cities that Aer Lingus flies to also qualify for a sweet spot, though not quite as good:

• 16,250 Avios one-way in off-peak times
• 25,000 Avios one-way in peak times

This means flights from the following cities are only 32,500 Avios round-trip during the 8 month ‘off peak’ time (and 50,000 Avios round-trip during peak times):

• Los Angeles
• Orlando
• San Francisco

Aer Lingus Award Charts for Reference:

Here are the Aer Lingus AerClub zones per their “spending Avios” page:

Notice that sneaky “exception” at the bottom!

Here are the Avios requirements for these zones:

From the Great Circle Mapper, here are the distances for the Aer Lingus US routes:

As noted above, the first six cities fit into Zone 5 and the final three cities are Zone 6 on the award chart.

One of our Travel Miles 101 community members booked an Aer Lingus flight to Boston using British Airways Avios and they were charged 26,000 Avios for the round-trip flight, so we are 100% certain that this off-peak chart is currently in effect.

It’s time to take advantage of these brand new sweet spots!!

The post New Aer Lingus Sweet Spot: 6 US Airports to Ireland Each for Only 26,000 Avios Round-Trip appeared first on Travel Miles 101.

This is especially true if you can fly these 2 airlines in the United States:

• American Airlines
• Alaska Airlines

What Alliance Does British Airways Belong In

You may have heard of airline alliances such as Star Alliance and Sky Team, but what are they?  An airline alliance is a group of airlines that team up to provide routes to consumers around the world, and the consumer can earn benefits from their preferred airline while flying on a partner airline.  For example, American Airlines doesn’t fly into Colombo, Sri Lanka, but Sri Lankan Airlines does.  Sri Lankan Airlines is part of the same airline alliance as American Airlines.  An American Airlines loyalist can earn some of the same benefits from American Airlines on Sri Lankan Airlines and vice versa.  The alliance name is Oneworld, which is the one that British Airways belongs to also.

So how do airline alliances affect our hobby?  Well in this example, you can redeem British Airways miles on an American Airlines flight since they are in the same alliance.  Not only that, but you can redeem British Airways miles with their partner airlines too, such as Alaska Airlines and Aer Lingus.  These two airlines are not (yet!) part of the Oneworld alliance, but since they partner with British Airways, then you can redeem miles with them.  This is where the British Airways program becomes extremely useful for everyone, especially if you don’t fly on British Airways.

The British Airways Award Chart

Below you’ll find a British Airways miles chart we created to help you determine the price for your award flight in miles.  Keep in mind that for these sweet spots, your flights must be direct flights since British Airways will price each flight segment individually on your award flight.  Another thing to know is that Zone 1 awards are not available to, from or within the US.  Don’t let that scare you though, there is a lot of value to be found from this program:

So how do you read the chart above?  The price for your flight segment is based on the geographical distance between where you are departing from and your destination.  So, let’s say you want to fly within the US.  That means that Zone 1 won’t apply since flights are in the US.  If the distance of your flight is between 1-1,151 miles, then you would pay 7,500 Avios for your one-way flight.

If you plan to fly a short route in Europe, then you can utilize Zone 1.  If you find a short flight, between 1-650 miles, then your off-peak price for that flight would only be 4,000 Avios.  That’s amazing!  Now you may be wondering how you find out the distance of your flights.  In the next section we’ll discuss a couple of tools to help you prepare for an Avios award booking.

Great Circle Mapper & Wandr.me

So now that you understand how the British Airways mileage chart works, let’s see how to determine the distance of the flight you’re wanting to search for.  There are two great tools that you can use to help you find the distance of your flight, which will allow you to figure out the price of a potential award flight.

The first tool is the Great Circle Mapper.  This provides you with the exact distance between two airports and shows the route on the map.  To further illustrate how the Great Circle Mapper works, let’s take a look at an example.  Let’s assume we want to find the distance between Dallas and Mexico City.  Here are the steps.

Once you’re on the Great Circle Mapper Page, enter in your route on the search box.  In this case it’s DFW-MEX.  Once you enter your route, click on “Map”

On the next screen, you’ll see your search results.  Notice how the map between the two airports is displayed.  At the bottom you’ll also notice the total miles for this segment.  In this case it’s 935 miles

So with that information, you can view the British Airways miles chart to see how much your flight would cost.  Again, since this flight originates in the US, it doesn’t qualify for Zone 1 pricing.  As mentioned previously though, since it is under 1,151 miles, it would price out at 7,500 Avios!

The next tool that I find super useful is the Wandr.me Avios Calculator.  It’ll provide you the Avios price for the routes that you search.  Another feature that I like is that it’ll allow you to see the direct routes and their Avios pricing from the airport of your choosing.  Let’s take a look at how to do this.

Once you’re on the Avios Calculator page, enter in the route information.  After that click “Search!”  In this example, we’ll show you the same DFW to MEX route.

On this screen, you’ll see all the available routes from Dallas to Mexico City and their prices in Avios.  As mentioned previously, for this to be a sweet spot you need to focus on the direct routes as British Airways prices each segment of your award flight.  Notice the first row of the search results.  This direct flight shows the price of 7500 Avios.

If you’re only interested in seeing the nonstop routes, click on the link that says “Search nonstop routes on a map”

After clicking on “Search nonstop routes on a map”, you’ll come to this screen which looks a little intimidating at first.  In the search field at the top, you can enter in an airport that you want to search.  In this example we will search for Dallas (DFW).  Then click “Go!”

Your search results will show all of the direct flights from the airport entered, in this example it was Dallas, and color code them according to their price in Avios.  As you can see, there are several flights that would price at 7,500, 10,000 and a couple priced at 12,500 Avios.

If you want to zoom in on a particular part of the map, you can zoom in by clicking on the “+” at the top right hand corner of the map.  Notice the numerous options at 7,500 Avios from Dallas!

If you want to look at a different part of the map, simply put your mouse on the map until the cursor turns into a small hand, then click and drag the map to the area you want to see.

As you can see, there are a lot of options that price out at 7,500 Avios out of Dallas.  This really gets your imagination going on what the possibilities are.  I encourage you to play around with the file and check on the airport that you want to fly out of to see what options you have out of there.  It’s very easy!

Looking For Award Space

Now that we know what certain routes should price at, let’s take a look at trying to find award space.  Finding award space isn’t difficult at all and this guide will help you to do so.  The British Airways website has a pretty good search function when looking for Oneworld alliance flights.  If you want to search other sites for award availability, you can check out American Airlines or Qantas as well.  This guide will show you how to search for Oneworld flights on British Airways.

The first step is to go to the British Airways website.

One you’re on the homepage, you must log in to your British Airways account.  Enter in your login credentials and click “Log in”.

Once you’ve logged in, hover over the Book tab then click on “Book a flight with Avios”

Next fill out your search information.  Enter in where you are flying out of, your destination, desired date and then click on “One way only”.  Since British Airways prices out each segment, we only want to look for one way flights.  Then click on “Get flights”

In this example we are searching for Dallas to Mexico City

Here are the search results.  Notice how there are several direct flights from DFW to MEX available.  One thing that is nice about the British Airways search tool is that it tells you how many award seats are available.  Each of these routes have at least 7 award seats available in economy, which is excellent for a large group!  Another thing to notice is that these are not flights on British Airways metal, rather they are on American Airlines.  That’s what is great about this sweet spot.  You can get some cheaper award flights using British Airways Avios on some of their partners.

When you find the route you want, click on the seats you’re wanting to book

Here is the total price for your chosen award flight.  You’ll notice that the price in Avios is exactly what we saw when searching through the Wandr.me site.  7500 Avios and about $35 in fees is a great deal!  To proceed with the booking, click “Continue” and follow the prompts to finalize.

Just to compare, these same flights using American Airlines miles would cost you twice as many miles at their saver level.  Definitely keep the British Airways program in mind when booking your next short flights.

As you can see, you can find some sweet deals using British Airways Avios on short, direct flights on some of their Oneworld partners.  Ideally, you don’t want to use British Airways Avios on British Airways flights because of the exorbitant surcharges that are imposed on British Airways award flights.

Super Sweet Spot To Europe

On this guide you’ve learned how valuable British Airways Avios can be and how they can be used for incredible value, but the fun doesn’t stop there.  While these short direct routes are considered “sweet spots”, there’s an even better one that could interest you if you want a cheap flight to Europe.  It involves flying to Ireland!

As we’ve discussed throughout this guide, British Airways Avios is a distance based award program, so if your flight falls within certain zones, your award flight should price according to the chart based on availability.  The same principle applies to this sweet spot as well.

The shortest route from the US to Europe on a British Airways partner airline is from Boston to Dublin.  You can use your Avios points to fly on Aer Lingus for cheap depending on award availability, but how much would it cost?  Take a look at the screen shots below.  Notice how the distance between Boston and Dublin is 2,993 miles which would fall in Zone 4 on the award chart.  To confirm the price we can see on the Wandr.me site that it would cost 12,500 Avios.  That’s a steal for a flight to Europe!

This is an amazing sweet spot!  If you’re able to find award space to and from Europe on this route, the round trip award flight would only cost 25K Avios in economy.  With this being only a 6 ½ hour flight, economy is just fine in my opinion, especially at these saver levels.

Finding Award Space

Now that I have you salivating over this sweet spot, how do you go about finding award space for it?  This one is a little awkward since we wouldn’t search the traditional Oneworld websites.  To search this award, you would need to search through United website.  You only need to do this to see if there is award space on your specified dates.  These are the steps to search for award space on Aer Lingus.

First go to the United website.

Once you’re on the home page, enter in your search criteria.  Click on “One-way” then check the box that says “Book with miles”.   Enter in your from and to cities.  In this case, from will be Boston and to will be Dublin.  Enter your desired departure date and number of travelers.  Then click on “Find flights”.

After that you’ll be prompted to sign in to your MileagePlus account.  Just close out of that pop up window.

Next you will see a few search results.  However we want to see the full 30 day calendar so that we have more options to consider.  To do so click on “View 30 day calendar”

Here you’ll notice that the calendar has expanded to provided a 30 day view of award availability.  For the purposes of this guide, we’ll choose April 28^th to see which flights are available.  When you search on your own, check for Saver Award availability, direct flights and the option with the lowest fees.  Keep in mind that the award prices on this search are in United miles, which is why the price is different.  That doesn’t matter though since you would be paying in British Airways Avios over the phone.  All that you need to worry about at this point is finding Saver level award space on the United website.

After selecting the desired date, check out your flight options below.  The first option available is operated by Aer Lingus and is a direct flight.  This is what you want to look for when searching for your award flight.  Again, don’t worry about the 30K miles shown below.  That is not the number of miles required if paying with Avios.

Now that you know which route that you want to book, make sure that you have enough British Airways Avios into your account.  If you need more points, you can transfer points from your Ultimate Rewards, Membership Rewards or Marriott Bonvoy accounts to your British Airways account.  Once you have the right number of points, call British Airways to book your award flight.  Then pack your bags!

Conclusion

The British Airways loyalty program is extremely useful, whether it’s for short domestic flights or short international flights on Oneworld partners.  You can save a considerable amount of your hard earned points by using this program.  With this guide you can see which routes are available from your desired airport, search for a route distance and search for award space.  You’re well on your way to your next “free” trip!

The post How to Use British Airways Avios for Amazing Sweet Spot Deals appeared first on Travel Miles 101.