how many avios points for a flight

For comparison, the cheapest BA return around the same dates was £680. The comments below have not been moderated. However, it's not that simple as it all depends on the equivalent cash price to buy whatever it is you use Avios points for, and these prices can fluctuate wildly. In comparison, if you'd booked a Ryanair flight, you'd pay up to £95 to make the change, plus the price difference of a new flight. For 27,900 Avios points and Â£110 extra, you could get an off-peak business class return flight to Marrakesh, Morocco.Â. Find cheap pick-up only items near you - they often attract fewer bids. Claim missing Avios If you use points on a £400 return flight to New York, you get nowhere near the same value as you would if the flight cost £600, given you pay £300 in taxes either way. While you may need more Avios points, it can be nothing compared to how cash prices can spiral. The best way of illustrating this is to take a real-world example. If you divide 50,000 by 100 - to get from pence to pounds - then you end up with Â£500, for a total cost of Â£946.44. You’ll earn 4x points at U.S. supermarkets (on up to $25,000 in purchases per calendar year, then 1x) and 4x points at restaurants worldwide. If you're set on using Avios points to book a flight, you don't always need the full number of points for booking a British Airways flight – you're always offered the chance to part-pay in Avios and part in cash. Points are automatically added to your BA account. I suspect my sister abused her power of attorney to help herself to money in our late mum's bank accounts - what can I do? Two return peak time flights to Moscow in business class will cost you 80,000 points and Â£100. This example demonstrates why Burgess suggests flying economy long-haul is a less valuable use of your points, because the charge BA levies on you is already quite substantial and doesn't increase by all that much by flying business or first class. Do note that business class within Europe (called Club Europe) is nothing like it is in Club World – you won't get a flat bed, so weigh up if you want to use so many points for a short flight. Have I Gone Crazy? A list of partners is here. Which shares could do well if inflation rises? There's far less availability using miles than paying in cash so your destination may be booked up when you need it. If you consider you can sometimes pay £300 for a return flight to Europe, particularly if going to the eastern edges, you can make substantial savings by only using a small number of points. The American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Card offers 10,000 Amex points if you spend Â£3,000 within the first six months. Do you have any top tips on how to spend Avios points? This chart, from The Points Guy UK, breaks down the costs in Avios of each class flight. Email: brokenlink@moneysavingexpert.com, Tools for different credit card types & purchases, Resolver - the automated complaints system. Of course, if you have Nectar points already built up, you can convert these too. It's fee-free in the first year (£140 thereafter), and you can earn 10,000 intro bonus points (worth 13,000 Avios), plus one point per £1 spent. For some, it sounds like a nightmare. There is a 1:1 transfer ratio for points to British Airways Avios. You can't buy, sell or share tier points. How to claim them. For more ways to earn with online survey sites and focus groups, see our Top 25 Online Survey Sites guide. Some links in this article may be affiliate links. Household accounts allow members over 18 to spend the collective points in the account. You can also earn Avios points with your own air miles when flying with the likes of British Airways, Aer Lingus and Iberia.Â. This makes the Reward Saver flights better value – especially for those who can't comprehend packing light. You can part-pay with Avios, for example spending 8,000 points to save Â£45 on your flight. They'll get boosted bonus points after the trigger spend too – 2,000 extra on the Amex Gold (making the total 12,000), and an extra 1,000 on the BA Amex and BA Premium Plus (6,000 and 26,000 in total). Here are some of the basic need-to-knows: Though of course, don't spend with these sites simply to earn points. Economy: 26,000 points off-peak, £505 taxes Business: 100,000 points off-peak, £860 taxes Cash Price: We found economy tickets for £640, business tickets for £3,440 – four times as much. When we checked, mixed cases started at about 9,500 points. To keep it simple, this guide concentrates on earning via and using the British Airways scheme, though it's worth signing up to all of them. Off-peak it'd be the same value charge but cost you 8,000 points. Three Minute Money: What will make savings rates rise? You can buy a variety of Laithwaite's wine cases via BA using Avios points. The BA Avios flight Calculator – map how many Avios for a flight… Let’s face it, the closure of the Avios.com programme in July 2018 (to British Airways Executive Club members) has had limited impact on those who collect Avios points! They’re awesome for short-haul flights within the U.S. and other parts of the world. The Halifax Clarity Credit Card is an old favourite for holidaymakers with no overseas fees This includes both spending and cash withdrawals abroad. Full details and best buys in our Airline Credit Cards guide. Some Avios credit cards give you a companion ticket when you spend over a certain amount, so you get to take someone else with you under exactly the same conditions for no extra points, though like you, they still pay taxes and charges. Subsequent surveys will get you up to 50 points. This is Money is part of the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday & Metro media group, How to invest in shares: From where to buy, to finding ideas and valuing companies, your guide to successful stock-picking. The Points Trader is your most trusted source for cheap frequent flyer miles. For more details, read How This Site Is Financed. You collect Avios when you fly, take a holiday, hotel stay or car rental with us plus our wide range of partners. Via Laithwaites, similar cases are around £42, meaning 1,000 points are worth around £4.40. As you'll likely be aware from the table above, 26,000 Avios points, along with a Â£346.44 charge, would get you a one-way off-peak premium economy flight to New York, or a return flight in economy class at the same time of year - though that'd set you back more in taxes. But if you're not, they may go to waste and you'd be better off with a Cashback Credit Card. We've crunched the numbers on the big Avios credit cards to find the best way to earn points while you spend. Flying economy with BA you can collect up to one point per mile flown, up to 1.5 point per mile in premium economy, up to 2.5 points per mile in business class and up to three points per mile in first class. But using Avios points is a good way not to get fleeced. Here are some examples of how much bigger the jump between economy and business can be when you pay in cash, compared to Avios points: London to Cape Town. While credit cards are the best way to boost your Avios, there are a few quick other ways to do so, which may work for some, depending on your shopping habits: The partnership between Avois and Tesco Clubcard ended recently, but now Nectar cardholders are able to exchange loyalty points for Avios. We've pulled together our top tips to earning and spending Avios. Buying the cheapest economy return? Looking forward to a pint on 12 April? Kaligo and Rocketmiles are hotel-booking websites linked to a number of frequent-flyer and loyalty schemes, including Avios. Points vary, so whether it's a good deal depends on the hotel and other offers at the time. It's worth noting that you'll need fewer Avios points for a BA flight than on a partner airline, like Qantas or Qatar Airways for example, on the same route. If you go through it, it can sometimes result in a payment or benefit to the site. We often link to other websites, but we can't be responsible for their content. Here's what's happening and how Asda's new fee compares, It's what you earn, not what you owe that counts when repaying student loans, MoneySavingExpert.com founder Martin Lewis has explained in his latest episode of The Martin Lewis Money Show on ITV. So, if you were targeted for the 1,000-point Nectar offer as part of the Juicy points boost, you can transfer them to become 500 Avios. If you're after somewhere even further afield, you could get a peak time economy class return flight to Barbados for 50,000 points, plus Â£350.84 in charges. It has an APR of 20.9%. You need to go to ba.com, track down the ‘Avios Spending Calculator’ page and then type in your destination and preferred travel class. If the answer is yes, do you know the true value of 10,000, 30,000, 50,000 and 100,000 points - and the best way to spend them? Even paying in cash and earning Avios may not be worth doing – paying cash for the same car hire in Malaga via the BA site was more than double the price, at £194, only adding about 970 points to your stash. Avios is a rewards scheme, similar to Nectar and Tesco Clubcard, but with travel-focused rewards. But if you're weighing up whether to use Avios now or save them for a later trip, the cash price for the same flight will determine whether it's worth using the points. Always check cash prices before booking with points. Points on all Avios schemes expire if you don't collect or redeem at least one point in three years. Earning British Airways Avios is for everyone, not just frequent flyers and big spenders — and I’m here to prove it. Also see our Cheap Flights, Easyjet tricks and Ryanair tricks guides for much more. 30,000 points:Â A few more options begin to open up to you once you get to this milestone, including the novel idea of being able to take someone with you. Buy Airline miles from a reliable online miles broker with 100% customer satisfaction. On British Airways, off-peak means outside the longer private school holiday periods. The only criteria is you must live at the same address – you don't have to be related. The number of points you need to upgrade is simply the difference between the points needed for each class. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. With Avios points you need to pay taxes and fees on flights, wiping some of the gain. With the partnership, you can link your accounts and transfer 400 Nectar points to 250 Avios or 250 Avios to 400 Nectar points. Plus you can choose to convert cashback via Topcashback* into Avios, once the cash is payable from your online account. Anyone can sign up and you'll get the bonus points after you complete your first survey. Check our Cheap Flights, Cheap Car Hire, Cheap Hotels and Cheap Online Shopping guides first, to ensure you're getting the cheapest deal. Rewards for Thoughts allows you to earn Avios for your opinion. M&S Bank's Reward Credit Card comes with double reward points on your spending - that's two M&S points per Â£1 spent in stores - for a year, plus Â£20 in M&S points to sign up. Unfortunately, the partnership with Nectar isn't as generous as its previous one with Clubcard. True, they credit (according to my calculations) only 0.7 to 1.0 cents per Avios, however due to the fact that you receive full Avios and full Tier Points it sounds better that the “free” bonus tickets for which you pay a significant amount for “taxes and charges”, where the availability is much more limited, and where of course you get zero Avios and points. But our champagne and wine deals often beat these. Links on Head for Points may pay us an affiliate commission. Points are usually worth the same, regardless of scheme, and can be freely transferred between them. Now, a cheap economy ticket gets you just 25% or 50% of the miles flown – that's 500 or 1,000 points for flying 2,000 miles. Join it to bag an easy 600 Avios just for signing up and doing one survey. To check, use BA's Reward Flight Calculator – the results show you the points you'll need to fly with a partner airline. Editor-in-Chief, Marcus Herbert, Part-pay is often cheaper than buying points, Earn Avios points for giving your opinion. Want to know more about cashback sites? You can claim Avios or Tier Points up to six months after your flight. Using Avios points for hotels isn't a bad decision – MSE Dan likes to spend his points on hotels because he's happy to shell out points but not cash for nicer places. British Airways only flies to Europe from London, so if you're coming from elsewhere in the UK, you need to connect via London, and you'll be charged in Avios points and taxes for both journeys. If you're a regular flyer and that happens, just hold the points for next time. Points here are worth about £5 per 1,000, so again, decent value but check to see if there's a discount voucher or two-for-one offer on at the time you want to go – that could be a better option. If you're nearing expiry, consider signing up to a survey site, or going via the Executive Club e-store to boost. Claim missing Avios. You'll get at least five tier points per flight based on the cheapest economy short-haul tickets, up to around 360 tier points for a first class ticket to long-haul destinations such as Sydney. Our top pick is the Amex Preferred Rewards Gold card. We're a journalistic website and aim to provide the best MoneySaving guides, tips, tools and techniques, but can't guarantee to be perfect, so do note you use the information at your own risk and we can't accept liability if things go wrong. For flights that don't qualify for the Reward Flight Saver fee, you pay the same taxes and charges you'd pay when booking with cash, which are typically £200-£580 for a return economy flight. In the old days of the Avios scheme, you often got 100% of the miles flown on any economy ticket, so if you flew 2,000 miles, you got 2,000 points. ‘SECRET’ Office & Schuh outlets flogging cheap, slightly blemished shoes - eg, £12 kids' Converse (norm £37), NHS and care worker staff freebies & discounts, NOW ENDED: Trick to get £116 of No7 beauty for £30 online by cleverly stacking deals at Boots, 18 FREE ways to relax, feel good & look after yourself during lockdown (and beyond), (1) Peak miles needed for flights. Plus, earning at least one point the year before you book means you're eligible for its Reward Flight Saver. It also allows children to earn points for travel – something they can't otherwise do until they're 18 and have their own account. However, Avios occasionally holds offers where it will add bonus points to any you buy, so check if one of these deals is on first. For trips to Europe, it's simply half the cost of a return trip. If it isn't possible to get an affiliate link for the top deal, it is still included in exactly the same way, just with a non-paying link. You can combine Avios points with up to six other BA Executive Club members living at the same address as you by creating a household account. Gone are the old days of 'Airmiles' when you could redeem miles for a flight without paying a penny. To show where it may be best to save Avios points for later, we found the following return flight costs (we chose economy class, direct flights where possible and peak travel times): Using your points for long-haul business flights allows you to fly in style (and bag lounge-passes), which for many is unaffordable booking by cash. To create an account, sign up via BA Executive Club. But weigh up the offers on at the time, and (if you know anything about wine) the wines on offer. You can also use them to book hotels, hire cars or even order cases of wine, beer and spirits with wine merchant Laithwaites. A number of the cards include 'companion tickets' if you spend over a certain amount. Tier points allow you to move up the four British Airways Executive Club levels. There are sometimes special offers giving you glasses as part of a case via Avios, which boosts the value of your points slightly. Incl manipulating credit cards & free ways to gain points, Find the number of points required for your flight, ALWAYS pay off in full or interest will dwarf the rewards, Avios earning rates for the BA Executive Club scheme by flying on BA, Taken a flight and not had the points? This is a 'how long is a piece of string' type question. You can book two off-peak single business class flights to New York for Â£446.44 extra on each ticket. Back to school: How one man expanded his education business by going digital. However, the cheapest return flights on certain days in May could be as much as £64, so if you needed to return on these more expensive dates, you'd be better off booking with your Avios. Can Scottish Mortgage keep climbing? The household balance will show both individual Avios, and the collective pooled Avios. And finally, if you're after somewhere really far away, for a shade over 50,000 points - 51,500 - you can get a one-way flight to Melbourne, which comes with an extra cost of Â£342.12. The card carries a Â£25 annual fee with interest of 22.2% on purchases. Economy earning rates are generally the same, but you usually earn fewer points in premium cabins. If you want to fly at peak times such as Christmas or school holidays, booking well in advance is usually essential. We call them Avios. Our Broadband Unbundled tool finds the cheapest broadband, phone and TV. For example, Amex's British Airways credit card gives you a 5,000 point bonus in return for spending Â£1,000 in your first three months of having the card, as well as giving you effectively 1 point for every Â£1 you spend on the card. Reward flights can be booked with British Airways, Aer Lingus, Iberia, Vuelings and OneWorld Alliance airlines. They work almost like a cashback site but instead of cashback, you get points for the scheme you've chosen every time you book. Avios points can be your golden ticket to cheap flights. A week's car hire in August for a small car in Malaga, Spain, starts at about 34,000 Avios points. If you've got an e-ticket, it's the code labelled 'document number'. You can only upgrade expensive, fully flexible economy tickets on British Airways, Iberia or American Airlines, so if you've bagged a cheap flight you often won't be able to. Here are some examples: So some destinations are still better value than others in terms of distance flown, and the cost of paying the cash price for your flight. In general, according to Rob Burgess of Head for Points, non-flight redemptions tend to work out at a value of around 0.5p per point - about half the value of what you should aim for, and less than half of what The Points Guy UK estimates Avios points to be worth.Â. We offer a wide range of discounted airline miles and can top up your existing frequent flyer balance at unbeatable rates. You can only do that with individual accounts. You can spend and collect Avios points with all these schemes, so join all four to access more offers and availability of flights. If you'd rather not have to deal with them, unsubscribe after you've got the bonus, or sign up using an email account you don't regularly use. You can spend Avios points on short-haul flights once you've got 4,000 points, and on long-haul flights once you've got 13,000.Â. We think it's important you understand the strengths and limitations of the site. However, once you've created a household account, you can't transfer points between the various schemes (eg, BA Executive Club to Iberia). The American Express Platinum Cashback card offers up to 5% cashback up to Â£125 for the first three months, and up to 1% back on spends up to Â£10,000 after that. Many people collect what is essentially the 'currency of British Airways' and have a pot built up, but may be unsure the wisest way to get the most out of the points.Â Â, Avios points are a way for you to turn your everyday spending into flights with BA, Aer Lingus, Iberia and other airlines.Â, There are a multitude of different ways to collect points once you have an Avios account.Â, Points mean prizes: Avios can be redeemed on flights with British Airways, Aer Lingus, Iberia, Qantas and others - but it can be hard to work out their worth, For example, for every Â£1 you spend with Asos or TK Maxx you get five points, or six with every Â£1 you spend with Booking.com, via the Avios e-store.Â, You can see the list of all retailers you can earn points from here.Â, One of the quickest ways to build up points is through general credit card spending, with some of the best reward cards offered by American Express.Â. (4) Available with certain. It's a dream come true. This means your collective Avios points stash can be boosted further (though children on the account can't spend Avios points until they're at least 18). In Avios points, it would cost 50,000, plus Â£446.44 extra in charges. You can also upgrade an existing cash booking, bumping yourself up a class â like from premium economy to business class. If so, you can reclaim the tax on it, Martin Lewis: How to reclaim £100s of credit from your energy firm, Martin Lewis: What happened to my pledge to give £10m to charity – 2021 update, Amazon £5 off £20 and 'free' £6 code for some, Psssst! Plus, you’ll have so many other options for using these points. There you can also see how many you need to move up to the next level. These usually allow you to take someone with you, in the same cabin as you, for no extra points, though they'll have to pay taxes and charges. Transport Minister to enforce new rules to make them more reliable and accessible, Government has 'no plans' to reduce Lifetime Isa withdrawal penalty: Young savers will soon be charged 25% of pot total again to raid deposits, Revealed: The 10 most affordable hotspots to buy a home in Britain are dominated by Scotland and North West, House prices will keep rising but estate agents say a shortage of homes for sale is hitting the market despite the stamp duty holiday extensionÂ. Refer your partner (and any interested friends/family/colleagues) and pick up an extra 6,000 Avios boost for the Amex Preferred Gold card, and an extra 4,000 Avios for the BA Amex. Is Bitcoin about to hit $60,000? See what each level gives you. We've listed some popular destinations below to show the range of points needed when flying from London. However, we found it was easily beatable – you'd be better off using points on other things. It joins other major supermarkets that already charge for this service. The rates you pay for the hotel are competitive but not necessarily the cheapest – weigh up the cost using tips in our Cheap Hotels guide. Starting at just 4,500 points in many regions, you can score one way flights up to 650 miles in actual distance. Unlike when you pay cash, the cost of using Avios points to go one-way is simply half the number of points required for a return trip. Or use your Avios to pay for a reward flight with Iberia, British Airways and other selected airlines - you just pay taxes, ... Plus, every time you fly with Iberia and its partner airlines, you also get Elite Points to unlock even more benefits such as collecting extra Avios on … You'll need to nominate a 'head of the household' – basically a lead name on the account who can add and remove members. There are four frequent flyer schemes that use Avios points as their currency: the British Airways Executive Club, Iberia Plus, Vueling Club and the Aer Lingus AerClub. Best Western is the most recent major hotel chain to become a British Airways partner. If you're buying something small and haven't collected an Avios point in the last year, this is an easy way to ensure you earn the points you need to qualify for Reward Flight Saver or bonus points offers. A year on from the first base rate cut: Why have fixed mortgage rates inched higher and saving deals fallen drastically? You can move or pool Avios between them at any time, log in to the Avios scheme you want to put the points in, go to your account and click 'combine your Avios'. MoneySupermarket.com Financial Group Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN: 303190). BA partners with big-name car-hire firm Avis, allowing you to book and pay in Avios points, a mixture of points and cash, or just in cash, while earning Avios points on the booking. Martin Lewis is a registered trade mark belonging to Martin S Lewis. We found one-way Ryanair flights to Berlin from £15 in May, so in this case it's cheaper to book with a budget airline than use your Avios. Unique tool uses probability to estimate winnings. The Avios points will be credited to your BA Avios account within 10 days. In the past we've seen sales offering 40% off the number of Avios needed for long-haul flights. From our research, we found it's generally cheaper to part-pay in Avios points on the flight-booking pages than buying extra points, especially as points can only be bought in 1,000 increments. The number of Avios points you need depends on where you're flying, the cabin class you fly in and when you go. By paying for a flight or holiday with British Airways, for example, you can collect Avios points to redeem on future flights. Find out how much income you keep and how much the taxman takes. When we looked in March 2019, we saw return economy flights from London to Sydney for around £800-£1,000 in the peak July period. To make that worthwhile, you'll need to weigh up the benefits it comes with, ie, a companion ticket on a £10,000 annual spend and 1.5 points per £1 spend. You'd need to fly this route 60 times in a year to earn enough to move from blue to bronze. The different levels give you more perks, such as lounge access and larger baggage allowances. Premium economy costs twice as many Avios points as economy, business class costs three time as many, and first class four times as many. Published: 02:44 EST, 28 June 2019 | Updated: 02:44 EST, 28 June 2019. Let's us know in the comments below or contact us: It means if you are going to fly economy, you will get more value on short-haul flights. It's worth noting this means the third party used may be named on any credit agreements. Don't miss out, Asda has introduced a 50p charge for 'Click & Collect' delivery slots but the move has frustrated some shoppers using the service during the pandemic. If you have a card that offers a companion ticket, it's worth waiting until you have the companion voucher before spending your points, as you get much better value from them. Qantas' recent Perth - London route has travelers all over the world wondering, "Could I handle a flight that long?" As well as booking actual flights, there are other aviation-related ways of spending Avios points. Is motorway electric car charging about to become MUCH better? As a disclaimer, it is worth noting that there is no guarantee reward flight seats will be available at a time you want to fly.Â, According to Head for Points,Â BA guarantees at least two business class and four economy seats per flight for reward flight customers redeeming points, and is 'fairly generous' with the quota of seats available.Â. The card has a $250 annual fee (see rates and fees). Once you've converted your Nectar points to Avios, they won't expire as long as you collect, use or buy Avios every three years. Do you collect Avios points? While this does work on short-haul flights too, savings on long haul run into the £1,000s, rather than the much smaller sums you'll save on a return to Europe. It's worth noting, changes or cancellations can be made for £35, up to 24 hours before a flight, regardless of where you're going. See our Cheap Hotels guide for full tips and tricks to cutting costs. Cyclists in England can once more get their hands on free 'Fix Your Bike' vouchers worth £50 as the Government has today released a third tranche under the scheme. (2) City tax may apply on arrival. If you need to borrow too, you're far better off focusing on getting the lowest interest rates – that'll save you much more money. These points can be converted into Avios air miles. In business, it's generally twice the number of economy class points needed for a European flight, three times for the rest of the world. You can't cancel for a refund – you simply have to forfeit what you've paid. If you regularly buy fuel at a Shell garage, this is an easy way to boost points, otherwise it's not worth going out of your way to do it. Unions tell ministers to save Liberty Steel jobs if firm... Is Bitcoin about to hit $60,000? While these zones no longer exist, the number of points needed for each destination doesn't appear to have changed. You also get six months 0% interest on purchases and balance transfers. On the whole though, neither of these are considered a particularly good way of using your Avios points. BA excludes upgrades from economy to premium economy on fare classes Q, O and G. You can only upgrade one cabin level up – so premium economy to business, not economy to business, and only if there's availability. 50,000 points:Â At 50,000, you can get an off-peak business class single flight to New York for this many Avios points and a Â£446.44 extra charge. New Members can even claim for flights taken before joining. Due to COVID-19 and the restrictions applied by certain countries, we're extending our flexible fare policy to flights operated by Iberia, Iberia Express and Iberia Regional Air Nostrum. He also says that paying part with Avios, as mentioned above, gets you roughly between 0.55p and 0.8p per point.Â, Danish dream: Even people with small Avios balances could potentially put them towards short-haul flights to destinations such as Copenhagen - pictured, Nyhavn area, If you have a points balance already, you can use British Airways' reward flight calculatorÂ to find out exactly how many points it would cost you to fly somewhere.Â, BA uses a distance-based chart when redeeming your Avios for flights, meaning you pay different amounts of Avios depending on the distance you travel.Â, According to Nicky Kelvin, content director at The Points Guy UK, these amounts 'range from 4,000 Avios for a one-way off-peak economy flight from London to somewhere like Nice or Zurich, up to 200,000 Avios for a one-way peak first class flight all the way to Sydney.