What is the best value Avios points redemption per minute of flying time?

Links on Head for Points may pay us an affiliate commission. A list of partners is here.

I often get emails from readers asking what the ‘best value’ Avios redemption is. The honest answer, of course, is ‘one that takes you somewhere that you really want to go’.

There is a more scientific way of looking at this question. The question is: “What is the cheapest route per minute of flying time for Club World Avios redemptions?‘.

With the help of a HfP reader who did some of the groundwork, we have put together this list of the flying time of British Airways long-haul routes compared with the Avios required for a Club World off-peak redemption.

The results were a little surprising, with the winners being the mid-haul routes.

What is the best value Avios points redemption per minute of flying time?

Cape Town is known to be a great deal because it should, technically, be in a higher pricing zone than it is based on distance. The San Jose (Costa Rica) route is up there too. Similarly, Las Vegas and other US West Coast cities are pushing the boundaries of their zones and so offer good value.

The ‘best value’ winner is Moscow. This is not surprising as it is operated – on some flights – by long-haul aircraft but is priced off the short-haul list. It is Reward Flight Saver as well!

(This article in our ‘Avios Redemption University’ series looks at how Avios Reward Flight Saver works on short-haul British Airways flights.)

Note that some of the ‘best value’ routes are only on the list because the flight has a stopover. In theory you should discount the time spent on the ground, especially as you usually need to get off the plane.

The ‘worst value’ routes also came as a bit of a shock. I would have gone for Boston, given that it is the nearest US East Coast city to London, but there are actually plenty of long-haul routes which are even worse, mainly to the Middle East.

Flight times are based on flights FROM London. This overstates the average North American flying time, due to the quicker return trip, and vice versa. Some flights are also slower than others due to the aircraft type or to fit in with airport opening times – I used the first BA flight of the day in all cases.

Take a look and see what you think. This chart shows you the Avios you need to redeem to get 1 minute each-way of Club World flying time.

Destination	Hrs	Mins	In Mins	Off-peak CW return	Avios per minute return	Direct?
Moscow	3	50	230	34,000	148
Grand Cayman	12	25	745	125,000	168	Stops
Abuja	6	10	370	62,500	169
Kuwait	6	10	370	62,500	169
Jeddah	5	55	355	62,500	176
Mexico City	11	50	710	125,000	176
Turks and Caicos	11	50	710	125,000	176	Stops
San Jose (CR)	11	40	700	125,000	179
Cape Town	11	35	695	125,000	180
San Francisco	11	20	680	125,000	184
Tobago	11	15	675	125,000	185	Stops
Los Angeles	11	10	670	125,000	187
Cancun	11	05	665	125,000	188
Johannesburg	11	05	665	125,000	188
San Diego	11	05	665	125,000	188
Chicago	8	50	530	100,000	189
Sydney	22	00	1320	250,000	189	Stops
Port of Spain	10	55	655	125,000	191	Stops
San Jose (CA)	10	55	655	125,000	191
Phoenix	10	50	650	125,000	192
Austin	10	45	645	125,000	194
Dammam	8	35	515	100,000	194	Stops
Grenada	10	45	645	125,000	194	Stops
Las Vegas	10	40	640	125,000	195
Baltimore	8	25	505	100,000	198
Lima	12	35	755	150,000	198
Washington DC	8	25	505	100,000	198
Houston	10	30	630	125,000	198
St Kitts	10	30	630	125,000	198	Stops
Santiago	14	40	880	175,000	199
Philadelphia	8	20	500	100,000	200
Male	10	20	620	125,000	202
Islamabad	8	10	490	100,000	204
Pittsburgh	8	10	490	100,000	204
Amman	5	05	305	62,500	205
Dallas	10	10	610	125,000	205
Sao Paulo	12	10	730	150,000	205
Toronto	8	05	485	100,000	206
Beijing	10	05	605	125,000	207
Kingston	10	05	605	125,000	207
Seychelles (Mahe)	10	05	605	125,000	207
Tampa	10	05	605	125,000	207
New Orleans	10	00	600	125,000	208
New York	8	00	480	100,000	208
Hong Kong	11	55	715	150,000	210
Mauritius	11	55	715	150,000	210
Osaka	11	55	715	150,000	210
Buenos Aires	13	50	830	175,000	211
Miami	9	50	590	125,000	212
Seattle	9	50	590	125,000	212
Bermuda	7	50	470	100,000	213
Tokyo	11	45	705	150,000	213
Chennai	9	45	585	125,000	214
Orlando	9	45	585	125,000	214
Durban	11	35	695	150,000	215
Atlanta	9	40	580	125,000	216
Beirut	4	50	290	62,500	216
Cairo	4	50	290	62,500	216
Tel Aviv	4	50	290	62,500	216
Vancouver	9	40	580	125,000	216
Rio de Janeiro	11	35	695	150,000	216
Boston	7	40	460	100,000	217
Bangalore	9	30	570	125,000	219
Bangkok	11	20	680	150,000	221
Montreal	7	30	450	100,000	222
Shanghai	11	15	675	150,000	222
Calgary	9	20	560	125,000	223
Nassau	9	20	560	125,000	223
Abu Dhabi	7	20	440	100,000	227
Hyderabad	9	10	550	125,000	227
Punta Cana	9	10	550	125,000	227
Singapore	12	50	770	175,000	227
Nashville	9	05	545	125,000	229
Seoul	10	55	655	150,000	229
Muscat	7	15	435	100,000	230
Charleston	9	00	540	125,000	231
Dubai	7	10	430	100,000	233
Bridgetown	8	55	535	125,000	234
Mumbai	8	55	535	125,000	234
St Lucia	8	55	535	125,000	234
Kuala Lumpur	12	25	745	175,000	235
Antigua	8	45	525	125,000	238
Nairobi	8	35	515	125,000	243
Doha	6	50	410	100,000	244
New Delhi	8	30	510	125,000	245
Lagos	6	40	400	100,000	250
Accra	6	35	395	100,000	253
Bahrain	6	35	395	100,000	253
Riyadh	6	25	385	100,000	260

How to earn Avios points from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (December 2021)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards. Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways BA Amex American Express card

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up, no annual fee and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending ….. Read our full review

British Airways BA Premium Plus American Express Amex credit card

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the UK’s most valuable credit card perk – the 2-4-1 companion voucher Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points, such as:

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & two airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital On Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios:

Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa

The most generous Avios Visa or Mastercard for a limited company Read our full review

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus:

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

(Want to earn more Avios? Click here to visit our home page for our latest articles on earning and spending your Avios points and click here to see how to earn more Avios this month from offers and promotions.)

Category

British Airways and Avios

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

The Original David says:

31 Oct31 October 05:40

Always plenty of availability to Abuja too!

Not sure if anyone would actually book a trip based on this metric, but interesting analysis nonetheless. How does CE compare?
- Alex W says:
  
  31 Oct31 October 21:33
  
  Club Europe is a waste of Avios on 100% of routes.
  - John says:
    
    31 Oct31 October 23:10
    
    Unless there’s no Y availability
  - Rob says:
    
    1 Nov1 November 05:38
    
    Of course it isn’t. It’s all proportional. I just booked a UK domestic in CE for next week one-way – it’s an extra 3k out of 1m+ across the family. You’d be stupid not to do that unless you’re masochistic. It’s like the average person being offered an upgrade on the train for 50p.
    
    I also tend to do it for the family – there are 4 of us and CE gets us a full row (and, as Gold, that usually means Row 1 if we’re booking a few months in advance).
    
    Would I do it if I had 100k Avios? No.
BJ says:

31 Oct31 October 06:03

The shortest long haul flight that is sufficiently delayed to qualify for maximum compensation under EU261. Added value can then be expected from other common occurrences on BA including malfunctioning seats, broken IFE, failure to load meals and lost baggage.
- Ant says:
  
  31 Oct31 October 07:29
  
  Our family of 4 (Avios with 2 companion vouchers) was delayed for 4 hours and 2 minutes on a flight to Cairo (3510km). Paid for the holiday.
  - BJ says:
    
    31 Oct31 October 07:45
    
    Great result, I guess you are now disappointed every time you depart on time 🙂
    - Rob says:
      
      31 Oct31 October 08:28
      
      My brother got €3,000 when his family of 5 got a 4 hour delay on a WTP trip to NYC. Was very happy!
      - Anna says:
        
        31 Oct31 October 10:46
        
        We (eventually) got 1200 euros for our 5 hour delay coming back from NYC. It covered most of the “taxes” on our 2 4 1 in F!
        
        Flyertalk report that BA gave £300 in vouchers as compensation to a couple they had thrown off a fight for being disorderly 😂 (though they then said it was a mistake).
      - Anna says:
        
        31 Oct31 October 10:46
        
        Flight even! Though there could very well have been a fight.
      - BJ says:
        
        31 Oct31 October 16:02
        
        @Anna, I hope that is not giving you ‘good’ ideas!
    - Ant says:
      
      31 Oct31 October 17:33
      
      Exactly! Last holiday we were delayed for 2 hours 30 due to mechanical issue – was trying to think of ways to help it stretch it out to 3 hours!
      - BJ says:
        
        31 Oct31 October 18:07
        
        My partner and I had expensive LNER tickets back from KGX earlier this year. Leaving Berwick we were so sure we were going to be 30+ minutes late abd wd would get money back. Never fekt a train in the UK go so fast in my life and all the time I was hoping it woukd need to sliw. It bever dud, even felt fast getting into the station and it made it with about half a minute to spare. It was going on to Aberdeen so probably a good result for them.
      - Polly says:
        
        31 Oct31 October 20:01
        
        BJ, your report had me in stitches..can just imagine the state of anxiety on that journey! Willing it to slow down..
      - BJ says:
        
        31 Oct31 October 21:03
        
        @Polly, I think you are picturing it just right. To add to the drama a lady from Berwick came on and sat next to us, she was on her high horse because she had just been advised (helpfully in my view) that LNER would soon stop selling return tickets and therefore she would subsequently have to pay double for two singles. This was an interesting chat in I self but I colddn’t focus for watching my watch and trying to to estimate arrival time.
      - John says:
        
        31 Oct31 October 23:12
        
        Long distance train timetables have plenty of slack time built in. If you are 30 mins late leaving a station on LNER you are unlikely to be 30 mins late at the next station unless the delay is due to something wrong on the tracks in front of you.
      - Rob says:
        
        1 Nov1 November 05:34
        
        There is a lot of slack on the last leg. Easy to check – look at timings between laststop and London, vs London and firststop on the outbound. The former is likely to be longer.
Phil says:

31 Oct31 October 06:08

Interesting.

Compared to Abuja, Lagos and Accra cost you 37,500 more Avios for flights less than half an hour longer!
TripRep says:

31 Oct31 October 06:09

Continuing with the curious novelty value of the post, just for a bit of fun…

How about best value when you include the cash element and compare to full fare?

£490 + 65,000
Club Europe + Club World rtn to Florida.

Usual cash price £2450rtn
- Rob says:
  
  31 Oct31 October 06:14
  
  The issue is getting a ‘usual’ cash price based on when people actually want to redeem, and whether you should factor in pricing on carriers others than BA.
  - TripRep says:
    
    31 Oct31 October 09:42
    
    But remember, keeping an equivalent full cash quote from BA on email/file (taken at the time of redemption booking) is useful for any potential future small court claims….
- Tim says:
  
  31 Oct31 October 06:23
  
  When fees are added, and a value of say £10 per 1,000 Avios, it is always Avios partners that come out top, especially JAL, Cathay and to a lesser extent Qatar, especially on the wide body 20k Avios destinations with £10 fees. Istanbul is a good starting point for Qatar as it is only 20k biz in wide body although fees not as low as JAL or Cathay. Still better than Bloody Awful though.
Marcw says:

31 Oct31 October 06:21

Does anyone book reward flights based on this BS?
- Tim says:
  
  31 Oct31 October 06:34
  
  It is a useful metric if you don’t know the distance between city pairs, especially if the hour unit is used instead of minutes.
- TripRep says:
  
  31 Oct31 October 06:34
  
  Doubt it, but I see the article as a light-hearted “filler” for mild amusement.
  - Rob says:
    
    31 Oct31 October 07:45
    
    I’m guessing you don’t have a numbers job Marc 🙂
    - Marcw says:
      
      31 Oct31 October 09:25
      
      Yes, I do work with numbers 😃. It’s an interesting or curious analysis, alternative view – you ain’t going to get a Nature paper.
      - Russ says:
        
        31 Oct31 October 10:06
        
        Oh sure like we all have 5+ papers in Nature published every year 🙂
      - Rob says:
        
        31 Oct31 October 11:58
        
        I assumed anyone even slightly ‘on the scale’ (which all City analysts are) would appreciate it 🙂
- aDifferentSimon says:
  
  31 Oct31 October 09:24
  
  I think they probably do based on the popularity of the flyertalk page on which airports are closest to the far edge of the zone boundary. This is the same kinda thing. I know I tend to think Bilbao in zone 1 is a bit of a steal.
  - Anna says:
    
    31 Oct31 October 10:50
    
    I do get this – I’m actually trying to put together a trip to Chambery as I think it’s the only Zone 1 flight which you can do direct from MAN.
    - Anna says:
      
      31 Oct31 October 10:51
      
      Apart from domestic which doesn’t really count as a holiday!
    - Lady London says:
      
      31 Oct31 October 11:46
      
      Better be quick Anna it will disappear soon! Obviously it’s an oversight by BA to actually leave an international flight to anywhere in Zone 1 from MAN.:-)
- Lady London says:
  
  31 Oct31 October 11:41
  
  Apparently some people actually like to have long routes not just for sleeping, but also to enjoy what’s on offer especially in F.
  - Polly says:
    
    31 Oct31 October 20:06
    
    Agree, it really is a lovely experience to do just once even, or better still on our 241. Feel you are getting the value and the experience. Long may it last, until the new biz suites get rolled out. Then it’s biz from then on.
BJ says:

31 Oct31 October 06:49

O/T: Nectar offering 1000 bonus points for £5 ebay spend within the next 5 days. As usual with Nectar, probably targeted.
- Harry T says:
  
  31 Oct31 October 07:33
  
  Yeah, targeted – I haven’t got it.
  - BJ says:
    
    31 Oct31 October 07:50
    
    IIRC you are new to Nectar so be patient, the offers will come. Usually bewbies get iffers to book first trips at LNER and Virgin without minimum spebd, and small bonuses to link accounts to Ebay and argos. Once you have done so, avoid spending there to encourage more offers..
    - Harry T says:
      
      31 Oct31 October 12:44
      
      Thanks, I’ll bear that in mind. What are the best value redemptions of nectar points?
    - EwanG says:
      
      31 Oct31 October 14:01
      
      Offers have been rubbish on ‘new Nectar’ – both for Sainsbury’s spend and partners, on my account plus wife’s account and not compelling me to spend there instead of Morrisons or Waitrose.
      Aside from your eBay gold above BJ, how have you been finding it?
      - BJ says:
        
        31 Oct31 October 15:59
        
        @Ewan, my Sainsbury offers have been good with 300-500 points per week on stuff I buy regularly. By contrast my parents Sainsbury offers are garbo, they struggle to get 100 points per week. My Partner offers apart from that cited are rubbish; all just x2 or x2 points at various retailers which can be easily beat in other ways. My LNER and Virgin are now 500 for minimum £5 spend so that’s useless for the moment. Got the bonus points on the Sainsburys nectar cc for a second time and Sainsbury Bank dropped in 1000 bonus for who knows what. I hope the £10 spend promo with the mystery bonuses comes back soon. Been looking out for an additional bonus from Nectar on the amex card but nothing this month.
        
        @Harry I have only redeemed for double value on trains or in the Sainsburys double up event. One time only I got £50 double on ebay soon after I started collecting. Never got it again. I never redeem at standard rates.
xcalx says:

31 Oct31 October 07:24

My go to destination for cruise departures San Juan PR using IB comes in at an eye catching 67.3 Avios per minute. 1010 mins 68000 Avios and taxes of around £150
- xcalx says:
  
  31 Oct31 October 07:49
  
  Sorry my maths is out, make that 134.6 Avios per min based on the calculation formula above.
  return avios divided by one way minutes equals off peak avios return ? can’t get my head working today.
  - xcalx says:
    
    31 Oct31 October 08:44
    
    Can someone explain the workings out for this, I just can’t fathom it out . Thanks.
    - pauldb says:
      
      31 Oct31 October 08:50
      
      134 is right; consistent anyway. 134 avios gets you 1 minute out and 1 minute back. It would perhaps be better to start with the oneway avios, divide by the oneway time, and say it’s 67 avios per minute.
      - xcalx says:
        
        31 Oct31 October 09:13
        
        Ok I get it now. I think I had worked it out correctly to start with 67.3 per mile flown. The avios per minute return column equates to per 2 miles flown. is that correct?
        Senior moment.
- KevMc says:
  
  31 Oct31 October 10:07
  
  +1 – lots of great ‘value’ (as measured here) with IB to the Americas from Madrid.
  
  eg Santiago return costs 102,000 and is 26 hours total tiem in the sky = 65.38 points per minute
Anna says:

31 Oct31 October 07:39

The GCM route is 2nd on the list because the stop in NAS adds at least 90 minutes to the travel time (it can be more, e.g, when we flew there in August we were stuck on the tarmac at NAS for 3 hours due to a private jet crash landing). Having flown the route a few times I question the “value” as during the GCM-NAS/NAS-GCM sectors the F & B service is kept at an absolute minimum which means that on the return leg you don’t get a meal until 5 hours into the flight, which is a total pain if you want to maximise sleep. There’s no lounge at GCM so if you want to dine before you fly your choice is Burger King or Subway!
- Chris says:
  
  31 Oct31 October 09:29
  
  I acknowledge the above, however having flown the route on a 2-4-1 and booked nearly a year out on the stroke of midnight, I am please to hear that we got ‘good value’ since it was the only ‘good value’ thing about our holiday in Grand Cayman!!!!!
  - Anna says:
    
    31 Oct31 October 10:55
    
    Totally agree Chris! It’s a perfectly pleasant way to fly but no-one should book it thinking they are getting an extra couple of hours of CW service, because that’s not the case. I much prefer to go via the US as 8-9 hours is the limit before I start really wanting to get off the plane, but OH prefers to fly direct so we take it in turns to choose the route. Hit very lucky this year (apart from various delays) as unbeknownst to us the aircraft had an F cabin and we were allocated seats in it!