Four special Avios offers for Executive Club members in the British Airways sale – worth it?

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We published an article yesterday featuring our pick of the Club World deals in the new British Airways Winter sale, which is now live.

There are four Avios-based special offers running alongside the sale. As always with such deals, you shouldn’t necessarily assume that they are good value.

Full details of these four offers can be found on the BA sale site here.

Here is my view:

Offer 1: Get better value on certain routes using Avios part payment

What’s the deal? Get improved redemption rates when you buy a cash ticket in the BA sale and use Avios to reduce the cost

What’s the catch? It is only valid on San Diego, Boston, New York City, Johannesburg, Tel Aviv, Kuala Lumpur, Bahamas, and San Jose (Costa Rica) and only in World Traveller

Is it a good deal? We are not big fans of ‘part pay with Avios’ because you are usually offered a rate well below our target Avios redemption value of 1p per point for large quantities.

A £350 test booking to New York brought up the following options:

£20 off for 1,600 Avios (1.25p per Avios)

£40 off for 4,400 Avios (0.91p per Avios)

£70 off for 9,300 Avios (0.75p per Avios)

The first one would be a no-brainer for me and I might be tempted by the 2nd option. I doubt I’d accept 0.75p for 9,300 valuable Avios however.

This is a good deal if you are booking a qualifying flight (not very likely given the class and location criteria) and are offered the equivalent of 1p per point to ‘part pay with Avios’. This will only be the case when using a very small number of points.

Avios wing 13

Offer 2: Get an extra 15% off hotels when booked with Avios

What’s the deal? If you use your Avios to book a hotel, paying either wholly or partly with Avios, you save 15% on the standard rate

What’s the catch? It is only valid for 12 destinations and not all are bookable yet:

Las Vegas, Madrid, Orlando and Prague booked between 19 December to 2 January

Dubai, Edinburgh, Rome and Miami booked between 3 January to 16 January (so not live yet)

Cape Town, Nice, Dublin and San Francisco booked between 17 January to 30 January (so not live yet)

Is it a good deal? Not when using ‘100% Avios’, no. You usually get around 0.55p per Avios when using them to pay for a hotel.

Oddly enough, the 15% discount doesn’t change the value per Avios you get. This is because you can choose to use any quantity of Avios (1,000+) and any quantity of cash. The 15% discount applies regardless.

The best way to benefit from this deal is to select just 1,000 Avios at check-out and pay the rest in cash. You will still get a 15% discount on the usual cash price. Remember, however, that these are ‘third party bookings’ which do not earn hotel loyalty points and you will not get any hotel elite status benefits.

Avios wing 12

Offer 3: Get up to 3,500 Avios back when using Avios to pay for car hire

What’s the deal? Use your Avios to pay for an Avis or Budget car rental and you will be emailed a voucher worth up to 3,500 Avios

What’s the catch? You need to spend 10,000 to 20,000 Avios to receive a voucher for 1,500 Avios, or over 20,000 Avios to receive a voucher for 3,500 Avios back. Your rental needs to be completed by 30th June

Is it a good deal? Probably not. At the very best (ie you spend exactly 20,000 points) you are only getting a rebate of 17.5%.

When you use your Avios to book a car rental, you are usually getting around 0.6p per point. This is a long way from my target valuation of 1p. Even the highest possible rebate of 17.5% won’t move the needle and your value per point would probably not reach 0.7p per Avios.

Offer 4: Get a 30% bonus when you buy Avios

What’s the deal? You will get a 30% bonus when you buy or gift Avios at this page of ba.com by 30th January

What’s the catch? None

Is it a good deal? No. We have seen a bonus of 50% on multiple occasions during 2019, so if you are not planning to use the Avios immediately I would wait to see what 2020 brings. You can also get a lower price via this Groupon Ireland promotion which is still running – it is a little more complex but worth it for the extra saving.

Click here to buy Avios at ba.com. Click here for the Groupon Ireland offer – and read this HFP article which explains how it works.

Conclusion

The best way to use your Avios is to use them for premium long-haul flights or for short-haul flights in any cabin. You should be able to get 1p per Avios on a good day.

None of the other ways of using your Avios get close to this, and the small tweaks offered during this offer don’t change that.

You can check out all of the BA sale deals on this page of ba.com.

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: