How do I book flights with Avios points?

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How do I book a flight with Avios?

Today I want to run through the basics of how to book flights using Avios points.

Fundamentally, it is as simple as going to the ‘spend your Avios’ page on ba.com and putting in the dates you want to fly. However, there are many other nuances you need to understand. Much of it will come from experience, but here are some of the key points.

How many Avios do you need for a flight?

Following a recent revamp of the British Airways website, you can no longer see a simple chart of how much an Avios redemption flight costs. You are expected to plug your route into this ba.com calculator.

Luckily we have a copy of the chart here. The basis of Avios pricing is this simple grid, which prices British Airways flights based on the one-way distance flown:

British Airways one-way Avios reward flight prices (plus taxes, fees and charges)
Zone	Distance	Economy		Premium Economy		Business Class		First Class
Zone	Distance	Offpeak	Peak	Offpeak	Peak	Offpeak	Peak	Offpeak	Peak
1	1—650 miles	4,750	5,250	–	–	8,500	9,750	–	–
2	651—1,150 miles	7,250	8,250	–	–	13,500	15,750	–	–
3	1,150—2,000 miles	9,250	10,750	–	–	17,750	20,750	–	–
4	2,001—3,000 miles	10,000	12,500	20,000	25,000	31,250	37,500	42,500	50,000
5	3,001—4,000 miles	13,000	20,000	26,000	40,000	50,000	60,000	68,000	80,000
6	4,001—5,500 miles	16,250	25,000	32,500	50,000	62,500	75,000	85,000	100,000
7	5,501—6,500 miles	19,500	30,000	39,000	60,000	75,000	90,000	102,000	120,000
8	6,501—7,000 miles	22,750	35,000	45,500	70,000	87,500	105,000	119,000	140,000
9	7,001+ miles	32,500	50,000	65,000	100,000	125,000	150,000	170,000	200,000

The zones relate to the distance flown:

Zone 1: 1 – 650 miles
Zone 2: 651 – 1,150 miles
Zone 3: 1,151 – 2,000 miles
Zone 4: 2,001 – 3,000 miles
Zone 5: 3,001 – 4,000 miles
Zone 6: 4,001 – 5,500 miles
Zone 7: 5,501 – 6,500 miles
Zone 8: 6,501 – 7,000 miles
Zone 9: 7,000+ miles

There are exceptions to these zones, with some routes such as Cape Town being put into a cheaper zone than their distance would suggest.

Short domestic flights in the US are priced differently – see this article

How do I know what my flight will cost?

We’ve made it very easy for you. This article (click) lists every British Airways route and the Avios needed, for every ticket class, to book it. You can download the data in a spreadsheet if you want to play with it.

Note that this is the pre-covid list of BA destinations. There is no guarantee that all of these routes will be brought back after the pandemic.

There is a calculator on ba.com which will tell you miles required for any direct redemption flight. You will need to use this if you want to know the cost of a partner flight as my list only covers BA flights.

What are the peak and off-peak dates?

Redemption costs on British Airways, Iberia and Aer Lingus vary depending on whether you fly on a peak or off-peak day.

The calendar of British Airways, Aer Lingus and Iberia peak and off-peak Avios dates for 2021 and 2022 can be found in this article.

BA, Iberia and Aer Lingus do NOT have the same peak and off-peak dates.

You can save a lot of points if you apply these calendars smartly. Compared with British Airways, Aer Lingus doesn’t have an October and February peak season during the UK half terms. The April peak season is one week shorter and there’s also no peak season towards the end of May / early June. Redeeming via Dublin on Aer Lingus could save you a lot of Avios during these periods.

Flights with any airline other than British Airways, Aer Lingus and Iberia will ALWAYS price at the peak rate.

And just to add extra confusion ….

There is a second British Airways Avios redemption pricing chart for trips which use two or more oneworld carriers apart from British Airways.

This chart is rarely used but you can find it here. A flight such as London – Doha (Qatar) – Hong Kong (Cathay Pacific) would price off this chart. There is a permanent link to this chart under ‘Key ba.com links’ in the right hand margin of the desktop HFP site.

I discuss some uses of the Avios multi-partner reward chart in this article. There is real value in it if you are heading to Australasia for example.

How is pricing calculated for connecting flights?

Pricing is based on EACH individual flight, not the distance between origin and destination. This means that the Avios charged for a particular route can vary depending on how you fly there:

London to Muscat on British Airways is non-stop and 3600 miles, so costs 13,000 miles in Economy one-way off-peak and 20,000 miles on a peak day

London to Muscat on Qatar Airways (or a mix of BA and Qatar Airways) involves a change in Doha. London to Doha is 3,200 miles and Doha to Muscat is 437 miles. This means your flight will cost (13,000 or 20,000 + 4,500=) 17,500 / 24,500 Avios, one way depending on whether the BA flight is on a peak day.

The only exception is when booking a UK domestic connection to/from London to connect to a long-haul flight. No additional Avios are required for this.

What taxes and charges are due on top of my Avios points?

The cost of your reward flight will also include a charge for ‘taxes and surcharges’. This is mainly a fuel surcharge and the UK Government’s Air Passenger Duty.

As an example, London to Abu Dhabi on British Airways, return, has a taxes and charges total of £284 in Economy.

This is, frankly, crazy. You can usually pick up an economy flight to Abu Dhabi or Dubai for around £350 return on BA or one of the Middle Eastern airlines.

Unless you fly on Aer Lingus or Iberia, starting your trip outside the UK, these taxes clearly make Economy redemptions in long haul poor value for money unless you are travelling at peak times such as school holidays. This is why Head for Points usually recommends redeeming in Business or First Class on BA – the taxes will be around £550 per person, return, but this is still a fraction of the usual cash price of your seat.

Taxes and surcharges on European flights are capped at £35 for Economy and £50 for Business on British Airways flights. This means short-haul redemptions are good value in either class.

Using Avios to upgrade

We look at how to upgrade your British Airways flight with Avios in this article.

Which airlines can I redeem on?

A full list of the 25 (!) airlines you can book with Avios points can be found here.

How early can you book an Avios flight?

We look at the rules over how far in advance you can book Avios flights in this article.

At the end, it is easy to learn how to use your Avios to book a flight but as you have now seen there are lots of quirks to learn about.

(This article is part of our ‘BA Q&A’ series which explains how British Airways Executive Club works. You can see all of our ‘BA Q&A’ articles here. )

(Head for Points is the UK’s biggest frequent flyer website with 1.8 million monthly page views. Want to learn more about earning and spending Avios? Click here to read our latest news stories, click here to join our email list and click here to read our ‘Avios Redemption University’ series.)

How to get 20,000 Avios from Amex Gold or 30,000 Avios from Amex Platinum (December 2021 offer)

The sign-up bonus on American Express Preferred Rewards Gold converts to 20,000 Avios and the card is free for the first year. You can apply here.

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

You don’t qualify for the Amex Gold bonus if you have a British Airways American Express card. You DO qualify for the bonus on The Platinum Card, which converts into 30,000 Avios. You can apply here.

The Platinum Card from American Express

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

If you have your own small business, the best way of earning Avios is via the Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa. It has a sign-up bonus which converts to 10,000 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 look at the British Airways Accelerating Business card, because it currently has a limited time offer of 60,000 Avios when you sign up by 14th November. You can apply here.