To make things even better, there are no last minute booking fees for using Avios. Many other airli

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British Airways revamped its frequent flyer program about a year ago, and while some of the changes were not positive for those who were used to maximizing their previous award chart, I immediately recognized the value of the Avios system for many family travelers who most often use their miles and points to travel within the US, Canada, and the Caribbean .  In case you aren't familiar with the British Airways Avios program, you can redeem miles not just on British Airways flights, but also on their partners such as American Airlines or Alaska Airlines. The award chart favors short and direct flights, so any time you are looking for a reward seat on a short and direct route that American or Alaska serves, it is worth checking to see if using Avios would be a viable option.
I have redeemed Avios for several domestic flights on American Airlines, but I am most often redeeming them for other family members.  However, hershey pennsylvania hotels last week I was in a situation where my travel plans changed last minute, and instead of coming right back to Houston on the United inaugural 787 Dreamliner flight, I needed to get to the DC area.  Last minute fares for flights from Chicago to one of the DC area airports were $300+.  On top of that, I needed a new last minute ticket from the DC area back to Houston, so I was scrambling to save some money wherever I could.
Knowing that Chicago O'Hare is an American Airlines hub, I immediately looked to see if there was reward availability using Avios.  The flight was short, direct, and on a route that American Airlines operates.  I used the American Airlines website to search hershey pennsylvania hotels for SAAver hershey pennsylvania hotels award availability (the lowest award level), since any flight that American Airlines displays as having SAAver availability should be bookable via British Airways using Avios.
As luck would have it, there was availability from on American flight from Chicago to Baltimore (BWI) for just 4,500 Avios one-way (the flight distance is just under the 650 mile threshold for flights that cost just 4,500 points). hershey pennsylvania hotels   That wasn't my preferred airport for the trip, but it was impossible to turn down the chance to use just 4,500 points instead of spending over $300.  That is a 6.67 cent per mile return on my points, which is extraordinarily good.  Had I booked that one-way using American Airlines miles, it would have cost me 12,500 miles since they use a different award chart.
In reality, I was getting even more than a 6.67 cents per point return since I had obtained those 4,500 Avios by transferring American Express Membership Reward points to British Airways when they had 40% and 50% transfer bonuses earlier this year.  Assuming these points came during a 50% transfer bonus, then I was effectively getting a 10 cent per point return on my Membership Reward points!  Anything better than a 2 cent per point return is typically considered hershey pennsylvania hotels a very good redemption.
To make things even better, there are no last minute booking fees for using Avios.  Many other airlines (including American) charge fees to redeem miles for rewards within a few weeks of your travel dates, hershey pennsylvania hotels so this was another huge positive for Avios as it saved me the $75 that American would have charged to book a last minute reward ticket.
Another huge positive to using Avios is that for whatever reason doing so gives you PriorityAccess printed on your boarding pass with American Airlines, this allows you to board early and use the elite security line.  In the past using Avios has also allowed my relatives to check bags for free on their American Airlines flights, though I am not sure if that is still the case as I didn t try to check a bag on this trip.  I can confirm that I was still able to cancel an Avios award ticket without any real fees or cancellation penalties (though you will lose the taxes you paid in my case $2.50).  This is an "off label" benefit that is subject to change, but it worked for me as recently as a couple of weeks ago.
You can earn points that will transfer to British Airways by using an Ultimate Rewards earning card such as the Chase Sapphire Preferred , Ink Bold Charge Card , or Ink Plus Business Card ; by getting the Chase British Airways Visa , or via an American Express Membership Rewards earning card like the Amex Premier Rewards Gold Card or The Business Gold Rewards Amex .  My personal preference is to earn Avios via the Membership Reward program due to the periodic transfer bonuses that have been as high as 50% within the last year, but I do appreciate that there are multiple cards that will earn these points.
However you earn your Avios, they are a very valuable type of point to have in your miles and points arsenal.  No other type of point would have been near as useful for the situation I was in last week.  Do you have any other tips for redeeming Avios?  What off label benefits of have you noticed?  What trips have you successfully redeemed hershey pennsylvania hotels them for?
Disclosure: I do receive a commission hershey pennsylvania hotels if you are approved for a credit card using one of my affiliate links.  Some of the cards mentioned in this post are my links. hershey pennsylvania hotels As always, thanks for your support!
hershey pennsylvania hotels Have the Chase BA card and am considering making a run next year at the Travel hershey pennsylvania hotels Together ticket, using the Bluebird/Vanilla method to spend $30k. Can that pass be also used with an infant-in-arms? Seems like a good deal, almost 3 for 1, and if used for First/Biz there s plenty of room for the baby.
The fee for cancelling a BA Avios booking is deducted from the tax paid on the ticket up to a maximum of $40 per passenger in your case since you only paid $2.50 for tax your fee was deducted to = that amount,
@Dov, even my $2.50 was refunded, so in my case even the taxes came back (correction I have too many transactions going at once, and while it looked like they had been refunded this time, in fact canceling did cost me the $2.50 in taxes). I have had that experience in the past though where you did lose the taxes. I agree that Priority Access is likely not intentional, but for now it is an off label benefit.
You mentioned that you were able to cancel hershey pennsylvania hotels an Avios Award booking without any fees. Was that done by phone or online? This could be very useful when planning trips that are very dependent on the weather.
DBest, I have heard of people doing that. I know at least one had to try a couple agents to get it to work, but it did in the end. They do charge a 10% mileage fee for infants on award tickets, and the fees for flying BA can be nasty, but worth it for some in premium cabins.
Fauxblogger, I think to be conservative. Also, with the traditional programs that require 25K for a domestic RT ticket those ranges are pretty accurate for most. However, hershey pennsylvania hotels Avios really are more valuable than that when used for this type of flight.
I don t know why I have so much trouble with Avios so your post gives me hope. In Connecticut, I routinely search both Logan (Boston) and Bradley (Hartford) but there has never been any award availability for a trip to the Carribean. Same problem hershey pennsylvania hotels with a trip to Hilton Head, South Carolina. Frustrating! I was planning to cancel my BA card and just give up but maybe I won t now .
Thanks for these tips. Still have 50+K left from 2 last year s chase BA visa 100k SU bonus after hubby I did BA First AMS (C) -HEATHROW (free stopover Hilton Waldorf club access free bf 3 nites on 150k HH points) IAD last April May.
Dov, you are right. There is a transaction hershey pennsylvania hotels on me cc that looked like it was this refund, but upon further review, the call on the field is reversed and I did indeed lose the $2.50. Post updated, but still much better than what would happen on most other airlines.
I think people are unsure how to use Avios, they are great for domestic coach travel on American( and the Caribbean)Also travel to Dublin on Air Lingus 50,000 points round trip in business.When I fly under 4 hours I fly coach(Avios)when hershey pennsylvania hotels I fly over 4 hours I fly Business or first (American)
Called Executive Club this morning to try and use some Avios availability hershey pennsylvania hotels was showing on AA.com, but the agent was unable to find the same availability (even though hershey pennsylvania hotels I had specific flight numbers and times). I m wondering if there s a better way of checking to see what seats may be available
@Rich, it should be there, but sometimes there are BA quirks. Did the BA site show it as bookable when selecting choose other partners ? Their website goes crazy at times too, but it really should work if it is AA saver availability on an AA operated flight.
Excellent timing Mommypoints! I just wrote a post a few days ago about how much I love Avios on my (Spanish-language) blog. We ve brought my mother-in-law up from Nicaragua and I was also able to bring my wife and daughter along on a moment s notice for a biz trip to NYC. I love this program so much
@mommypoints and others with experience Alska flights can t be booked online with Avios since they are not a oneworld partner, is it possible to cancel Alaska award ticket hershey pennsylvania hotels on BA site? If not, and you have to call, it might not be possible to get the $40 cancellation fee waived.
I am an avios lover, earn them via Chase CC on non bonus spend categories, they do earn at a rate of 1.25X per $. I just redeemed 3 coach awards on AA from ORD-SJD hershey pennsylvania hotels at 20K RT each. Fares were at +$700.
I love my BA Avios too. I am from Dallas but moved to Denver about 18 months ago for wor