The British Airways frequent flyer program can be very useful when redeeming Avios for short-haul flights, including Qantas domestic flights around Australia. But British Airways Executive Club redemptions are notoriously expensive on long-haul routes, especially in Business and First Class.
If you want to redeem Avios for something other than a short-haul flight, though, you’re in luck!
You may be familiar with the Qantas Oneworld Award, or the Oneworld multi-carrier award offered by Cathay Pacific’s Asia Miles program. Well, British Airways Executive Club has a very similar award available, and it can represent very good value.
The British Airways Executive Club “Oneworld multi-carrier reward” is similar to the equivalent awards offered by Qantas and Cathay Pacific, but not identical. You can use this award to travel around the world, although there is no requirement to do so.
Key rules for this award include:
- Maximum 8 flight sectors in total
- Maximum of 1 surface sector/open-jaw (not counted as one of the 8 segments)
- You must use at least two Oneworld member airlines (other than British Airways), and only Oneworld airlines can be included
- If you finish somewhere other than where you started, the distance back to your origin airport will be added to the total mileage
- Stopovers are allowed
The following airlines are part of the Oneworld alliance:
Beyond this, there is very little information about the Oneworld multi-carrier reward available on the British Airways website – nor anywhere else. What exactly constitutes an allowable routing seems to come down to which agent you get at the contact centre. Anecdotally, most British Airways call centre agents have never booked one of these awards. We’re unsure whether this is a problem or a blessing in disguise.
British Airways Oneworld multi-carrier reward chart
The Avios cost for a Oneworld multi-carrier reward booking is reportedly based on the class of travel of the longest sector.
Here are the number of Avios required to redeem for a Oneworld multi-carrier reward via the British Airways Executive Club program:
| Total miles flown | Economy | Premium Economy | Business | First |
| 0-1,500 | 30,000 | 45,000 | 60,000 | 90,000 |
| 1,501-4,000 | 35,000 | 52,500 | 70,000 | 105,000 |
| 4,001-9,000 | 60,000 | 90,000 | 120,000 | 180,000 |
| 9,001-10,000 | 70,000 | 105,000 | 140,000 | 210,000 |
| 10,001-14,000 | 90,000 | 135,000 | 180,000 | 270,000 |
| 14,001-20,000 | 100,000 | 150,000 | 200,000 | 300,000 |
| 20,001-25,000 | 120,000 | 180,000 | 240,000 | 360,000 |
| 25,001-35,000 | 140,000 | 210,000 | 280,000 | 420,000 |
| 35,001-50,000 | 160,000 | 240,000 | 320,000 | 480,000 |
The price of 280,000 Avios for Business class awards of up to 35,000 miles compares favourably with the 318,000 Qantas points you’d pay to book the same award with Qantas Frequent Flyer – although Qantas will let you have up to 16 flight segments. Meanwhile, Cathay Pacific only charges 210,000 Asia Miles for an equivalent redemption in Business.
After finding Oneworld award availability, you would need to call British Airways on +44 191 4907901 to book a Oneworld multi-carrier reward using Avios. This award cannot be booked on the British Airways website.
Which other Oneworld airlines offer multi-carrier awards?
In addition to Qantas Frequent Flyer and Cathay Pacific Asia Miles, the following Oneworld airlines offer an equivalent Oneworld redemption option:
Malaysia Airlines Enrich used to offer a Oneworld multi-carrier redemption as well, but this has been withdrawn.
Would you like help using your frequent flyer points?
Our Australian Frequent Flyer Concierge service to take the hard work out of redeeming your frequent flyer points!
Our experts can help you to find the perfect flights using your points. Just let the team know how many points you have, where you’d like to go and when you’d like to travel. They’ll work their magic to find the best available reward flights for you.
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Trust me, it’s not easy. You need tons of patience and someone at the other end of the line that knows what you’re talking about. And, while trying to book it, a back up plan if seats have gone. But if it works out, great value. Done it once and working on the next trip.