British Airways bonuses when buying Avios

[kangarooflyer88]

With the dollar as it is, I don't see a lot of value in this offer.

If we use the example of buying the 200,000 points under the current bonus promotion provided by Matt, for $7000 AUD you would earn 280,000 bonus points (including the 40% bonus points offer) which works out to 2.5 cents per Avios. If we suppose, and I know this is a controversial opinion, that one Avios point is equivalent to one QF point, then indeed this is a poor deal. After all, one could hop onto QF wine right now and buy points at a rate of 2.25 cents per point (and possibly even less if one were to phone in the order and get some bonus points as a sweetener).

Now of course QF and BA Avios points aren't equal. There are special things you can do with BA Avios that you cannot do with Qantas Points, namely transferring over to Qatar, Iberia, Aer Lingus and come next year FinnAir frequent flyer programs at a 1 to 1 rate for free. Each of these programs in turn has a number of sweet spots you won't find with Qantas. Aer Lingus will let you fly between the US and Europe for 13,000 in coach. Meanwhile, as Matt noted, Australia to Europe can be had for just 90,000 Avios points in business one-way. And let's not forget BA's multi-carrier around the world awards which require fewer points in coach than QF and have much more generous distance bands (up to 50K miles flown). Avios also unlocks new airline partners to book award flights for including JetBlue, Air Baltic, Middle East Airways, and S7. Additionally important for Australia is that BA Avios' award chart is more generous. For instance, a flight between the East Coast of Australia to NZ is 11,000 Avios (compared to 18K on QF).

So I suppose the answer here is it depends on what you are booking. Certainly the price of BA Avios points is higher than QF points. However, if you've got specific flights in mind that land in that "sweet spot," the higher cost could very well be offset by it requiring fewer points to book. On the other hand, if the number of points to redeem are similar, all else being equal, then QF points are the better option (not the least of which being the ability to earn Points Club status and also if you hold QF Platinum or above status, the ability to request QF unlock some award seats).

-RooFlyer88

 

[VPS]

I have plenty of UK pounds in my account and it's actually cheaper to get the annual subscription - less money for more points.

 

[Jacques Vert]

With the dollar as it is, I don't see a lot of value in this offer.

We need another Liz Truss.

 

[VPS]

We need another Liz Truss.

I don't think the British would agree with you though

 

[Mattg]

Flash sale on now until tomorrow with 40% bonus Avios on all purchases.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

BA Avios is certainly a program I'd recommend anyone on AFF consider both for its various sweet spots (i.e. Qantas domestic flight redemptions for very little points) but also for its transferability, as BA Avios points can transfer 1:1 free of charge to any other Avios program (i.e. Qatar, FinnAir, Iberia, Aer Lingus) each of which have their own sweet spots. For instance, Iberia and Aer Lingus have some of the cheapest redemptions between Europe and the US East coast in business class. Another thing people often overlook are the non-OneWorld partners a program like Avios gives you access to for redemptions. The Avios programs boast 32 airlines you can book award tickets with including: Avianca, Bangkok Airlines, JetBlue, Juneyao Air, LATAM, Level, Middle East Airlines, Rwandair, and Vueling to name but a few.

 

[SYD]

The Avios programs boast 32 airlines you can book award tickets with including: Avianca, Bangkok Airlines, JetBlue, Juneyao Air, LATAM, Level, Middle East Airlines, Rwandair, and Vueling to name but a few.

…don’t forget VA.