Does anyone use British Avios for domestic travel?

[paultiffen]

Hi,

A thought occured to me after reading that British Avios are great for short haul travel in the US that they might be good here too. It seems as though the awards for SYD->MEL are:

Avios: 4500 + 16.92
Virgin: 6900 + 43
Qantas: 8000 + 34.22

It seems like Avios are the clear winner here. From what I know you can transfer points to SPG then to BA, credit partnered flights directly, get miles from hotels or rental cars. Are there any other ways? Has anyone does this much?

Thanks,
Paul

 

[paultiffen]

Also consider what value you would get for 40000 AMEX Ascent points:

To convert to Virgin points or Qantas (Ascent premium) points its 40000. To convert to Avios through SPG you would get 40000*0.5=20000 + a 5000 point bonus.

So for that you would get 5 and a bit flights on Avios + pay 84 in taxes or 5 flights on Qantas paying 170 in taxes. Virgin seems to come out at 5 flights plus almost nothing in taxes and is the winner but if you prefer QF then it seems like better value. Or if there is a special like Avios 25% Bonus Promo on SPG Transfer [April 20 to June 20, 2012] - FlyerTalk Forums then it's definitely worth it.

This is all without looking at accumulating status ie for someone who doesn't fly a whole lot.

 

[Aussie_flyer]

i have done before, it can be good value when AVIOS are on sale

 

[moa999]

Note you cannot use an australian address with a BA membership.

 

[paultiffen]

Yeah I tried, I just used my friends in Canada but have been able to login etc

 

[burmans]

Note you cannot use an australian address with a BA membership.

There was a rumour this was going to change I beleive, I've got a few orphanned BMI miles that have been frozen but last mail suggested BA were working on allowing an Australian program. Now they are less aligned with QF this may be a possibility?

 

[TonyHancock]

Note you cannot use an australian address with a BA membership.

I wonder if this will change with the ending of the BA/QF JSA.

 

[Aussie_flyer]

Note you cannot use an australian address with a BA membership.

that's easy to overcome. I'm BA gold. my address in Yorkshire is thanks to a friend parents. they posted me the gold pack when it arrived. was a bmi match.

 

[newformula]

BA Avios are a decent deal if wanting to redeem on QF domestically compared, point for point and with taxes, with QF directly.
The tricky thing is how to earn them when resident in Australia. Transferring from MR via SPG is useful, but yields marginal value - as per the examples above. Earning them from QF domestic flying is not great compared to Qantas given QF's 1000 point minimum.

BA do offer a decent way to earn miles through their UK and US 'estores' - you can purchase Apple / iTunes / many other products which yield a decent return in Avios.
Also, be sure to check out earning through Accor Hotel stays - I wrote up a quick breakdown on how lucrative this can be for Platinum Accor members as they transfer to Iberia Avios at 2:5, and over to BA at 1:1 - a recent stay at the Sofitel Melbourne yielded 7k Avios for 3 nights.

I'd probably guess that the end of the JSA will mean Australian membership to BA Executive Club will become available again. I can't see why they might hold back.

 

[burmans]

BA Avios are a decent deal if wanting to redeem on QF domestically compared, point for point and with taxes, with QF directly.
The tricky thing is how to earn them when resident in Australia. Transferring from MR via SPG is useful, but yields marginal value - as per the examples above. Earning them from QF domestic flying is not great compared to Qantas given QF's 1000 point minimum.

BA do offer a decent way to earn miles through their UK and US 'estores' - you can purchase Apple / iTunes / many other products which yield a decent return in Avios.
Also, be sure to check out earning through Accor Hotel stays - I wrote up a quick breakdown on how lucrative this can be for Platinum Accor members as they transfer to Iberia Avios at 2:5, and over to BA at 1:1 - a recent stay at the Sofitel Melbourne yielded 7k Avios for 3 nights.

I'd probably guess that the end of the JSA will mean Australian membership to BA Executive Club will become available again. I can't see why they might hold back.

Have just transferred 3000 Accor points to 7500 Iberia Avios as this great rate is about to end (2:5 rate). I also have 2K BMI opoints frozen that I am hoping I will be able to transfer to Avios when they decide what to do with Australian accounts.

 

[grubbidok]

I've been thinking of transferring my QF membership to Avios, as most of my domestic is now on VA anyway, and I'd only be using it for redemptions which Avios offers for much better rates. As BA access is closed off to Australians, I was wondering if the redemptions charts the same in Iberia as BA?

 

[Formal Hall]

Iberia's chart is broadly the same and is better on taxes in some respects. Awful website however. They do accept Australian addresses and will sent out a card fairly promptly (perhaps not at the moment as most of the staff are on strike!)

 

[burmans]

Iberia's chart is broadly the same and is better on taxes in some respects. Awful website however. They do accept Australian addresses and will sent out a card fairly promptly (perhaps not at the moment as most of the staff are on strike!)

I can live with the website for cheap fares.

 

[Formal Hall]

If you can find family or friends outside Australia to provide an address (or are prepared to invent some; BA doesn't send out cards until you reach high status levels) you could open an BA account in addition to your Iberia account; you are able to transfer Avios between the two freely. Then you can use the superior BA website and take advantage of BA only redemption perks such as free domestic connections within the UK.

 

[burmans]

If you can find family or friends outside Australia to provide an address (or are prepared to invent some; BA doesn't send out cards until you reach high status levels) you could open an BA account in addition to your Iberia account; you are able to transfer Avios between the two freely. Then you can use the superior BA website and take advantage of BA only redemption perks such as free domestic connections within the UK.

For those who had BMI miles there is a window of opportunity until EOY to get a temporary BA account. I have 2K BMI miles and 9500 Iberia Avios to use for a start! Also have 30K of the DJ Amex points which have a bad transfer rates to airlines but good to SPG so may take advantage of that.