The current sign up offer for the British Airways credit card is 50,000 British Airways Avios points after meeting the minimum spend requirement (related blog post). Typically, a 50,000 point sign up offer is great for many cards (although not all!), but what is it worth in terms of Avios? Many common questions are: “How many free flights will it get me?”, “Where can I use my points”, and “What is the value of the 50,000 points?” This is a currency that can be quite confusing for many since the best options are typically using the points on a non-British Airways operated flight. Overall, I think it is safe to say that one could get on average $1,000 value out of the 50,000 points. For short-haul expensive flights you could potentially even get over $2,000 worth of flights. The minimum one should really get is $700 which can still be great, but I like to get a higher value! Of course when using the points on a Business class flight you will get much more value, but you will also be redeeming many more points.
So, 50,000 points can get you…
- 11 one-way short-haul flights on American Airlines or US Airways (4,500 points one-way). Some examples include: NYC to Toronto, NYC to Montreal, Boston to Washington DC, NYC to Charlotte, Los Angeles to Phoenix, Dallas to Denver, Miami to Bahamas, etc.
- 6 one-way medium-haul flights on American Airlines or US Airways (7,500 points one-way). Some examples include: Boston to Miami, NYC to Miami, NYC to Bermuda, Miami to Aruba, Miami to Puerto Rico, Dallas to Las Vegas, etc.
- 5 one-way medium/long-haul flights on American Airlines or US Airways (10,000 points one-way). Some examples include: NYC to Dallas, Boston to Dallas, NYC to Vail/Beaver Creek (EGE), Charlotte to Aruba, Dallas to Vancouver, etc.
- 2 one-way long-haul flights on American Airlines or US Airways (12,500 points one-way). Some examples include: NYC to Los Angeles, Los Angeles to Kauai, Phoenix to Honolulu, San Francisco to Miami, etc.
- 5 one-way flights from Sydney to Alice Springs (the Outback). This is an extremely expensive route, but you can redeem your British Airways points for 10,000 one-way!
- 2 roundtrip flights from Boston to Dublin. Or, 1 roundtrip flight on this same route in business class. A roundtrip flight is only 25,000 miles when using your British Airway flights on Aer Lingus!
- 1 roundtrip flight from the US to Spain (and still have 10,000 points left over). You can fly non-stop from Chicago, New York, Boston, Miami to either Madrid or Barcelona for 20,000 points each way. This can be done by transferring your British Airways Avios points to your Iberia account (transfer at a 1:1 ratio, but you must have had your Iberia account opened for 3 months to transfer). Done this way fuel charges are just over $100!
- 1 roundtrip flight from the US to Rio de Janeiro. These flights are exactly 50,000 points roundtrip and there are non-stop flights from New York, Dallas, and Miami.
- 1 roundtrip flight from Miami to Buenos Aires. Again, these flights are exactly 50,000 points roundtrip and can be flown from New York, Dallas, and Miami.
The ones I’ve listed above are just a small sample on where your points can take you. All of the routes above have low/no fuel surcharges, so your out of pocket cost will be minimal. Using British Airways Avios points on British Airways operated flights can run you well over $500 per ticket! Other intra-country options for low/no fuel surcharges are Asia, Australia (which I included an example above), and South America. The flights above are also all non-stop as that is where you get the biggest bang for your buck since the Avios program charges per segment. For example, if you have a flight with a layover, you will be charged the number of points for each individual segment.
How have you redeemed your British Airways miles? What is the best value you’ve received?
Key Links:
- Chase British Airways: 50,000 Avios points for new applicants after $2,000 in spend in the first 90 days; $95 annual fee waived the first year; earn 1 point per $1 spend on all purchases and 3 points per $1 on all British Airways purchases; free companion pass valid for 2 years after spending $30,000 in a calendar year on your card; no foreign transaction fees. Card application link. Related blog post
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You forgot to mention Alaska Airlines in the domestic list for the shorter flights, including to Hawaii.
@JoJo – That is right. Thanks for mentioning and I will include in the list.
I think you also forgot there is never seats available for the dates you want.
@Joe – I was able to just book a flight from JFK to EGE (Beaver Creek/Vail) with British Airways points. This is a popular seasonal route and only had to book two months out. Some routes are more difficult than others, but there are many routes available overall.
@dwl – I tried looking at a couple of routes and can barely find anyting. CLT-CUN has very little avilable through out the entire year and no where near the dates that one would like. I would have to be very flexible meaning I can’t even find a 4 days window if that’s all I wanted to stay for. I would have to stay for 10 days or 12 days just so I can find a return flight back etc..
CLT-LAX there are zero avialable seats no matter what day I looked in 2015. That just seems very odd.
CLT-ORD I had some luck and bunch of open flights.
So It’s an “amazing” deal using avios for domestic US flights but you can’t count of them and you have to be VERY flexible with your flight dates.
Then again I’m new to this whole reward booking so maybe that’s how it is with every FF program?
@Joe – I only checked the CLT-LAX route and selected a random date and was able to see availability. If you need any help with this feel free to email me at dealswelike @ gmail.com
While it might say 0 seats available (not sure why) as long as it says available and you can select the flight you are good to go!
Tried to go RDU to OSL in JUN. There is one(1) seat in the ENTIRE month on JUN 15. Useless AVIOS..
@Al – Is that a US Airways route? If so, many available US Airways flights are not showing availability on the British Airways Avios site. You need to call British Airways to have them book for you. They say this should be fixed February 1.
This is helpful stuff, we are heading to spain later this year and now we should be able to do so for free hopefully.
Hi ya,
I’ve been gifted 45000 points and am now considering a trip to Teton WY from LHR (London).
I’d be interested to know if anyone can tell me how much my points will offset the cost of the ticket.
FYI, I’m looking to go next Winter (2018) as it’s my wife’s birthday and it’ll be my 6 year old sons first ski trip….yeeeehaaaa