British Airways has launched a sale that allows Executive Club members to buy Avios with a 50% bonus through December 19, 2021.
Executive Club has capped the number of Avios that one can purchase any calendar year before any bonuses at 100,000, and the limit is raised during this sale to 200,000 (max 300K with the bonus).
You can access this offer on BA’s website here.
BA sells its Avios at different prices in the UK, Europe, and the US (depending on the account address), and it seems that Europe is usually the cheapest option. Compare the prices, and you’ll see a significant difference.
The lowest price of an Avios purchased under this offer is 1.2 euro cents. However, the price for USD purchases is much higher.
The maximum bonus during these sales has been 50%, and the price of the Avios is dependent on where your account is based. British Airways has offered up to 75% bonus previously, but only to affiliate credit cardholders.
Buying Avios can make sense if you can use them for Reward Flight Savers with limited taxes/fees (a popular option for travel between London and European cities), or you have a 2-4-1 redemption voucher and happen to be a Gold Guest List member (much better availability) + combining all this with an upgrade voucher.
Some partners have very low or no fuel surcharges at all. So using Avios for those or short/medium-haul business class flights can be a good deal.
Conclusion
Considering that BA charges very high fuel surcharges on their awards, it rarely makes sense to redeem for long-haul economy flights on their metal (with some exceptions, as is always the case). The non-stop partner awards in premium cabins are often the best deal using Avios.
BA’s award availability can be challenging to find at times but tends to be acceptable if you have some flexibility.
These are the terms & conditions for this promotion:
Offer valid from 07:00 GMT on 10 December 2021 until 23:59 GMT on 19 December 2021.
Reward Flight Savers are British Airways’ best value reward flights. Reward Flight Saver offers customers great value flights with a low, flat fee to cover taxes, fees and carrier charges and a fixed Avios amount. To be eligible for Reward Flight Saver, you need to have collected at least one Avios in the past 12 months. To find out more about Reward Flight Saver, click here. Reward flights are subject to availability.
An Avios upgrade is always to the next cabin, which can vary depending on the route and airline. On a short haul flight, you could upgrade from economy (Euro Traveller) to business (Club Europe). On a long haul flight, you could upgrade from economy (World Traveller) to premium economy (World Traveller Plus); premium economy (World Traveller Plus) to business (Club World), or business (Club World) to First class.
We offer a limited number of reward seats on all our published flights and so they are subject to availability. There must be reward flight availability in the next cabin for you to be able to upgrade to it using Avios.
Most cash bookings can be upgraded with Avios either at the time of booking or later on, depending on availability. Only the lowest economy (World Traveller) fares (Q, O and G) cannot be upgraded with Avios at any time. You won’t be able to upgrade with Avios at the airport or on board.
Executive Club Members can reduce the price of their flight by logging into their Executive Club account, selecting their flights and using their Avios part payment options at the price page. Savings are subject to change. Different savings available per route, travel period, Avios balance and number of people in the booking. Please check full terms and conditions.
