Best Avios Bargains for Family

Update: Routes that used to cost 4,500 Avios and that happen to originate or end in USA, now cost 7,500 Avios. You can still get 4,500 Avios pricing on most international routes.

Take a look at a distance chart in BA program. We will focus on Blue Class, which is economy. Though  some of the business class redemptions would be a bargain as well, as long as you can find availability.

Distance in air miles is the distance between the cities  served by British Airlines and its partners. You can also use “The Wandering Aramean” Avios calculator by inputting city pairs  HERE

Let’s look at some of the best bargains for family:

1) Boston-Dublin route on Aer lingus. It runs 25,000 miles per person roundtrip plus around 130 in taxes. I found availability to be excellent in economy, though it can always change. So, your bonus could potentially get 5 tickets to Europe.

BA.com does not show availability for that partner, so you would have to call BA customer service. You could also search United.com which partners with Aer Lingus, though it may not match  BA availability.

2) Miami-Caribbean through partner American Airlines. It will depend on the route, but Miami-Providenciales (Turks and Caicos) or Miami-Nassau runs 7,500 miles each way plus tax.

Miami-St. Lucia runs at 20,000 miles roundtrip and the tickets go for 560 dollars each. So, your bonus could pay for one trip to Bahamas  plus one trip to St.Lucia for the whole family of 4. Not too bad, right?

3) LAX-Kauai or Maui. The route runs at 25,000 miles roundtrip when redeemed on American Airlines. You can potentially fly a family of 5 on just one bonus. Something to keep in mind is that BA.com does not always accurately show AA availability.

I suggest you do a search on AA.com and if saver tickets are available but don’t show up on BA.com, call and ask the agent to book them manually. They should be able to waive the booking fee in this case.

4) Seattle-Maui  This route runs 25,000 miles roundtrip on Alaska Air, which is also a partner of British Airways. It does not show up online, so  you would have to call and book over the phone (ask for a fee waiver). You can check availability by searching Alaska air website.

5) New York-Toronto   The route runs 7,500 miles one way, so once again your bonus can take care of quite a few trips.

6) Flights you planned to pay cash for. If you have relatives in another state and can get even 1 CPM (cent per mile) in flight value, it might be worth it to part with your Avios.

There are many other routes that are  a bargain with Avios currency, so check it out for yourself. As I mentioned earlier, you will absolutely have to be flexible in order to find 5 or even 4 seats together. And if you are looking to fly over holidays, you may be out of luck.

Something I don’t see mentioned very often in blogs is the fact that you can use your miles to book hotels. Last time I checked, it looked like you can get roughly 0.8 to 1 cent per mile, which isn’t great. But it is yet another option which is always a good thing.

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