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British Airways Devalues Pay With Avios Option

Oct. 18, 2016
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5 min read
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British Airways Devalues Pay With Avios Option
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Update: British Airways has now removed the Euro Traveller and Club Europe part payment with Avios options mentioned below.

Back in July, British Airways changed its "Part Payment" program to allow travelers to save between $15 (for 1,250 Avios) and $250 (for 35,000 Avios). This provided a value between 1.20 and 0.71 cents per Avios, respectively. Just a few months later, British Airways has now overhauled the Part Payment program yet again — simultaneously complicating and devaluing the program further.

Rather than providing a simple redemption rate for your Avios, there's now a different six-tier redemption chart for each cabin you can book (Euro Traveller, Club Europe, World Traveller, World Traveller Plus, Club World and First).

The best redemption rates can be found in economy (Euro Traveller and World Traveller), where you can cash out Avios at up to 0.96 cents each. But, it drops quickly from there, bottoming out at 0.67 cents per point.

Euro Traveller
Avios required
1,250
3,000
5,500
8,500
14,000
27,500
Savings toward paid fare
$12
$24
$48
$72
$110
$184
Cents per Avios
0.96
0.80
0.87
0.85
0.79
0.67
World Traveller
Avios required
2,500
4,000
7,000
11,500
17,000
33,000
Savings toward paid fare
$24
$36
$60
$98
$134
$220
Cents per Avios
0.96
0.90
0.86
0.85
0.79
0.67

The next-best rates are in business class, which is called Club Europe for intra-Europe flights and Club World for long-haul flights. While it might seem nice to save $306 off of a long-haul flight, you'll be giving up a ton of Avios to accomplish this.

Club Europe
Avios required
4,000
7,000
10,000
15,000
23,000
36,500
Savings toward paid fare
$36
$60
$86
$122
$172
$244
Cents per Avios
0.90
0.86
0.86
0.81
0.75
0.67
Club World
Avios required
8,000
11,000
16,000
21,500
29,000
45,500
Savings toward paid fare
$72
$98
$134
$172
$220
$306
Cents per Avios
0.90
0.89
0.84
0.80
0.76
0.67

Generally, the lowest rates are for World Traveller Plus — which is British Airway's premium economy cabin — and for first class. The only obvious benefit of these charts is that you can burn through a lot of Avios quickly (if that's something you're trying to do).

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World Traveller Plus
Avios required
5,500
8,500
11,500
16,500
24,000
40,000
Savings toward paid fare
$48
$72
$98
$134
$184
$270
Cents per Avios
0.87
0.85
0.85
0.81
0.77
0.68
First
Avios required
11,000
14,000
18,500
25,500
35,500
55,000
Savings toward paid fare
$98
$122
$158
$208
$270
$368
Cents per Avios
0.89
0.87
0.85
0.82
0.76
0.67

Bottom Line

In his latest valuation of British Airways Avios, TPG pegs them at 1.5 cents each. None of these redemptions come close to reaching this valuation.

British Airways has offered much better Part Payment rates in the past. For limited times, you've been able to get 1.5 cents per Avios and sometimes up to 2.55 cents per Avios. Considering this new program maxes out at just 0.96 cents per Avios — and there are much better uses of Avios — the new Part Payment program should be a "hard pass" for everyone but those most desperate to cash out Avios.

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