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British Airways has temporarily increased the number of Avios it is prepared to sell to its Executive Club members and, as an added incentive, it’s offering a bonus of up to 35% on Avios purchases made through 27 September 2016.
British Airways Avios Sale
The Offer:
- 10% bonus when you purchase or gift 1,000 – 15,000 Avios
- 20% bonus when you purchase or gift 16,000 – 34,000 Avios
- 30% bonus when you purchase or gift 35,000 – 84,000 Avios
- 35% bonus when you purchase or gift 85,000 – 100,000 Avios
The Terms & Conditions:
- Buy up to 100,000 Avios for the 2016 calendar year (excluding bonuses) until 30 November 2016
- Receive up to 100,000 Avios for the 2016 calendar year (excluding bonuses) until 30 November 2016
- Avios purchases gifted to another Executive Club member do not count towards the buyer’s annual allowance
- Bonus Avios available until 23:59 GMT 27 September 2016
The Math
NOTE: The pricing for BAEC accounts in the US includes a tax element that BAEC members in other countries (like the UK) will not incur – that can make the cost cheaper for non-US BAEC members.
The way British Airways has priced up this promotion you’ll pay less per Avios the more you buy…even within the same bonus tier.
US Pricing
For example:
If you were to buy 35,000 Avios you would get a 10,500 Avios bonus (30%) and it would cost you $988:
So that would see you paying 2.17 cents/Avios
But, if you were to buy 80,000 Avios (which is in the same 30% bonus tier as the purchase of 35,000) you would get a total of 100,400 Avios at a cost of $2,225 or 2.14 cents/Avios
This makes this promotion sightly different to what we’re used to seeing from airlines like American.
All of this means that the cheapest rate at which you can buy Avios is found when you purchase the full allowable number of Avios – 100,000.
A purchase or gift of 100,000 Avios will earn a bonus of 35,000 Avios giving a grand total of 135,000 Avios which come at a cost of $2,775 or 2.06 cents/Avios:
UK Pricing
If you have a British Airways Executive Club account in the UK then you can by Avios for slightly less than your US counterparts – the structure of the promotion is exactly the same just the prices are different.
If you wanted to purchase Avios at the cheapest rate possible that would mean buying the maximum allocation:
1350,000 Avios at a cost of £1,615 makes the unit cost 1.20p/Avios
Should You Buy Avios In This Promotion?
I value Avios at around 1.0 cent or 0.75p each so, clearly, I’m not looking to buy any Avios in this sale regardless of which country my account is in…..and I don’t think anyone else should be either.
Avios attract very high surcharges when used for long-haul travel so, unless you have a 2-4-1 voucher, they’re almost always a poor option if you’re flying any distance.
Here’s the Avios redemption chart…..
…and from it you can see that, for an off-peak Business Class return to New York, you’d need 100,000 Avios and you would have to pay surcharges and taxes on top of that.
For US BAEC members:
Using the very best rate available in this promotion, 100,000 Avios would set you back $2,060 and you haven’t even paid the surcharges yet!
When we regularly see transatlantic Business Class fares on OneWorld airlines for under $1,800 and when you can use the AARP discount to knock a further $400 off British Airways Business Class fares, why would you buy Avios in this promotion?
British Airways Club World
For UK BAEC members the story is much the same:
Using the very best rate available in this promotion, 100,000 Avios would set you back £1,200 ($1,585) and you still have to pay the surcharges for the award ticket.
When there are Business Class fares from Europe to the US on airlines like Delta, Air France and KLM for under $1,100 right now, and when we regularly see Business Class fares to various cities in Asia for under $1,700 on excellent carriers like Qatar Airways, Etihad and Finnair, why would anyone buy Avios in this sale to fund an award ticket?
Ok, if you’re a few thousand Avios short of an award you’ve been saving up for and you can see availability online then it’s not a terrible idea to top up your account in this sale….but buy as few Avios as you have to because they’re overpriced.
If you insist on buying Avios in this sale then at least make sure you use a credit card that gives you a bonus for airline/travel spend – British Airways processes its own Avios transactions so they will post to your credit card as airline spend.
Bottom Line
Most people should be staying well clear of this promotion because there’s very little value to be had.
Under US pricing the sale is offering Avios at over double what I believe they’re worth and, under UK pricing, they’re at least 20% more expensive than what even the most ardent Avios fan values them at…so stay away.
Yes, there will always be exceptions where buying Avios at 2 cents or at 1.2 pence will work out to be a money saver (short haul journeys during ultra-peak times or when buying a short-haul ticket close in to departure) but they’re very much the outliers in the travel world and should not be used as a general reason to buy miles in this sale.
If you by miles in this sale you are overpaying – that’s just a fact.
