Best Uses Of Avios (British Airways, Qatar, Finnair, Iberia)

Avios is a loyalty currency that is part of the Oneworld frequent flyer programme. Rather atypically, while most loyalty currencies are affiliated with a single airline, Avios is shared between six different airlines – British Airways, Qatar, Finnair, Iberia, Aer Lingus, and Vueling. You need an account with each of these airlines in order to use Avios, though afterwards you’d be able to freely transfer your Avios across all six airlines (in theory – some of these airlines have outdated tech that makes this a bit more difficult in practice).

In this post, I’ll speak about some high-level ways that will help you maximise your Avios. Note that I won’t be putting all of the individual Avios sweet spots here – for example, it’s great that you can fly from Miami to the Caribbean from 8,250 Avios, though the aim isn’t to make that exhaustive of a post. I’m hoping to put some of the best uses of Avios here to show you what to look for, and leverage their value on a more general scale.

This post is part of a series I’m writing with Singaporean open-loop loyalty programme HeyMax, where you can earn Max Miles with your daily spending and transfer them to loyalty schemes such as Avios (in this case they use Qatar Airways Avios, though you can transfer them to any airline freely).

How to earn Avios by flying

Obviously, if you fly any Oneworld flight, you’ll be able to earn Avios. However, which Avios account do you want to credit to?

If you have status, generally you’ll want to use the Avios account with status, in order to maximise your accrual and benefits. However, if not, you might have to do some maths to figure out which programme you want to use. All of the different programmes have different earning rates for each of the different fare classes.

For example, if you book a flight on ba.com in business class, here are the different options you can credit your miles to (thanks Head for Points):

Fare class	BA	Qatar	Finnair	Iberia	Aer Lingus
J, C, D	6 Avios/£1	125%	250%	6 Avios/£1	250%
R, I	6 Avios/£1	125%	150%	6 Avios/£1	150%

Meanwhile, if you use Qatar Airways’ website to book your flight, the accrual across Avios programmes is a lot more consistent as follows:

Fare class	BA	Qatar	Finnair	Iberia
J / C	125%	200%	125%	125%
D / I	125%	175%	125%	125%
R	125%	125%	125%	125%
P	75%	75%	75%	75%

There’s one of these tables for every Oneworld airline – not just the ones involved in the Avios programme.

The revenue-based accrual is based on the fare minus taxes and fees (no accrual on the APD, sadly), though does include ancillaries such as seat selection, as well as carrier surcharges. Also, this is the ticketing carrier – if I book a Qatar Airways flight on the British Airways website, I will accrue fares as per BA’s rules.

How would I go about booking a ticket if I wanted to accrue the maximum amount of miles?

1. Choose which site you want to book your ticket with – tickets can price differently on different dates, so I’d recommend choosing whichever’s cheapest for you (rather than trying to do acrobatics with seeing which airline will maximise your Avios accrual)
   1. Don’t forget that the actual airline onboard product varies in quality – for example, prioritise flying Qatar Airways business class over BA business class
2. For that airline, check the fare class you booked into, then calculate what the accrual rate is for that date for each of the different programmes
3. Put the programme with the maximum accrual into your booking

For example, if I wanted to fly from London to Hong Kong and earn Avios, perhaps this itinerary totalling to £3136.12 would work best for me on a particular date. Even though this involves travel on both British Airways and Qatar Airways, I found this itinerary on ba.com, which means I’ll be using the British Airways accrual rates. (The same dates on Qatar Airways gave me a minimum fare of £4,400.)

After looking at the fare breakdown, I learn that the net fare minus taxes and fees is £2761.40. Heathrow to Doha is 3260 miles, Gatwick to Doha is 3244 miles, and Doha to Hong Kong is 3915 miles, so the full journey is 14,334 miles. The British Airways flights book into class R, and the Qatar Airways flights book into class I – you can see this under “Flight details” on the mobile app, though British Airways doesn’t allow you to see it on the website.

Based on the accrual rates for flights booked via British Airways:

• I’d earn 16,568 Avios for the itinerary if crediting to BA or Iberia
• Crediting to Qatar would give me 125% of 14,334 miles, or 17,917 Avios
• Crediting to Finnair or Aer Lingus would give me 150%, or 21,501 miles

In this case, unless I was earning status with another airline, I’d credit the miles to Finnair (more easily transferable than Aer Lingus), then transfer them into my BA account sometime in the future.

It’s not necessarily quick maths, though the difference in earning is 4,933 miles here. Generally as a rule of thumb:

• If you had to book a last-minute ticket that was priced a lot higher than you’d normally pay for, credit it to an airline that earns by revenue (such as BA/Iberia) if you can
• Rule out options that have a lower accrual rate – for example, 150%>125%
• If you booked a discounted ticket, you’re best off accruing with one of the distance-based airlines

You’ll have to do a bit of maths to maximise your Avios earnings

How to earn Avios when not flying

Avios are relatively easy to come by outside of flying. Here in the UK, AmEx Membership Rewards lists Avios as a transfer partner. You can also earn Avios with the AmEx Avios card and the Avios Barclaycard, and Sainsbury’s Nectar Points convert to Avios as well.

Here are some of the third-party points accrual programmes that transfer to Avios:

• HeyMax, which you can accrue in Singapore and Hong Kong
• Rove, which you can accrue in the U.S.
• Passport Rewards, which operates mainly in Australia and New Zealand, though there are accrual options in the UK/EU

How to transfer Avios between accounts

You can transfer Avios freely between British Airways, Qatar Airways, Iberia, and Finnair. British Airways acts as the “anchor” for these programmes – for example, if you want to move points from Finnair to Iberia, you’ll have to do so via British Airways. You’ll be able to transfer your Avios freely between accounts via this site.

Do note that with Iberia specifically, your account needs to be at least 90 days old, and needs to have at least one point in it. I had this issue when trying to transfer points over to Iberia last week, and ended up completing some surveys to make my account eligible.

Check which airline gives you the best Avios redemption

Much like the earning rates, redemption rates differ per airline. For example, for a one-way business class flight between Singapore and Hong Kong, British Airways and Iberia charge 32,500 miles, Finnair charges 55,000 miles, and Qatar Airways charges 22,000 miles.

Finnair charges 150% more than Qatar Airways does, and it’s the same transferrable mileage currency

The highest discrepancy is 33,000 miles for the same shorthaul flight.

If I hold British Airways Avios, just by transferring to Qatar Airways, I save 10,500 Avios when booking this Cathay Pacific flight

I can’t exhaustively say which airline gives the best rate, though I’d generally check with all four airlines before making redemptions. However, here are my observations:

• Qatar Airways has the cheapest rates intra-Asia, including in the Middle East
• Iberia always has the cheapest rates on its own metal, though on any other airline it provides similar rates to British Airways
• Finnair is almost never the best application – it can’t even beat British Airways with its own flights to Helsinki, but rather can only match
• On longhaul flights the prices seem to be standardised – for example, a British Airways flight to Singapore seems to be consistently 110,000 miles on all four programmes, and 40,000 miles in economy. I would book with the operating airline – e.g. British Airways has the lowest total surcharges for that flight

With that in mind, here are the best ways you can use your Avios, both in terms of the amount used as well as the cabin products you can fly:

Fly intra-Asia business class for 22,000 Qatar Airways Avios

Qatar Airways allows you to fly intra-Asia business class (either Cathay Pacific, Malaysia Airlines) for 22,000 Avios one-way, for flights between 1,152-2,000 miles (around 2-5 hours). This is even lower than what Cathay Pacific charges in terms of miles (they do 28,000 miles for similar flights), however Cathay Pacific does have access to a wider selection of award space on their own flights. Do note that while you can definitely also redeem Qatar Airways Avios on Japan Airlines flights, award space availability seems to be a lot more inconsistent than with other partner airlines.

Fly Cathay Pacific business class for 22,000 Avios

I find the business class rates to be better value than economy, though you can also fly economy for 10,000 Avios one-way on a similar-length flight – once again with Qatar Airways Avios.

Fly Cathay Pacific economy class for 10,000 Avios

Fly Qatar Airways business class between Europe and Asia for 75,000 Avios

While longhaul flying has very standard pricing across all Avios programmes, booking a Qatar Airways Europe-Asia itinerary only costs 75,000 Avios, which is lower than the 110,000 Avios required to fly British Airways or other carriers (and the same as what you’ll pay via American Airlines’ AAdvantage). The catch is that saver award space between Europe and Asia is typically scant, so you’ll probably have to hunt for award space with Qatar Airways’ award calendar.

Fly Qatar Airways business class from Europe to Asia from 75,000 Avios

Fly from Doha to Xiamen in Xiamen Airlines first class from 60,000 Qatar Airways Avios

Qatar Airways partners with Xiamen Air, and you can fly between Doha and Xiamen one-way for 60,000 Avios. This is pretty good for an eight-hour flight, and if you find saver award availability, you can even fly from Europe for 80,000 Avios (award availability is a little scant out of Europe in November, though I managed to price Stockholm to Xiamen for 80,000 Avios one-way for various days in November and December).

Perhaps the craziest thing is that Xiamen Air books Qatar Airways codeshare business class passengers into their first class.

Xiamen Airlines first class, which Qatar Airways business class passengers get booked into

You can also fly to Beijing (PKX), though I’m finding a lot less saver award space, and you also “only” get booked into business class on Xiamen Air.

Fly to Latin America from Europe for 50,500 British Airways Avios in business class

If you’re originating from Europe, or want to fly to America to extend your trip, I would hold your horses before booking a British Airways flight out. Iberia generally offers preferential rates from Madrid to the U.S. and Latin America. You’ll be able to find these on both the British Airways or Iberia site.

For example, British Airways charges 90,000 miles per way to Mexico City in business class, though Iberia only charges 50,500 Avios per way.

You would have to position to Madrid in order to take advantage of the fare, though fares between London and Madrid can go for very cheap, even when flying British Airways economy class.

Not a bad seat, considering the 39,500 Avios saved

Get an intra-Europe flight on a longhaul configuration from 18,000 Avios

British Airways and Finnair both charge 18,000 Avios for shorthaul flights between London/Amsterdam and Helsinki. Finnair is a little more restrictive with award space now than they were in past, though you’ll still be able to find award space onboard their A350s in their snazzy no-recline business class product. This is the only case I’ve found where Finnair matches British Airways to offer the best-value Avios pricing for a flight.

Fly Finnair business class from 18,000 Avios one-way

Fly from the U.S. to Europe for 78,000 Qatar Airways Avios in JetBlue Mint

One of Qatar Airways’ non-Oneworld transfer partners is JetBlue, which offers an incredibly charming premium cabin product on transatlantic routes. If you need to fly transatlantically, I’d highly recommend booking JetBlue Mint, which is cheaper than most other airline options you’ll get between Europe and the U.S. (apart from Iberia).

Fly JetBlue Mint between Europe and the U.S. for 78,000 Avios

Fly Loganair to Scotland for 6,500 Avios

Loganair charges a flat 6,500 Avios for all of their flights – if it’s two segments, it’ll set you back double. Loganair flies to some of the Scottish Highlands, and since they run a monopoly to many of these destinations, they can usually charge quite expensive fees (my Heathrow to Dundee flight last year set me back £88.60, and I regularly see prices go for quite a lot more than that). So while 6,500 Avios for a 1-1.5h turboprop isn’t what I’d usually call a good deal, this can be a good deal in Loganair’s case, since you’re otherwise visiting quite an exciting area of Scotland.

Fly Loganair to the Shetland Islands for 6,500 Avios per leg

Fly intra-Europe in Iberia economy for as low as 1,400 Avios

On the other end, if you need to get between cities in Europe, you’ll be able to get some of the cheapest redemptions out there. Iberia does by far the best fares – domestic flights on Iberia will set you back as low as 1,400 Avios, whereas a 2h 30m flight from London to Madrid will set you back from 5,850 Avios.

Fly Iberia economy for as low as 1,400 Avios

British Airways’ flights, on the other hand, run from 9,250 miles. While I’d still consider it if I had a good accrual rate, I’d consider this to be less good of a deal, though sometimes there can be some aggressive Avios fare sales.

You can fly British Airways economy class from 9,250 Avios, though I wouldn’t consider this to be as good a deal

Conclusion

There are many lucrative ways to earn and use Avios, especially given the fact that it’s co-owned by various different Oneworld airlines with different award earning and redemption charts. Above are a few ways to use Avios on your next trip, perhaps intra-Asia or to Europe using Avios transferred to your Qatar Airways account, and then flying intra-Europe or to the U.S. with British Airways or Iberia Avios.

What are your favourite ways of using Avios?

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