Update 11/17: BA still hasn’t released a chart yet, but below is the Iberia Avios redemption chart which appears to exactly mirror the BA redemption numbers. (If you can find an exception please post a comment!)
Blue class is the price for a coach redemption.
Full Economy is the price for a premium economy redemption.
Business class is the price for a business class redemption and is always double the coach rate.
First Class (not shown on the chart below) is triple the coach rate.
With the Great Circle Mapper you can check distances between city pairs.
For example from Cleveland to Chicago is 315 flown miles, therefore it costs 4,500 Avios each way in coach.
Chicago to Los Angeles is 1,745 flown miles, therefore it costs 10,000 Avios each way in coach.
Want to fly from Cleveland to Los Angeles on AA via Chicago? Just add up the segment costs (10K+4.5K) and you can see that the cost will be 14,500 Avios each way in coach.
The new BA partner award chart is very similar to LAN in that each flight segment has its own price based on the flight distance. A connecting flight will cost more than a nonstop flight as you must pay separately for each segment. There are no longer any free stopovers on partner awards as you pay for each leg flown, but you are free to book each leg separately and stopover in that city as long as you want and that won’t cost you any more miles.
The main difference between BA and LAN besides nuances in their distance based pricing is that LAN never charges fuel surcharges, while BA does for most airlines, while BA allows one-way travel but LAN does not.
Additionally Starpoints transfer to LAN at a 20K:50K ratio and to BA at the standard 20:25K ratio, but LAN rates are generally slightly higher than BA, with some exceptions. Membership Rewards and Ultimate Rewards transfer instantly to BA but do not transfer to LAN.
Both programs are best suited for short-haul flights that are typically expensive to buy with cash or with miles on most airlines, because they use distance-based pricing instead of region-based pricing.
In all, Avios is a true mixed bag. There are some real bargains now and some outrageous rip-offs. If you live in a city with many OneWorld nonstop flights (NYC, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, etc.) you may find that you love some of the changes. Otherwise you may be hating them.
The phone booking fee has gone up from $20 to $25. Date changes made online have gone from being free to $40. Date changes made over the phone have gone down from $70 to $65. Cancelling a ticket and redepositing the miles used to be $50 online and $70 by phone but will now be $40 online and $65 by phone.
If you have earned at least 1 mile in the past year then you also also eligible to make redemptions within continental Europe without paying fuel surcharges.
Here is some sample Avios pricing.
All pricing are for one-way flights in coach!
Business class remains double the price of coach and first class remains triple the price of coach. This exacerbates the pain for an itinerary like from JFK to Singapore or Phuket in business or first on Cathay Pacific. It used to 50,000 miles in business or 75,000 miles in first each way but now will cost 90,000 miles in business or 135,000 miles in first each way.
Nonstop flights:
Many itineraries are now way cheaper than before:
Miami-Cancun, was 17,500 miles, now 4,500 miles.
Miami-Grand Cayman, was 17,500 miles, now 4,500 miles.
Miami-Key West, was 12,500 miles, now 4,500 miles.
Miami-Montego Bay, was 17,500 miles, now 4,500 miles.
Miami-Nassau, Bahamas, was 17,500 miles, now 4,500 miles.
Miami-Turks & Caicos, was 17,500 miles, now 4,500 miles.
NYC-Cleveland, was 12,500 miles, now 4,500 miles.
NYC-Montreal, was 12,500 miles, now 4,500 miles.
NYC-Toronto, was 12,500 miles, now 4,500 miles.
Melbourne-Sydney, was 12,500 miles, now 4,500 miles.
Los-Angeles-Las Vegas, was 12,500 miles, now 4,500 miles.
Los-Angeles-Cabo San Lucas, was 17,500 miles, now 7,500 miles.
NYC-Chicago, was 12,500 miles, now 7,500 miles.
NYC-Miami, was 12,500 miles, now 7,500 miles.
Cleveland-Miami, was 12,500 miles, now 7,500 miles.
Chicago-Los Angeles, was 12,500 miles, now 10,000 miles.
Los Angeles-Hawaii (HNL/KOA/LIH/OGG), was 17,500, now 12,500 miles.
NYC-Costa Rica, was 17,500 miles, now 12,500 miles.
Easter Island-Papeete, Tahiti, was 37,500 miles, now 12,500 miles.
NYC-London, was 25,000 miles, now 20,000 miles.
Others remain the same:
NYC-Los Angeles, was 12,500 miles, now 12,500 miles.
Miami-Los Angeles, was 12,500 miles, now 12,500 miles.
NYC-Tel Aviv, via London, was 32,500 miles, now 32,500 miles.
While others get worse:
London-Tel Aviv, was 10,000 miles, now 12,500 miles.
NYC-Buenos Aires, was 20,000 miles, now 25,000 miles.
NYC-Hong Kong, was 25,000 miles, now 35,000 miles.
Connecting flights generally get worse across the board:
Cleveland-Los Angeles, via Chicago, was 12,500 miles, now 14,500 miles.
Tel Aviv-Paris, via London, was 10,000 miles, now 17,000 miles.
Cleveland-Los Angeles, via Dallas, was 12,500 miles, now 17,500 miles.
NYC-Los Angeles via Dallas, was 12,500 miles, now 20,000 miles.
NYC-Honolulu, via Los Angeles, was 17,500 miles, now 25,000 miles..
NYC-Buenos Aires, via Miami, was 20,000 miles, now 32,500 miles
NYC-Honolulu, via Dallas, was 17,500 miles, now 30,000 miles.
NYC-Honolulu, via Chicago, was 17,500 miles, now 32,500 miles.
Los Angeles-Buenos Aires, via Dallas, was 20,000 miles, now 35,000 miles
Los Angeles-Buenos Aires, via Miami, was 20,000 miles, now 37,500 miles
NYC-Easter Island, via Santiago, was 20,000 miles, now 37,500 miles.
NYC-Singapore, via Hong Kong was 25,000 miles, now 45,000 miles.
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107 Comments On "BA Miles Are Now Avios…For Better Or For Worse."
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the hotel and car rentals are not bad either.. over all not that bad of a change
What about the fuel surcharges? Can you still book with Avios to AA and not get charged the fuel surcharge?
@jas:
You can still fly LAN or AA domestic or to South America without fuel surcharges.
I cant get to a computer. Can u give an example of car/hotel rates that you found. Just want to have an idea. Thanks
what about dtw-lga? how many miles?
make that only 4,500 miles each way! let the traveling begin!
@Dan: @Dan:
So nyc-yyz is 4,500 miles and no fuel charge (if with Lan/AA)?
thanks
Or Nyc-mia (with AA) is 7500 and no fuel charge?
Can I book within the week or is their some “14 day in Advance” policy?
Is this the future for other Mileage Programs as well, or will they continue to remain region based?
so how many miles and how much money will it cost to get from melborne austrleia to new york with ba miles one way plz
What abt business? Just double coach?
mia-aua at 7,500 is a steal and in business only 15k. but the domestic business in the 50 states only prices out at first prices… 3 times the miles. rip off!
Thanks a lot for the express update. Actually it dosnt look bad at all and for that I live Miami looks much better than before.
Also are they charging now for last minute booking?
If I booked a ticket three weeks ago, NYC-YYZ, paid 25,000 points, but flying after the award change, is there any way to get credited the 16,000 point difference?
If I have a ticket booked now can I re-book with the lower rates?
the example of NYC-MIA used to be 12.5k now 7.5k, it that booking BA on AA? Also, is that 7.5k fatre the same for the way back, MIA-NY? thanks
WOW 9000 points cle-lga
is it still hard to get a flight?
i can never find any.
And if i call them i need to wait for twenty minutes on the phone..
Any advice?
whats the going rate for purchasing BA miles?
Dan, Thanx for the post. How many miles would it be from DFW/MIA and DFW/NY?
carribean have surcharge? thats basically the best value
How much is surcharges ? any changes on AA / BA with stop or to UK WT / WT+ / Business / First
Thanks for your report
This is a great value for me, as we regularly fly between LGA and YYZ. In fact,I could have saved myself over 6,000 miles by waiting to book the one way flight from YYZ-LGA to today, rather than last night. Oh well
for such a ticket NYC-Tel Aviv, via London, was 32,500 miles, now 32,500 miles.
1 how much would fuel charge be and is there anyway around it
2 are these one way?
how much fuel charge for these flights (approx.)NYC-Miami, was 12,500 miles, now 7,500 miles
@yudig:
https://www.britishairways.com/travel/avios-calculator/execclub/_gf/en_us
I should also mention, that every time I have used BA miles for the AA flights to Toronto, I get Priority benefits at checkin and boarding + free bags
I just booked a flight from NYC to Chicago 2 days ago and it cost me 25,000 points. Now it is only 15,000 points? Does anybody know a way to get them to redeposit the 10,000 point difference back into my mileage account?
So, essentially you can get close to three tickets using BA miles for AA short-hop travel (e.g. NY-Toronto) for the price of one of that same ticket using AA miles directly??
boy am I happy I didnt’ use my miles. this is great for nyc miami.
Is hawaii still considered part of continental us? NYC- Hawii vs NYC- Florida?
So now a trip from nyc to miami that was never worth wasting 25k miles is a good deal with 15k miles! I like this change. its good to have cheap short flights. I can use other airlines for longer trips. Its a nice mix
@Mendel
you should only call when booking with awards, the BA website is terrible for award flights, the hold time is worth the wait!! ps call early in morning and there may not be any hold time…
Any thoughts on the new value of Avios points?
@isac:
Correct, no fuel charge in the Western Hemisphere.
@isac:
BA doesn’t not charge a close-in/expedite fee for last-minute tickets!
@Uri:
If you live in MIA this change is golden.
@Jay:
Call them up and ask? You may need to cancel the old award (do it online for just $40) and rebook at the new pricing.
@asks:
Yes, that’s for using BA miles for AA travel.
The return trip is the same amount of miles.
@clevelander:
Yup, great award, although LAN has had a similar award for years as well.
@Mendel:
Search on AA.com for sAAver flights and then try to find it on BA.com.
If you can’t find it just call them ans book it over the phone. Tell them you tried booking it online and they should waive the phone fee.
@Anonymous:
DFW-MIA=7,500 each way.
DFW-NYC=10,000 each way.
@YO:
No fuel surcharge in the western hemisphere.
@Freddie:
You should be able to cancel any bookings made within the last 24 hours for free.
Give them a call.
@sandy:
Fuel surcharges if you cross the Atlantic will be massive.
There are no surcharges if you don’t cross the Pacific or Atlantic.
@AA:
Correct, for short-haul flights this is great, but for long-haul flights or connecting flights it’s terrible.
@Zev:
There are no regions anymore. Everything is based on distance traveled.
@Anonymous:
Exactly.
Other bloggers are all lamenting the changes, but I have miles that work well for long-haul trips (AA, Continental) so it’s nice to have these great short-haul options.
@elih:
I’ll let the market decide that one.
This is interesting. For Melbourne-Sydney it’s pricing at 4,500 miles and there are no fuel surcharges.
I wonder what other gems are hidden out there in the Eastern Hemisphere without fuel surcharges?
With no last minute fee, no fuel charge on domstic flights and low miles on short trips I think this is the best domestic reward program in the us and Europe!!!
And also the one way option is for sure the best program for domestic flights. Dan, you are the best.
Do they have online booking for partner reward travel?
I was able to cancel my old reservation and re-book with no fees!!! Saved me 8K miles.
Caveat: There needs to be availability left for you dates.
They told me there was a fee to cancel, but when I actually did it the fee was $0
Now we need another good BA card!
What does it men no sucharge – when I book from yyz-nyc there is a $56 tax and fee charge – is that considered no surcharge?
@Mendel:
They do for some partners, but you must first search for a flight and then click on include partners.
Some partners, such as Alaska, must be booked over the phone.
@Josh:
Did you cancel online or over the phone?
@Dealvr:
Starpoints, Membership Rewards, and Ultimate Rewards all transfer to BA.
@cb:
Those are Canadian government fees that you pay when using miles from any program. Note that a one-way from NYC to Canada is only $2.50 (for the 9/11 fee).
Those are not fuel surcharges, which are non-government fees.
seems like it is no longer to use AA miles for AA domestic flights, since BA avios will cost you less to most places plus you get 2 free bags , right?
how mouch points to u need from Nyc to California?
Great rundown, Dan.
@Dan:
Online. Over the phone they would charge- at least my rep.
My reservation also says I get 2 free bags and the rep on the phone said no. Are they wrong about that as well.
Hotels, I see they have lots of different choices in Jerusalem, Tel aviv, are the avios points worth the amount they are asking for ? or SPG is better?
Is it my imagination or is there much less availability with partner airlines since they made the switch?
How about from London to Paris, how much points and any fuel charge?
when printing an aa ticket ‘bought’ with ba miles…your boarding pass will say priority access and get you elite benefits such as checkin, boarding and security…
with bags however…online when checking in it asked for payment and at the counter as well they asked…
i noticed last week the following:
when i printed out my tickets thru ba’s website, it said i had two free bags and i planned accordingly and got nailed with the $100 charge 🙁
this week however, they have changed their website which shows you a clear link to aa page with baggage regulations
so don’t expect free bags on aa IMHO
should i dispute the bag charges on my amex plat?
TIA
@moshe:
Read the post?
@AJK:
Thanks.
@doens’t look so good:
BA doesn’t control partner availability, but their website doesn’t always show all the options.
@Karen:
4,500 and no fuel-surcharges intra-europe if you have earned 1 mile in the last year.
@YudiG:
If you have a printout saying 2 free bags then go ahead and dispute.
What if the sAAverpass level isn’t
available? Does that mean you can’t book at all on AA using BA miles?
@meir:
Nearly all airline partners can only book saver rates when redeeming on partner airline. This is nothing new.
@Dan: I tried a couple of times to do this. However, the representative told me that because the flight is departing in less than 24 hours, it is not refundable.
Can book domestic aa with LAN no fuel charges? If so 20,000 spg can take the family on vacation…
@Momofboys:
You can!
I checked LGA-LAX. For my dates, milesAAver was available, but only with stopover (eg LGA-ORD-LAX), which still listed as 12.5k on AA. Will that be charged as 12.5k on Avios, or 17.5k since it’s a stopover?
DAN,
CAN YOU STILLL MAKE A FEW RANDUM STOPOVERS OTW TO YOUR DESTINATION AND NOT PAY EXTRA??
@Shimmy:
AA doesn’t fly nonstop LGA-LAX, only JFK-LAX.
JFK-LAX is 12,500 one-way.
LGA-ORD-LAX would require paying 7,500 for LGA-ORD and 10,000 for ORD-LAX=17,500 one-way.
@MIKE:
No, every leg is priced separately.
I had the same experience, cancelled my old reservation and rebooked, saving 10,000 points per each passenger. I was not charged any cancellation fee when i did it online so it didnt cost me a cent
How much do you estimate is the surcharges NYC-TLV for the round-trip? With the BA 100k offer that we got from you and spending the required amount to get the free companion ticket it may be worth it for 2 people to Israel…
@Moshe:
Nice!
@Yoel:
It depends on the routing, class or service, and airlines you fly on, but I’d figure on about $600 per person in coach.
For me this is absolutely amazing. I’m based in Toronto and frequently fly to NYC and MIA. For YYZ-NYC flight this has almost tripled the value! I have over 400k BA points – a happy day.
For those that got the Chase 100k BA, you have 11 flight YYZ-LGA. Those flights typically cost at least $350 for a value of $3850. Looked at another way, I can now fly business on AA for 18k whereas before it was 25k in coach. This really comes down to where you live and travel to.
This is a great deal. I’m based in LA, and suddenly Mexico is 15,000 round trip.
If your looking for a good way to get to Israel….use AA miles to Larnaca Cyprus (LCA) 40,000 offseason until May 15 and after October 15. For 9,000 Avios miles (rt) you can fly Royal Jordanian from LCA to Amman. And Cyprus has some great beaches too.
For the Los Angeles based followers who are jealous of the exotic options for Miami-based travelers, you can get LAX-SJD (cabo san lucas) for only 7500 each way! AA has it for 17500 each way!
@Marcus:
Yup, great deal for short-haul flyers!
@LA boy:
Yup, LAX to SJD for 7,500 and LAS or SFO for 4,500 is great!
And the Hawaiian islands for 12,500 is equally awesome.
LA may take a big hit for overseas flights, but for short-hauls and Hawaii it’s pretty sweet.
@Marcus:
you can not fly business for 18k…they consider it first so its 3x9k
@Dan: do the new miles expire like ba miles with no activity? if ye how long?
@joeb1
Incorrect. I just priced it out. It makes no difference if you select business or first it comes to 18k Avios.
Dan thanks for the report. I got the BA cc with 103k points. Whats the best way (cheapest) to fly MIAMI-TELAVIV using these miles Chanukah time?
how many points for
orlando-nyc?
dan how much from nyc to melborne how much is the fuel charge
If they are including a stopover as an option for the same amount of miles can I extend that stopover for a few days, or is that also nixed?
@MiamiGuy: Sell them and buy a ticket with the cash. Between the huge number of Avios you’ll burn flying MIA-LHR-TLV (or similar), plus the huge fuel surcharges you’ll pay (hundreds of dollars), it just won’t be worth it.
@mm:
“Your Avios points stay with you as long as you collect, spend, purchase or share at least one Avios every 36 months.”
@blah:
7,500 each way.
@tripper:
You can just book the stopover as a separate ticket and stay as long as you want.
In other words to go from Cleveland to Los Angeles via Chicago is 14,500 miles.
You are free to book Cleveland-Chicago as one ticket for 4,500 miles, stay as long as you want, and then book Chicago-Los Angeles as a separate ticket for 10,000 miles.
BA really pulled a fast one on all of us, it’s executive club members that is. Usually when an airline introduces changes to award level mileage requirements, or drops certain partners, or makes serious changes, it gives you ample advance notice, 3-6 months, until these changes go into effect. BA did not do this. They only announced months ago significant improvements to their Executive Club program and they made us all focus on the Nov 16 date when the name changes to Avios points, but they never released any information about their new mileage requirements, or even as much as said a word about the fact that connecting flights will now cost more miles. Woooops… Avios points.
A one way Cathay first class ticket fm JFK to HKG, and / or w a connecting flight on to SIN/BKK/KUL/JKT was always 75K points. Now just to HKG is 105K and stretch it to SIN etc… its a whopping 125K points . Not nice of BA. When they announced the Avios name change, they should have posted all the changes that will take place on Nov. 16. and if they only released all this data today, then they should have put it into effect as of Jan 1, 2012 for example. Like i said….. was not nice of BA, they definitely pulled a fast one.
@Yoel:
my friend just paid $656 in coach the way out was on BA via LHR return with Maliv and AA via BUD
Ha
How much would it be from YYZ to MIA?
How do I check fuelsurcharge. And how much money can I sell 80 0000 miles for
I was just trying to book nyc to yyz and it has approx $50 in taxes/fuel per person….@dan I thought you mentioned above there were no fuel surcharges in the western hemisphere….please help me! Thanks!
@Nathan K F BA GOLD CARD:
We knew it would be changing, especially for the great values like Asia and South America. I’m just happy that they added some real value to the program in the form os short-haul flights.
@MILES:
Exactly why it’s not worth using BA miles to fly to TLV in coach.
@Toronto fan:
10K miles each way.
@Anonymous:
BA.com and search for a flight.
@getting to yyz:
Already asked in 42 and answered in 43.
Does this change help for israel hotels and car rentals?
@meir:
11/22-11/23 for a hotel in Jeruslaem.
Prima Kings, $162 on orbitz.
Avios: 18,100.
That’s 0.895 cents per mile.
Lev Jerusalem, $106 on Orbitz.
Avios: 12,900.
That’s 0.82 cents per mile.
11/22-11/23 for a car in Tel Aviv.
Avis economy car: $60.60 on Orbitz.
Avios: 11,100
That’s 0.595 cents per mile.
Not very impressive values.
Have they posted a chart that shows distance to miles needed, or is the only way to find out the mileage is by plugging in the cities into the calculator.
The reason I ask is that the calculator doesn’t show Alaska flights. I’m assuming Alaska flights from SAN to Hawaii are the same price as the AA flights from LAX to Hawaii even though it’s slightly farther. But what about SAN to Portland or Seattle?
Thanks
@dan
thanks
do u know what wud be the average tax and other fees i wud pay on a millage ticket bw orlando and nyc?
thanks
Either this isn’t really distance based, or their calculator isn’t working
I started randomly checking the miles needed for different cities to TLV…
Rome (1400 miles) requires 20000 points for a one way
Amsterdam (2050 miles) requires 17000 points
Is that a glitch by their site?
@azhoopsfan:
I see no chart on BA.com, but this is with Iberia Avios:
Bands…….Distance in miles…….Avios
1………………1 – 650……………4.500
2…………..651 – 1.151………….7.500
3…………1.152 – 2.000…………10.000
4…………2.001 – 3.000…………12.500
5…………3.001 – 4.000…………20.000
6…………4.001 – 5.500…………25.000
7…………5.501 – 6.500…………30.000
If that chart is the same for Ba Avios then Alaska’s flights from the west coast or alaska to the Hawaiian islands should all be 12,500 miles each way.
With Great Circle Mapper you can check distanced.
For example from CLE-LGA it is 419 miles therefore it costs 4,500 Avios:
http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=cle-lga
@blah:
Just the $2.50 each way 9/11 fee.
@Michael:
There are no BA or OneWorld flights from FCO or AMS to TLV.
The pricing it is giving is for FCO-LHR for 7,500 miles and LHR-TLV for 12,500 miles and for AMS-LHR for 4,500 miles and then LHR-TLV for 12,500 miles.
That would fit in perfectly with the Iberia Avios chart I posted above.
In total, is the value of ba miles more now as avios or less, for example would brokers pay more or less now for british miles
One REALLY STUPID thing is. If you have a household account, you can’t book tickets for anyone except the household members. However of you hold an individual account you can book for anyone
stinks for DTW. seems like aa only flies 4 places direct from here
Dan,
Would you travel from LGA to Cleveland erev pesach on a flight that leave 2 and gets to Cleveland at around 3:45PM, if shekia is 8PM (on American Eagle )
Dan,
the charge for cancelling the ticket and having the points returned is $40, if I book a round trip ticket, and then want to cancell, is it $40 to cancell the whole thing,, or is it $80 ($40 for each part)
any hotels in israel besides jerusalem and tel aviv?
@Help!!!: best thing is to undo the household account. It can be done on BA website
Anyone know of a normal way to use the free companion voucher – is it worth it to just scrap the voucher and forget it existed
Hi Dan,
So if I have a Amex MR points. Can I transfer to Iberia avios and fly AA nyc to miami for 7500 points
From HKG to LAX-7260 miles ORD-7793 YYZ-7810 JFK-8072 all price at 35k on CX.
Bah, Great circle mapper says clt to mia is 650 miles but BA considers it 651+, therefore charging 7500 for the segment!! (instead of 4500!!) ugg ..Oh well
Can anyone explain how BA charges a fuel surcharge when booking AA transpacific flights, especially when the AA web site states
“Fuel surcharges are assessed on each fare component.
Surcharges do not apply to the following passengers: passengers who are traveling on free tickets, including free AAdvantage tickets; domestic passengers whose ticket does not reflect a broken fare from the surcharge city.”
BA want around $300 round trip. Is it only me who thinks this is unethical?
Thanks so much for all your super helpful information. I’m trying to book an intra-Europe flight but haven’t had any earning activity in the last year. Is there any method that you would recommend? E.g., buying something through a shopping partner, that deposits miles pretty quick?
@TravelingSoon: MR transfer from Amex should be instant.
Dan, Where’s the best place to purchase BA miles?
Dear Sir Can you please advice me how many avios do i need from Cape Town South Africa to Manchester U.K.
Thank you