Most members of the Worldwide Airways Group now use Avios as their loyalty forex. These packages embrace:
- Aer Lingus AerClub
- British Airways Government Membership
- Iberia Plus
Qatar Airways, a serious shareholder of IAG, adopted Avios as its Privilege Membership loyalty forex in 2022, and Finnair’s Plus program did the identical in 2024.
You’ll be able to transfer Avios between completely different airline accounts at a 1:1 ratio. Nonetheless, utilizing Avios inside every program has advantages and disadvantages.
You are not alone if you happen to’re confused about one of the best Avios to make use of for every redemption — we’ll stroll you thru the professionals and cons of every Avios forex and when you need to use every.
What are the completely different packages that use Avios?
The 5 sorts of Avios — Aer Lingus, Finnair, Qatar Airways, British Airways and Iberia packages — are managed on completely different web sites. Traditionally, the British Airways web site has had one of the best search operate of the 5. You may think about beginning there to search out availability earlier than deciding which program to redeem via.
When you can switch Avios between accounts, every Avios program has its personal companions.
For instance, Aer Lingus has a partnership with United Airways. You’ll be able to earn Aer Lingus Avios when flying United, however you may’t earn British Airways Avios or Iberia Avios.
Moreover, incomes charges on flights will differ. Aer Lingus Avios are earned based mostly on the worth you pay for a flight on Aer Lingus, whereas associate flights earn Avios based mostly on fare class and distance flown.
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Incomes Avios with bank cards
You will have two choices for incomes Avios with bank cards: cobranded bank cards and playing cards that earn transferable factors. Cobranded bank cards earn Avios immediately, whereas transferable factors playing cards earn a financial institution forex that may be transformed to Avios at a 1:1 ratio.
Incomes Avios with cobranded bank cards
5 Avios bank cards can be found within the U.S., and the Aer Lingus, British Airways and Iberia playing cards from Chase are providing bonuses that would internet you 85,000 Avios:
Cardless now presents two Qatar-branded bank cards, together with the Qatar Airways Privilege Membership Visa Signature Credit score Card, which has a $99 annual payment and a welcome provide of as much as 50,000 Avios — 30,000 Avios after the primary transaction and a further 20,000 Avios after you spend $3,000 within the first 90 days.
There may be additionally the Qatar Airways Privilege Membership Visa Infinite Credit score Card, which has a $499 annual payment and a welcome provide of as much as 70,000 Avios — 45,000 Avios after the primary transaction and a further 25,000 Avios and 150 Qpoints after you spend $5,000 within the first 90 days. This card additionally comes with Privilege Membership Gold standing.
The knowledge for the Qatar Airways Privilege Membership Visa Infinite and Signature playing cards has been collected independently by The Factors Man. The cardboard particulars on this web page haven’t been reviewed or supplied by the cardboard issuer.
Incomes Avios with transferable-points playing cards
You’ll be able to convert American Categorical Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Chase Final Rewards and Wells Fargo Rewards factors to every of the sorts of Avios (excluding Qatar Airways Avios and Finnair Plus Avios). Nonetheless, notice the simple approach to mix your Avios.
You can too switch Citi ThankYou Rewards factors to Qatar Airways and Capital One miles to British Airways and Finnair.
These factors switch at a 1:1 ratio, and transfers ought to course of instantly.
Trying to rapidly earn factors to transform to Avios? Here is a take a look at the finest American Categorical playing cards to make use of to earn American Categorical Membership Rewards factors:
- American Categorical® Gold Card: Earn 60,000 Membership Rewards factors after you spend $6,000 on eligible purchases together with your new card throughout the first six months of card membership. Plus, obtain 20% again in assertion credit on eligible restaurant purchases (as much as $100) throughout the first six months of card membership. Earn 4 factors per greenback on eating at eating places (on as much as $50,000 in purchases per calendar 12 months, then 1 level per greenback). 4 factors per greenback at U.S. supermarkets (on as much as $25,000 per calendar 12 months, then 1 level per greenback), 3 factors per greenback on airfare bought immediately from airways, 2 factors per greenback spent on pay as you go motels and different eligible purchases booked on AmexTravel.com, and 1 level per greenback on all different purchases ($325 annual payment; see charges and costs).
- The Platinum Card® from American Categorical: Earn 80,000 Membership Rewards factors after you spend $8,000 on purchases on the cardboard in your first six months of card membership. Earn 5 factors per greenback on airfare bought immediately from airways or via American Categorical Journey (on as much as $500,000 on these purchases per calendar 12 months, then 1 level per greenback), 5 factors per greenback on pay as you go lodge bookings with American Categorical Journey and Amex High quality Resorts + Resorts, and 1 level per greenback on all different purchases ($695 annual payment; see charges and costs).
Choose Chase Final Rewards factors? Here is a take a look at our favourite Chase bank cards:
- Chase Sapphire Most well-liked® Card: Earn 60,000 bonus factors after you spend $4,000 on purchases within the first three months from account opening. Earn 2 Final Rewards factors per greenback on journey and three factors per greenback on eating purchases.
- Chase Sapphire Reserve®: Earn 60,000 bonus factors after you spend $4,000 on purchases within the first three months from account opening. Earn 3 Final Rewards factors per greenback on journey and eating purchases.
In the meantime, you may earn Capital One miles with these private playing cards:
Greatest methods to make use of Aer Lingus Avios: Aer Lingus flights
One of the simplest ways to make use of Aer Lingus Avios is for nonstop flights operated by Aer Lingus.
Brief-haul flights on Aer Lingus are an ideal use of Aer Lingus Avios, with off-peak redemptions beginning at simply 4,000 Avios and peak redemptions beginning at 4,500 Avios for flights inside Eire and to the UK, France and the Netherlands.
For long-haul flights operated by Aer Lingus, the pricing is similar as when utilizing British Airways Avios, however the charges and taxes might be marginally decrease. Off-peak flights from the U.S. East Coast to Dublin are solely 13,000 Avios (20,000 for peak) every means in financial system, or 50,000 Avios (60,000 peak) every means in enterprise class. If you’re not departing the UK, it can save you on charges and taxes because the U.Okay.’s Air Passenger Responsibility is just not payable.
When you use Aer Lingus to connect with one other vacation spot, equivalent to mainland Europe through Dublin or Shannon, the Avios price will rise, as AerClub expenses per flight, not per zone.
Associated: Fly between the US and Eire for 13,000 Avios every means
Greatest methods to make use of British Airways Avios: short-haul flights inside Europe
British Airways has essentially the most versatile Avios. It has the widest vary of makes use of — but it surely additionally has downsides. The commonest draw back? Excessive gasoline surcharges on British Airways tickets. You may pay over $500 for a one-way, business-class ticket on most British Airways routes except you select the Reward Flight Saver choice to pay extra Avios to cut back gasoline surcharges.
Fortunately, there are methods to make use of your British Airways Avios with out excessive surcharges.
Brief-haul tickets are top-of-the-line British Airways Avios redemptions. They begin at simply 4,750 Avios for an off-peak award flight of 650 miles or much less in distance operated by BA with affordable charges and taxes (or you may choose to pay extra Avios to cut back the price of these charges and taxes). This consists of locations from London in France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, Eire and the UK.
Accomplice awards begin at 6,000 Avios however exclude flights inside North America, whereas home flights on American Airways and Alaska Airways begin from 12,000 Avios, which isn’t an ideal deal.
Greatest methods to make use of Iberia Avios: Premium cabins to Spain
Iberia Avios has turn out to be one in every of our favourite currencies for reserving flights to Europe. The airline has wonderful charges when reserving Iberia-operated flights from the U.S. to Madrid, with connections out there to different main European cities.
The award chart is cut up into peak and off-peak dates, with the latter providing nice costs on business-class flights. The airline publishes peak and off-peak dates on its web site.
Here is a take a look at the present award chart:
| Origin | Blue class/financial system (off-peak) | Blue class/financial system (peak) | Premium financial system (off-peak) | Premium financial system (peak) | Enterprise (off-peak) | Enterprise (peak) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York Metropolis | 17,000/22,000 | 20,000/28,000 | 25,000 | 35,000 | 34,000 | 50,000 |
| Chicago | 17,000/22,000 | 20,000/28,000 | 25,000 | 35,000 | 34,000 | 50,000 |
| Boston | 17,000/22,000 | 20,000/28,000 | 25,000 | 35,000 | 34,000 | 50,000 |
| Miami | 21,250/27,750 | 25,000/35,000 | 31,750 | 43,750 | 42,500 | 62,500 |
| Dallas | 21,250/27,750 | 25,000/35,000 | 31,750 | 43,750 | 42,500 | 62,500 |
| Los Angeles | 21,250/27,750 | 25,000/35,000 | 31,750 | 43,750 | 42,500 | 62,500 |
| San Francisco | 21,250/27,750 | 25,000/35,000 | 31,750 | 43,750 | 42,500 | 62,500 |
You may discover one of the best offers when reserving off-peak business-class awards.
A 34,000-Avios business-class flight from New York to Madrid is nearly as good because it will get, and the product is fairly strong, too. Even reserving peak dates is not a nasty deal — locations on the East Coast and within the Midwest price simply 50,000 Avios one-way. Right here is the calendar for peak dates.
Associated: A evaluate of Iberia’s business-class suite on the A350-900 from Madrid to Mexico Metropolis
Greatest methods to make use of Qatar Airways Avios: Connecting Qsuite and the shortest home flights
When Qatar Airways Privilege Membership adopted Avios as its loyalty forex in 2022, the redemption charges, charges, taxes and surcharges had been largely introduced in keeping with British Airways Government Membership ranges. This decreased the price of some redemptions when flying Qatar Airways and redemptions on British Airways ought to match the Government Membership award chart even when booked via Privilege Membership.
Sadly, there are some irritating quirks within the Privilege Membership program to concentrate on. Privilege Membership makes use of peak and off-peak dates (as does the Government Membership). Nonetheless, Privilege Membership does not publish a calendar of those dates, and they look like barely completely different between Privilege Membership and Government Membership. So, in case your dates in a single program are displaying as a peak time to journey, it is value checking the opposite program.
One of the simplest ways to make use of Qatar Avios and the Privilege Membership program is to e-book connecting flights on Qatar Airways. There are two causes for this:
- Whereas the Government Membership search engine normally has one of the best consumer expertise of the 5 Avios platforms when looking for availability, it typically fails to point out all Qatar Airways flights, particularly these with in a single day connections. If Qatar has a number of flights each day to a vacation spot, the Government Membership platform might solely present one flight choice, whereas the Privilege Membership platform will present a number of choices.
- Privilege Membership presents “Flexi Awards” when there is no such thing as a availability on the regular ranges. These are twice the quantity of Avios, which is able to typically be poor worth; nonetheless, in case you have loads of Avios and there are not any different choices on the decrease stage, this might make sense. Government Membership doesn’t provide this.
Qatar Airways’ award-winning Qsuite is broadly thought of one of many finest business-class merchandise on the planet at the moment. Redemption charges from the USA to Qatar’s hub in Doha are simply 70,000 Qatar or British Airways Avios per individual every means in enterprise class on off-peak dates with no gasoline surcharges, which is a terrific deal. This price is from wherever within the U.S. Qatar flies from, so it’s an particularly good worth from Los Angeles or San Francisco if you will discover award house.
When you want to journey farther than Doha, the redemption charges from the U.S. are wonderful, together with:
- 75,000 Avios every means in enterprise class to Dubai
- 85,000 Avios every means in enterprise class to India and the Maldives
- 95,000 Avios every means in enterprise class to Bangkok and Singapore
- 100,000 Avios every means in enterprise class to Bali
Economic system-class redemptions for all of those locations are 50% of the Avios price of enterprise class.
One other nice use of Avios via Qatar Airways Privilege Membership is home flights inside the USA of 650 miles in size or shorter, which price 9,500 Avios per individual every means.
Associated: Can you continue to e-book Qatar Airways Qsuite awards with American AAdvantage miles?
Greatest methods to make use of Finnair Avios: Finnair, Cathay Pacific and longer home flights
Finnair Plus makes use of a zone-based award chart reasonably than a distance-based one, creating some candy spots.
One-way flights operated by Finnair from the USA to Helsinki Airport (HEL) booked via Finnair Plus are priced as follows:
- 30,000 Avios in financial system
- 43,500 Avios in premium financial system
- 62,500 Avios in enterprise class
These are the identical costs that British Airways Government Membership expenses, although BA provides surcharges, so will probably be cheaper to e-book Finnair-operated flights throughout the Atlantic via Finnair Plus than via Government Membership.
A candy spot throughout the Finnair program is home flights wherever throughout the contiguous United States and Canada which are longer than 650 miles and operated by American Airways, equivalent to from Phoenix Sky Harbor Worldwide Airport (PHX) to Miami Worldwide Airport (MIA) or any coast-to-coast providers. These routes price simply 11,000 Finnair Plus Avios, whereas BA will cost as much as 20,000 Avios for home flights in the USA.
Connecting flights to Hawaii are additionally one other nice use of Finnair Plus Avios. With its region-based award chart, this system expenses a single value. For instance, American Airways flights from Boston Logan Worldwide Airport (BOS) to Honolulu’s Daniel Okay. Inouye Worldwide Airport (HNL) with a connection at Dallas Fort Price Worldwide Airport (DFW) will price 15,000 Avios, cheaper than BA will cost with its per-segment pricing.
Lastly, though award availability in premium cabins is difficult to search out, British Airways Government Membership expenses a steep 108,250 Avios plus 118.50 British kilos (about $158) for the long-haul journey from New York Metropolis’s John F. Kennedy Worldwide Airport (JFK) to Hong Kong Worldwide Airport (HKG) in Cathay Pacific’s enterprise class.
In the meantime, you may e-book the identical flight via Finnair Plus for simply 75,000 Avios plus the identical minimal charges, taxes and surcharges, saving you greater than 30,000 Avios.
Backside line
Avios factors are one of many best loyalty currencies to earn and redeem.
Whether or not you need to fly domestically or midway world wide, Avios is a good forex so as to add to your arsenal on your subsequent redemption. Bear in mind, you may transfer them between the 5 completely different packages in any path as typically as you need, making Avios one of many airline trade’s most versatile currencies.
For charges and costs of the Amex Gold card, click on right here.
For charges and costs of the Amex Platinum Card, click on right here.
