British Airways Avios can simultaneously be one of the most valuable and one of the most frustrating points currencies out there. British Airways has a distance based award chart, meaning the currency is valuable in instances where other points wouldn’t be as valuable. However, British Airways also imposes big surcharges on many award redemptions.
In this post I wanted to look at some of the great ways that you can redeem British Airways Avios without paying huge fees. Let me of course start by noting that international travel is still complicated in some cases, so some of the redemptions I list might not be particularly practical at the moment (especially within Asia). However, I’m hopeful things will improve, so skip the redemptions that don’t interest you.
First I wanted to look at some of the best ways to earn Avios.
How to earn British Airways Avios
The great news is that even if you’re not a British Airways frequent flyer, there are quite a few ways to earn Avios (“Avios” is the name of British Airways’ points currency).
Get a US Avios credit card
British Airways, Iberia, and Aer Lingus, all use Avios as their points currency. There are three credit cards issued in the US that directly earn Avios:
You can find a detailed comparison of the three cards here. Note that Qatar Airways now also uses Avios as its points currency, but Qatar Airways doesn’t (yet?) have a US-issued…
