tonrob

Avios can be tricky to use. Finding availability from the west coast to the UK is tough, increasingly so if you want multiple seats. Also award availability tends to get released quite far out (can't recall number of days - maybe 330?) and then more added as you get much closer in to the date of the flight if there's still room.

Short-haul is generally the way to get value, as others have said, and in general do your searches for domestic routes on aa.com (looking for SAAver availability) and then calling BA to book. ba.com's search engine is getting better but nowhere near as good as AA's.

Some of my recent Avios redemptions have included:

Upgrading World Traveler Plus to Club World between Boston and London (several times in the last year)
Heathrow-Paris and back (booked a couple of weeks ago, for next weekend)
JFK-Heathrow-Frankfurt in First, booked recently for September
Heathrow-Kuala Lumpur-Siem Riep (Cambodia) in First, booked recently for September
Phnom Penh-Kuala Lumpur-Singapore (Business) booked recently for September


Also booked recently using AA miles (but could just as easily have used BA):

Hartford-Philly-London-Frankfurt (mixture of Business and First)
Hartford-Charlotte-Savannah-Philly-Hartford (Domestic First)

So don't give up, but in this game you do need to be flexible regarding how you are prepared to use your miles, and diversifying into another programme is also very useful (e.g. collect Chase Ultimate Rewards to convert to United or Aeroplan, which will open up Star Alliance carriers to you).

HarryTheSpider

Thanks Tonrob - I'll do that!

coastieexpat

I booked a reasonable intermediate car for about 48,000 + $100.00 ( I put made sure to put a Little spend on my Amex to make sure I got the 20.00 good Insurance you can sign up for) .

The car is for 2 weeks.

Not the best use perhaps but they do get used ", and I have a
1/2 a million of them :-

tonrob

20% Hyatt Award Points Refund Posting Within A Week - One Mile at a Time

tonrob

Free travel tool created by blogger Wandering Armenian. Basically shove in any airport and you'll get a map that shows where you can fly from there using Avios, and for how many.

Avios Destinations by Price

tonrob

Chase UR points really are the heavy-hitters in my premium-travel-for-little-or-nowt arsenal.

Frequent Miler has just posted a nice summary on the best ways of loading up on large amounts of these in the current climate.

N1cky

I have the same problem. Been trying for at least 2 years to find flights, but being tied to school holidays it's just impossible.

louie

You have to plan ahead but it is doable. BA release flights either 354 or 355 days (can't remember which) at midnight UK time (1am UK summer time) and many will be gone within seconds, taken by people like me.

I have 3 return flights for 2 people (albeit in mixed classes) LHR - SYD booked using that strategy and that route is considered the most difficult to get. Keep trying - or (maybe better) use Avios for internal flights in the US, which saves the extortionate surcharges you get charged if you fly on BA planes.

tonrob

For those of you trying to book multiple seats, long-haul (not from the North East) using Avios - I commend your persistence but you really are trying hard to leverage BA Executive Club's weakest feature. Assuming you are trying to fly in economy or premium economy - are you clear on what the out-of-pocket costs would be even if you were to find availability? I ask as the fuel surcharges (by far the biggest element) are completely disproportional on award tickets in these cabins.

I would seriously recommend finding an alternative strategy for the future for these types of flight and then deploying your Avios in other, easier, more profitable ways.

1. Alternate strategies for flights to the UK from poor Avios-availability locations:

a) consider other airlines or alliances

Who else flies acceptable routes and has award availability? What alliances are those airlines in? What other airlines are in those alliances? (Last question generally gives the board spectrum of alternate programs that would be available for you to earn in). I might not always be able to help with the answers to the above in your specific circumstances, but I can suggest the tools and research methods to move forward.

b) consider bank-based programs that offer 'flexible currencies' (my terminology)

Examples:

Barclaycard Arrival card earns points that can be redeemed as statement credits towards travel-related purchases made using the card. Sign-up bonuses available, equates to 2.2% cashback on all spend, card can be applied for multiple times per person over time.

US Bank Flexperks earns points that can be redeemed to pay for flights via a travel portal on their website. Sign-up bonuses available. Again, card can be churned.

Citi Thank You program issues multiple card types (can apply for each/all) that feed into a program where points can be applied towards travel and/or transferred directly into a limited (but growing) number of airline points programs.

AMEX Membership Rewards issues multiple card types (can apply for each/all) that feed into a program where points can be used to pay for travel via a portal on their website or else transferred into a number of airline programs (sometimes with a % transfer bonus).

There are others - these are just top-of-mind examples (but ones that I participate in myself).

With the features of all the above whereby you can use the points to pay directly for flights (i.e. not via transfer to an airline program) you have many of the same advantages as paying cash. This means availability on any flight that has seats available for purchase using cash, and on top of that you will of course earn airlines miles for flying just like you would had you purchased tickets using cash. Some programs require you to have enough points to pay for the entire flight (e.g. Flexperks) while others allow points-and-cash either directly (Membership Rewards) or indirectly (Arrival, simply by virtue of you claiming back later however much you want/can).

2. Alternate uses for Avios:

Assuming you're living in poor-long-haul availability locations then I won't bother talking about upgrades, although those are bout to get much worse value from the end of April.

By far the best bang-for your buck are short-haul redemptions, which I've written a lot about before and won't repeat here - but suffice to say availability is great on many routes, now includes a lot of ex-US Airways flights as well as American, and Avios costs (from as little as 4,500 one-way) often compare well to cash fares that would have been in the hundreds. I posted a link to a handy interactive map recently that shows everywhere you can go (and for how much) from any given airport. Taxes and fees are minimal.

By all means do continue to search for long-haul Avios availability (as it does come up), but also think about diversifying into other programs at the same time.

Bink

Chase Marriott are offering a 70,000 point sign up bonus at present (after $2k spend):

https://creditcards.chase.com/a1/mar...elitehppermv2/

tonrob

A great perk of this card has been that you can get one truly free night every time you book an award stay, i.e. book two nights or more using points and one of those nights is free (i.e. no points required to pay for that night). Mrs tonrob and I each have the card, so can book 4 night stays and only "pay" for 2.

The internets have been boiling of late with the breaking news that this benefit is going away for stays booked from 1st June onwards (so book prior to that date if you want this benefit).

One small peace offering is that if you make a paid stay before 31st August and pay with your US Bank card you get 30,000 points. Linky.

This also stacks nicely with a triple point promo they've got going at the moment for stays before 28th June. Linky.

So this means that before the end of June, if you have the US Bank card, it's possible to earn around 40,000 points for even a one-night stay.

Before canceling your US Bank card....

g1ant

I still think its worth keeping. 40,000 points for the annual renewal and some of the Radisson Blu redemptions in Europe are still good value without the free night.

tonrob

You're right - that's not terrible value. Many good Radisson properties in major EU cities are about 50,000 a night, aren't they, so equates to paying ($85 x 1.2) $102 per night. I'd also think about how much credit (notoriously stingy) US Bank were willing to extend to me and what other products they have to milk (thinking FlexPerks).

g1ant

Why x 1.2 ??

I figure a night in the Radisson Blu in Prague in a Club room (66,000 points) that includes breakfast and a 1,000 Kčs bar credit to cost $114. Damn good value for a room that would cost $294. And this July I'm still in for the free extra night, so $114 for an almost $600 room. Additionally, I usually get upgraded to a suite where you can blitz the mini-bar every day. Mmmm.... Toblerone

tonrob

Sorry - 1.25. Conversion factor given paying $85 for 40K points to get to cost of a 50K point hotel.

And yes, your example is excellent value.