Using Points to Travel Domestically, A Pro Tip for Awards with Infants & More
Welcome to Avios 101, A Strong Contender for Domestic & International Awards
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Bonjour from Lille,
Lille is the capital of the Northern-most region of France, Hauts-de-France. A cultural hub and bustling university city, it’s unique in part due to it’s younger population and perhaps due to the Flemish influence via proximity to Belgium. It’s less than an hour from CDG Airport and just over an hour to Paris.
Today we’re going deep on Avios!
It’s glamorous to take business & first class transcontinental flights, and we’ll cover some of those sweet spots, but the reason I want to cover Avios is the ease and flexibility in finding domestic economy tickets for reasonable prices via American & Alaska Airlines.
We’ll break this down into three sections:
Avios 101
How to Book
30% Transfer Bonus from American Express
Let’s jump in!
Avios 101
“Avios” is the name of the point currency shared by 4 foreign airline programs: British Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingus, and Qatar Airways. Avios points earned in any of those 4 programs (or transferred from any major credit card portal) can be moved to the other programs. For example, if you have Aer Lingus Avios, you can move those to your British Airways balance. Meaning that if there’s a transfer bonus for Qatar Avios, you can capitalize on that promo and then transfer those Avios to Iberia for a trip to Spain.
This gets even more exciting when you layer in that British Airways Avios can be used to book US domestic flights on both American & Alaska Airlines. Given American’s phenomenal coverage of the US, I believe that Avios is one of the few programs where I feel comfortable proactively transferring points to capitalize on transfer bonuses without having a specific flight in mind.
In order to make the most of Avios, I recommend registering for frequent flyer accounts with each of the 4 partner airlines, but be sure to use the same name, email address, and other info to avoid any hiccups.
Here are the links:
We’re often asked, how do you keep track of all these logins?
We highly recommend creating a simple shared note or Google doc with all your frequent flyer numbers, hotel loyalty, and passport info so it’s easily accessible by you and a loved one. Lastly, be sure to use a password manager like LastPass or Dashlane to maintain good security hygiene.
How to Book Avios Award Flights
Booking Avios Award flights isn’t super difficult, but given that you may be navigating one of 4 different portals, it can get a little confusing. If you’re primarily interested in booking domestic rewards, I’d recommend starting with British Airways.
I recently booked flights to Mexico via British Airways Avios on American Airlines “metal” (the plane is an AA plane). These flights weren’t the best deals I ever booked but considering I had transferred these points over from American Express during the last time they offered a 30% Bonus on Avios, I managed to get a good deal:
Economy flights from NYC-Cancun for my dates hovered at $220-$280 each way
I was able to book these using 11,000 Avios each way and paying $60 in taxes
Meaning the real cost was roughly 8,500 Avios (11,050 after the 30% bonus) and $60 in taxes each way
Total of roughly $85 + $60 = $145 each way with the flexibility of being able to reschedule up to 24 hours before each flight.
To get started:
Register for British Airways (BA) Avios
Bookmark this page
Login and search for awards
Like all bookings, flexibility will be key to finding something that you’re happy with. If you can’t afford to be flexible than set a calendar reminder to search for your flights exactly 331 days in advance (one day earlier than usual) to catch them as soon as they’re bookable.
Awards can be canceled for a full refund 24 hours+ before departure. To cancel, you simply have to call British Airways (contact info here). They’re relatively quick to answer calls and will generally credit your miles back into your account immediately, whereas taxes and any other fees paid out of pocket will take a week or so to appear back on your credit card.
Pro Tip: BA Avios awards on American & Alaska cost the same amount of miles and tax (typically $5.60 each way) regardless if they’re one way or roundtrip flights. Therefore if you’re doing a roundtrip, it’s beneficial to book two one-way flights so you can maximize the cancelation window for each!
I took this approach for Mexico, allowing me to make a last minute decision on whether I want to extend my trip further or go home as scheduled.
30% British & Iberia Avios Transfer Bonus via American Express
If the above sounds interesting and you have Amex points available to transfer, you’re in luck. There’s a 30% transfer bonus currently available from American Express to both British Airways & Iberia. I’d recommend transferring directly to British Airways for US Domestic flight rewards, but Iberia is a great option for trips to Spain and nearby areas.
No rush here, this deal is valid is until 8/31/2023, so you have almost two full months to learn more about Avios and start planning a trip.
If you need a little bit of inspiration, we’ll be sharing a few sweet spots to look out for in the next issue.
For those who aren’t already American Express cardholders, we recommend the American Express® Gold Card and/or American Express® Business Gold Card.
The American Express® Gold Card is widely known as having some of the best spending category bonuses of any card on the market. This card has a reasonable annual fee, great sign-up bonus, and plenty of perks that are valuable to just about anyone.
Earn 60,000 Membership Rewards® points after you spend $4,000 on eligible purchases with your new card within the first 6 months. Terms Apply.
Our favorite benefit is the 4x points at restaurants worldwide, which is amazing while traveling since most points cards benefits (like the Chase Sapphire Preferred 3x on dining) are US-only
American Express® Business Gold Card
The real benefit of the American Express® Business Gold Card is the ability to earn 4x points on the spend categories where your business spends the most each month. This is an excellent long term card for business owners.
70,000 Membership Rewards® points after you spend $10,000 on eligible purchases within the first 3 months of Card Membership. Terms Apply.
While we don’t have a Business Gold Card yet, it’s something we’ve been eyeing especially as we’re learning more about ANA Around the World Flights (more on these in a future issue).
Lap Infant International Travel Tip
There’s a common misconception that lap infants (children under 2 years old) always travel for free. While that’s true for domestic travel within the US, international itineraries require a cash ticket for the infant that usually costs ~10% of the adult fare.
For our fellow point travelers this poses a conundrum. An award ticket in business class may cost 60k points but $9,000 cash, and now you’re stuck paying $900 for your child who is sitting on your lap.
Rest assured, British Airways is one of the few programs to charge a percentage of the award cost in points rather than a percentage of the cash cost. Lap infant award tickets booked via British Airways cost 10% of the Avios for an adult ticket ($60 for the above example), making it much more approachable to book award travel for you and your little one(s).
More to come next week, à bientôt!
❤️ A&A
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