If you’ve gasped at the sky-high fees, taxes and fuel surcharges for Avios redemptions on long-haul British Airways flights, there is now a solution.
From Wednesday, British Airways is rolling out its Reward Flight Saver offer on all BA-operated flights — long-haul and short-haul — in every cabin except first following a trial on some long-haul routes in economy class.
The popular offer on short-haul flights has long been a great deal; it requires low Avios and fixed fees, taxes and surcharges for redemptions across the airline’s expansive European network.
As a solution to the ever-increasing surcharges passengers must pay on long-haul flights operated by British Airways, Executive Club members can now redeem more Avios in exchange for paying less cash.
Using a round-trip ticket from New York to London in Club Suite business class as an example, this new Reward Flight Saver long-haul option gives members the chance to redeem 160,000 Avios and pay only $700 in fees, taxes and surcharges. With traditional rates, this same trip would require you to redeem 100,000 Avios plus $1,900 in fees, taxes and surcharges. You’d also have the option to redeem fewer Avios and pay more cash — down to 50,000 Avios and $3,360 — to cover taxes and fees.
So, while you would be using an additional 60,000 Avios — which TPG values at $900 — you would save $1,200 cash on surcharges.
How to get the best value from new long-haul Reward Flight Savers
The new Avios/Surcharges pricing options will be especially valuable for Travel Together voucher redemptions. This is because when redeeming one of these vouchers — which requires paying the Avios for the other passenger on your reservation — both passengers still need to pay the fees, taxes and surcharges.
With the traditional rates for a New York to London redemption, you would need to pay 100,000 Avios plus roughly $1,900 in fees, taxes and surcharges per person. This comes out to an eye-watering $3,800 for both passengers combined.
Using the new Reward Flight Saver option in conjunction with a Travel Together voucher would reduce this cash amount significantly, letting you pay 60,000 additional Avios to save $2,400 in surcharges across both passengers, which is a fantastic use of Avios.
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Here’s how the new Reward Flight Saver pricing breaks down on two popular routes from the U.S. to Europe with return flights on off-peak dates.
| Route (round-trip) | Cabin | Avios required | Cost of fees, taxes and surcharges |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York to London | World Traveller. | 50,000. | $200. |
| World Traveller Plus. | 85,000. | $560. | |
| Club World. | 160,000. | $700. | |
| Los Angeles to London | World Traveller. | 60,000. | $300. |
| World Traveller Plus. | 95,000. | $660. | |
| Club World. | 180,000. | $900. |
Bottom line
If you are sitting on a large Avios balance — especially if you earned those Avios with little effort through your everyday spending — this is a fantastic option to save money on your next redemption. Having an additional choice is never a bad thing.
Remember that you can still redeem your Avios at normal rates. This is just an additional option for Executive Club members.
Additional reporting by Andrew Kunesh.
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