Maximizing the British Airways distance-based award chart

Fortunately, Avios are easy to earn thanks to British Airways’ partnership with several major transferable points currencies. You can transfer points from Chase Ultimate Rewards, Amex Membership Rewards, Capital One miles and Bilt Rewards to British Airways at a 1:1 ratio, or you can transfer from Marriott at a 3:1 ratio (plus a 5,000-Avios bonus for every 60,000 Marriott points you transfer).

These transfer partnerships allow you to convert earnings from cards like the Chase Sapphire Reserve®, American Express® Gold Card and Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card directly into Avios.

You can also credit revenue flights on American Airlines and other Oneworld partners to the program. By doing so, you’ll earn miles based on distance flown and not ticket cost, which might let you come out ahead on cheap long-haul tickets. You can also transfer Avios between British Airways, Iberia, Qatar and Aer Lingus accounts.

Finally, British Airways offers a cobranded credit card in the U.S. The British Airways Visa Signature® Card currently offers up to 100,000 Avios. You can earn 75,000 Avios after you spend $5,000 on purchases within the first three months from account opening and earn an additional 25,000 Avios after you spend $20,000 in the first 12 months of account opening.

Related: These are the best ways to redeem 100,000 British Airways Avios

** For Zone 1 flights to, from or within North America, economy awards are 7,500 Avios each way, while domestic/short-haul first class is 15,000 Avios.

The good news is that the 2019 award devaluation was relatively minor, and British Airways remains a competitive option for booking many of these short-haul flights.

However, the number of Avios required for awards on Cathay Pacific and Japan Airlines increased in late 2021. There was also an increase across the board for Qatar Airways.

For travel on Cathay Pacific, the most unfortunate devaluation came in Zone 2 flights in business class. Here’s where pricing changed:

• Zone 1 now costs 7,500 Avios in economy (up from 6,000) and 16,000 Avios in business (up from 12,500).
• Zone 2 now costs 10,000 Avios in economy (up from 9,000) and 25,000 Avios in business (up from 16,500).
• Zone 3 now costs 11,000 Avios in economy (unchanged) and 25,000 Avios in business (up from 22,000).

There was a similar change in Zone 2 business class for travel on Japan Airlines. Here are the overall changes:

• Zone 1 now costs 7,500 Avios in economy (up from 6,000) and 12,500 Avios in business (unchanged).
• Zone 2 now costs 10,000 Avios in economy (up from 9,000) and 24,000 Avios in business (up from 16,500).
• Zone 3 now costs 11,000 Avios in economy (unchanged) and 24,000 Avios in business (up from 22,000).

For travel on Qatar Airways, there were also some changes. These changes hit zone 2 Qatar first class flights the hardest.

• Zone 1 now costs 7,000 Avios in economy (up from 6,000), 12,500 Avios in business (unchanged) and 21,000 Avios in first (down from 24,000).
• Zone 2 now costs 10,000 Avios in economy (up from 9,000), 24,000 Avios in business (up from 16,500) and 39,000 Avios in first (up from 33,000).

Related: Book this, not that: Oneworld award flights

For both of the above award charts, pricing applies to each flight in an itinerary. The distance isn’t cumulative across the entire trip. British Airways prices every segment individually, so you’ll want to stick to nonstop routings whenever possible.

For example, let’s say you wanted to fly from Fort Lauderdale to Philadelphia, a flight that covers 992 miles and would require 9,000 Avios per the chart above. However, if you could only find award availability on a connecting flight through Charlotte, you’d fly just 89 more miles but would pay over 65% more for your trip.

Here’s how the pricing works:

• Fort Lauderdale to Charlotte: Covers 632 miles (7,500 Avios).
• Charlotte to Philadelphia: Covers 449 miles (7,500 Avios).
• Total cost: 15,000 Avios.

As such, the best value tends to come from nonstop flights. Now that you understand how the British Airways award charts work, let’s dive into some ways to maximize them.

Related: Which airlines can I book with Avios?

It is worth noting that we did find some anomalies for flight distances that are very close to entering a new zone. For example, a flight from Madrid to Paris Orly Airport is 639 miles. This should be included in Zone 1, meaning it should be bookable for 4,500 Avios. However, British Airways prices the award at 7,000 Avios.

Air Lingus sweet spots

The British Airways award chart has peak and off-peak pricing, which also applies to flights on Iberia and Aer Lingus. As a result, certain flights between the East coast and Dublin or Shannon, Ireland, become incredibly attractive, with transatlantic economy awards starting at just 13,000 Avios. Here’s a full list of the cities that can take advantage of this deal:

** Even though Boston-Dublin covers 2,993 miles of flying, British Airways shifted it to Zone 5 in 2016.

Booking a round-trip, nonstop flight from multiple U.S. cities to Ireland starting at 26,000 Avios is a phenomenal deal. Just note that you must call to redeem British Airways Avios on Aer Lingus-operated flights.

Related: Flight review: Aer Lingus business class on the A321neo, Dublin to Philadelphia

Multi-city trips

Let’s take this Asian adventure as an example:

Starting from Tokyo, you catch a flight on Japan Airlines to Taipei. Spend time exploring the city before getting on a Cathay Pacific flight to Hong Kong. Again, you can enjoy an extended stopover and see the city before your next Cathay Pacific flight to Bangkok. Last but not least, you find a Malaysia Airlines flight to Kuala Lumpur.

Here’s a breakdown of the flight distances and a price comparison for economy redemptions between British Airways and American Airlines.

As you can see, booking these flights through British Airways can save you nearly 40,000 miles versus booking the identical itinerary with AAdvantage miles. However, if you were to fly directly from Tokyo Narita to your final destination of Kuala Lumpur, that single segment, about a 3,300-mile flight (falling into Zone 5 of the British Airways chart), would cost you just 20,750 Avios in total. As a result, you’d pay over 17,000 Avios more to make the three stops, though since you’re booking each flight separately, you could also enjoy as long of a stopover in each city as you wanted.

It’s possible to build a similar trip through other regions so long as you find enough Oneworld hubs through which to travel. Just be wary of flying through airports like London’s Heathrow Airport, which can add over $400 in taxes to your trip.

Related: The complete guide to maximizing stopovers and open jaws on award tickets

Multicarrier awards exception

Before wrapping up, it’s important to note that British Airways has yet another award chart that only applies to award tickets with two or more Oneworld airlines. Unlike the standard award prices above, these multicarrier reward flights use cumulative distance to determine how many Avios you need.

Related: Here’s why you should care about British Airways Avios

Bottom line

When people think of British Airways’ loyalty program, many assume you’d want to use Avios for transatlantic trips in and out of the U.K. But that’s about the worst possible way to use your Avios.

Long-haul flights cost increasingly more under the distance-based Avios chart. Plus, British Airways tacks on large surcharges to those transatlantic flights.

Additional reporting by Ehsan Haque.