How one can e-book award flights utilizing British Airways Avios

Whenever the topic of British Airways Avios comes up, we hear rumbles, like “those points come with high fees,” “they’re hard to use,” and “I’m not going to London anytime soon.” Indeed, if you’re looking for award flights from the U.S. to Europe on British Airways, Avios offer poor value due to high carrier surcharges on awards.

However, don’t let these frustrations keep you from looking into the program’s sweet spots. TPG currently values Avios at 1.5 cents each, and you can get much more than that thanks to British Airways’ distance-based award chart.

And by using Iberia Avios — which can be transferred 1:1 from British Airways Avios — you can book round-trip flights to Europe from just 34,000 points (with reasonable taxes/fees).

Avios are easy to use and redeem — British Airways is the largest European airline servicing the United States, with dozens of flights every day. So award availability can be excellent.

Even if you aren’t flying across the Atlantic, you can get great value redeeming Avios for short-haul flights on partner airlines like American Airlines and Alaska Airlines, or even island hopping around the Caribbean on British Airways’ unique fifth freedom routes.

There’s certainly value to be had from British Airways Avios. But if you’ve never booked using the British Airways website, it can take some getting used to. Here is how you book award flights online using British Airways Avios.

Related: The best ways to redeem British Airways Avios

First, you’re going to need a British Airways Executive Club account. You can sign up easily online.

When searching for awards on the BA website, I usually log in to my account using the log-in widget at the top right of the www.britishairways.com homepage:

Alternatively, you can select “Manage” from the top menu and then select “Log in to my Executive Club” to be taken to the Executive Club log-in page.

British Airways’ website is one of the better options for searching Oneworld award availability. However, Qantas’ website is even better, and American Airlines has added online booking for most of its partners in recent years. So you might want to start on another website to find space before heading back to the BA website to book award flights.

The only exception is award inventory on Aer Lingus, which is not available on the British Airways website. To book awards with this carrier, you will need to search for award availability on another site. You can use ExpertFlyer (owned by TPG’s parent company, Red Ventures) to search, or you could use United.com for an approximation of Aer Lingus award space.

To book Aer Lingus, you can call the U.S.-based British Airways call center at 800-325-4504 from within the United States (or 800-247-9297 from outside the United States) from 7:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

Related: Beginner’s guide to award searches on ExpertFlyer

Once you’re logged in, you’ll want to navigate to the Book Flights With Avios page to search for award availability. On the following page, fill in your origin and destination airport, date, class of service, number of passengers and click “get flights” at the bottom:

The search results will show award availability for three classes of service — the service selected, plus the one above and below. So, if you’re flexible on which class of service you’ll want, you’ll want to pick “premium economy” to see economy, premium economy and business class space. You can also choose “business” to see premium economy, business and first class availability.

Don’t click on the “check reward flight availability” link. It will redirect you to another page when you’re already in the right spot.

Award availability will appear for the date you search. If not, BA lets you easily search plus or minus three days at the top of the results page, helpfully noting which dates have award availability.

If you’re looking for a specific flight, you can scroll down to see if it’s available. Also, for those booking American Airlines domestic first-class flights, it’s important to note that British Airways shows these under the “business class” column.

Check the pricing

Once the Avios are in your account, it’s time to actually book your award flight. Select your preferred option from the search results and click “Continue” at the bottom. Where you have selected a partner flight, you will be given a fixed cost in Avios, plus taxes, fees and surcharges (for domestic flights in the United States they are a very reasonable $5.60 per flight).

If you choose a flight operated by British Airways, you will be presented with a range of pricing options to pay fewer Avios and more cash.

Grabbing a calculator and our monthly valuation of Avios is a good idea to decide which option is the best value. Using the most Avios for the business class flight to London above, you would be paying $1,350 worth of Avios (90,000 x 1.5c) plus $278 of fees, taxes and carrier-imposed charges (225 British pounds), for a total of $1,628.

At the other end of the scale, using only $468 of Avios (21,250 x 1.5c) plus $1,239 of fees, taxes and surcharges (1,000 British pounds) would be $1,707 in total. There isn’t much of a difference here, so it would depend on how many Avios you wish to part with.

Finalize your booking

Read and agree to the terms on the next page, then click “continue” to progress. Your personal information should be populated from your account profile on the next page. Update as needed and click “continue” again. On the final page, complete your payment information to finalize the booking.

Transferring points to British Airways Avios

The easiest way to earn a meaningful number of Avios for everyday spending is by applying for the British Airways Visa Signature Card.

This card offers new applicants 75,000 Avios after you spend $5,000 on purchases within the first three months from account opening. TPG values Avios at 1.5 cents each, making the full bonus worth $1,125. The British Airways Visa Signature has a $95 annual fee and earns 3 Avios per $1 spent on purchases with British Airways, Aer Lingus, Iberia and Level. Plus, you can earn 2 Avios per $1 spent on hotel accommodations when purchased directly with the hotel. All other purchases earn 1 Avios per $1 spent.

Remembering that Avios can easily be transferred between the different programs that use this currency at a 1:1 ratio. So you should also consider the Aer Lingus Visa Signature Card or the Iberia Visa Signature Card, which offer the same 75,000 Avios welcome bonus, with the same generous earning rate and low annual fee.

The following cards all currently offer strong welcome bonuses that you could easily convert to Avios:

• American Express® Gold Card: Earn 60,000 Membership Rewards points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first six months of account opening. Terms apply.
• The Platinum Card® from American Express: Earn 80,000 Membership Rewards points after you spend $6,000 on purchases within the first six months of card membership. Check to see if you’re targeted for a 125,000-point welcome offer through CardMatch (offer subject to change at any time). Terms apply.
• The Business Platinum Card® from American Express: Earn 120,000 bonus points after spending $15,000 on purchases on the card in the first three months of card membership.
• Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card: Earn 75,000 bonus miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within the first three months from account opening.
• Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card: Earn 75,000 bonus miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within the first three months from account opening.
• Chase Sapphire Preferred Card: Earn 60,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening.
• Citi Premier® Card: (see rates and fees)Earn 60,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening.
• Ink Business Preferred Credit Card: Earn 100,000 bonus points after you spend $15,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening.