British Airways Avios are a great way to book flights because three transferable currencies transfer to them (AMEX, Ultimate Rewards, and Capital One). The other transferable currency, Citi ThankYou Points, transfers to Qatar Airways, which also uses Avios (and you can transfer Avios between Qatar and British Airways once you link them), so essentially, you can transfer to them from every bank. Unfortunately, using British Airways Avios to book flights on British Airways metal often incurs high surcharges, especially in premium cabins through London.

There are many ways to use British Airways Avios without incurring those high surcharges and they can be a major help in booking award travel. Let’s go over some sweet spots today!

 

Using British Avios to Hawaii from the West Coast

One of my favorite use of British Avios is to fly from the West Coast to Hawaii. This will be on an American Airlines or Alaska Airlines flight and is much cheaper than even booking through their site. Check out the following example:

 

 

 

Booking AA Flights with British Airways Avios

Unfortunately, American Airlines is not a partner with any of the transferable currencies. However, BA Avios is a workaround for that problem. Just look on the British Airways site for AA flights. I think flying to the Caribbean is easy with AA flights. Let’s look at an example of flying to one of my favorite islands, Turks and Caicos, from Miami.

20.5K miles roundtrip is a good price but check out the cost when booking the same flight with British Avios! Even better!

 

 

Using British Airways Avios to Get to Europe

I travel frequently to London to visit my daughter. The biggest problem with travel into London is the high surcharges. You can avoid this by going somewhere else in Europe and then taking a cheap carrier into London. One example below is using British Avios to book a flight on Iberia for only 26K on a premium economy seat. There are many other ways that you can position to Europe with British Avios, including booking on Aer Lingus to Dublin.

When I am traveling to London in business class, I often don’t mind the convenience of just traveling directly there and paying the higher surcharge. It is still way less expensive than flying there in economy and paying in cash. Of course, if I was traveling with a family and having to pay multiple surcharges, I’d think differently about it.

 

 

Bottom Line

Using British Airways Avios is a great way to get award flights. The ability to transfer from so many currencies makes it a no brainer to look at when you are looking to book your next vacation.