Using Cash and Avois on revenue tickets when flying BA

If you’re Avios rich, but a bit short of cash, is there is a feature in the British Airways booking engine that allows you to book Cash and Avios tickets on revenue flights.

Let’s go through some rules:

• You’ve got to have the Avios in your account (duh).
• You can use part-pay on British Airways and American Airlines flights only.
  • You can’t use them on code-shares that BA have with other airlines such as Aer Lingus.
• The discount varies on class of service and route length.

How hard is it to use?

It’s as easy as pie as it’s integrated into the booking process.

Let’s take a Club World/Business Class booking between London and New York featuring both British Airways and American Airlines

So as usual, I went through the British Airways booking system and entered the flights I wanted.

So here’s the flights I’ve selected in step 2.

If you scroll down you’ll get the options on what you can save.

Now, two things before we go any further. I’m not going to help you decide if this is good value or not. Ultimately, the value of an Avios point is what you think it is. I know Head for Points has tried to value Avios points with personal valuations.

But ultimately, that may not help you. What may help you is your Avios balance. If you’re saving for an “aspirational award”, then you’ll be hoarding every point you can get, and may not want to spend them on a cash discount.

If you have an Avios battle pile that’s rotting in a corner (e.g., been clocking up the mileage runs, spending on credit cards), then the value of Avios maybe less important to you, and you’re happy to spend them.

Now, an important thing to remember as this is a revenue fare as opposed to a redemption fare. This means you will earn Avios on the fare, as well as Tier Points.

So there’s a good chance of a partial Avios refund too. As you can see in the example above, you’ll get 10,374 Avios (without status bonuses). If you have status (Silver/Gold) there will be some nice Tier bonuses as well.

What discounts do I get?

As per BA.com here are the UK and US variants (US discount available on long haul flights, everywhere is is priced in £)

Eurotraveller - Short Haul 
Avios    £
1,250 	£10
3,000 	£20
5,500 	£40
8,500 	£60
14,000 	£90
27,500 	£150

Club Europe - Short Haul
Avios    £
4,000 	£30
7,000 	£50
10,000 	£70
15,000 	£100
23,000 	£140
36,500 	£200

World Traveller - Long Haul
Avios    £      $
2,500 	£20    $24 
4,000 	£30    $36
7,000 	£50    $60
11,500 	£80    $98
17,000 	£110   $134
33,000 	£180   $220

World Traveller Plus - Long Haul
Avios    £      $
5,500 	£40    $48
8,500 	£60    $72
11,500 	£80    $98
16,500 	£110   $134
24,000 	£150   $184
40,000 	£220   $270

Club World - Long Haul
Avios    £      $
8,000 	£60    $72
11,000 	£80    $98
16,000 	£110   $134
21,500 	£140   $172
29,000 	£180   $220
45,500 	£250   $306

First - Long Haul
Avios    £      $
11,000 	£80    $98
14,000 	£100   $122
18,500 	£130   $158
25,500 	£170   $208
35,500 	£220   $270
55,000 	£300   $368

There are discounts to be had (especilly when a sale is on), but you’ll have to be the judge if they represent value for you or not.

Me? I saved the best part of £150 on a return fare between London and Chicago in mixed classes. I’m not objecting in the least.

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