50% Off Avios Economy Class Awards To New York & Boston (UK Only)

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The stand-alone Avios Travel Reward Programme is, for a very limited travel window, offering a 50% discount on Avios Economy Class award flights to New York & Boston From London Heathrow & Gatwick. Unfortunately the 50% discount only applies to the number of Avios required and not the taxes and fees that come with the award booking.

Terms & Conditions:

• Economy Cabin redemptions only
• Number of Avios needed for a return trip now 13,000 down from 26,000
• Offer available on one-way and roundtrip travel
• Book though 28 November 2016
• Travel 1 – 14 December 2016
• Routes:
  • LHR to JFK
  • LHR to EWR
  • LGW to JFK
  • LHR to BOS
• The full airline taxes, fees and carrier charges will apply per person, which are approximately:
  • LHR to JFK – £368.55
  • LHR to EWR – £368.55
  • LGW to JFK – £339.62
  • LHR to BOS – £368.55
• If using the Avios & Money option to pay for a flight(s), the discount is available on the Avios amount only. The discount will not be applied to the amount paid with money.

Thoughts

Economy Class Avios redemptions are usually pretty poor value but this offer is worth looking at a bit more closely.

New York

Per the ITA Matrix these are the fares available for two people traveling, non-stop, between London and New York during the promotion’s travel window:

The flights would cost £503 (best case scenario) and the taxes & fess would cost £339.62 (best case scenario) so, for an outlay of 13,000 Avios you’re saving £163.38.

Effectively that means you’re getting 1.26p of value out of each Avios you’re spending.

I value Avios at around 0.75p each but I know that a lot people value them higher at around 1.0p each…but, regardless of which camp you’re in, 1.26p/Avios is not a bad redemption at all.

Boston

Per the ITA Matrix these are the fares available for two people traveling, non-stop, between London and Boston during the promotion’s travel window:

The flights would cost £531 (best case scenario) and the taxes & fess would cost £339.62 (best case scenario) so, for an outlay of 13,000 Avios you’re saving £191.38

Effectively that means you’re getting 1.47p of value out of each Avios you’re spending.

That’s great value for an Economy Class redemption.

Combine My Avios

If you want to take advantage of this promotion but don’t have any Avios in your Avios Travel Rewards Programme don’t forget you can use the “combine my Avios” feature and move Avios across from either your British Airways Executive Club account or your Iberia Plus Account

Bottom Line

Firstly and most importantly this promotion can only be a saving if you were planning on visiting NYC or Boston anyway. If the fact that there’s a promotion on encourages you to fly then you’re still paying out cash you wouldn’t have otherwise paid….so don’t fool yourself that you’re “saving money”.

Secondly, make sure you find out the cash cost of the flight and then work out what value you’re actually getting out of your Avios – only if you do the calculation will you know how good (or bad) a redemption you’re planning.

If you’re prepared to take non-stop flights there may be cheaper options available which would impact on the real value you’re getting from your Avios.

I’ve had a quick look on BA.com and there seems to be a very good amount of availability (probably why this promotion is on in the first place) but, if you think would work for you don’t wait too long to book as there may be a lot of people after these awards once the word is out.