The British Airways Avios calculator appears to be returning some odd results

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The British Airways Avios calculator can be a very useful tool for anyone wanting to see how many Avios and Tier Points they’ll earn from whatever bookings they’re making or planning but right now, I’m not convinced that it’s showing the correct information.

I’m far from being an expert on the number of Avios that British Airways will pay out on individual routes, but there are a few routes on which I fly often enough to notice when something looks a little odd.

Here, for example, is what the British Airways Avios Calculator says that I will earn (as a Gold Elite member) when I book a BA flight for travel between London and Los Angeles:

27,280 Avios for a one-way discounted Business Class booking? Really?

That’s almost 55,000 Avios for a roundtrip booking which per my Avios valuation, would be an effective rebate of almost $550. Does anyone really believe that the kind of rebate BA is happy to offer?

Here’s what the Avios calculator is currently showing me that I’d earn for travel between London and Larnaca:

5,056 Avios for a one-way highly discounted Economy Class fare? I doubt it!

Since when do the cheapest roundtrip fares on this route offer BA Gold members enough Avios for a one-way off-peak reward flight on the same route?

Lastly, here’s what the Avios calculator is currently showing me that I’d earn for travel between London and Sofia:

I’ve just flown this route in Club Europe and earned exactly the number of Avios that I was expecting to earn per segment – 3,165.

As you can see, however, the Avios calculator seems to think that I’ve been cheated out of half the Avios I’m entitled to.

I’m not 100% sure what’s going on here but based on the Sofia route numbers, I’d say that the BA Avios calculator may (currently) be showing the number of Avios earned for roundtrip travel and not one-way travel (despite the fact that it says that these are the Avios earned “each-way”).

Interestingly, I think that this is only something that’s happening for British Airways bookings as when I check how many Avios I’ll earn for American Airlines bookings, the results seem to be in line with my expectations.

Bottom line

If you’re using the British Airways Avios calculator, be careful and don’t assume that the results that you’re seeing are correct. At the time of writing, Gold elite earnings on some (possibly all) routes appear to be significantly inflated and this error may also be affecting earnings for other elite tiers.