BA Avios subscriptions

[Jacques Vert]

When I took a subscription, the price quoted depended on where you live. To pay in GBP you needed a UK address. Australian address quoted in USD.

 

[burmans]

When I took a subscription, the price quoted depended on where you live. To pay in GBP you needed a UK address. Australian address quoted in USD.

Suspect you can just temporarily change addresses though?

 

[Jacques Vert]

Suspect you can just temporarily change addresses though?

Indeed

 

[doctorstrangelove]

April 2024 renewal - still only 1789GBP.

Redemption report.

Avios redemptions in the past year:
Jun 2023: QR PER - DUB via DOH (PER - DOH in F as no J availability, DOH - DUB in J). 135,000 Avios
Dec 2023: QR PER- EDI via DOH in J. 90,000 Avios

Upcoming:
Feb 2025: QR PER - DUB via DOH in J. 90,000 Avios


Avios is the best game in town for getting me from Perth to Ireland in one stop. I could also use Velocity, but I prefer to hold onto these for booking the SQ SIN - LHR route in J for when fate forces my hand (Avios balance tapped out mostly, unable to find an awards ticket on QR sometimes) and I need to do the trip with two stops. Plus IIRC Avios gives you a 30 day window to book QR before Velocity members get a sniff: great if you're able to plan far ahead!

QFF is an absolute joke. I don't know how it is for folks in the Eastern states looking to fly on Qantas metal to Europe but I have never succeeded in getting a rewards seats on any of the QF Perth flights to FCO, LHR or CDG. Emirates could get me to Ireland with one stop too but they only seem to open up rewards seats from/to Perth a week in advance so it's a big gamble to rely on their largesse this close to your travel date. Very easy to find rewards seats from DUB to DXB further out but absolutely nothing on DXB - PER. Even with EK extortionate carrier charges I'd fly them if they were an option simply to use my stagnant Qantas points balance.

The cash value of my purchased Avios points works out roughly as 0.0175AUD/Avios. When factoring in carrier charges on QR this means a one way ticket in J from Perth to Ireland/UK costs me a little under 2000AUD. So it's a lot pricier than simply earning Avios via a CC but still under half the price of a paid ticket in J. I had applied for the AMEX platinum earlier this year with the intention of earning Avios with their 2:1 MR conversion but unfortunately was knocked back.

What's next? I currently have around 66,000 Avios in the kitty. In a further 2 months I'll have enough again to try and book a return ticket in J from Ireland with QR. I also look forward to the day when I will be able to transfer Avios to Finnair to book flights with them. 62,500 Avios for SIN - HEL in J with guaranteed rewards seats on each flight is an option I will consider, even if it will involve two stops to get to Ireland.

Speculatively buying points is a risk, but with the lack of other rewards redemptions from Perth this has been a worthwhile investment for me and I am happy to renew my BA subscription for another year.

 

[Notyourbag]

April 2024 renewal - still only 1789GBP.

Redemption report.

Avios redemptions in the past year:
Jun 2023: QR PER - DUB via DOH (PER - DOH in F as no J availability, DOH - DUB in J). 135,000 Avios
Dec 2023: QR PER- EDI via DOH in J. 90,000 Avios

Upcoming:
Feb 2025: QR PER - DUB via DOH in J. 90,000 Avios


Avios is the best game in town for getting me from Perth to Ireland in one stop. I could also use Velocity, but I prefer to hold onto these for booking the SQ SIN - LHR route in J for when fate forces my hand (Avios balance tapped out mostly, unable to find an awards ticket on QR sometimes) and I need to do the trip with two stops. Plus IIRC Avios gives you a 30 day window to book QR before Velocity members get a sniff: great if you're able to plan far ahead!

QFF is an absolute joke. I don't know how it is for folks in the Eastern states looking to fly on Qantas metal to Europe but I have never succeeded in getting a rewards seats on any of the QF Perth flights to FCO, LHR or CDG. Emirates could get me to Ireland with one stop too but they only seem to open up rewards seats from/to Perth a week in advance so it's a big gamble to rely on their largesse this close to your travel date. Very easy to find rewards seats from DUB to DXB further out but absolutely nothing on DXB - PER. Even with EK extortionate carrier charges I'd fly them if they were an option simply to use my stagnant Qantas points balance.

The cash value of my purchased Avios points works out roughly as 0.0175AUD/Avios. When factoring in carrier charges on QR this means a one way ticket in J from Perth to Ireland/UK costs me a little under 2000AUD. So it's a lot pricier than simply earning Avios via a CC but still under half the price of a paid ticket in J. I had applied for the AMEX platinum earlier this year with the intention of earning Avios with their 2:1 MR conversion but unfortunately was knocked back.

What's next? I currently have around 66,000 Avios in the kitty. In a further 2 months I'll have enough again to try and book a return ticket in J from Ireland with QR. I also look forward to the day when I will be able to transfer Avios to Finnair to book flights with them. 62,500 Avios for SIN - HEL in J with guaranteed rewards seats on each flight is an option I will consider, even if it will involve two stops to get to Ireland.

Speculatively buying points is a risk, but with the lack of other rewards redemptions from Perth this has been a worthwhile investment for me and I am happy to renew my BA subscription for another year.

Thanks for sharing Dr. Can I ask how far in advance did you book these flights?

 

[doctorstrangelove]

Thanks for sharing Dr. Can I ask how far in advance did you book these flights?

Sure!

Jun 23 flight booked in Jan 23.
Dec 23 flight booked in Oct 23.
Feb 25 flight booked in Mar 24.

 

[jbmemories]

Avios redemptions in the past year:
Jun 2023: QR PER - DUB via DOH (PER - DOH in F as no J availability, DOH - DUB in J). 135,000 Avios
Dec 2023: QR PER- EDI via DOH in J. 90,000 Avios

Upcoming:
Feb 2025: QR PER - DUB via DOH in J. 90,000 Avios

Did you transfer the Avios from BA to QR to do this redemption?

Were you able to also book return tickets back?

Excellent redemption overall!

 

[doctorstrangelove]

Did you transfer the Avios from BA to QR to do this redemption?

Were you able to also book return tickets back?

Excellent redemption overall!

Thanks!

I have my BA and QR accounts linked so it shows me a joint balance. I can't say for absolutely certain but I think it just took the miles automatically from my BA account without me even needing to do a manual transfer.

For Jun 23 my travel back to Australia included a short holiday via Bhutan so I decided not to use points at all. I booked a very cheap Y fare DUB - DAC via CAI for under 700AUD on Egyptair - you can't enjoy the sweet without occasionally experiencing the sour (it was actually fine - I paid a little extra for exit row seats, both flights were during the day, and Egyptair provides a decent enough hotel overnight for passengers with long connections). The rest of my journey back involved Drukair & Scoot.

For Dec 23 IIRC my Avios balance was too low so I flew SNN - LHR - SIN - PER. I used 92,000 Velocity points to travel in J on SQ LHR - SIN and paid cheap cash fares on the shorter bookend legs with Aer Lingus & Scoot.

 

[kelvedon]

I have QR and BA accounts. My QR account shows the combined number of Avios but the BA only those sitting in the BA account.
Does anyone else have the same ?

 

[sydneyboi]

I have QR and BA accounts. My QR account shows the combined number of Avios but the BA only those sitting in the BA account.
Does anyone else have the same ?

yes exactly same for me .....