How To Value Avios - Is The Redemption You're Planning Good Value??

[@ukdavepianoman]

Great video - really opened my eyes to how "sneaky" BA (probably other airlines too) are with these redemptions. That example with a negative £/TP was hilarious! As you say the Business redemptions can be very attractive but have to be assessed in terms of whether someone would actually pay the cost - which is completely individual. As others have already commented, would be very interested in upgrade redemptions (bearing in mind this video is 2 years ago, I'll check whether you already did this).

[@MattsPlanet]

Thanks Dave - not really looked specifically at upgrades but I probably should....

[@lewisbeecham5014]

My favourite way to maximise my avios is either from last minute travel during peak times or by upgrading from WTP to Club World via BA Holidays. It's been a few years but redemptions between Asian countries and domestic US are a favourite too. I totally agree with holding too many avios, middle of the year I was almost hitting half a million! I've since spent half of that through multiple BA Holiday WTP to Club World upgrades. It's going to be a great 2022! Love the videos.

[@MattsPlanet]

Thanks Lewis - didn't mention upgrades in the video but still managed to get it up to 15 minutes!!! Thanks for the support

[@GG-hi5if]

Just done the numbers, my BAPP 2for1 voucher has saved me over £3300 versus the avios/taxes spent on my upcoming flight to Sydney! :)

[@MattsPlanet]

Great work! Sydney's not an easy one to snaffle so congratulations!

[@GG-hi5if]

@@MattsPlanet it did involve a midnight phone call. We managed to grab Business outbound and wtp return!

[@well-blazeredman6187]

I'm learning so much from your videos, Matt. Off to transfer those dusty Nectars!

[@MattsPlanet]

Cheers Nicholas - I think quite a few bottom drawers have been hunted through for those old nectar cards in the last few months - happy hunting!

[@wessexTim]

Very useful video, and now I am off to try it out. Thanks Matt.

[@MattsPlanet]

Just remember that the value is the numerator, the points involved are the denominator and that will produce pence per avios....

[@wessexTim]

@@MattsPlanet Seen a few that work, and a few more that do not....will book something when back from my next two jaunts.

[@chyphilip]

Love Matt 0 a funny/ cynical maths teacher who likes travelling around!

[@MattsPlanet]

That's a good summary!

[@geerhubregtse5309]

Thanks for a great series, Matt! Still planning a tier point run (very complicated nowadays!) One point to consider, I suppose, is also the fact that if you pay for a ticket with cash (and even more so if doing so with BA Amex), is that you will then be earning both tier points as well as Avios in the process, which would not have happened with the redemption flight.

[@MattsPlanet]

Cheers Geer - its a good point. If you're gold when you undertake a tier point run you could get 10 or perhaps 20% of the cost back via avios... Particularly if you can get 2 or 3p per avios in value when you spend them. Have spent some time thinking about a "how to value a tier point" video but its very abstract and I'm not sure how relevant it would be... Their extremely valuable for a while than effectively worthless!

[@geerhubregtse5309]

@@MattsPlanet Thanks Matt. I was just thinking that if, for example, you redeemed 100,000 Avios to get an £800 ticket, the direct value of those Avios would be 0.8p. However, if you went for the cash option and used BA Amex, you would actually be earning 2,400 Avios plus quite a bit more when you actually take the flight. So, the £800 you save by taking the redemption option equates to potentially quite a bit more than 100,000 difference in your Avios balance, ultimately. Like with so many other things Avios, the impact of this effect will be much higher in Club than in Economy

[@lauriemackrell]

Thanks Matt, couldn't figure out where I was going wrong with the maths until I realised it's pence, not £ and to x100. I just booked a round trip in club suite to Cape Town in March for £450, 90k Avios and a companion voucher... £4,500 saving = 5p per Avios / still 2.5p factoring in the 'companion' voucher! Pleased with that, cherry on top is availability for I fares.

[@MattsPlanet]

Very good Laurie - CPT is a tough one to get availability on. There's value in those vouchers still!!!

[@chilglish]

Food for thought indeed Matt! Thank you. Would have been interesting to see the value of Avios when using them for upgrades from WTP to business…

[@MattsPlanet]

Thanks for that - the video was already 15 minutes long!!! Perhaps a topic for a future video - its on the list! Cheers

[@gregoryfirnau8477]

A very helpful video. Most enjoyable! Thanks for all the effort. Looking forward to maximizing my points’ value.

[@MattsPlanet]

Happy to have helped! 0.5p??? No thanks!

[@jackhodgson8605]

Another Great video Matt, thank you for all the work you put into it. Keep up the fantastic work and I am sure BA will be back offering Avios again soon for service recovery, as it costs them nothing. Learnt lots about redemption values as well

[@MattsPlanet]

Cheers Jack. Hope you're right about the service recovery but I think there's a good chance that avios compensation is gone for good... We will see! Thanks for watching

[@haddockman30]

A great explanation of Avios. Very interesting.

[@MattsPlanet]

Thanks Mr H - hope it was helpful.

[@neilmcleod4214]

Entertaining and informative as always Matt!

[@MattsPlanet]

Cheers Neil! Almost as good as a cold beer?

[@neilmcleod4214]

Forgot what one of those tastes like.... 🥺

[@phinleng1745]

Another great video, very helpful!

[@MattsPlanet]

Thanks again!

[@bowman7296]

That was a brilliant video Matt, will have to go back over it again to look at the calculation part to work out the formula as maths was not my strong point 🙄 e

[@MattsPlanet]

I tried to go slowly... It's pretty straightforward when you get the hang of it!

[@nav33d]

And just like you said avios has been devalued. Seems to be worth around 67p now when put up against the current nectar rates. Hope to see more tier run/BAEC videos soon, keep it up mate!

[@MattsPlanet]

Quite annoying when a chunk of a video is rendered inaccurate by a real world development... It is a bit of an odd one as it is a devaluation, but only in a very limited circumstance... A video is being scripted!

[@zubairahmed-ln2sp]

Very helpful 👍🏻👍🏻 thank you sir 👌🏻

[@MattsPlanet]

You are more than welcome!

[@AE53TZJ]

Thanks Matt for another good explanation. I have booked up next year with avios, BA are very sneaky with redemptions and the pence per point. Have you ever had an issues with tier points and avios not being credited to the account correctly ?

[@MattsPlanet]

Cheers Jack. Never had to chase tier points or avios - I always double check the exec club numbers gone in when I make the booking and I've never had a problem. Probably lucky!

[@aletrailvid]

Let's see what the highest value that could be achieved using a 'TwoFer' on a first class redemption. Also a video explaining how to use Avios to upgrade legs of a booking would be great.

[@MattsPlanet]

Thanks for that - both good ideas. Stay tuned!

[@Sglingani]

Great video

[@MattsPlanet]

Thanks!

[@craigcodycpa7454]

Great video as usual. 2 questions 1. When you use Avios and also pay with cash do you still accrue Avios? 2. When you upgrade with Avios do you only accrue points at the purchased level?

[@MattsPlanet]

Thanks Craig. If you make a redemption (which involves paying cash for the taxes) then you earn no avios (or tier points). If you make a ticket purchase and part pay with avios, you still earn avios and tier points. Indeed BA prompts you with how many avios you'll earn when you are booking so you can see what the net impact would be. The 2nd question is trickier - the couple of times I've done it, I've earned the tier points (and avios) of the higher class actually travelled although I'm not sure that was correct. Didn't feel the need to challenge them though!

[@craigcodycpa7454]

@@MattsPlanet Thanks

[@bach4211]

Hi Matt-your videos have been very helpful of late as I’ve been looking to start collecting Avios and tier points seriously! One question I had about using Avios was in relation to using Avios to upgrade a seat in combination with the cash fare for the class below. Would you still earn Avios and tier points for a premium economy ticket, if you’ve used Avios to upgrade to business class? I’m keen to use some Avios I’m earning this year, but also have one eye on achieving silver status, especially as BA have reduced the thresholds until the end of the year. Thanks!

[@MattsPlanet]

Thanks mate - appreciate the kind words. You do earn the avios and tps for the cabin purchased if you then go ahead and upgrade with avios. Don't tell anyone, but I once got the TPS and avios for the cabin I'd upgraded into, although I think that was a "computer error in your favour" - I called to make a complex booking and simultaneously upgraded one sector from C to F and ended up getting the TPs for F... No-one reads the comments, eh?

[@bach4211]

@@MattsPlanet Thanks Matt, that’s really helpful! As long as BA aren’t reading the comments I’m sure no one will notice 😂

[@moniquewentzel887]

Very helpful :)

[@MattsPlanet]

You are very welcome!

[@peterkay8895]

Hi Matt, I’ve got 102000 Avios points, but can’t travel any more what’s the best thing to do with them! Regards Peter.

[@MattsPlanet]

Hi Peter. Sorry to hear you're not travelling... There's a few options. You can still buy tickets for others (including perhaps your favourite KZbinr!!!!). More likely is spending it through the BA shop. That will generally give you 0.5p per point, so there's £510 of value there which is perhaps a case (or two?) of champagne... Better still is to convert the points to nectar points and spend them at Sainsbury's. 0.8p per point so that's £816 of value, which should cover a few weekly shops?

[@mrd9908]

Do you have a spreadsheet available you can share?

[@MattsPlanet]

Not really but it is something I am looking at....

[@OptikC]

Another great video. I've sent you an email regarding the referral link (just in case it's gone to the spam folder!)

[@MattsPlanet]

Thanks - I responded to the email.

[@jordangrant2350]

Did you not know you can change 10870 avios which I have into nectar and get £86 and I can use it for a Eurostar and only pay £10 return for it

[@MattsPlanet]

Fantastic! I wonder if BA thought much about the consequences of the partnership with nectar - allowing people to trade in avios for tickets on their competition!

[@jordangrant2350]

@@MattsPlanet is it better off claiming my 11000 avois into £91 worth of nectar points and claiming for a Eurostar journey so I won’t have to pay to go on a Eurostar

[@MattsPlanet]

@@jordangrant2350 I think only you can make that judgement - 0.8p per avios is the minimum you should get, so its not a bad use of avios at all.

[@jordangrant2350]

@@MattsPlanet you have to be careful when you spend avios because I seen a off peak return to Zurich for 18000 points and £35 cash payment but it you have a look you can see the same on Ryanair for £40 and you you keep your points

[@MattsPlanet]

@@jordangrant2350 I think this may have played a part in BA introducing the reward flight saver option... Although Ryanair actually has better seats!

[@seanmac5230]

Another positive of an avios booking if close to 0.8ppa is that they are semi-flexible and so would still represent good value.

[@MattsPlanet]

Good point!