Is It Worthwhile To Buy AVIOS With A 50% Bonus In September 2017?

British Airways are running another offer until the end of September whereby you can buy AVIOS and receive bonus AVIOS on top. You can buy or gift up to 100,000 AVIOS, but is this is good use of your hard earned cash? Would it be worthwhile for you to buy AVIOS so that you could jet off to a dream destination?

To find your personalised offer, log into your account and head to ‘Executive Club’ then ‘Purchase AVIOS’. My offer includes an extra 50% bonus, but one Inside Flyer reader considered his 20% uplift to be ‘rubbish’.

My AVIOS offer

Here’s a selection of what BA are offering for me. I am a blue Executive Club member and have been a member for around 7 years. I am definitely not an elite flyer with BA! In fact, they probably hate me as I spend a lot of time complaining about them, but then they do provide endless fodder to complain about! Strikes, systems failures and cancelling scheduled flights have a habit of pissing off loyal customers!

Neverthless, this is what my offer looks like if I buy:

• 1,000 plus bonus 500 AVIOS – £31
• 5,000 plus bonus AVIOS – £95
• 10,000 plus bonus 5,000 AVIOS – £175
• 20,000 plus bonus 10,000 AVIOS – £335
• 30,000 plus bonus 15,000 AVIOS – £495
• 40,000 plus bonus 20,000 AVIOS – £655
• 50,000 plus bonus 25,000 AVIOS – £815
• 60,000 plus bonus 30,000 AVIOS – £975
• 70,000 plus bonus 35,000 AVIOS – £1,135
• 80,000 plus bonus 40,000 AVIOS – £1,295
• 90,000 plus bonus 45,000 AVIOS – £1,455
• 100,000 plus bonus 50,000 AVIOS – £1,615

Now I have always thought buying AVIOS is a bad idea, but let’s see how this works out in practice before we write it off!

How much does one AVIOS cost?

Amount purchased	Bonus AVIOS	Total AVIOS	Cost for purchase	Cost per AVIOS
1,000	500	1,500	£31	2.06p
5,000	2,500	7,500	£95	1.26p
10,000	5,000	15,000	£175	1.16p
20,000	10,000	30,000	£335	1.11p
30,000	15,000	45,000	£495	1.10p
40,000	20,000	60,000	£655	1.09p
50,000	25,000	75,000	£815	1.08p
60,000	30,000	90,000	£975	1.08p
70,000	35,000	105,000	£1,135	1.08p
80,000	40,000	120,000	£1,295	1.08p
90,000	45,000	135,000	£1,455	1.07p
100,000	50,000	150,000	£1,615	1.07p

Correct as at 14/9/17 – Source: British Airways

Whilst, the cost to purchase AVIOS remains unchanged since last year, the bonuses have improved considerably. Last year, the AVIOS offer was an extra 10% to 35% depending on the number of AVIOS purchased. This means the cost per AVIOS, including the uplift, has reduced.

Of course, the real test of the offer is what you can get for your AVIOS should you wish to redeem them. Let’s consider a number of options before we pass judgement on this offer.

What can you get for your AVIOS?

Route	Class	AVIOS needed	Cost for flight without using AVIOS (A)	Cost for equivalent  AVIOS using the offer (B)	Taxes and fees (C)	Total cost using AVIOS offer plus taxes (B+C = D)	Difference in cost between using AVIOS and paid fare (D – A)	Notes
London – New York	Business	100,000	£832.10	£1,135 for 105,000	£529.23	£1,664.23	Extra £832.13	Paid fare is direct with Norwegian
London – Delhi	Economy	32,500	£325.50	£367 for 33,000	£283.29	£650.29	Extra £324.79	Paid fare includes 1 connection with Turkish Airlines
London – Las Vegas	Economy	32,500	£473.67	£367 for 33,000	£370.73	£737.73	Extra £264.06	Paid fare includes 1 connection with Iberia
London – Shanghai	Business	150,000	£1435.60	£1,615 for 150,000	£531	£2,146	Extra £710.40	Paid fare includes 1 connection with Turkish Airlines
London – Dubai	Business	136,000	£1,171.10	£1,535 for 142,5000	£505.94	£2,040.94	£869.84	Paid fare includes 1 connection with Turkish Airlines

Source: British Airways as at 17/9/16 – direct off peak fares only departing and returning in March 2018. All comparison flight costs for prices without using AVIOS were sourced from Expedia and are for the cheapest flight only. The cheapest flight may include long stopovers. 

Yep, this offer looks terrible considering there are some great paid deals which work out considerably cheaper than purchasing AVIOS to then redeem for flights. Even without the addition of the taxes, it is possible to find similiar flights for less than the cost of the AVIOS alone. However, before you discount this option outright, there may be one other circumstance in which this offer could prove worthwhile.

What if I have a companion voucher?

If you happen to have a British Airways Premium AMEX, you can earn a companion voucher annually after spending £10,000 on your card. This means that you now get two flights for the same AVIOS as above, although you must pay two lots of taxes. This slightly changes the outlook as follows:

Total costs for two people including use of a companion voucher

Route	Class	AVIOS needed	Cost for flight without using AVIOS (A)	Cost for equivalent  AVIOS using the offer (B)	Taxes and fees (C)	Total cost using AVIOS offer plus taxes (B+C = D)	Difference in cost between using AVIOS and paid fare (D – A)	Notes
London – New York	Business	100,000	£1664.20	£1,135 for 105,000	£1058.46	£2,193.46	Extra £529.26	Paid fare is direct with Norwegian
London – Delhi	Economy	32,500	£651	£367 for 33,000	£566.58	£933.58	Extra £282.58	Paid fare includes 1 connection with Turkish Airlines
London – Las Vegas	Economy	32,500	£947.34	£367 for 33,000	£741.46	£1,108.46	Extra £161.12	Paid fare includes 1 connection with Iberia
London – Shanghai	Business	150,000	£2871.20	£1,615 for 150,000	£1,062	£2,677	£194.20 Less	Paid fare includes 1 connection with Turkish Airlines
London – Dubai	Business	136,000	£2,342.20	£1,535 for 142,5000	£1,011.88	£2,546.88	£869.84	Paid fare includes 1 connection with Turkish Airlines

Source: British Airways as at 17/9//17. All reward flights are subject to availability and reward flights can be taken quickly.

Wow, rather shockingly, even with a companion voucher, this deal still looks awful. Now, don’t let that put you entirely off the British Airways Executive Club as you can often earn AVIOS from your everyday spend. This does not effectively cost you anything and these AVIOS combined with a companion voucher definitely save you money.

Find out more:

How to save money on your business class flight to Seoul

Long haul v short haul redemptions

How to purchase?

If you still keen to purchase AVIOS, you have until 23:59 on the 29th September to receive your personal uplift. Points should be received into your account instantly ready for you to spend on redemptions. Frankly though, with the excellent deals currently available from some carriers, especially for business class, why would you bother?

What do you think?

Have you ever purchased AVIOS? Did you get a good deal? Please let us know in the comments.