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British Airways has just launched a 50% Avios bonus offer, that allows you to buy up to 150,000 Avios for £1615. At the top end that works out at about 1.077p per Avios.

To see the offer, just login to your BA Executive Club account and click on ‘Purchasing Avios’ – the bonus will apply automatically.

The offer runs until 23:59 on Monday 5th December, and you can get the 50% bonus whether you are buying the Avios for yourself, or gifting them to someone else.

Good deal?

We recently covered the Iberia Plus Avios version of this offer (which was extended briefly and now ends today rather than the 28th Nov), which is essentially the same but marginally cheaper. If you bought the full 150,000 via Iberia Plus, you would save about £75.00, so at the higher end it could well be worth doing it that way.

It is worth mentioning though that I am having some problems at the moment transferring my Avios to Iberia Plus from BA Executive Club (not sure if the other way round is impacted), and many people are more familiar with the BA site, so that’s something to consider too.

Buying Avios for a little over 1p isn’t a terrible deal at all (if it was I wouldn’t bother writing about!) but it’s not a price I find tempting personally. I have decent stash of Avios and plenty of transferable Points already, and don’t see the value in accumulating more at this price. Even if that wasn’t the case, I would be reluctant to buy speculatively at 1p each.

On the other hand, if you need to top off an account to have enough for a particular award, or you have a specific high-value redemption in mind, it can definitely make sense!

Some potentially good-value uses to consider (always check to see what award availability for your dates is like):

• Short-haul flights on BA during expensive times of the year.
• Domestic USA flights on AA/Alaska during expensive times of the year.
• Aer Lingus Economy or Business Class between Dublin/Shannon and Boston for 12,500/37,500 Avios one-way + ~£30-80 in taxes/fees.

• Off-peak Iberia Business Class to the USA/Caribbean/Central America/South America for  34,000-42,500 + ~£100 taxes/fees one-way.
• Air Berlin Economy or Business Class to Abu Dhabi for 12,500/37,500 Avios one-way + handful of taxes/fees.
• Intra Asia Business Class with Cathay Pacific or JAL.
• Intra South/Central America flights with LAN

Bottom line

Avios for a little over 1p isn’t exciting, but there are times when buying at that price could still save you substantial amounts of money. Don’t forget to check award availability before buying though!