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You don’t need tens of thousands of Avios to put them towards a flight. If you’ve been logged in to your BA account whilst browsing, you may have noticed BA’s prompts to part pay for your flight with Avios points. As may searches do so without logging in first, and only logging in during the checkout process, they sometimes miss out on the opportunity Avios presents, and miss out on saving ££’s on their flight.
You can start saving on your flight from just 500 Avios Points – but the question we are going to ask in this article is whether it is worth part paying for your flight with Avios?
Part paying with Avios is worth it if the smallest Avios redemption price BA provides on their website is used. This works out to 1p per Avios point value, in comparison to 0.5-0.7p for any other part pay option. Although this gives the best possible Avios point value, it also gives the lowest saving.
Let’s look at some full cash fare options, how much you would save if you part pay using Avios, how much each Avios is worth on a part pay option – and whether this is worth it and gives good Avios value.
Part Pay with Avios on a Flight to New York
New York is a real popular destination for British travelers. Maybe we can blame Home Alone 2 for that! If you’ve set your eyes on a Big Apple trip but haven’t yet collected the 50,000 Avios to get there on a free flight, let’s look to see how much you could save if you part pay with Avios:
| Type | Avios Required | Cash Required | Avios Point Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full Cash Fare | 0 | £389.02 | - |
| £20 off with Avios | 2,000 | £369.02 | 1p |
| £40 off with Avios | 6,100 | £329.02 | 0.6p |
| £70 off with Avios | 12,900 | £319.02 | 0.5p |
| Full Avios Price | 55,000 | £100.00 | 0.5p |
Your Avios points become 50% less valuable the more you use past the base initial offering.
Your Avios points are worth 1p if you choose to only use 2,000 towards your flight but then drop down to between 0.6p-0.5p per Avios if you want to use any more Avios towards your booking. It makes more sense to use the minimum 1p value Avios towards multiple different flights, then to cash out a large amount in one go. This though will depend on your saving intentions.
Even if you use the full Avios fare of 55,000, you will still have the £100 airport taxes and fees to pay in cash, which is why this drops the actual value down to 0.5p (instead of 0.7p per point).
Part Pay with Avios on a Flight to Paris
Flying long-haul can change the number of Avios needed when compared to a short-haul flight into Europe. To demonstrate this, let’s look at a flight to Paris:
| Type | Avios Required | Cash Required | Avios Point Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full Cash Fare | 0 | £115.37 | - |
| £10 off with Avios | 1.000 | £105.37 | 1p |
| £20 off with Avios | 2,900 | £95.37 | 0.6p |
| £36 off with Avios | 6,300 | £79.37 | 0.5p |
| Full Avios Price | 19,000 | £1.00 | 0.6p |
Different flight, different route, and different savings, but the pattern for Avios spending is still the same. Take advantage of the lowest Avios redemption and your Avios points are worth double the value. The same applies to almost all European destinations such as Amsterdam, Paris, Rome, etc…
How Much are Avios Worth When You Part Pay With Points?
As we’ve seen in the examples so far, if you use the smaller redemption possible your Avios points are worth 1p each, but the moment you want to put more Avios towards your flight, and save that bit more, the value of your Avios drops 50% in value. Fortunately, though this doesn’t scale any further. Your Avios do not drop below a 0.5p value – which is the best average value to use when working out Avios value.
If at any time during your flight price checks you see your Avios worth less than 0.5p per point, then steer clear and use your Avios for something else or save for another time.
Are Avios Worth More in Business Class?
Upgrading to Business Class is a great way to redeem your Avios. Often, we lose sight of the value of the points as the thought of cruising the skies in a lay-flat bed sipping Champagne comes into view. Before you go spending 120,000 Avios on a long-haul Business Class trip, or 30,000 Avios on a Club World flight to Europe, let’s have a look at how those Avios points stack up.
Let’s look at a Business Class (BA Club World) flight to New York:
| Type | Avios Required | Cash Required | Avios Point Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full Cash Fare | 0 | £2,690.02 | - |
| £50 off with Avios | 5,600 | £2,640.02 | 0.9p |
| £80 off with Avios | 10,200 | £2,610.02 | 0.8p |
| Full Avios Price | 110,000 | £675.89 | 1.8p |
Your Avios value per point gives you a better value in Business Class but saving enough Avios for a full return Business Class flight long-haul can give you really good value. The cash price for this flight is particularly high but, in this example, you’ll save £2,014.13 for 110,000 Avios, which gives you an Avios point value of 1.8p!
On the whole, your Avios Points are worth more in Business Class than Economy, offering you up to 1.8p value per Avios Point. This gives each Avios 90% more value in Business Class than Economy.
Can You Part Pay with Avios on All Flights?
Yes, you can part pay with Avios on all BA flights (be warned though this doesn’t always apply to partner airlines). As you book through the BA website, you’ll see options to redeem your Avios Points in various levels, and each level showing you how much you will save.
How Can I Find Part Pay with Avios Flights?
BA does not make this particularly obvious. Don’t though use the Book with Cash and Upgrade with Avios – there’s nothing wrong with this option, but it’s not what we are looking for here. Make sure you are logged in to your BA Executive Club account and use the normal BA search with a cash option, or the flight search screen on BA’s home page.
Top Tip: Unless you are logged in to your account, BA will not show you Avios discounts as it uses the number of points you have to present the options available to you.
BA will show you possible Avios savings only after you have searched – and selected – your flights. Search away and see what great offers you can find.
Is Part Pay with Avios Worth It – The Insider’s Notes
As long as your Avios points are worth more than 0.5p per point then part paying is worth looking in to and has value. Ironically the fewer Avios points you use, the more your Avios are worth – but of course, your savings may not amount to much. You will gain the most benefit using your Avios in full for a return Business Class flight, which could give you up to a 1.8p Avios Point value – but this will depend on the overall cost of the flight.
Calculating the value of your Avios point is straight forward. Subtract the full cash value with the cash you would have to pay if using Avios – then divide this number by the number of points you will use.