Let's be honest, the closure of the Avios.com program in July 2018 (for British Airways Executive Club members) had a limited impact on Avios collectors! However, there is one feature that I regularly recommend to readers – the BA Avios Calculator Map.
While the British Airways Avios flight calculator was a simple piece of technology, it allowed you to enter the maximum number of Avios points you had to spend and then showed you all the available redemptions that covered your Avios budget... With the recent leak, British Airways has been reluctant to make major changes to its website and so it's unlikely we'll see a similar tool released by the BA team any time soon.
Since no such interactive tool is available online, we thought it would be useful to recreate the BA Avios points calculator for our loyal readers. Therefore, we are pleased to present an interactiveThrifty Points BA Avios kalkulatordefined below (scroll down).
The BA Avios Flight Calculator version has been created to make life easier for those looking to book an Avios award flight. If you're new to Avios points, you can also find our recent article onRedeeming Avios rewardsuseful, including various tips and tricks to keep your Avios points going...
BA Avios Thrifty Points Calculator (full instructions below)
The British Airways Avios award calculator is designed for desktop use. You can still use it on your phone or tablet, but you may want to turn your device sideways to see the entire table. All redemptions assume London as the origin - we will update Manchester and Edinburgh soon.
| wdt_ID | Destination | points | Class of travel | Peak / Off Peak | Connection | RETURN | Avios are required per mile flown | Surface |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aberdeen | 18.000 | Business | The top | Book BA here | RETURN | 22.4 | Europa |
| 2 | Aberdeen | 9.000 | Business | The top | Book BA here | One way | 22.4 | Europa |
| 3 | Aberdeen | 15.500 | Business | Off rush hour | Book BA here | RETURN | 19.3 | Europa |
| 4 | Aberdeen | 7.750 | Business | Off rush hour | Book BA here | One way | 19.3 | Europa |
| 5 | Aberdeen | 9.000 | Economy | The top | Book BA here | RETURN | 11.2 | Europa |
| 6 | Aberdeen | 4.500 | Economy | The top | Book BA here | One way | 11.2 | Europa |
| 7 | Aberdeen | 8.000 | Economy | Off rush hour | Book BA here | RETURN | 10.0 | Europa |
| 8 | Aberdeen | 4.000 | Economy | Off rush hour | Book BA here | One way | 10.0 | Europa |
| 9 | Abu Dhabi | 160.000 | First | The top | Book BA here | RETURN | 23.3 | The Middle East, Asia and the Indian Ocean |
| 10 | Abu Dhabi | 80.000 | First | The top | Book BA here | One way | 23.3 | The Middle East, Asia and the Indian Ocean |
British Airways Avios calculator – how to use it
The Thrifty Points BA Avios Calculator was created to make life easier for those looking for Avios redemption options and to maximize those hard-earned Avios points. We hope it's easy to use, but some tips are listed below:
- Start by choosingmaximum number of Avios pointsdo you want to spend. The panel is set as standard for return flights, but can easily be changed to one-way.
- Select the desired travel category (you can select more than one option). If you are thinking about booking an economy ticket, you might want to read our recent article about itmaximizing the value of Avios points– unfortunately, the economy doesn't offer much value as we'll see below.
- British Airways charges different redemption rates depending on whether you are traveling during peak or off-peak times. You can find onefull list of British Airways peak and peak time dates here.
- To find out how many Avios are required for flights between London and your chosen destination, simply tick all the filter options in the Avios flight calculator, then use the search box to find the city you want.
- The Avios calculator is set up to print redemption opportunities based on Avios required (from highest to lowest). To sort by another category, just click on the title.
The British Airways Avios Thrifty Points award calculator is the result of a lot of blood, sweat and tears, and we've gone to great lengths to ensure that all the information is accurate. If you notice any anomalies or think any cities are missing, please let us know in the comments section below.
The hard work doesn't stop there for us. We will be introducing a linked BA Avios calculator map soon. It's currently in testing, so keep an eye out for it in the not too distant future!
Iberia Avios calculator
Unfortunately there are two reasons why the above does not work as an Avios calculator for Iberia. The first is that currently all results assume an origin from London, from where Iberia only flies to Madrid. Second, Iberia has a slightly different Avios redemption table for peak and off-peak dates.
What sweet spots does the BA Avios flight calculator highlight?
In creating this BA Avios flight calculator, I had to collect a significant amount of data. An interesting ratio to analyze to see if there are really sweet spots is the number of Avios points required for each mile flown. I've included a column in the table above (scroll right if you can't see it) that can also be sorted in ascending and descending order.
Some key elements to consider are listed in the table below.
| Long flights | ||
| Economy | Business | |
| Minimum Avios per mile | Cape Town (2,7 Avios) | Cape Town (10,4 Avios) |
| Maximum Avios per mile | Algeria (7.4 Avios) | Riyadh (19.5 Avios) |
| Short-haul flights | ||
| Economy | Business | |
| Minimum Avios per mile | Gran Canaria (4.7 Avios) | Gran Canaria (9.4 Avios) |
| Maximum Avios per mile | Manchester (29,9 Avios) | Manchester (59,8 Avios) |
The BA Avios calculator shows some interesting statistics. By flying economy from London to Cape Town, you will be able to use the fewest miles for the most distance traveled. At the other end of the spectrum would be Manchester in Club Europe (Business) which would give you a whopping 59.8 Avios for every mile flown!
This is not to be confused with the value you would get for each of those points if you redeemed those flights. Below will be the Avios price for each of the flights (based on mid-June flights).
| Long flights | ||
| Economy | Business | |
| Minimum Avios per mile | Cape Town Cash ticket: £314 Avios: 16,250 (off-peak) Taxes on prizes: £229.12 Avios value: 0.5p | Cape Town Cash ticket: £1,272 Avios: 62,500 (off-peak) Taxes on prizes: £377.12 Avios value: 1.4p |
| Maximum Avios per mile | Algeria Cash ticket: £96 Avios: 7500 (peak) Taxes on prizes: £17.50 Avios value: 1.0p | Riyadh Cash ticket: £1,269 Avios: 60,000 (peak) Taxes on prizes: £376.59 Avios value: 1.5p |
| Short-haul flights | ||
| Economy | Business | |
| Minimum Avios per mile | Gran Canaria Cash ticket: £155 Avios: 8,500 (off-peak) Taxes on prizes: £17.50 Avios value: 1.6p | Gran Canaria Cash ticket: £269 Avios: 17,000 (off-peak) Taxes on prizes: £25 Avios value: 1.4p |
| Maximum Avios per mile | Manchester Cash ticket: £46 Avios: 4500 (peak) Taxes on prizes: £17.50 Avios value: 0.6p | Manchester Cash ticket: £91 Avios: 9000 (peak) Taxes on prizes: £25 Avios value: 0.7p |
As you can see and as we've highlighted before, using Avios points for long haul economy offers incredible value of 0.5p to Cape Town. As Algeria is an economy flight (within 2000 miles), taxes are artificially low, resulting in a reasonable value of 1p. Gran Canaria, which claimed the fewest Avios per flight mile, also shows good Avios value between 1.4p and 1.6p. We normally value Avios at 1 point per point, so if you could redeem it for Gran Canaria at 1.4 points that would be great!
The best way to earn the required Avios points is with the BA Avios points calculator
Did British Airways' award flight calculator show you're just a few Avios away from the trip of a lifetime? Do not be afraid! Here at Thrifty Points we cover a number of ways to earn and collect Avios. Below are some helpful tips that you may find useful.
- It's a common myth that the easiest way to collect Avios points is to fly with British Airways. You'll only earn between 125-625 Avios on an economy flight between London and Edinburgh – that's a terrible rate of earning. However, if you've flown in the last 6 months and forgot to use your British Airways Executive Club, you're definitely missing out on some of those hard-earned points. If you have just joined BA Executive Club, you can retroactively claim points for flights in the last 3 months.
- With strong competition among card companies, the benefits offered can be incredibly generous. We recommend that you avoid itBritish Airways Amex (review here)which offers a sign-up bonus of 5000 Avios (6000 Avios ifuse this link) when you spend £1,000 in the first 3 months. Why?! Currently, the most generous free credit card on the market isAmerican Express Gold Cardwhich offers 10,000 Membership Rewards points when you spend £3,000 in the first 3 months. This can be increased to 12,000 pointsusing this link. American Express Membership Rewards points can easily be transferred to Avios at a 1-to-1 ratio. You'll also benefit from 2 free airport boarding passes.
- British Airways has several partners through which you can also earn Avios points. Converting points such as the Tesco Clubcard with Clubcard vouchers worth £2.50 into 600 Avios is a good option if the Avios miles calculator shows you only have a few thousand Avios. You can also use it to collect Avios points for your online purchasesThe eStore portal is here, where you can earn up to 30 Avios for every £1 you spend online.
Using the Avios BA upgrade calculator
The table above can also be used as an Avios upgrade calculator. All you need to do is select the class you want to upgrade from and the class you will be upgrading to and find the Avios requirement for each class.
To quickly find your destination, just enter the name of the city in the search box. Then subtract the Avios points required for the downgraded flight class from the upgraded seat and, hey, quick! Using the table to calculate Avios points for an upgrade is (hopefully!) so easy.
Let's wrap it up
Until last year it was relatively easy to search for Avios redemption opportunities using the BA Avios calculator on Avios.com. As British Airways Executive Club members can no longer access this tool and the limited functionality on the BA website to search by Avios points, we have put together the British Airways Avios flight calculator above.
We hope this inspires those looking to redeem their hard-earned Avios points. If you want more ideas on how to earn and book Avios redemption, why not check out our recent oneBA First Class Review. Using two UK credit cards, I was able to earn enough Avios to redeem first class flights to Sao Paulo for less than the cost of an economy class ticket. Also included is a step-by-step guide on how you can achieve this.
We hope you find the BA Avios points calculator useful and as always let us know in the comments below. We welcome your thoughts…