Cheap one way on BA with Avios

[tetlee 0]

Heya all,

I'd been looking at plane tickets off and on for a while and thought I'd share some findings ....

I'm specifically looking at direct LHR->PHX flights, BA are the only ones that do direct flights from the UK so thats all I've looked at

LHR->PHX is pretty cheap in the winter months and the availabilty of reward seats is good, other routes will likely be harder to work around.

BA say (and I havent disproved) they offer the cheapest flights on their site, so prices for this are from there

One way £1436

Return £578 (£289 * 2)

Ridiculous but we've probably all noticed returns are cheaper. I've read that it is due to carriers putting extra fees on for people returning within a week so they can scalp business fliers

I found you can get a relatively cheap one way ticket if you have some avios points to spend. I got mine for:

£247 + 25k Avios

This only really works if you already have some Avios hanging around. You can buy avios points for cash but 25k costs £415 so not worth it, but you have some from previous visits right?

For reference a return (same days as cash listed above) costs

£379 + 50k Avios

So actually a better deal but not what I wanted; though you might want to save points for return to England at some point...

Also, its commonly said online that upgrading a seat is a more cost effective way of using Avios points. That may be the case but for me at this time, saving money now was more important!

A neat advantage of flying one way is you get 2 bags for free instead of 1. Your first extra bag in economy normally costs £40 (£120 for other classes/3rd bag)

Edited January 23, 2014 by tetlee

[fcat 79]

Most airline rewards systems let you do this, I'm using some of my United miles.

$220 (the taxes) + 35k miles for one way.

[Hotter Otter 1,211]

That's useful to know, thanks :-)

[srvman 38]

Thanks to this thread I looked up what I could get for my miles. I am getting a flight out to Great Falls, Montana for $50 with 55k airmiles. This has cut the best part of a grand out of my budget.

[fcat 79]

Great!

[k.dlg 300]

A neat advantage of flying one way is you get 2 bags for free instead of 1. Your first extra bag in economy normally costs £40 (£120 for other classes/3rd bag)

That is GREAT news! Thanks for the tip! My hubby will be happy to know that he won't necessarily have to pay for extra baggage for his final items, especially if I'll be coming with. Awesome!