5 Better Ways to Redeem Your British Airways Miles Than British Airways Flights

British Airways Avios are one of my favorite rewards currencies, but I know a lot of people have trouble finding good ways to use them. Most of the time, that’s because you want to use them to fly somewhere far away, and that’s usually not the best option due to how British Airways’ award chart works! Additionally, if you’re trying to fly to Europe it’s even worse because most of the flights with award availability are operated by British Airways and have incredibly high fuel surcharges.

Nevertheless, Avios are an incredible currency if you know how to use them. Here are some of my favorite ways to use British Airways Avios that don’t involve flying on British Airways at all.

1. Mazatlán (MZT) from Los Angeles (LAX) or Phoenix (PHX)

Mazatlán is a great beach destination that’s just as sunny as Hawaii (and less expensive!) and this overlooked route often has award availability. You’ll pay only 7,500 British Airways Avios to fly either of these routes in economy, and there are no fuel surcharges!

2. Kona, Hawaii (KOA) from LAX

If you are set on visiting Hawaii, another somewhat overlooked route is from Los Angeles to Kona and that means there might be availability even when other routes don’t have any! This flight will cost you 12,500 Avios in economy.

3. Cathay Pacific or Dragonair Flights from Hong Kong (HKG) to Asia

Cathay Pacific and Dragonair fly many routes from Hong Kong to destinations in Asia that can be booked for as few as 4,500 British Airways Avios in economy! If you can get to Hong Kong on a cheap paid ticket or with different miles, you can easily use your British Airways Avios to explore more than one destination for an incredibly low number of miles.

4. Japan Airlines within Japan

This is seriously one of my favorite ways to use Avios. Japan is expensive. Flights are expensive; trains are expensive; almost everything is expensive (except ramen). But, you can book flights almost anywhere in Japan for only 4,500 Avios plus about $2 in taxes. You really couldn’t even travel the country by bus for less than that!

5. Flights to Alaska on Alaska Airlines

It’s pretty well-written about that it’s a good redemption option to use Avios for flights on Alaska Airlines to get to Hawaii, but perhaps an even better redemption is Alaska Airlines flights to Alaska. Flights to Alaska are often incredibly expensive when paid with cash, but you can find flights for as few as 7,500 Avios depending on what route you are looking at. You can also use Avios to fly around Alaska for much less than cash flights cost. Best of all, provided you don’t get off the plane, the famous “milk run” flights are charged as one segment even if they contain multiple stops along the way.

 

What are your favorite lesser-known ways to use British Airways Avios?