British Airways Executive Club Launches Avios Subscription Plans

Buying British Airways Avios at a discount has always been one of our favourite ways to redeem cheap domestic flights with Qantas. Of course, as a oneworld member airline, British Airways Executive Club offers redemptions with a host of leading international carriers, most notably Qatar Airways, Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines and American Airlines.

Bonus Avios sales typically come up twice per year, however, British Airways and its Executive Club loyalty program have just launched an intriguing new Avios subscription service. By signing up for an Avios Subscription, Executive Club members have the opportunity to receive a monthly Avios boost.

Here’s everything you need to know about purchasing an Avios subscription plan in Australia.

How Does The British Airways Avios Subscription Work?

British Airways is offering four different Avios subscription plans, giving Executive Club members a choice of Avios earning opportunities. Like almost all subscription services these days, there are monthly and annual payment options, with the latter offering the best value. Selecting the yearly plan entails one up-front payment, with a fresh batch of Avios landing in your account monthly.

• 20,000 Avios per year ~ £185 yearly / £19 monthly
• 50,000 Avios per year ~ £455 yearly / £45 monthly
• 100,000 Avios per year ~ £899 yearly / £89 monthly
• 200,000 Avios per year ~ £1,789 yearly / £179 monthly

Below are the annual options as shown on the Avios subscription page.

Does An Avios Subscription Offer Good Value?

If you want the short answer, yes.

The price of your Avios subscription plan varies depending on where your account is registered. Of course, the best deal is for the Adventurer subscription, which offers a total of 200,000 Avios delivered as a monthly deposit of 16,667 Avios.

For Australian-registered accounts, the top plan costs £1,789 (~AUD 3160) per year, which works out to £0.0089 (~AUD 0.016) per Avios. To put that into perspective, the lowest we normally see Avios offered as part of British Airways’ regular bonus promotions is £0.0107 (~AUD 0.019). Therefore, the yearly subscription plan offers significantly better value.

Why Should I Purchase An Avios Subscription?

Generally speaking, we wouldn’t advise purchasing points without a specific redemption in mind. However, being so useful for last-minute redemptions, British Airways Avios might be the exception to that rule. When prices jump for shorter domestic trips, Avios can often be a lifesaver.

What Are Avios Worth?

We recommend that Australian-based points nerds purchase Avios for less than £0.0094 (~AUD 0.017). At this cost, you can typically extract enough value through redemption.

The new Avios Subscription offers more promising value than the above. Members can purchase Avios for between £0.0092 on Voyager and £0.0089 on the top Adventurer plan.

Using Avios For Qantas Domestic Redemptions

A favourite Avios redemption among points experts is for Qantas domestic flights within Australia. British Airways Avios are especially useful for last-minute domestic redemptions when cash fares have dramatically increased. Avios can even provide good value for Economy flights, unlike most other frequent flyer redemptions.

Here are some of the ways you could use British Airways Avios for domestic flights with Qantas:

• Sydney to Brisbane/Melbourne: 6,000 Avios in Economy or 12,500 in Business (compared to 8,000 and 18,400 Qantas Points)
• Melbourne to Brisbane: 9,000 Avios in Economy or 16,500 in Business (compared to 12,000 and 27,600 Qantas Points)
• Melbourne to Perth: 11,000 Avios in Economy or 22,000 in Business (compared to 18,000 and 41,500 Qantas Points)
• Sydney to Perth: 13,000 Avios in Economy or 38,750 in Business (compared to 18,000 and 41,500 Qantas Points)

Transferring Avios To Qatar Airways And Iberia

Avios are the frequent flyer currency of three airlines under International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG), the parent company of British Airways and Iberia and a part-owner of Qatar Airways. As such, Avios are easily transferred between the British Airways Executive Club, Qatar Airways Privilege Club and Iberia Plus. For all, Avios will transfer at a 1:1 ratio.

Qatar Airways requires just 70,000 Avios between Australia and Doha in Business Class, or 90,000 Avios to continue to go all the way to Europe. The same route is compared to Qantas Frequent Flyer, where you’re looking at 159,000 Qantas Points for the same flights to Europe.

As far as Iberia, their redemption chart reveals Business Class redemptions between zones 4 and 5 to offer the best value. You can fly Business from New York/Boston to Madrid for 34,000 Avios and Los Angeles/Chicago/Miami to Madrid for 42,500 Avios.

To transfer Avios from British Airways to Iberia and Qatar, you must register for accounts with Iberia Plus and Qatar Airways Privilege Club. Do this as soon as possible, as your accounts must have been open for at least three months and have earned at least one Avios. Then, simply follow the steps below:

How To Transfer British Airways To Iberia

1. From your British Airways Executive Club dashboard, click “Manage My Account” and then “Combine My Avios”.
2. Under “Iberia Plus” click “Combine my Avios”.
3. Again select “Iberia Plus” and enter your Iberia Plus number and PIN from the dropdown.
4. Once your accounts are linked, select the number of Avios you want to transfer and in which direction.
5. Confirm your selection and Avios will be transferred immediately

How To Transfer British Airways To Qatar Airways

1. From your British Airways Executive Club dashboard, click “Manage My Account” and then “Combine My Avios”.
2. Under “Qatar Airways Privilege Club” click “Combine my Avios”.
3. Hit “Link Accounts Now” and log in to your Privilege Club account.
4. Once your accounts are linked, select the number of Avios you want to transfer and in which direction.
5. Confirm your selection and Avios will be transferred immediately

A Few Points To Keep In Mind

Naturally, everyone loves to meticulously comb through the terms and conditions of airline frequent flyer policy. If you don’t, here are the important bits from British Airways’ Avios subscription plans;

• Like a gym membership, once you commit to an annual plan, you’re locked in for a whole year and cannot cancel your subscription during that year. Following a year, the subscription will auto-renew.
• If you join the monthly payment plan, you will be locked in for at least three months.
• Avios subscriptions allow members to purchase a maximum of 200,000 Avios in any one calendar year. This is in addition to the 200,000 Avios allowance through ‘Buy Avios’.

Full terms and conditions can be found on the Avios subscription page.