Avios is a One World frequent flyer program used by British Airways, Iberia and Aer Lingus. Why should you care? For starters, Avios offers fantastic value for short haul business class flights in Australia and around the world since it utilises a distance based award redemption chart. Redeeming your Avios through British Airways Executive Club is generally the easiest way to book cheap Qantas award tickets. Look at Avios as a type of currency that can be transferred in between the participating programs instantly. To start off, head over to https://www.avios.com/av/en_gb/ and sign up for a free account. You will notice that it’s not open to Australian residents; it’s not a problem. Use a random address or a forwarding address to solve this issue, Avios never sends out mail anyway.
What’s the deal?
UPDATE: After publishing this post, the deal got adjusted and the bonus points have been halved as of 02/09/2017. If you missed out make sure to subscribe to our newsletter or Facebook page and never miss a deal like this again!
Right now you can buy a digital newspaper subscription to the Irish Independent & Sunday Independent which comes with 18,000 Avios for €160 (123.2 Euro after you claim VAT back) which works out to about AU$238 ($183 after VAT).
I generally don’t buy miles speculatively but at this rate, you can’t go wrong. It’s a bargain.
Here’s how you buy the subscription:
- Head on over to: https://www.reachhomedelivery.ie/newspapers-magazines/home/index/BUNDLE_AVIOS_OFFER
- Select the digital offer:
- Proceed through the steps to make an account and enter your payment information (use an FX free card if you have it – for me, that’s Bankwest World Mastercard)
- Once you have made the purchase you will receive 2 emails. One is a copy of your receipt the other one is with info on how to access your digital news paper.
- By now you will be wondering how you are going to redeem your Avios and where they are! No panic, the actual Avios are sent to you in digital voucher format and they will be dispatched via email 28 days after you have made the purchase.
I’ve emailed customer support about this and can confirm this is the case. When the voucher arrives you can go and claim it by visiting www.aviosvouchers.com and completing all the required details, at this stage you will also need your Avios number in order to submit the claim. - Claim the VAT back! Irish VAT is 23%, living in Australia we can reduce the cost per Avios even further by proactively emailing [email protected] and requesting a VAT refund to your credit card. The customer service team are very responsive during business hours and while you’re at it, remind them to cancel your subscription as well (stop it from auto renewing after 12 months). Unless you really care for more than 1 year of Irish Independent news…
What Can I Do With These Avios?
As I mentioned before, Avios are great for short haul flights in Economy but Especially Business class. For example, Sydney to Melbourne is a steal at only 9000 Avios in Qantas Business Class or 4500 in Economy. Avios are also great for short hops around Asia on Cathay Pacific operated flights (or other One World partners for that matter).
My friend Dave from Credit Flyer has written up a detailed guide about all the Australian redemption options and pricing with Avios so I suggest you go check out his post here.
Got a question or comment? Drop me a line in the comment section or get in touch via Facebook, Twitter or Instagram! And if you want to be notified about deals like this in the future, make sure to sign up for my no-bull-shit newsletter. Right now, anyone that subscribes goes in the running to win 1 of 4 AwardWallet Plus upgrade coupons or a set of Silver Qantas luggage tags.
