100K Avios offers: How to Use Them & What to Know

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Avios have always been one of the most useful currencies to have when putting together award travel.

I’ve always been able to find a use for them pretty much wherever I go and there usually is pretty good value to be had with them, too. Plus, they are usually easy to search and book with, which can sometimes be half the battle.

With some 100K Avios offers floating around you might be wondering what type of use these points could have for you so let’s take a look!

Summary: There are several 100K bonuses for Avios which are airline miles that can be used on domestic airlines like American Airlines and Alaska Airlines as well as many great international partners. Many redemptions come with great value and low fees.

Current 100K Avios offers

You can currently earn up to 100,000 Avios with these different bonuses:

• British Airways Visa Signature® Card – Earn 75,000 Avios after you spend $5,000 within the first three months; earn an additional 25,000 Avios after you spend $20,000 in the first 12 months of account opening.

• Aer Lingus Visa Signature® card – Earn 75,000 Avios after you spend $5,000 within the first three months of account opening; earn an additional 25,000 Avios after you spend $20,000 in the first 12 months of account opening.

• Iberia Visa Signature® Card – Earn 75,000 Avios after you spend $5,000 within the first three months of account opening; earn an additional 25,000 Avios after you spend $20,000 in the first 12 months of account opening.

My take:

These are technically the highest public welcome bonuses for these cards but the high spending requirement knocks down the attractiveness.

75,000 Avios for $5K in spend is great but the the additional 25K points for $20,000 spend is a tall order for most.

This might be a tiered bonus where you just settle for the 75K, especially if you can supplement your Avios with points from other programs.

But it also might be a “no left overs” bonus if you can spend a lot since each card will offer you a special perk for spending $30,000.

These perks include:

• British Airways Visa Signature® Card – Travel Together Ticket (pay 50% of the Avios fare when travelling solo or get a second seat for a companion)

• Aer Lingus Visa Signature® card – Economy companion ticket with a paid economy flight

• Iberia Visa Signature® Card – Discount voucher of $1,000 to use toward two tickets on the same flight

You might want to wait around for an offer to come back that doesn’t require as much spend.

But since these Avios cards are subject to 5/24 you some may want to pick them up and then move on to bigger and better things.

By the way, it is possible to get all three of these cards but you would want to stagger out your applications over several months.

But what could you do with these Avios if you were to go for them?

Below, I’m gonna give you some info on how to use Avios without overwhelming you with a bunch of awards charts.

6 quick things to know British Airways Avios

There is a ton of minutia that we could cover for Avios but if you’re just looking to get the fundamentals down, here’s what you need to know:

1. Avios can be transferred between airlines

You can transfer Avios between British Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingus, and Qatar. (You can also pool points together with household members.)

To make transfers, your accounts need to be active for 90 days which is why I recommend people to immediately create accounts with all four programs. Might as well be prepared.

2. Avios bank transfer partners

British Airways is a transfer partner of Chase, American Express, Capital One, and Marriott. (Citi transfers to Qatar so it’s essentially a British Airways partner, too.) This makes it very easy to supplement your Avios with bank bonuses.

Consider adding to your Avios balance with these offers:

• Citi Premier® Card: Earn 80,000 ThankYou Points after you spend $4,000 in within the first 3 months
• Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card: Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months
• Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card: Earn 75,000 bonus miles after you spend $4,000 in the first 3 months

3. Avios award charts

Things can get a little bit confusing because each Avios program has its own award chart with off-peak and on-peak awards.

The award charts have zones and things get a little funny with the zones due to all of the tinkering they have done.

Then there are also separate partner award charts.

To simplify things below, I’m just gonna show you what would be possible if you were using British Airways Avios. I’ll also leave out the award charts for now.

4. Watch out for fees

When flying on British Airways, fees can sometimes get high, especially with business and first. Try to avoid ending up in London if possible.

5. Look for non-stop flights

You want to try to book nonstop flights as much as possible.

That is because you have to pay for each segment individually. One connection could easily add thousands of miles to your redemption cost. Two connections could nearly triple your cost.

6. Transfer bonuses

You can often find transfer bonuses from the banks to the different Avios programs.

Because you can transfer points between programs, a bonus to one program is essentially a bonus to all. Right now, WalletFlo promos shows Chase has a 30% transfer bonus that ends at the end of July 2022.

The best way to use British Airways Avios

My personal preference for using British Airways Avios is to use them on short to medium non-stop flights.

Long-haul flights can be doable especially because British Airways is a transfer partner of major programs so it’s pretty easy to build up a balance with them. Plus, there are some long-haul Avios sweet spots out there.

But generally, the short to medium haul flights is where it’s at for me.

I’ll walk you through some redemptions below so that you can get a sense of the value potential. I’ll show you flights within the US and also some international redemptions as well.

Getting around the US

You can use your Avios to book flights in the US on partners like American Airlines and Alaska Airlines. In fact, these can be some of the best ways to use Avios.

Here’s a look at the single partner mileage requirements for North America flights:

Flights between 1-650 miles:

• Economy: 7,500 Avios
• Business: 15,000 Avios

Flights between 651-1,151 miles

• Economy: 9,000 Avios
• Business: 16,500 Avios

Flights between 1,152-2,000 miles

• Economy: 11,000 Avios
• Business: 22,000 Avios

Let me show you some examples of these prices in action.

Domestic flights

For only 16,500 Avios you could fly business class one way from New York to Miami. For 22,000 Avios you could get between Chicago and Los Angeles in business class. The latter is a $600+ flight so in terms of value that’s about 2.7 to 3 cents per mile.

Hawaii

Both American Airlines and Alaska Airlines fly to Hawaii. On my very first search from Phoenix to Maui, I found an economy flight with seven seats available for only 13,000 Avios each! Those flights can go for $490 one way so depending on your flight preference that redemption can get you about 3.7 cents per mile.

Alaska

Maybe you want to break away from the heat and hop around Alaska?

Taking advantage of the zone one pricing, you can get from Anchorage to Juneau, Alaska, for 7,500 Avios.

You can often find those flights for around $250 in peak season which means that you’d be getting about 3.3 cents per mile, which is a great redemption value for economy. Even the lower prices offer over 2 cents per mile.

International examples

Avios can also be a great way to get around other parts of the globe. Let’s take a look.

Europe

For 15,000 Avios you could fly from London to Milan, Italy, in business class. That’s a flight going for $331 so your cents per mile comes out to 2.2.

That value is not quite as high as other redemptions but paying $1 in fees to get to Rome? I’m always down for that.

Australia

If you wanted to fly Qantas from Sydney, Australia to Melbourne, Australia, you could use 12,500 Avios + $27.20. Those business class flights go for about $530 so that is about 4 cents per mile. Not bad at all.

Also, 11,000 Avios + $118.40 can easily get you from Sydney to New Zealand.

Asia

If you find yourself on the continent of Asia, Avios can be a pretty great way to get around between different countries.

Take a look at this premium economy redemption between Hong Kong and Bangkok on partner Cathay Pacific. It’s going for 18,000 Avios and that flight could cost you $750. That’s about 3.7 cents per mile.

Middle East

You could fly from Paris to Doha en route to places like the Maldives for 43,000 Avios in business class. Factoring in the $190 in fees, that still comes out to about 8.3 cents per mile which is definitely outsized value.

Final word

So as you can see there are lots of uses for Avios.

I generally always have some Avios in the reserve that I tap into whenever I need to complete a trip especially if it involves connecting legs that I can’t cover with other miles.

• British Airways Visa Signature® Card – Earn 75,000 Avios after you spend $5,000 within the first three months; earn an additional 25,000 Avios after you spend $20,000 in the first 12 months of account opening.

• Aer Lingus Visa Signature® card – Earn 75,000 Avios after you spend $5,000 within the first three months of account opening; earn an additional 25,000 Avios after you spend $20,000 in the first 12 months of account opening.

• Iberia Visa Signature® Card – Earn 75,000 Avios after you spend $5,000 within the first three months of account opening; earn an additional 25,000 Avios after you spend $20,000 in the first 12 months of account opening.

Advertiser Disclosure: UponArriving has partnered with affiliate partners and may receive a commission from card issuers. UponArriving does not display all credit card offers and affiliate relationships may impact how offers are presented. 

Editorial Disclosure: Opinions, reviews, analysis & recommendations are UponArriving’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.