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🛫 BA Avios Devaluation + Boosting Your Avios Balance with Barclays Avios Rewards

🛫 BA Avios Devaluation + Boosting Your Avios Balance with Barclays Avios Rewards

Plus Smart Redemptions extension updates

Jack Culpan & Sylvie Simpson
July 14, 2024 • Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes

British Airways Avios Devaluation (AA and Alaska) + Boosting Your Avios Balance with Barclays Avios Rewards

Hello, Adventurous Travellers, and Happy Sunday!

From recent changes in Avios redemption rates with American Airlines and Alaska Airlines to fresh avenues for earning Avios, there's a lot to catch up on.

Let's get started:

British Airways Increases Avios Needed for AA and Alaska Airlines: How recent devaluations impact your points and redemption options with other Oneworld airlines.
Collect Avios with Barclays Avios Rewards: Learn how to earn Avios with Barclays and maximise your points without a credit card.
Lucky BA Passengers Watch Football Mid-Flight: A quick-thinking flight attendant who made sure passengers didn't miss England’s victory.
Smart Redemptions Updates: Firefox Extension now available + Virgin Atlantic and Etihad redemptions added.

Another British Airways Devaluation: More Avios Needed to Redeem Flights with American Airlines and Alaska Airlines

NOTE: A devaluation is when it costs more points to book the same flights.

British Airways has yet again increased the number of Avios needed to book with AA and Alaska Airlines without giving any notice.

Previously, flying with AA or Alaska Airlines using Avios was a great redemption option. But booking with these airlines via BA is not a sweet spot anymore… You will now need up to 56% more Avios for redemption.

The new redemption rates are as follows:

Flight Distance	Number of Avios Needed for Economy Flights Vs Previous	Number of Avios Needed for First Class Vs Previous
Up to 650 Miles	12,000 (an increase of 3,750)	24,000 (an increase of 7,500)
650 - 1,151 Miles	16,000 (an increase of 5,000)	32,000 (an increase of 11,500)
1,151 - 2,000 Miles	18,000 (an increase of 3,500)	40,000 (an increase of 11,000)
2,000 - 3,000 Miles	20,000 (an increase of 4,000)	50,000 (an increase of 7,500)

However, these redemption rates only affect flights booked through the British Airways Executive Club.

You will now be better off transferring your Avios to the Qatar Airways Privilege Club or Finnair to book AA or Alaska Airlines flights.

You would also be better off booking directly with AAdvantage Miles or Alaska Mileage Plan using their reward currency, but Avios are always easier to earn—especially in the UK!

The redemption rates via Qatar are much lower:

Some of these redemption rates are half the Avios needed when booking through the BA Executive Club.

Flight Distance	Number of Qatar Avios Needed in Economy	Number of Qatar Avios Needed in First
Up to 650 Miles	6,000	12,500
650 - 1,151 Miles	9,000	16,500
1,151 - 2,000 Miles	11,000	22,200
2,000 - 3,000 Miles	13,000	38,750

Booking through Finnair Plus is also a good option. Finnair is now the better option for short domestic and long flights.

Here are the redemption rates with Finnair Plus:

	Miles Needed to Redeem Economy	Miles Needed to Redeem First Class
American Airlines	11,000	30,000
Alaska Airlines	11,000	40,000

Collecting Avios with Barclays Avios Rewards

Barclays currently offers the only bank account where you earn Avios with a debit rather than a credit card.

Switching to Barclays banking could be a good idea if you don’t like credit cards or want to collect lots of extra Avios.

To be eligible, you must have a Barclays current account. You can then upgrade to Barclays Premier Banking for £12 per month. This is free if you have a Barclays Wealth Management account.

You will then collect 1,500 Avios each month. As well as this, you’ll get a joining bonus of 25,000 Avios and complete a full bank account switch within three months.

If you’re already a Barclays customer, you’ll get a joining bonus of 2,500 Avios.

Track the number of Avios earned in the Barclays App

You will also get a 7,000 bonus Avios, or a BA cabin upgrade voucher each year.

Barclays Avios Plus also comes with five discounted airport lounge passes each year with Dragonpass. These include lounges like Plaza Premium and No.1.

Bonus Avios can then be collected for:

Barclays Mortgages - 700 Avios per month + a 2,000 Avios joining bonus.
Barclays Life Insurance - 150 Avios per month for 12 months or 500 for 12 months with critical illness cover.
Barclay Loans - 200 Avios per month + a 2000 Avios joining bonus

Barclays is currently offering £175. To get this bonus, you will need to:

Switch your current account by 30th August.
Sign up for Barclays Blue Rewards.
Add £800 to the account by 30th August.

Note: Being a member of Barclays Avios Rewards means you can’t be a member of Blue Rewards - you can only choose one! To get the signup bonus, you must first sign up for Blue Rewards and then switch after 30th August.

The Credit Card Option

You can earn even more Avios by getting the Barclays Avios Plus credit card (£20 per month). You will then get:

- 4 complimentary lounge passes

- 25,000 Avios for spending £3000 in the first three months.

- £1.5 Avios per £ spent.

- 7000 Avios or a cabin upgrade voucher for spending £10,000 in 12 months.

There’s also the free Barclays Avios credit card to earn 1 Avios per £ spent.

Lucky BA Passengers Watch the Football Mid-Flight

When a flight from Heraklion to Heathrow was delayed last Saturday, a quick-thinking staff member streamed the game live, ensuring nobody missed England’s dramatic penalty shootout win against Switzerland.

The flight, which was meant to depart at 16:50, was delayed and eventually took off at 17:27. This delay meant that passengers, who had planned to be on the ground by 18:32 to catch the end of the game, were still airborne as the match went into extra time and penalties.

While unable to use their devices, onboard football fans were thrilled when the flight attendant held up a phone streaming the match live and caught the moment Trent Alexander-Arnold secured England’s 5-3 victory in the shootout after a 1-1 draw.

Updates to the Smart Redemptions Extension

If you haven’t heard about Smart Redemptions, the Chrome Extension I built will show you the cost of an Avios redemption in Google Flights and whether the redemptions are good value or not.

It also displays the dates (peak/off-peak) and the taxes.

I’m adding more airlines all the time!