Can Avios be used on other airlines?

Can Avios be used on other airlines? Perhaps you have a large Avios balance and are fed up with BA! Or maybe BA doesn’t fly the route you want to take for your holiday and are looking for other options. The good news is you can use Avios on other airlines. Read on to find out more!

Can Avios be used on other airlines?

The good news is that you can use Avios on other airlines… There is a grand total of 27 Airlines on which you can redeem your Avios points for flights on.

Next to each Airline is the code for which programme you can book that particular Airline tickets from. You can transfer Avios points between the main Avios schemes using the ‘Combine My Avios’ function in whichever programme you are using.

British Airways – https://www.britishairways.com/

Iberia Plus – https://www.iberia.com/us/all-iberiaplus/

To transfer to or from an Iberia Plus account your account must have been open for 90 days and have ‘earned’ at least 1 Avios. The easiest way to do this would be to send some of your membership reward points into Iberia Plus.

AerClub – https://www.aerlingus.com/aerclub/

Vueling – https://www.vueling.com/en

Code

BA – British Airways

IB – Iberia Plus

AV – AerClub / Vueling Club.

Airlines

Aer Lingus (AV – online & BA – telephone)

Air Nostrum / Iberia Regional (IB, BA)

Alaska Airlines (BA – telephone)

American Airlines (BA, IB)

Avianca (IB)

Binter Canarias (IB)

British Airways (AV, BA, IB)

Cathay Dragon (BA, IB)

Cathay Pacific (BA, IB)

Comair (BA)

Finnair (BA, IB)

Iberia (AV, BA, IB)

Iberia Express (AV, BA, IB)

Interjet (IB)

Japan Airlines (BA, IB)

LATAM (BA, IB)

LEVEL (IB)

Malaysia Airlines (BA, IB)

Qantas (BA, IB)

QantasLink (BA – telephone)

Qatar Airways (BA, IB)

Royal Air Maroc (BA, IB)

Royal Jordanian (BA, IB)

S7 Airlines (BA, IB)

SriLankan Airlines (BA, IB)

SUN-AIR of Scandinavia (BA)

Vueling (AV, IB)

Why would I use my Avios on other Airlines/Is it a good deal?

The three main reasons why you might want use Avios on other Airlines are…

1. You’ll often find ‘taxes and fees’ cheaper on other Airlines.
2. Different airlines have different off-peak and peak dates meaning you could get away for cheaper with another airline.
3. Different/better product/experience. A lot of people rate other Airlines’ Business Class to be of a much better standard than BA. Take a look at Qatar Airways Qsuite for example – https://www.qatarairways.com/en-gb/onboard/qsuite.html

The great thing about this is that you can compare between airlines to get the best deal in terms of Avios cost, ‘taxes and fees’ and in terms of the quality of the product.

One key thing to remember is that if you have either of the BA American Express cards and have earned a 2-4-1 voucher you can ONLY USE THIS VOUCHER ON BA FLIGHTS. This means redemptions will be considerably more expensive for couples on non BA flights if you hold a voucher.

American Express Companion Voucher

With the British Airways American Express® Credit Card & British Airways American Express^® Premium Plus Card you can earn a companion voucher (which is basically a 2-4-1 Avios voucher) when you spend £20,000 on free BA Amex & £10,000 on the premium BA Amex within a year. This voucher will allow you to book 2 seats for the cost of 1 seat in Avios. You will need to pay the ‘taxes & fees’ for both seats, however.

If you want more information on these two cards see here – https://www.americanexpress.com/uk/credit-cards/all-cards/?filter=airline&intlink=uk-en-hp-ca2-bapp-all-avios-03072019-HeroID_MGMJun20ShopSmallHPBanner-1280

If you would like a referral for bonus points, see here – https://pointsuncovered.com/amex-referral-link-uk/

To be eligible for a sign-up bonus you can’t have held or currently hold any Avios earning American Express in the last 24 months.

Conclusion

Not only do you have a wider selection of routes if you look outside of using your Avios on a BA flight but there can also be some real value to be had with cheaper taxes and different peak/off peak dates for cheaper Avios bookings. The only shame is you can’t use your American Express Companion Voucher!