Where Can I Fly To For 5000 Avios Points?

If you are looking to sign up for the British Airways American Express^® Credit Card you might be wondering what the sign-up bonus of 5000 avios points is worth? (You’ll need to spend £1,000 within 3 months to get it.) Or where you can fly to for 5000 Avios points? Read on to find out!

Am I eligible for the 5000 Avios points sign-up bonus?

To be eligible for this bonus you can’t have held or current hold any Avios earning American Express in the last 24 months. By taking this card out you also stop yourself getting a bonus on any other personal American Express card except for the Platinum Card. For further information on eligibility take a look at our article here – https://pointsuncovered.com/american-express/amex-changes-sign-up-bonus-eligibility/

If you are completely new to Amex you may interested in taking a look at our Fast Track to 250,000 Marriott Points or Fast Track to 200,000 Avios Points.

You can also be referred by myself for the British Airways American Express® Card, you will receive an additional 1000 Avios points. Get a referral here – https://pointsuncovered.com/amex-referral-link-uk/

Please note…

This is my experience using the points system and is not a recommendation of any financial product. There are other credit cards which can earn you travel points including IHG credit card, Tesco Credit Cards (by exchanging Clubcard points for avios, hotel stays and more) & Virgin Atlantic credit card. If you use my link for a referral to an American Express card upon you being accepted I will receive points, this varies between 9,000 – 18,000 depending on the card I refer you from.

Avios

Avios is one of the most popular frequent flyer/point schemes in the UK. As it covers lots of short haul and long haul flights from the UK it’s also my favourite flying scheme to redeem points into. To calculate how many points you will need for a redemption you can use BA’s reward flight calculator here – https://www.britishairways.com/travel/avios-calculator/public/en_gb?eId=199006 – There is also a useful third party tool called reward flight finder that you can find here – https://rewardflightfinder.com/

One of my favourite things about British Airways and Avios is their reward flight saver scheme (RFS.) This caps economy returns at £35pp and business at £50pp in Europe. You’re eligible as long as you’ve collected at least one Avios in the past 12 months. It’s important to note this might not be the cheapest way to travel with your Avios points, also check reward flights as two single fares as occasionally this will be cheaper.

So lets see where 5000 Avios points could get you…

The card earns 1 Avios per pound so meeting the spend target will also give you an additional 1000 Avios. If you are referred you will receive an additional 1000 Avios on top of this. A total of 7,000 Avios before any additional spending.

1 single economy seat from London to Zone 1 destinations in Europe which include Amsterdam, Berlin, Copenhagen & Paris for 4000 points (off peak, 4500 points peak) & £17.50 per person. To save up for a return double the amount of avios and £ required.

If you are referred for the extra bonus points you could also do 1 single economy seat from London to Zone 2 destinations in Europe which include Venice, Budapest & Ibiza. This will cost you 6500 points (off peak, 7500 points peak) & £17.50… for peak you’d have to find an additional 500 points!

For a full breakdown of which destinations full in these zones take a look below

Zone 1

Aberdeen, Amsterdam, Basel, Belfast, Bergerac, Berlin, Bilbao, Billund, Bordeaux, Brussels, Chambery, Cologne, Copenhagen, Dublin, Dusseldorf, Edinburgh, Frankfurt, Friedrichshafen, Geneva, Genoa, Glasgow, Gothenburg, Grenoble, Hamburg, Hannover, Innsbruck, Inverness, Jersey, Leeds Bradford, Limoges, Luxembourg, Lyon, Manchester, Marseille, Milan, Munich, Nantes, Newcastle, Nice, Paris, Prague, Quimper, Rotterdam, Salzburg, Stuttgart, Toulouse, Turin & Zurich

Zone 2

Algiers, Alicante, Almeria, Barcelona, Bari, Bologna, Brindisi, Budapest, Cagliari, Dubrovnik, Faro, Figari, Florence, Gibraltar, Granada, Helsinki, Ibiza, Krakow, Lisbon, Madrid, Malaga, Menorca, Naples, Olbia, Oslo, Palermo, Palma, Pisa, Porto, Pula, Rome, Seville, Split, Stockholm, Valencia, Venice, Verona, Vienna, Warsaw & Zagreb

How can I earn more Avios on my card?

Apart from spending more on your card you can earn additional Avios by referring your friends and family to American Express cards. If they join successfully through your link you will receive an additional 4,000 Avios per friends up to a total of 90,000 Avios a year! If you email us through our referral page we’ll also add your link to our referral link split! – https://pointsuncovered.com/amex-referral-link-uk/

What value should I be aiming to get on an Avios redemption?

Unless you are travelling in Europe do not redeem avios points for economy. This is more often than not very poor value (points to pence) and you’d be better off paying cash for economy or redeeming for a business or first redemption. With avios points I aim for at least 1p to a point, but depending on how you earn your points/how you normally fly you may have a different valuation of your points. If you often fly budget airlines in Europe you may find saving your points for premium long haul redemptions better value!

Where would you fly to with 5000 Avios points?