Book Flights With Avios to Your Dream Destination

British Airways Avios are the most popular airline loyalty scheme currency for frequent flyers in the United Kingdom. Research by Rewardflightfinder.com found that, when it comes to earning points, the majority of flight junkies get someone else to pay.

73% of Reward Flight Finder members surveyed said that they earnt points from using their BA Executive Club number when travelling on a flight paid for by their employer. This compared with just 38% of who said that they topped up their British Airways Avios balance by using credit cards, such as American Express Rewards cards or BA credit cards.

However, when it comes to spending points, our UK based sample of jetsetters clearly divert their attention from business to pleasure. 86% agreed with the statement that they use BA Avios to visit places they couldn’t otherwise afford to fly to. 69% said that they use them to buy Premium Economy or Business Class tickets that they couldn’t afford using cash.

Flying to Europe or Southern Africa can be one of the cheapest ways to book flights with Avios on BA, since their Reward Flight Saver deals to these locations allow you to use your points, plus a flat fee in cash and the airline covers the taxes and fees. However, the intrepid travellers we surveyed were, quite literally, in it for the long haul. 72% told us that they save their points to redeem on flights of more than 5 hours.

We can see this same predilection, for using points to fly further for less, when we delve into the data, revealing the most commonly searched for destinations on Reward Flight Finder. For reward flights departing from London airports, including both Heathrow and Gatwick, the Middle East, Asia, Africa and USA feature strongly in the list of most popular places. We looked at 6 months of data and found that the most commonly searched for destinations for flights booked using Avios, from London airports, were:

1. Singapore
2. Bangkok, Thailand
3. Cape Town, South Africa
4. Tokyo, Japan
5. Mauritius
6. Johannesburg, South Africa
7. Dubai, UAE
8. Miami, USA
9. Sydney, Australia
10. Malé, Maldives
11. New York, USA
12. Los Angeles, USA
13. Bridgetown, Barbados
14. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
15. Las Vegas, USA

When we combine the survey results and search data, it’s clear to see that our points fliers preferences tend towards iconic long haul locations. Short hops to Italy and Spain don’t even feature in the top 20 places searched for.

With pandemic enforced lockdowns coming to an end, we could probably all do with a holiday. So why not put your hard earned Avios points to good use and book a reward flight to your dream destination?