Link: British Airways Visa with 100,000 Bonus Avios [Expired] Please see Best Travel Credit Cards for the current best offers.
The 2012 British Airways Visa with 100,000 Bonus Miles (er, Avios Points) is back, as we wrote in British Airways Visa 100,000 Bonus Avios-Worth It? Since we’ve been getting follow-up questions from readers on British Airways, the Visa Credit Card and 100,000 Bonus and the best way to maximize the offer, we figured we’d write a series to answer the most frequently asked questions. We’ll cover British Airways Oneworld (and non-Oneworld) Partners in this post, the Companion Ticket, Fees and Fuel Surcharges, Household Accounts, Cash and Points Awards and more.
We’ll kick off with Maximizing Benefits with British Airways Partners, since many of the best redemptions even after last year’s award chart changes are with British Airways partners.
British Airways is a member of the Oneworld Alliance. Here are the oneworld airlines:
Note that former oneworld members Malev Hungarian Airlines and Mexicana have suspended operations.
For U.S.-based flyers, the oneworld partner airline you’re most likely to fly domestically is American Airlines; to South America, LAN or AA; to Europe, Iberia; to Asia, Cathay Pacific or Japan Airlines; and to Australia or New Zealand, Qantas.
British Airways also partners with non-oneworld airlines Aer Lingus (good for European awards) and Alaska Airlines (good for domestic awards, including Hawaii).
General Partner and Award Booking Tips
- As always, when using British Airways Avios points, you need to calculate the miles required using the British Airways calculator (or see our distance chart below) and book on the British Airways site or by calling British Airways. Booking by phone costs $25.
- If booking a single award that would use two or more oneworld partners, refer to this table for Avios costs for multi-carrier reward flights. As you can see, it's quite a bit more expensive; even the shortest distance, using multiple oneworld airlines on a single award, will cost you 30,000 Avios in economy (double that for business and triple that for first class).
- Note that when searching for award flights, the British Airways Executive Club site will automatically apply these higher oneworld Avios amounts to multi-partner itineraries. That's why it's best to search segment by segment, so you can hopefully piece together your award using just one partner and get the award chart above, rather than the multi-partner one below.
- It will usually cost fewer Avios if you book each segment at the single partner rate
- If the multi-partner oneworld award is more expensive, before you book separate single partner tickets, be aware that the more expensive multi-partner Oneworld award would protect you in the event of a misconnection due to a cancellation or delay, while single partner tickets won’t
- Decide whether to build in lots of extra time or even a stop at each connection point, or pay more Avios for a multi-partner award
- Awards on Alaska Airlines and Aer Lingus cannot be booked on the British Airways site; you will need to search using Award Nexus or Expert Flyer. Searching on Alaska Airlines won’t be accurate as they release more award seats to their own members than to partners such as British Airways
- Beware of codeshare flights; as a general rule, partner awards booked with British Airways Avios must be on British Airways partners, they cannot be on codeshares of those partners
- Double check baggage allowance with operating carrier(s), as British Airways has been known to provide inaccurate partner baggage allowance information
American Airlines
Award Search: use aa.com and search for MileSAAver awards
Hubs and key destinations (not exhaustive):
New York (JFK): Barcelona, Boston, Buenos Aires, Cancun, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, London, Los Angeles, Madrid, Miami, Milan, Orlando, Paris, Punta Cana, Rio de Janeiro, Rome, Saint Thomas, San Diego, San Juan, San Francisco, Seattle, Tampa, Tokyo
Miami (MIA): Aruba, Atlanta, Baltimore, Barcelona, Boston, Buenos Aires, Cancun, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Guayaquil, Houston, Las Vegas, Lima, London, Los Angeles, Madrid, Mexico City, Montreal, New Orleans, New York, Orlando, Paris, Phoenix, Rio de Janeiro, Saint Thomas, San Francisco, Seattle, Tampa, Toronto, Washington DC (DCA): Cancun, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, Phoenix, San Diego, San Francisco
Chicago (ORD): Beijing, Boston, Cancun, Dallas, Dublin, Honolulu, Las Vegas, London, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Miami, New Orleans, Orlando, Paris, Phoenix, Rome, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Shanghai, Tampa, Tokyo, Washington, DC
Dallas (DFW): Atlanta, Boston, Buenos Aires, Cancun, Chicago, Frankfurt, Honolulu, Kahului, Las Vegas, London, Los Angeles, Madrid, Mexico City, Miami, Montreal, New Orleans, New York, Orlando, Paris, Phoenix, Rio de Janeiro, San Diego, San Francisco, San Juan, Seattle, Tampa, Tokyo, Vancouver, Washington DC
Los Angeles: Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Honolulu, Kahului, Kona, Las Vegas, Lihue, London, Miami, New Orleans, New York, Orlando, San Francisco, San Juan, Shanghai, Tokyo, Toronto, Washington DC
LAN (LAN Chile, LAN Peru, LAN Argentina)
Award Search: British Airways site
Main Hubs: Lima, Santiago
US Gateways: Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Francisco
Key Routes:
Miami: Buenos Aires, Guayaquil, Quito, Santiago
New York: Guayaquil, Lima
Lima: Cusco (Machu Picchu), Guayaquil, Los Angeles, New York, Santiago, Sao Paulo
Buenos Aires: Mendoza, Cordoba, Iguazu
Santiago: Buenos Aires, Easter Island, La Serena, La Paz, Lima, Miami, Montevideo
Easter Island: Papeete (Tahiti), Santiago
Cathay Pacific
Award Search: British Airways site
Main hub: Hong Kong
US: Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco
Canada: Toronto, Vancouver
Asia: Bangkok, Beijing, Denpasar, Ho Chi Minh City, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Osaka, Penang, Seoul, Taipei, Tokyo
Australia/New Zealand: Adelaide, Auckland, Brisbane, Cairns, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney,
Europe: Amsterdam, Frankfurt, London, Milan, Moscow, Paris, Rome
India: Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai
Middle East: Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Dubai, Jeddah, Riyadh
Iberia
Award Search: British Airways site
Main hub: Madrid
Key Routes:
Madrid: Amsterdam, Athens, Barcelona, Berlin, Chicago, Frankfurt, Istanbul, Johannesburg, London, Miami, Moscow, New York, Paris, Rome, Tel Aviv
Qantas
Award Search: British Airways site
Main hub: Sydney
Key Routes:
Sydney: Auckland, Bangkok, Christchurch, Dallas, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Honolulu, London, Los Angeles, New York, Shanghai, Singapore, Tokyo
Melbourne: Auckland, Bangkok, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, Singapore
Alaska Airlines
Main hubs: Anchorage, Portland, Seattle
Award Search: American Airlines site, then call British Airways to book (can’t search Alaska availability on British Airways site)
Key Routes:
Portland: Anchorage, Boston, Chicago, Honolulu, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Kahului, Seattle
Seattle: Anchorage, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Honolulu, Las Vegas, Lihue, Los Angeles, Kahului, Kona, Miami, New York, Orlando, Phoenix, Portland, San Francisco, Vancouver, Washington, DC
San Francisco: Honolulu, Lihue, Kahului, Kona, Seattle
Aer Lingus
Main hubs: Dublin, Shannon
Award Search: Award Nexus or Expert Flyer (can’t search Aer Lingus availability on British Airways site)
Key Routes:
Dublin: Athens, Berlin, Boston, Chicago, Frankfurt, London, Madrid, New York, Paris, Rome, Stockholm
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