Reducing your British Airways return fare by £50

British Airways frequent flyer programme, BA Executive Club, uses Avios points as its “currency”.

The obvious way to make good use the BA Executive Club, as far as Malta is concerned, is to save up 20,000 Avios. That, plus £35 in capped fees/taxes, will get you a return economy flight to the UK.

However, there is an alternative that has recently been improved by BA, courtesy of its “part pay with Avios” option. 

In short, you can now spend 7500 Avios to get £50 off a return flight to Malta.

The good thing about this method of redemption, rather than the “20,000 Avios for a return flight” option is that you get full Avios points (and BA tier (status) points). You are also not subject to the more limited availability of the Avios redemption tickets (the 7500 for £50 off is not regarded as a “redemption” flight.

In particular, if you are flying to Malta at a time when cash flights are not very expensive (bear in mind they start from £110 return), this may be a very attractive option. Similarly, it works well for people who have smaller Avios balances (i.e. who just about manage to get 7500, and are never likely to get near 20,000 – and see further below for redeeming smaller amounts of Avios for smaller savings).

Conversely, if flights to Malta are very expensive, the £50 off for 7500 Avios is likely to represent poor value when compared to 20,000 Avios plus £35 for a return flight.

For completeness, you can also make smaller Avios redemptions for smaller reductions on return flights, as follows:

• Save £10 per person by redeeming 1,500 Avios per person
• Save £20 per person by redeeming 3,000 Avios per person
• Save £30 per person by redeeming 4,500 Avios per person

Clearly, this is a useful option if you’re only likely to have a very small Avios balance.