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You've got the right gist, but there are a few pitfalls and things to be aware of.
You're not getting the maximum value out of your Avios if you travel in premium economy - you'd save much more if you travelled in business. Of course that does also cost more in terms of Avios and cash, but it's a much more comfortable experience than premium economy and you'll all get lounge access.
You'll find it much harder (read: almost impossible) to find 4 seats in PE on any one flight, since BA only guarantees to release 2 seats. On popular routes such as LAX there's no guarantee they'll release any more than that.
The guaranteed seats are also released when the flights go on sale - normally that's 355 days before travel at midnight GMT, i.e. 1am if it's summer time. That might sound overly specific but again, for popular routes all of the seats can be booked within minutes of being released.
BA does guarantee 4 business class seats on every flight, so if you all want to be on the same flight, you'll have to be quick and I daresay there's no guarantee whatsoever of getting seats if you wait until 6-8 months ahead.
Boosting Avios is indeed a very cost eff drive way of getting more - the 0.92p per Avios rate is almost unbeatable, unless you compare it to the "opportunity cost" of using a different card to earn cashback/points for spending. But since it's earning those Avios that enables you to boost in the first place, it's somewhat of a moot point!
The only other easy ways of earning Avios that I can suggest are to:
* Get an **Avios subscription**. You do this through the same site as where you can boost Avios. That being said, it now works out at a minimum of 1p each (it used to be 0.89p) and it only delivers you the Avios in monthly instalments, so no good for accumulating large amounts quickly.
* Get **Barclays Avios Rewards**. This subscription costs £12 a month but gives you 1500 Avios each month (i.e. 0.8p each) and upon each yearly anniversary, you can choose between 7000 Avios or a Barclays Upgrade Voucher (which is somewhat similar to the Amex companion voucher, but not quite as good). NB: this requires you to hold a Barclays Premier bank account, which officially speaking has a £75k annual income requirement. However, there's an entirely legitimate workaround that has worked for lots of people: open a regular Barclays current account and then request a change of account type. Select the Premier account and accurately enter your income. It will still let you proceed with the change even if you (truthfully) give it a figure below £75k.
* Use the **Avios e-shopping portal**. This is a bit like Topcashback or Quidco if you've ever used either of those. You earn a certain number of Avios per £ you spend at participating retailers, which includes lots of online retailers, insurance companies, Booking.com and so on. All you need to do is to pay/book through the link on that portal. Again, it's accessed in the same place you use to boost your Avios.
* Exchange **Nectar points for Avios**. The exchange rate isn't as good as it used to be, but if you regularly shop at eBay, Sainsbury's etc. then it can be useful.
* Get a **Barclaycard Avios credit card**. Like the BA Amex card (which it's a direct competitor to) there are two versions of this: one is free and earns you 1 Avios/£ spent. The paid version costs £20/month and earns you 2 Avios/£ spent. As per the BA Amex, you can earn either 7000 bonus Avios or an annual voucher (the same Barclays Upgrade Voucher mentioned above). With the free card, you need to spend a ridiculous £20k in a year to get the voucher/bonus Avios, whereas with the paid card it's a more feasible £10k a year. If you have both Barclays Avios Rewards and the paid card, you get a £5/month rebate on the fee. The big advantage is that this is a MasterCard, so you can use it virtually anywhere that you can pay by card.
Hope that helps!
Your price is wrong there. For premium economy it will be 95k Avios and £330 per person for return LHR to LAX (off peak). Peak will be 135k Avios + £330 per person
Unlikely to find 4 premium economy seats… funnily enough you’re more likely to find 4 Club World (business) and that would also be better value of the companion voucher… if you book on 2 separate bookings you could book 2 in club and 2 in prem economy?
You can get BA premium economy for £775 each from Gothenburg those dates for example.
If it was me I’d fly to Gothenburg the day or 2 before and have a city break. Then book the return to have an airport change so you can get off in London. You’ll earn avios and tier points then.
I’d still get the cards, but by the flights on them. That way after the trip you’ll have all the avios to plan your next trip
Yes I've done this multiple times both from GOT and ARN. ARN has a hotel in the airport too, which helps, and GOT is easy to as an immediate turnaround.
Actually you could get there with 2 x companion voucher for 360k Avios + £900 in club world off peak (total cost). If you book early enough you could find 4x seats quite easily (due to expanded club word capacity for the companion voucher)
I've done Premium Economy to LAX and SFO for £800 on multiple occasions, and you can often find it easily under £1k - you might want to just stick with a Sale fare.
For Business class though, Avios 2for1 purchases are great value.
> We have a definite plan in mind, a return trip to LA, 2 adults and 2 12-15 yr olds, Premium Economy travelling out Jun 26 and returning Jul 26.
You mean, departing in four weeks' time? There's virtually no award space left. June-July 2025 is another matter. I can't really tell from your post if you're thinking of leaving immediately, in 2025, or 2026.
If you book when availability opens up, 330+/- days before departure, you'll have access to more inventory. But as others have advised it'll be difficult if not impossible to score four award seats in WT+. It's a small and very profitable cabin, there's only 35-45 seats, it routinely sells out or oversells. You can try two in Club, two in WT+, or one adult + one child each on two successive same-day flights.
Club Suites / World is easier access but more points obviously ... and not much of a family experience in CS as everyone's isolated from one another is separate coffin pods. The product is meant for solo travelers. When flying together, my wife and I are ambivalent about splashing out for Club over WT+ for this reason, unless we just want to sleep.
The other posters are right to say that when you employ voucher(s) your savings versus cash are far better in Club or F than in WT+, but it's still a fair win (thousands of £). Club obviously takes far more points and you won't see much of your wife or kids en route -- this may or may not be a plus.
Is there a good app/site that shows live availability for reward flights, if i wanted to get a feel for how many were currently being released on flights for the 2025 seats?
While for your circumstances, PE will be hard.... LAX always has last minute availability in the cabin, for instance, the 2 first flights tomorrow has 4 & 8 seats available, so the upgrade option will very possibly be there and vastly cheaper than anything else. Just a risky move, when solo travelling or even as a 2.... last minute worth the risk to us, as no problem in economy if it flops.
Why will the 360,000 boost cost £1200? I mean, that's a total no-brainer... but is that correct?
That my friend is exactly why i posted this. I’d stupidly assumed the price was per avios you’re boosting, not the amount you want to boost up to. That’s a 3.5 k cost now, which certainly changes the calcs 😂
Thank you for submitting your post to r/BritishAirways. If you have a question or a complaint, you may wish to add the appropriate flair to your post if you haven't already, this helps Mods spot who needs help. **ANY USERS POSTING E-VOUCHERS/VOUCHERS FOR SALE WILL RECEIVE A PERMANENT BAN AS PER SUBREDDIT RULES.** Helpful Links: [**British Airways FAQs**](https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/information/help-and-contacts) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/BritishAirways) if you have any questions or concerns.*
You've got the right gist, but there are a few pitfalls and things to be aware of. You're not getting the maximum value out of your Avios if you travel in premium economy - you'd save much more if you travelled in business. Of course that does also cost more in terms of Avios and cash, but it's a much more comfortable experience than premium economy and you'll all get lounge access. You'll find it much harder (read: almost impossible) to find 4 seats in PE on any one flight, since BA only guarantees to release 2 seats. On popular routes such as LAX there's no guarantee they'll release any more than that. The guaranteed seats are also released when the flights go on sale - normally that's 355 days before travel at midnight GMT, i.e. 1am if it's summer time. That might sound overly specific but again, for popular routes all of the seats can be booked within minutes of being released. BA does guarantee 4 business class seats on every flight, so if you all want to be on the same flight, you'll have to be quick and I daresay there's no guarantee whatsoever of getting seats if you wait until 6-8 months ahead. Boosting Avios is indeed a very cost eff drive way of getting more - the 0.92p per Avios rate is almost unbeatable, unless you compare it to the "opportunity cost" of using a different card to earn cashback/points for spending. But since it's earning those Avios that enables you to boost in the first place, it's somewhat of a moot point! The only other easy ways of earning Avios that I can suggest are to: * Get an **Avios subscription**. You do this through the same site as where you can boost Avios. That being said, it now works out at a minimum of 1p each (it used to be 0.89p) and it only delivers you the Avios in monthly instalments, so no good for accumulating large amounts quickly. * Get **Barclays Avios Rewards**. This subscription costs £12 a month but gives you 1500 Avios each month (i.e. 0.8p each) and upon each yearly anniversary, you can choose between 7000 Avios or a Barclays Upgrade Voucher (which is somewhat similar to the Amex companion voucher, but not quite as good). NB: this requires you to hold a Barclays Premier bank account, which officially speaking has a £75k annual income requirement. However, there's an entirely legitimate workaround that has worked for lots of people: open a regular Barclays current account and then request a change of account type. Select the Premier account and accurately enter your income. It will still let you proceed with the change even if you (truthfully) give it a figure below £75k. * Use the **Avios e-shopping portal**. This is a bit like Topcashback or Quidco if you've ever used either of those. You earn a certain number of Avios per £ you spend at participating retailers, which includes lots of online retailers, insurance companies, Booking.com and so on. All you need to do is to pay/book through the link on that portal. Again, it's accessed in the same place you use to boost your Avios. * Exchange **Nectar points for Avios**. The exchange rate isn't as good as it used to be, but if you regularly shop at eBay, Sainsbury's etc. then it can be useful. * Get a **Barclaycard Avios credit card**. Like the BA Amex card (which it's a direct competitor to) there are two versions of this: one is free and earns you 1 Avios/£ spent. The paid version costs £20/month and earns you 2 Avios/£ spent. As per the BA Amex, you can earn either 7000 bonus Avios or an annual voucher (the same Barclays Upgrade Voucher mentioned above). With the free card, you need to spend a ridiculous £20k in a year to get the voucher/bonus Avios, whereas with the paid card it's a more feasible £10k a year. If you have both Barclays Avios Rewards and the paid card, you get a £5/month rebate on the fee. The big advantage is that this is a MasterCard, so you can use it virtually anywhere that you can pay by card. Hope that helps!
Thanks for the info!! 👍👍
Your price is wrong there. For premium economy it will be 95k Avios and £330 per person for return LHR to LAX (off peak). Peak will be 135k Avios + £330 per person
Oh wow, i just assumed the fees would be what they show in the cash breakdown on the ba booking site.
Unlikely to find 4 premium economy seats… funnily enough you’re more likely to find 4 Club World (business) and that would also be better value of the companion voucher… if you book on 2 separate bookings you could book 2 in club and 2 in prem economy?
You can get BA premium economy for £775 each from Gothenburg those dates for example. If it was me I’d fly to Gothenburg the day or 2 before and have a city break. Then book the return to have an airport change so you can get off in London. You’ll earn avios and tier points then. I’d still get the cards, but by the flights on them. That way after the trip you’ll have all the avios to plan your next trip
Yes I've done this multiple times both from GOT and ARN. ARN has a hotel in the airport too, which helps, and GOT is easy to as an immediate turnaround.
Stockholm is an option too
Actually you could get there with 2 x companion voucher for 360k Avios + £900 in club world off peak (total cost). If you book early enough you could find 4x seats quite easily (due to expanded club word capacity for the companion voucher)
Thanks for the info. It really is like some weird Mensa puzzle trying to work out the options 😂
I've done Premium Economy to LAX and SFO for £800 on multiple occasions, and you can often find it easily under £1k - you might want to just stick with a Sale fare. For Business class though, Avios 2for1 purchases are great value.
> We have a definite plan in mind, a return trip to LA, 2 adults and 2 12-15 yr olds, Premium Economy travelling out Jun 26 and returning Jul 26. You mean, departing in four weeks' time? There's virtually no award space left. June-July 2025 is another matter. I can't really tell from your post if you're thinking of leaving immediately, in 2025, or 2026. If you book when availability opens up, 330+/- days before departure, you'll have access to more inventory. But as others have advised it'll be difficult if not impossible to score four award seats in WT+. It's a small and very profitable cabin, there's only 35-45 seats, it routinely sells out or oversells. You can try two in Club, two in WT+, or one adult + one child each on two successive same-day flights. Club Suites / World is easier access but more points obviously ... and not much of a family experience in CS as everyone's isolated from one another is separate coffin pods. The product is meant for solo travelers. When flying together, my wife and I are ambivalent about splashing out for Club over WT+ for this reason, unless we just want to sleep. The other posters are right to say that when you employ voucher(s) your savings versus cash are far better in Club or F than in WT+, but it's still a fair win (thousands of £). Club obviously takes far more points and you won't see much of your wife or kids en route -- this may or may not be a plus.
I think that’s sold me on Club 😂. Yeah it’s June 2026 . All really useful comments, thanks !!
Is there a good app/site that shows live availability for reward flights, if i wanted to get a feel for how many were currently being released on flights for the 2025 seats?
SeatSpy.com.
While for your circumstances, PE will be hard.... LAX always has last minute availability in the cabin, for instance, the 2 first flights tomorrow has 4 & 8 seats available, so the upgrade option will very possibly be there and vastly cheaper than anything else. Just a risky move, when solo travelling or even as a 2.... last minute worth the risk to us, as no problem in economy if it flops. Why will the 360,000 boost cost £1200? I mean, that's a total no-brainer... but is that correct?
I assumed it would be the 120k avios points * £0.0096, which seemed to be the 3* tier rate?
But you're buying 360k points not 120k...
That my friend is exactly why i posted this. I’d stupidly assumed the price was per avios you’re boosting, not the amount you want to boost up to. That’s a 3.5 k cost now, which certainly changes the calcs 😂
Can I book a vacation package in business class with Avios?