What are the worst flights to redeem British Airways Avios on?

Members of the British Airways Executive Club should know the best way to spend their Avios on flights to maximise value. There are also the occasional sweet spots to take advantage of. All of that being said, what are the worst flights to redeem points on?

Everyone will have their own opinion on the matter. Some might say that short haul flights are a waste of Avios, and others would say never to use points for economy class travel. Personally, I think these are the worst ones…

Mid-Haul Flights

Once upon a time, there was a sub-fleet of Airbus A321 aircraft at British Airways that were inherited from BMI. These featured lie-flat seats in Club Europe (business class) and so they were allocated to mid-haul routes.

Mid-haul were flights from London (because how else do you fly outside the UK on BA if not from London) to Beirut, Amman, and Cairo. These days there are no flights to Beirut, so only the latter two still exist.

The Worst Flights To Redeem Avios?

The old mid-haul flights have been reclassified as standard short-haul routes, with the usual short-haul aircraft flying them. That means Club Europe (European business class) instead of Club World, and EuroTraveller instead of World Traveller down the back.

The difference? Club World has lie-flat seats or the new Club Suite, versus Club Europe with standard seating. World Traveller features widebody aircraft with personal televisions at every seat. EuroTraveller is more of a Ryanair seat. This means if you’re flying the 2,292 miles from Heathrow to Amman, you get the same type of plane as a London to Manchester. By comparison, if you are going to Tel Aviv (actually 59 miles shorter), you get the full long-haul experience. Therefore you’d be mad to redeem Avios on the BA services to Amman. In fact, you’d be better off using your Avios on oneworld partner Royal Jordanian instead. Off-peak, it costs 62,500 Avios return in Club to Amman (with €427.08 in taxes) and the same to Cairo (but €384.71 in taxes). Tel Aviv, also a five hour flight, is the same amount of Avios (with €379.51 in taxes), but you get the full service and a long-haul aircraft. I know what I’d be doing!

Overall Thoughts

These are certainly some of the worst flights to use your Avios on when flying outside of Europe. Virtually all other flights will be served by long-haul aircraft, so avoid using them on British Airways to Amman and Cairo.

Perhaps one day these flights will be restored to the long-haul network. After all, nothing remains the same in aviation, it’s a constantly fluid situation. For all we know, we’ll be on Boom Supersonic jets to Amman by 2040!

Do you think these are the worst flights to redeem your hard earned Avios on? Or would you suggest something else? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

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Featured image by BriYYZ on Flickr via Wikimedia Commons.
Mid-Haul cabin via Head For Points.
Royal Jordanian Crown Class via Royal Jordanian.