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How to get to Australia and New Zealand using Avios
I have had a few queries recently about how to get to Australia or New Zealand using Avios, so I thought I would jot down a few points.
British Airways flights
Sydney on British Airways in business or first using Avios is what is called a unicorn route i.e. it’s very rare to find one. You can now also only route Singapore – Syndey if you want to fly BA.
BA don’t fly to New Zealand, so if you want to use a companion voucher then you will need to fly to Sydney and then either get a separate Qantas ticket to New Zealand on Avios or buy a cash ticket. Allow lots of time; ideally, stopping off in Sydney. On separate tickets, you will have to clear immigration and customs to pick up luggage and head back to check-in for the new flight if you have luggage.
The only way to get Avios seats to Sydney is usually to call up at midnight or try online at midnight (1am during British Summer Time) 355 days before the outbound flight when the seats are released. BA guarantee to release four Business Class seats per flight (but no first class seats are certain).
The issue is you obviously need to book two connecting flights each way, so it’s double the trouble to find them.
Generally, you can book online or by phone, but sometimes, if you are waiting on the phone just before midnight, it can be slightly quicker for the agent to nab the seats than doing it online. You will need to find an office that is still open overseas, such as the US as the UK office is closed at that time. The list of BA office worldwide numbers is here. If you have status you can try to google the relevant Gold number.
You need to book the outbound first when it is released and then call up when the inbound is released (also at midnight). If using a companion voucher, this is not an issue, and they should not charge you the fee to add a return leg provided that the inbound leg had not been released before.
If you have missed the boat, then it is always worth setting an alert on Reward Flight Finder as it’s not unusual for more seats to be released.
Currently, BA is using a B787 for winter 23/24 with the old Club World seats. B787s are due to be refitted this year with Club Suites, with the first ones in service in October. Sydney is not showing the new seats yet.
How many Avios does it cost?
Now that BA has RFS on long haul, which allows you to pay more Avios and less cash, there is not really a standard price for flights. However, the old rates of Avios are still available and probably make the most sense given the amount of Avios needed.
Peak days:
- 300,000 Avios return for Club World
- 400,000 Avios return for First
On an off-peak day, you require:
- 250,000 Avios return for Club World
- 340,000 Avios return for First
Other airlines
Partner airline Avios redemption costs are set at one rate.
The partner airline rates below relate to Alaska Airlines, Air Italy, American Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Japan Airlines, LATAM, Malaysia Airlines, Qantas, Qatar Airways, S7, Sri Lankan and Royal Jordanian Airlines. The rates went up not that long ago, so the prices you need are the new ones in red.
A simple google will generally give the distances between cities or you can use Great Circle Mapper between airports.
Qatar Airways
Another option would be using Qatar, which obviously is more Avios than using a companion voucher, but you could look at one person cash and one person on Avios on the same flights. They are usually cheaper for the cash element of a Reward ticket than flying BA. You can book them either on ba.com or Qatar’s websites if you have a Privilege account. Avios can be transferred between your BA and Qatar accounts immediately once they are linked. It’s worth looking on both websites as the cash element can vary for the same flights.
Per person Qatar costs substantially less Avios at 185,000 Avios return in business class plus around £600 cash. So for single travellers or those that don’t want to use a voucher, you’d be better off flying Qatar.
Qatar flies to:
- Brisbane
- Melbourne
- Perth
- Sydney
- Canberra
- Adelaide
- Auckland
If I didn’t want to use a BA companion voucher, Qatar would be my first choice. For me, they have one of the best business-class products in the world in terms of the QSuite as well as the onboard service. The other advantage is that they fly to multiple destinations in Australia as well as New Zealand. If you live outside London, they also offer the widest range of departure points to Australia on Oneworld:
- London Heathrow.
- London Gatwick.
- Manchester.
- Edinburgh.
They feature QSuites on most flights to:
- Adelaide (ADL)
- Melbourne (MEL)
Obviously, this is subject to change. I still find the B787, A380 and A350 older seats very comfortable as well as they are a bit softer than QSuites.
You can find multiple reviews of Qatar business class flights here.
Cathay Pacific
My second choice would be Cathay Pacific which are gradually returning to a more normal schedule. Hong Kong is now open, so you could do a stopover. Taxes are considerably cheaper than BA too. It costs 185,000 Avios to fly London to Hong Kong business class return and 154,500 from Hong Kong to Sydney return. This makes the total 334,500 making it expensive in terms of Avios if, not actual cash which tends to be very cheap compared to BA.
Here is the range of destinations they will be flying from March 2023.
- Brisbane
- Melbourne
- Perth
- Sydney
- Auckland
They also fly from Manchester as well as London, which is better than BA where you would have to add a leg to fly down to London. Cathay fly their B777s and A350s from London and Manchester, which have all-aisle access seats. On the Sydney route is mainly the A350.
You can book Avios flights on ba.com in the usual way.
Malaysia Airlines
Malaysian use their A350 from London to Kuala Lumpur and then mainly A330s to Australia. They have modern seats and good food as well as fantastic service.
They fly from London to:
- Adelaide
- Brisbane
- Melbourne
- Perth
- Sydney
- Auckland
You can book Avios flights on ba.com in the usual way.
Qantas
Now that Qantas are using their updated A380s to Sydney, they would probably be high up in my list of choices after Qatar. As well as modern business class seats, it has an onboard lounge to stretch your legs. I also enjoyed their first class product.
Here are the routes they fly from the UK
- Sydney (via Singapore) <> London (Heathrow) (A380)
- Melbourne (via Perth) <> London (Heathrow) (B787)
- Perth <> London (Heathrow) (B787)
You can book Avios flights on ba.com in the usual way.
JAL
Although you can use Avios on JAL and they offer a good business class product, they only fly to Sydney, and it is very hard to get availability currently.
Using a mix of carriers to save Avios
When doing a long distance it is often cheaper in terms of Avios and the taxes and charges to do a booking using multi carrier redemptions.
You can find all the details of how to book it and how much it costs in this article.
14 comments
The article could do with more detail on the Qatar Avios pricing – in that it is far greater value than BA, arguably even with a companion voucher!
I have added that for you.
Thanks Michelle – Great Article
It’s worth noting when you recommend with Qatar ‘you could book one person Avios and the other person cash’ that return flight in business class LHR-DOH-SYD start from £5,000 return and go up sharply from there – many dates are £8,000 return. Surely people dropping that much on a plane ticket don’t care about Avios.
But then if you think about it in terms of two people if you added on the price of the taxes of the one Avios ticket and divide it comes to £2800 per person. I know lots of people that would pay that for a ticket (myself included) that would definitely want to nearly half the cost for two people by using Avios.
Is Japan Airlines also an option to use Avios?
Yes you can but currently they only fly to Sydney and it’s also very difficult to get seats.
Very useful Michele. There is another way if retired like we are. Get to the farthest point in J or F using the 241- good luck on that one as there is little SIN availability these days due to the A380 being deployed elsewhere. And of course we have no KUL or BKK.
We did LHR SIN Pre Covid so this assumes SIN opens up again. We then did LCA’s as follows: SIN DPS- it’s just a few hours with Air Asia. A week in Bali then DPS CNS- a few hours with a week in Queensland followed by a CNS SYD on QF using Avios and luggage/lounge benefits as a Gold member in CNS.
I love to fly in J or preferably F but we always mix it up a bit. Unless we’re about to lose a voucher or we’re trying to get status on a BA holidays double TP run, we usually fly Eeeeekonomy on flights around 3 hours.
I hope the above is another option for those with more time- one of the wonderful benefits of retirement. By the way, we do the same on accommodation- 5 star is often great but we also like to stay at properties which are often lower rated but better located and cheaper. Happy travelling!
Thanks Doc. That’s a useful suggestion too for those with more time to explore! Hadn’t thought about splitting a trip into “micro” segments to reduce the need for business class.
Hi Michelle. Thanks for a thought provoking article. Want to go to Vietnam next year so we’re thinking of booking to/from Singapore from London with BA using 241, then cash with Vietnam Airlines to Hoi An. But you’ve made me think a better option would be Qatar via Doha direct to Hoi An, using mix of Avios and cash. Would save on overnight hotel in Singapore.
But to get Avios/cash booking with Qatar do you still have to do the (ultra stressful!) thing of staying up to midnight when flights become available to book online/phone and hoping you’re faster than anyone
else?! Not used Watar before to book flights using cash/Avios.
We were very, very lucky and today managed to book CW return to Sydney from Aberdeen with our Amex Companion Voucher. It’s the new style voucher and it said that it had opened up “extra seats”. Also with this voucher you can adjust the amount of avios used.
We decided to check avios rewards just in case and found availability for Hong Kong, Singapore and Sydney.
So I guess we caught a Unicorn 🦄 today!
Yes the new style vouchers open up I class seats as well which gives more options beyond the standard amount they release.
Hi Michelle, I have just managed to get my first leg LON to SIN using Avios and Companion voucher, thanks for all your help on this! Now need more late nights to get the other 3 legs, wow it is time consuming isn’t it!! Interesting that calling the US number is currently overflowing to BA staff in the UK working from home and doing overtime! I love that as I can understand every word they are saying and they are very efficient!
One other question, when using Avios and Companion voucher, do you earn any tier points?
That’s great! No unfortunately you don’t earn tier points. Only Virgin offer tier points on reward flights.
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