British Airways Avios: Underrated Value For Economy Flights

It’s no secret that for many, the appeal of the miles and points hobby is that you can experience a champagne lifestyle on a beer budget.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I actually prefer the taste of beer, especially when it’s free, or at least significantly cheaper. There’s nothing wrong with flying business class, but in this age of never-ending fuel surcharge increases on premium cabins, I think we’re at a unique moment where sucking it up in Economy can be worth it if it’s much more affordable.

Today, let’s take a look at the great value there is to be found flying economy via Avios spent on flight award bookings with the British Airways Executive Club

British Airways Avios: The Last of the Award Charts

Before we begin, I want to specify something.

Avios is a currency of points. It can be used on various frequent flyer programs via transfers to participating partner airlines such as Qatar Airways Privilege Club or Finnair Plus.

The reason that we should use the British Airways Executive Club as the main avenue for Avios is that it’s the simplest and most easily accessible for Canadians, and because both British Airways and some of their key “value” partners fly to and from a few of the major airports here in the Great White North.

Moreover, Avios, as a currency system, has one feature leftover that has gone the way of the dodo in the rest of the industry: a fixed-price award chart. What that means is that rather than award flight prices being calculated by some mysterious algorithm, they are subject to fixed prices depending on the distance band. This system is easy to understand.

British Airways doesn’t publish its award chart publicly. We’ve got you covered here at Frugal Flyer as we’ve worked it out.

The following award chart applies to flights operated by British Airways, Aer Lingus, and Iberia.

We also have this award chart for partner airlines like Qatar (when you can find availability), Finnair, LATAM, and Alaska:

As we can see, short-haul flights can cost as low as 4,250 Avios up to a max of 51,500 on a 7,001+ mile international flight.

Peak and off-peak dates also aren’t published, but are pretty easy to find. Fortunately, about 65%+ of the year is off-peak, so if you have the flexibility, you can find great award flights.

The “Secret” Value of Avios Economy Fares

What leaps out to me is that, when flying points, British Airways values putting the value back into economy. The premium cabins scale linearly: premium economy costs 2x the points, while business is 3x.

While I can personally attest to British Airways’ Business class product being excellent, I wouldn’t fly British Airways “Premium” Economy again if there were regular economy cabin seats available. Your mileage may vary on partner awards, but on British Airways itself, I was not impressed.

On the other hand, economy fares are attainable even with a lowly “first purchase” bonus from the RBC British Airways Visa Infinite Card or the RBC Avion Visa Infinite Card, as RBC’s in-house Avion points transfers at a rate of 1:1 to Avios.

I think that this is because Avios isn’t primarily a product for Canadians: it’s something mostly for British or Spanish customers in Europe, who might have to earn paltry amounts of points at the supermarket or flying cash fares. Therefore, it’s just good business to give working families a chance to go on holiday without having to be the type of enormous spender who could achieve the dream of a business class seat redemption.

The other reason that British Airways has value is a specific quirk of the UK’s legislative framework: Air Passenger Duty (APD).

APD is the UK’s tax on flights departing British airports, charged per passenger based on distance and cabin class… including on award tickets. As of April 2026, a short-haul economy departure runs £15 ($27 CAD), while long-haul (2,001-5,500 miles, i.e., most transatlantic flights) costs £102 ($182 CAD). It’s cheaper within the UK, only a couple of pounds, but I’d honestly recommend taking a train within the UK. Much more comfortable.

Learn More: Reduce Carrier Surcharges on British Airways & Oneworld Redemptions

The catch: “premium” means anything above economy, so premium economy, business, and first class tickets all get hit at the same elevated rate of £244 ($435 CAD) on long-haul. So by flying Economy, that’s a savings of £142 ($253 CAD) per person, per direction you’re paying in cash, regardless of whether you booked with points.

The Biggest Avios Economy Sweet Spot: Aer Lingus Eastern Seaboard

So while I did just spend a bunch of time praising the value of the award chart, I need to note something: the biggest value for Avios is flying transatlantic between eastern Canada/US and the UK or Ireland. 

Both Boston and Montreal are just under 3,000 miles in distance from Dublin as the plane flies, but it’s still classified as Zone 5 (at least 13,000 points) instead of Zone 4 (10,000).

However, seeing is believing:

So we have to pay 13,000 Avios and $240 in taxes and fees. If you’re more flush on points and want to fly from the UK to Toronto instead, you’d have to pay this:

So 14,500 more Avios for about $90 in taxes and fees. On the upside, you’d get to fly direct to Canada out of London Heathrow. Still not ideal.

However… you can have the best of both worlds:

13,000 Avios, direct from Dublin to Toronto, only $165.20? That is an incredible deal. Let’s look at the equivalent business class fare from London Heathrow:

88,000 points at $499 in hard money. That is not a number I’d want to pay in this situation!

The best part of flying from Dublin, aside from avoiding APD, is that it also flies to various other destinations, such as New York City, which sometimes feels like it has as many Irish pubs as Ireland has people.

Overall, booking transatlantic flights on Aer Lingus via the British Airways Executive Club is excellent value.

If you wanted something more off-the-cuff to avoid paying cash on taxes and fees, consider something more off the cuff and toughing it out in economy for 10+ hours by going to Europe from Brazil:

26,500 Avios to go across the world is a pretty excellent redemption… even if it will require a lot of time at the back of the plane. But hey, business class (when available) is 2-3x the price in points.

Short-Haul Avios Economy Sweet Spot: Europe

The second area of serious value for using the Executive Club should come as no surprise: flying around in Europe and taking advantage of the <2,000 miles distance band, thus avoiding heavy APD. 

This is also an area where there’s no reason to fear flying British Airways. Well, not from a points perspective. Service may be lacklustre, but ultimately it’s cheap enough.

Let’s take a look at some samples – first up, going from the UK to somewhere many people love to go in the winter: Tromso, Norway, to see Aurora Borealis (at that time of the year, in that part of the country):

15,000 Avios plus $5 in taxes and fees. That’s a great deal by my math, especially because this is such a remote airport that makes for real once-in-a-lifetime experiences.

If you were to put together this itinerary flying directly from Canada, it would look like this:

A honeymoon or engagement party to see Aurora, considered lucky in many countries, seems pretty fair to me for only 85,000 Avios and $310 in taxes and fees for two passengers one-way.

Maybe Tromso is a bit chilly for your temperament. I would certainly use long-haul Avios economy for more remote locations such as this. Within Europe, it becomes tempting to continue using Avios as an amazing connector to get to or from other places, such as somewhere warmer and more pleasant like Athens:

The low taxes and fees also indicate British Airways is doing customers a solid by not passing on all the costs of APD to customers and instead allowing you to use your Avios instead. I definitely think this is a good move on their part.

All these itineraries work in reverse, too. For example, you could get to Dublin to catch your flight back to Canada via the Executive Club. My preferred point of origin for this hypothetical would be Malta because you could be there burning your $300 Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts credit on a nice hotel while visiting the historical headquarters of the Knights Hospitaller:

10,000 Avios plus $39.50 in taxes and fees is pretty excellent, and you could visit Dublin before coming home, or piece it into a single itinerary for a more convenient trip.

Conclusion

Flying economy on Avios won’t win you any bragging rights, but the math speaks for itself.

Transatlantic flights to the Eastern Seaboard via Aer Lingus cost a fraction of what you’d pay in a premium cabin – in both points and cash – and short-haul European hops let you stretch a modest Avios balance into useful connections all over the continent. The fixed award chart keeps things predictable, and because booking economy class dodges the worst of APD, taxes and fees won’t undo the savings you came for.

Until next time, don’t go down the bottomless rabbit hole of trying to get your Iberia Plus account to work. It is torture.