Your guide to British Airways Club: The newest way to travel with PayRewards Points

Previously known as British Airways Executive Club, the new ‘British Airways Club’ frequent flyer program is a great way to secure reward flights on BA. But it’s also a fantastic way to book premium cabins on partner airlines – and at very competitive rates. This includes many domestic and trans-Tasman flights on Qantas.

Fancy zipping from Sydney to Melbourne in Qantas business class for just 12,500 frequent flyer points (plus taxes and fees)? How about across the continent from Melbourne to Perth in Qantas business class for only 22,000 frequent flyer points (plus taxes and fees)? Then you’ll want to learn more about British Airways Club, PayRewards’ newest transfer partner. Read on!

Converting your PayRewards Points into British Airways Avios

What’s ‘Avios’, you might wonder? That’s what British Airways calls its frequent-flyer points. With a 3:1 conversion rate from PayRewards, you’ll receive one Avios for every three PayRewards Points transferred. By extension, if you have a cool 450,000 PayRewards Points in your account, those could become 150,000 British Airways Avios.

Granted, earning Avios in Australia isn’t as easy as with some other types of frequent flyer points. But when it comes time to travel, you’ll be glad to have a balance of British Airways Avios to burn, as the redemption rates are eye-catching.

Spending your Avios

There are plenty of ways to redeem Avios through British Airways Club. But in my book, these three methods bring the best value.

• Book reward seats on British Airways. BA guarantees a minimum number of reward seats on every single BA flight to and from London. You might also be able to save some Avios by travelling on an ‘off-peak’ date.
• Travel with partner airlines. Especially on short distance flights served by partners, redemption rates can be exceptionally sharp. Fly from Sydney to Auckland in Qantas business class for just 22,000 Avios, for instance. Through Qantas Frequent Flyer, that same seat costs 41,500 Qantas Points. Wink.
• Convert British Airways Avios to Qatar Airways or Finnair. Because Avios is also the frequent flyer currency of Qatar Airways and Finnair, you can transfer your BA Avios onwards to these two airlines at a 1:1 rate. That’s useful because each program has different redemption rates and access to different reward seats, giving you even greater flexibility.

Speaking back to that reward seat guarantee on BA flights, it’s quite generous. On every flight to and from London Heathrow and London Gatwick, British Airways guarantees at least four reward seats in business class, two reward seats in premium economy and eight reward seats in economy. On flights to and from London City Airport, it’s two reward seats in both business and economy.

Of course, you’re not guaranteed to find a reward seat whenever you need to fly, and whenever you choose to book. But if you can plan ahead and book early, you’re in with a solid chance.

As for partner airlines, British Airways is ‘frequent flyer friends’ with carriers like American Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Japan Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, SriLankan Airlines and more.

Fly British Airways to Singapore using Avios

British Airways offers its own flights between Sydney and London via Singapore. But along with booking from Australia to the UK, you can also fly BA purely from Australia to Singapore, without the need to fly to London.

Here’s how many Avios you’d need to secure a seat on British Airways from Sydney to Singapore through British Airways Club. We’ve also included the taxes and fees payable in AUD for a one-way reward flight, when departing Sydney.

Notice something with the redemption rates in first class? Yes, these can be lower than business class. Perhaps, BA finds it easier to fill business class from Australia than first class. Or, quite possibly, this is a gem that we shouldn’t talk much more about… (enjoy!).

As for peak/off-peak, there isn’t a clear calendar pattern. This classification can change day by day, including for flights departing during the same week. BA’s website highlights which rate is being charged, hinting that if you’re seeing a peak rate, you might be able save Avios if your date is flexible – even by flying just one day earlier or later.

Spending Avios on British Airways flights to London

Here’s what it takes to book a direct flight from Sydney to London via Singapore, where you remain on the same British Airways flight number for the entire journey. That is, where your ticket is booked as ‘Sydney to London’, not ‘Sydney to Singapore’ plus ‘Singapore to London’. Cash figures are in AUD.

British Airways doesn’t publish a clear reward chart, so we’ve tracked down available flights across both peak and off-peak dates to find those digits for you. However, we weren’t able to locate a single business class flight from Sydney to London at the peak rate, or any BA Sydney-London bookings in first class without a change in flight number. Read: while not impossible, these opportunities are rare.

Speaking of booking a single flight number between Sydney and London, here are those magic numbers. There’s BA16 from Sydney to London (via Singapore), and BA15 from London to Sydney (via Singapore). Changing planes in Singapore – for instance, taking BA16 from Sydney to Singapore and then BA12 from Singapore to London – increases the required Avios by around 20-30%.

The takeaway? If London is your destination, try to stay on those magic flight numbers. But if you can only find seats by changing planes in Singapore, that’s better than nothing. You’ll just need extra Avios to secure your seat.

Spending British Airways Avios on Qantas flights

Closer to home, Qantas flights are a great use of British Airways Avios. That’s because redemption rates are low, to the point that the number of Avios needed is almost always less than the number of Qantas Points for an equivalent booking. So, even though the transfer rate from PayRewards to British Airways Club is 3:1, the value can be exceptional.

Here are the routes with the most competitive redemption rates, which also have a reasonable degree of available seats open for booking with Avios.

As a trade-off, if your journey involves a connecting flight, you’ll generally need more Avios. Flying Melbourne-Sydney-Auckland costs more Avios than Melbourne-Auckland direct, for instance. Remember, you can always check reward seat availability (and pricing) through British Airways Club before transferring any PayRewards Points, even if you don’t have any Avios in your account.

A few final tips for British Airways Club

Send your reward flights soaring with these British Airways Club tips.

• The program just had a reboot
  As part of its relaunch, the requirements and mechanisms for earning and retaining status have changed. However, redemption rates remain untouched, and BA hasn’t flagged any planned changes to these.
• British Airways Club is now open to Aussies
  For a long time, the old BA Executive Club actively blocked Australian residents from signing up. Now, that’s not the case, so there’s no need to ‘mistype’ your address as being in Austria. Ahem.
• Extra flights require extra Avios
  Your journey isn’t just priced by distance or cabin – changing between flight numbers also adds to the asking price. It’s a quirk that’ll see you parting with more Avios to book Sydney-Singapore connecting to Singapore-London where the two flights have different numbers, versus ‘Sydney-London via Singapore’ on a single flight code. Hey, we don’t make the rules!
• Need more Avios?
  You can also now convert American Express Membership Rewards points to British Airways Club at a 2:1 rate. As well, you can transfer Avios from Qatar Airways Privilege Club to BA on a 1:1 basis. Essentially, that means you can also transfer credit card points from CommBank Awards (3.5:1 conversion), Citi Rewards (3:1, for Prestige cards only) and Virgin Money Rewards (3:1) to Qatar Airways Privilege Club Avios. Then, transfer those Avios from Qatar to British Airways, to bring everything together.

Written by Chris Chamberlin

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About the author

Chris enjoys making the most of frequent flyer points, which have taken him around the world – usually, at the front of the plane. He’s travelled over 1.5 million miles sampling the best in Business Class and First Class. That’s further than three return trips to the moon! Chris is based at Point Hacks' Melbourne office as News Editor, and shares his experiences via @chris_chamberlin on Instagram. When he’s not travelling, he enjoys tennis, keeping fit, and discovering new gins.