Note: This might be a “good old days” post. This discussed our roundtrip award in First Class on Cathay Pacific from the US to Asia. This using BA miles for 150,000 miles each.
Due to the upcoming changes in the British Airways Executive Club, I wanted to redeem my British Airways miles while I can still maximize their value. Not everyone is a anxious about this as I am, but this is the route I have gone down. I’m a very infrequent OneWorld alliance traveler, and all of these BA miles were earned via the now expired 100,000 mile Chase Visa signup. I booked 2 First Class tickets from North America to Asia, on Cathay Pacific. These are 150,000 each on the current BA single partner award chart. To get up to the 300,000 miles required, I transferred a combination of Starwood points and AMEX Membership Rewards points.
This deal is dead, unfortunately.
The revamped British Airways program (now to be called Avios), will be announced on November 16. Details for travelers based on North America are not yet set. It seems clear that the amazing redemption value for North American flyers as compared with those based in the UK or Europe will be reduced. The best value in their charts for most people is the Single Partner award chart. That is what I used for my flights on Cathay. Matthew has mentioned his plans to hold his BA miles for now and redeem some of the new options that the program changes will yield. Either way, there is still some value to be had.
What have you done with your BA miles?
