Welcome to another edition of my Guide to BA Avios Points!
In Previous Editions we discussed:
Part I: Partner Award Flights
Part II: Short-Haul Award Flights
Part III: Long-Haul Award Flights
Part IV: Avios & Money Pay Option
Part V: Avoid High Taxes & Fees
Part VI: Qantas.com Partner Award Search
Part VII: Household Accounts and Travel Together Ticket
In this, our eighth installment, we will cover everything you need to know about getting that Transatlantic flight for $100s less than you normally pay and using creative routing to avoid the high taxes/fees.
European British Airways award flight redemption’s are stamped worthless by many because of the high taxes & fees imposed on those routes.
From our discussion on maximizing British Airway’s Avios Points you will recall that a Transatlantic flight has an over the top cost in taxes & fees.
But there is a more affordable way to get to Europe than having to shell out so much in Avios AND cash.
Secret Weapon: Aer Lingus
Aer Lingus has twice daily routing between NYC/Boston and Dublin as well as once daily service with Orlando/Chicago. Aer Lingus also serves Boston and NYC daily to Shannon.
Remember that Avios is a distance based award chart, meaning the more miles it takes to fly somewhere the more Avios Points it costs to fly there, and Dublin is closer to the U.S than London is.
Hopefully we can lower our miles flown enough so that we can lower our Transatlantic award flight’s cost.
As a refresher, here are the costs for a Roundtrip flight from Orlando, Boston, New York (JFK) and Chicago to London.

In many cases an award flight to London can cost the same amount, including the Avios points in that calculation, as a revenue fare would.
How do the costs compare on Aer Lingus (EI) economy class:

At just 25,000 British Airways Avios points Roundtrip for economy this is an insanely low miles cost to Europe. Easily the lowest points/miles for a Roundtrip ticket across the Atlantic.
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