MileValue is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com. This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more.

Note: Some of the offers mentioned below may have changed or are no longer be available. You can view current offers here.


Wandering Aramean writes a Boarding Area blog and also has created a suite of tools that can be used for free by anyone. One I just saw (thanks Million Mile Secrets) is his Avios Map.

The Avios Map works like this:

  1. Type in any airport in the world.
  2. The map shows all the airports you can fly to directly for 4.5k, 7.5k, 10k, and 12.5k Avios in economy.

You can use the map to see where you can go from your home airport for what price. You can use the map to figure out when two awards will be cheaper than one (example below.) You can probably use the map for other creative uses I haven’t uncovered.

Before continuing, make sure you understand how British Airways Avios work. They are an essential currency for any American to understand.

How the Map Works

Along the top of the Avios Map, you type in the city or airport code and hit Go!

Screen Shot 2015-03-04 at 12.49.29 PM

If you choose an American Airlines hub like Dallas/Fort Worth, you get a crowded map like this:

Screen Shot 2015-03-04 at 12.49.45 PMThose icons are all the places you can go for 12,500 Avios or less one way.

  • Green is 4,500 Avios
  • Yellow is 7,500 Avios
  • Blue is 10,000 Avios
  • Red is 12,500 Avios

If you hold a cursor over any icon, you will see the airport name, city, code, and price.

Screen Shot 2015-03-04 at 12.50.19 PM

The DFW map is so crowded, the only useful information I’d pull from it are all my foreign options.

Here’s a less crowded map when I search Buenos Aires (AEP) on the Wandering Aramean Avios Map. This shows all your options to explore Argentina once you’re down there. You can use the Avios Map to search any airport in the world.
Screen Shot 2015-03-04 at 12.49.04 PM

The map includes all Avios partners, even the ones not on ba.com like Aer Lingus and Alaska Airlines. (You call British Airways to book flights on these partners.) For instance, here is the map from Boston. You can see that Dublin and Shannon, Ireland are both just 12,500 Avios away. Plus there are some options to the Caribbean operated by US Airways.

Screen Shot 2015-03-04 at 12.50.40 PM

And here’s a map of all the 12,500 Avios flights to Maui, most of which are on Alaska Airlines.
Screen Shot 2015-03-04 at 12.51.02 PM

When Two Awards Are Cheaper Than One

Avios is distance based, but many programs are region based. Sometimes you can use a region-based award plus a distance-based award for big savings over just a single region-based award. An easy example:

  • North America to Israel is 45,000 American Airlines miles in economy
  • North America to Europe is 20,000 or 30,000 American Airlines miles in economy depending on the season
  • Europe to Israel is as little as 10,000 Avios one way

You can save up to 15,000 miles by booking the United States to Europe and Europe to Israel as two separate awards (plus you can then stopover in Europe as long as you’d like.)

I have a full post about this example, and there are other examples you can surely come up with when a region-based award plus an Avios award would be cheaper than a single region-based award.

This tool helps you find and plan those examples.

For instance, here is the map from Tel Aviv. You can see the airports in Germany with direct flights on airberlin for 10,000 Avios, plus Madrid and London to Tel Aviv for 12,500 Avios.

Screen Shot 2015-03-04 at 1.01.25 PM

From this map, you’d know that an off peak American Airlines economy award to Europe for 20,000 miles plus any of these flights for 10,000 or 12,500 Avios would be cheaper than a 45,000 American Airlines miles award to Tel Aviv. Plus you could stop in a European city on the way to Israel for zero extra miles for as long as you want. By contrast, on a single American Airlines award, no connections longer than 24 hours are allowed.

Bottom Line

Check out Wandering Aramean’s super easy and awesome Avios Map. You’ll instantly visualize all the direct flights you can take with Avios that cost 12,500 Avios or fewer in economy. Plus you can use it to hack situations where two awards are cheaper than one.

 

Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.

Just getting started in the world of points and miles? The Chase Sapphire Preferred is the best card for you to start with.

With a bonus of 60,000 points after $4,000 spend in the first 3 months, 5x points on travel booked through the Chase Travel℠ and 3x points on restaurants, streaming services, and online groceries (excluding Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs), this card truly cannot be beat for getting started!


Editorial Disclaimer: The editorial content is not provided or commissioned by the credit card issuers. Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of the credit card issuers, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuers.

The comments section below is not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser’s responsibility to ensure all questions are answered.