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US Airways joined oneworld today, March 31, 2014. US Airways flights are already bookable on ba.com.
This is excellent news because the way Avios prices awards is so different than the way US Airways and American Airlines prices awards.
The differences in prices naturally mean that there are now some super cheap US Airways flights with Avios.
One amazing deal is an award from Phoenix to Maui for only 4,000 Avios + $97.50 each way.
US Airways Background
US Airways legally merged with American Airlines last year, and the integration will be complete and the US Airways name will disappear some time in 2015.
US Airways has hubs in Charlotte, Philadelphia, and Phoenix. It flies throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, Brazil, and Europe.
What US Airways flights are a great deal with Avios? What awards are not yet bookable on ba.com? Are there fuel surcharges on US Airways flights booked with Avios?
BA.com is currently displaying all US Airways Saver award space except for between the United States and Europe.
I priced out Phoenix to Maui in economy at 12,500 Avios and $2.50 one way.
I priced out Charlotte to Sao Paulo in business for 50k Avios and $2.50 one way.
But when I searched for Charlotte to London on a day with Saver award space, it did not appear on ba.com.
I wonder why ba.com isn’t displaying US Airways transatlantic space. The best case scenario is that it’s some sort of oversight that will be corrected shortly.
The worst case scenario is that British Airways is blocking the space.
If the US Airways transatlantic space does appear, the million dollar question is whether booking it will incur fuel surcharges. None of US Airways’ old partners collected fuel surcharges on any US Airways flights, and British Airways isn’t collecting fuel surcharges on any of the other US Airways flights.
Great Deals on US Airways Flights with Avios
Any time you can book a short, direct, economy flight with no fuel surcharges, it is a great Avios award.
Pretty much any flight to or from Charlotte, Philadelphia, and Phoenix on US Airways will be cheap with Avios.
- Phoenix to Los Angeles for 4,500 Avios each way
- Phoenix to Oahu, Maui, the Big Island, or Kauai for 12,500 Avios each way
- Charlotte to New York for 4,500 Avios each way
- Charlotte to the Bahamas for 4,500 Avios each way
- Philadelphia to Indianapolis for 4,500 Avios each way
To figure out other great deals, find direct US Airways flights that interest you (google your home airport and all US Airways flights will be listed), figure out the distance of the US Airways flights at gcmap.com, and check the Avios award chart:
- Up to 650 miles flown: 4,500 Avios
- 651 to 1,151 miles flown: 7,500 Avios
- 1,152 to 2,000 miles flown: 10,000 Avios
- 2,001 to 3,000 miles flown: 12,500 Avios
- 3,001 to 4,000 miles flown: 20,000 Avios
- 4,001 to 5,000 miles flown: 25,000 Avios
For business class, double the price on the chart. For first class, including US Airways domestic first class, triple the price.
Each segment adds to the price of an Avios award, so Los Angeles to Charlotte to New York would cost 17,000 Avios one way in economy. (LAX-CLT is 12,500 Avios and CLT-LGA is 4,500 Avios.)
I suspect some of the highest cents per Avios redemptions will be reaped by east coast business travelers. US Airways Shuttle service between DC, New York, and Boston will cost only 4,500 Avios per segment.
Even better for business travelers, there is no fee for booking an Avios award at the last minute. (Many airlines charge $75 for booking an award within 21 days of departure.) And Avios awards can be cancelled almost for free.
Please post the best deals you find on US Airways flights with Avios in the comments!
Cash & Avios
I’ve covered Cash & Avios awards in detail. The deal is that you can pay only 30% to 90% of the normal Avios needed and pay extra cash to make up for saving Avios.
On economy awards, you get to “buy” the Avios for about 1.3 cents each. For First and Business Class, the “price” of the Avios you save is much higher.
Here are the price options for a one way award from Phoenix to Maui in economy.
You can pay as little as 4,000 Avios and $97.50 for the one way flight! That’s a steal and a half! It works out to “buying” the 8,500 Avios you save at 1.12 cents each.
You can get the roundtrip for 8,000 Avios and $195. That’s a roundtrip to Hawaii at a huge discount. Since US Airways has a monopoly on direct flights from Phoenix to the outer islands, the roundtrip prices often top $700.
That’s approaching 7 cents per Avios in value on this particular Cash & Avios award!
Explorer Awards
American Airlines calls its round the world awards Explorer Awards. They are by far the best value round the world awards. They allow unlimited stops on a 16 segment itinerary, and the total price in miles is based on the total distance flown and the cabin of the award.
With US Airways in oneworld, its flights can be included on an Explorer Award. This could come in handy for domestic connecting flights or to include US Airways segments between the United States and Europe on US Airways’ fantastic business class beds.
The MileValue Award Booking Service specializes in booking Explorer Awards. Contact us today with your dream Explorer Award itinerary today for a price quote.
Recap
US Airways joined oneworld today as part of its ongoing integration with American Airlines.
Its flights are bookable at ba.com, and short, direct, economy flights are very cheap since those are the awards Avios does well.
US Airways flights to Europe are not displaying on ba.com yet. I’ll follow developments to that story.
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where did you get PDX to OGG for 4k Avios miles. according to the Great circle map , it is 2562 miles!!!
nevermind, understand what your are saying now, typed in porttand instead
Now that US Airways is part of Oneworld is there any way to use dividend miles to take advantage of the Avios distance based chart?
No, US Airways miles follow US Airways rules on the US Airways chart. Avios follow British Airways rules on the Avios chart.
Thanks a million for this post! You are doing God’s work, sir. My Avios points + trip to Brazil = I can go to World Cup this summer!
I only wish I would have discovered this site years ago.
Enjoy the tournament!
The 4k Avios is the Avios + cash option.
Is hunting through day after day on BA.COM the best way to find this space? Hard to believe that there isn’t a more efficient way to identify available award segments without having to click through to each day… terrible interface… but I suppose they don’t want to make it easy.
If we could use aa.com or usairways.com then it would be nice, but from some experiments, award space that shows up on aa.com or usairways.com does not seem to be visible on aa.com (I’m specifically talking about the PHX-OGG route now). Finding award space on aa.com or usairways.com and then using those dates on ba.com turned up nothing. Is there something I’m missing?
The best way to search for US Airways space is either on usairways.com (only LOW price space is available to partners) or aa.com (if you search a US Airways operated route and set the calendar to display non stop only space).
Tell me a date and a route on which ba.com didn’t match aa.com or usairways.com, and I’d love to investigate.
Thanks for the explanation. The LOW price space is the key. Using LOW space availability on USAIRWAYS.COM, BA.COM does indeed show the same availability, although round-trip pairs that actually makes sense are pretty limited.
So, I tried AA.COM to find one ways from PHX – OGG. For example, PHX-OGG 9/9/14 (or any that week) show available Economy MileSAAver Off Peak. BA.COM shows no flights available. Not the same issue as my initial question regarding US but is confusing as the AA.COM site allows for setting up one ways.
The space you see on 9/9 on aa.com includes a Hawaiian Airlines flight. BA doesn’t partner with Hawaiian Airlines.
What if I see Economy MileSave space on AA but I don’t see it on BA’s website? Could I call BA to book it?
Maybe, tell me a date and a route on which ba.com didn’t match aa.com or usairways.com, and I’d love to investigate.
Scott, one example is DFW-HNL, 12-7 to 12-12 (My hub is DFW). AA shows availibility. I see availability on the outgoing but not the incoming on BA.
I was trying to recreate your example but going to HNL instead. So, PHX-HNL, 12-4 to 12-7. AA shows rewards but BA doesn’t.
The 12/12 space includes a Hawaiian Airlines flight. Hawaiian is a partner of AA but not BA. Is that also the problem on your PHX-HNL search?
Strange, I just booked HNL to LAX earlier before reading this post and never had an option to do cash and points. I just attempted to view bookings from Hawaii to Phoenix with no luck. Same with short international routes on other continents. Anyone else suddenly not seeing that availability to use cash with fewer Avios?
It varies by carrier and route. Domestic AA flights don’t seem to have a Cash & Avios option.
Ok – I don’t get it. I go to BA.com and it keeps routing me through London for short trips in the USA or even from the east coast (WAS) to California (SFO). Can someone tell me how to look for miles flights on BA.com.
https://milevalu.wpengine.com/free-first-class-next-month-4-0-searching-ba-com-to-find-oneworld-award-availability/
Scott, thanks for this helpful post. Do you know if BA.com has the latest US Airways flights? I’m trying to book a friend on a flight I’m already on, BOS CLT on 5/9, but BA shows no flights, yet there is availability from AA.com. Seems like there are some growing pains.
Is this likely to change? Is this just a “glitch” while US Air gets assimilated into the system?
I jumped on booking a BOS-DCA shuttle award when this happened but going back and looking at the cost of booking with cash, I’m not sure it’s a worthwhile redemption or at best a borderline one. Seems like BA is only able to book flights with $69 seats available ($54 base fare). Based on the mile value calculator, the redemption would be 100*(69-2.50)/(4500+500)=1.33cpm. Given that you value avios at 1.7cpm, I’m not sure that is the best use for them. Might be better to just pay cash or use Arrival points.
Another interesting quirk–the shuttle flights priced at $69 on US Air were being sold for $169 on AA.
On that one, I’d pay cash or Arrival miles. But I’m sure you’ll be able to use Avios on more expensive flights on the route at some point.
For a newbie, what’s the best way to start earning Avios miles?
[…] Since US Airways joined the Star Alliance on March 31, I think they have the most valuable miles of any airline. The three main reasons: […]
Could anyone post what code you put in Great Circle Mapper to create a distance band and see what cities are within that band for Avios purposes?
I promise I’m not completely incompetent but I cannot get ba.com to match us airways availability. I’m not too picky. Any available date between mid September to October for a week or so and I’m good but I cannot for the life of me get the dates to match on the two sites. I may find it on usairways but it is showing none on ba.com. PHX-OGG but heck I’d settle for PHX to Kona too.
Are you seeing Low availability on usairways.com. BA.com has access to all of that space and none of the other space.
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Hi, can you tell me what is the best way (least amount of miles) to get my family of 4 from DFW to OGG during non-school times, i.e. Thanksgiving, Christmas, 2nd week in March, or Summer? We have 246k AA miles, 152k UR points and will probably go ahead and get 2 US Airways cards with 40k each on them. About to book LHR and CDG for just the 2 of us on AA but we can do that regardless of the school year. Love your site!
Not going to find Saver space around Thanksgiving or Christmas. March and Summer, you will. Search aa.com and united.com for award space.
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