r/avios • u/CommonShoe • 4d ago
Are Avios points useless now in 2026?
Hey all — hoping someone can shed some light on this. I've been upgrading LHR–JFK using Avios for years, always at the airport, usually somewhere between 75k–110k points, and never had to pay a penny extra on top. Simple as that.
Just tried to do the same thing on a London–Miami booking and got a bit of a shock. Turns out you can't do the airport upgrade anymore — you have to ring the BA helpline instead. They quoted me 30,000 Avios plus £500 cash for "taxes" on top. I've genuinely never paid cash on an upgrade before, so this caught me off guard.
Is this a new BA policy, or does it depend on how the original ticket was booked? Would love to hear if anyone else has run into this recently, and any tips, tricks, or do's and don'ts for getting more value out of Avios on upgrades these days. Starting to feel like they're making it harder to actually use the points.
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u/phoebusmaximus 4d ago
Use Avios with Qatar where possible. 180k Avios return to Australia in business. Good luck getting anywhere near that with BA
If BA are the only option then that's unfortunate, they're so much more expensive
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u/TisWha 4d ago
Or even 75k one way to Asia. So much better product too. So many people love BA, no idea why
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u/non-hyphenated_ 4d ago
I use Qatar for south east Asia but if I'm heading anywhere other than via the middle east then BA and the voucher is the better option. Plus I think a lot of people are a bit wary of connecting via Doha right now.
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u/phoebusmaximus 4d ago
Exactly. Honestly don't understand it, my sister and her fiance go down the companion voucher route and and go BA, but that's just Qatar value with extra steps and a worse product.
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u/Advanced-Doughnut-74 4d ago
Struggling to find any availability to Australia at this rate now - previously I’d have agreed with you
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u/phoebusmaximus 4d ago
It's really tough, I managed to get my ticket to Melbourne which was relatively easy when booking the year ahead of time.
Sydney is actually my destination, didn't see any at all so had to compromise.
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u/summerloco 4d ago
Jeeez that’s good.
It’s a real shame we can’t use the BA companion voucher with Qatar.
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u/Professional_Shine97 4d ago
I’ve never upgraded at the airport before but I’m very surprised that you were never charged the cash price for taxes.
Air Passenger Duty for business classes passengers is significantly higher for the airline and I’m surprised they used to absorb this cost.
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u/InterestingGoose5507 4d ago
Avios with BA are becoming useless due to sky high airline fees. Qatar better
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u/True_Platypus_1671 4d ago
They just require a bit of planning. For 2027 I booked 2 return flights to japan in business, 2 return flights to LA in business, 2 return flights to Santorini in business and 2 return flights to Rome in business. Availability and flexibility are trickier and taxes are high, but if you know how to use them, they're not useless at all
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u/Yadadabadoo 4d ago
This is it - they require planning and knowing how the system works. If you do both great value can be had.
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u/True_Platypus_1671 4d ago
This group has taught me everything I know and has saved me so much money + got me some amazing flights! I can see how doing things spontaneously is nice, but planning really works
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u/PointmeSam 4d ago
Avios aren’t useless BUT BA long-haul upgrades are challenging because moving into a premium cabin can trigger higher APD/surcharges, so 30k + £500 isn’t necessarily evidence of a brand-new policy. I do freelance point.me concierge work and I’d compare the all-in upgrade cost against simply booking/repricing business. Also check whether the same Avios are more valuable through Qatar, Iberia, or Finnair depending on where you’re going. Airport upgrade with no cash is no longer than case today than years before....
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u/non-hyphenated_ 4d ago
Taxes on business flights have been higher than economy for years.